On June 28, 2003, thus exactly ten years ago, I visited a festival in Germany, kept a friend company in the front row, and had to suffer through lots of awful newcomer bands. One of them: Kaizers Orchestra! That’s when the “suffering” suddenly stopped and turned into a loud “Halleluja!”.

Ten years later, I got in the car, a plane, and another car, just to get to see that band play in Kristiansand. For the 163rd time. Ooops. =;)

Guess I should mention right away that this was definitely not the best Kaizers concert I’ve ever seen. Honestly, I thought it was pretty … no, not bad, but “standard” in a way – nothing special happening or anything that you would remember afterwards. Actually, I think that this was mostly due to me standing in a rather bad location; in the front and to the side, as always, which is usually great – but after some people pushed in right before the concert started, I could hardly see anything throughout the first half of the concert. And the concert didn’t really seem to be of a lot of interest to most people around me – conversations were much more important, apparently. And these are the things that really annoy me, so that I get into a bad mood and don’t enjoy a concert as much as I could have. And in addition, when the concert was just getting started, there were a few drops of rain …. aargh! But luckily, there were really only a few drops, which you hardly noticed, so that was good.

What I loved throughout the show, however, was thinking back to my very first Kaizers concert once in a while and comparing the two – Kaizers from back then and Kaizers now, my reaction and feeling toward them back then and my reaction and feeling now. And the conclusion was without doubt: The ten years were terrific, and I would never want to miss them. Thank you, Kaizers Orchestra!

The concert started really promising, also considering the announcements on stage: Before they played Din kjole lukter bensin mor, the Jackal looked for someone to join him in a duet. Someone from the band. But no, not the drummer. And Omen was wearing a mask, so he couldn’t do it either. “The one who gets to sing the duet is pretty tall and has blue eyes. Can you see the eye color at all, by the way?” Sure of victory, Thunder stormed to the front of the stage – just to walk back embarrassedly when Hellraizer was chosen in the end (well, who would’ve thought? *g*).

Omen was busy with a bunch of flowers that kept falling off the keyboard and which he had to find and pick up again. I’m sure he did a lot more, but I could hardly see him, unfortunately. =:-(

Just like at the last concerts, we got the story about the crew member again who had his last day on the job and wanted to hear Forloveren. And then the Jackal read on the setlist that now it’s time to ask “do you feel alright?”. And by the way, he brought his whole family to the concert. “Back there, big ones and small ones. But you cannot see the small ones.” But when he’s sitting in the kitchen at home in Stavanger and the small ones don’t want to eat their food, he always says “Don’t you know who wrote Kontroll på kontinentet? Now eat your food!”

And actually, that’s all already, there wasn’t much talk apart from that. The setlist:

• Aldri vodka, Violeta
• Siste dans
• Tusen dråper regn
• Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
• En for orgelet, en for meg
• Forloveren
• Ompa til du dør
• Støv og sand
• I ett med verden
• KGB
• Kontroll på kontinentet
• Philemon Arthur & the Dung
• Svarte katter & flosshatter
• Hjerteknuser
• Begravelsespolka

No encores. And that’s what I found very weird … it was only a quarter to midnight, so I’m sure they would have had another 15 minutes. And in addition, they had started 15 minutes late! So, if you think about that, the only reasons for this would be them not wanting to play more or them missing the energy for a long set. And both options are rather negative. =:-(

The audience couldn’t believe that there really wasn’t an encore – everybody stayed and cheered for at least ten minutes, even though the lights and music were on already. Well, no way that could mean that there wouldn’t be an encore … or could it?! Yep, it could and it did. And of course, that left a rather bad feeling after the concert.

So all in all, definitely not a bad concert – but no highlight either. And the ending was just so sudden and unexpected … But still: a great night! With really nice company, without any rain, and with a Kaizers concert – what more could you possibly want?