Report by Lena V.

I wasn’t going to go to this concert. I had my last concerts lined up, five more to go before Kaizers’ big break. I had a couple of friends from the USA that were going there, and they were going to stay here a few days before and after the show because they wanted to see a bit of Oslo when they were in Norway. I had actually only met one of them before, and only briefly during a concert at Ås last year, so I could only hope that the visit would be okay – you never know what to expect when you’re going to spend several days with someone you’ve barely met. 😉 So, they arrived here on Wednesday, on Thursday we were up late having some drinks when someone mentioned the words “I wish you were going to Trondheim with us”. Well, there went the last of my savings – again. Kaizers have cost me a lot these past years, I’m sort of glad they’re taking this long break. 😉 In no time tickets for the train next morning were bought, and guest list passes (!) were in place.

We arrived in Trondheim a couple of hours prior to when the doors should open, just enough time for dinner and getting the luggage safely stowed away at a hotel room – or so we thought. But when we got to the venue we had to wait in the main hall for an hour and a half – it’s a good thing time goes fast when you’re in good company. 🙂
Finally, we were let in to the “circus tent” – that’s what the concert hall looks like – and found a nice spot up front. And more waiting. 🙂 So we got to talk some more, and enjoy the quite relaxed and laid-back atmosphere.

With no warning, the lights dimmed and “Russian Dance” started playing. And I was completely blown away by the reaction of the audience. The room practically exploded! I can honestly not remember the last time I was at a show with that kind of energy and joy from the audience. And I kept being amazed for the rest of the show. Wow. Thank you, Trondheim!

And the setlist was perfect. Well, almost. I wouldn’t have minded if they’d swapped Støv og sand for something else. Not that I don’t like the song, I just think they have so many songs that are better… 🙂
And this is where it gets hard to write this report. I hadn’t planned to write anything, so I didn’t take any notes during the show. And unlike Susi, I’ve got crappy short term memory. 😛 I did try to write down some of the highlights afterwards, but if I’ve gotten them wrong or backwards please don’t kill me. *gg*

The show started with Aldri vodka, Violeta – a perfect opener – followed by Diamant til Kull (yay!), Tusen dråper regn and Din kjole lukter bensin, mor. As usual, not too much talking during the first songs. When it was time for the big drum part of En for orgelet, Janove almost couldn’t get up on the oil barrel. I think he usually steps on a monitor to get up, but it wasn’t at its usual place for this show. He almost fell down, but luckily there was a roadie there to give him a hand. 🙂

Janove pointed out several times that the audience was crazy! Really crazy! They had been playing at Samfundet for ten years, and they had never experienced an audience this great there before!

Janove had his usual “where are you from” routine, asking if there were people there from some random Norwegian cities. I remember some people next to me shouting at Janove, trying to get his attention to a guy that had come all the way from Tokyo – but they didn’t get through. *gg* Well, it’s on paper now, that’s gotta count for at least something? 😉
Terje went up to him and whispered something, and then Janove wondered if there was someone there from Molde? The Norwegian football season had started that same day, and Stavanger had won their game, over Molde.

Someone had told Janove once, that if you’ve played a blues song with a really good response, you had to follow up with another blues song. So naturally, I ett med verden was followed by Støv og sand. But if you’ve played two blues songs with great response, you should play something else. And Kaizers have played all types of genres: blues, rock, blues, dance, rap, blues, dub (yes – they were great at dub), classical etc. But the best follow up to two blues songs, would of course be some gypsy music, this time in the form of Resistansen!

Kontroll på kontinentet started with Janove throwing an (invisible) ball at the audience, I don’t remember the purpose behind it. But I think it was during this song that Terje decided that it was a good idea to go crowdsurfing. Maybe it was, but it looked to me like he almost was dropped to the floor a couple of times, and when he got back on stage it seemed like he’d hurt his back a little. Or maybe it was just for show. 😉

At some point, I don’t remember during which song, Janove placed an imaginary golf ball at the edge of the stage, and he “hit” it with an accompanying drum sound with perfect timing. Nice detail!

Helge did his usual stuff. Taking notes, swaying eerily during Svarte katter, and being mysterious about his briefcase.

The band left the stage, and while waiting for them to come back the applause was just overwhelming. For the hundredth time that night I was surprised by the energy the audience showed. It was beautiful!
They got back on for the encore, first up: KGB. And then: Begravelsespolka. This nights version of it didn’t include the first verse, instead we got verse number two twice! Performed excellently, you would almost think it was planned that way. *gg*
They said goodbye again, and once more the audience got to fill the hall with applauding and cheering! And the band came back! As a second encore we got Die Polizei. It wasn’t on the setlist, so I guess they decided to play it when they found out what a wonderful and crazy audience we were! At the end of Die Polizei, Helge picked up a book and started reading. He got so wrapped up in it, that he didn’t realize the song was over until all the others had left the stage. *gg*

To sum it up: A fantastic concert, with fantastic friends. It was worth every krone, and every minute of motion sickness on the train! And the best part wasn’t the great show or the great audience, or the great setlist, but getting to know new people and really connecting to them.
And all because of Kaizers.

Setlist:

• Aldri vodka, Violeta
• Diamant til kull
• Tusen dråper regn
• Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
• En for orgelet, en for meg
• I ett med verden
• Støv og sand
• Resistansen
• Ompa til du dør
• Forloveren
• Drøm videre, Violeta
• Philemon Arthur & the Dung
• Kontroll på kontinentet
• Svarte katter & flosshatter
• Hjerteknuser
• Dieter Meyers Inst.
  ——

• KGB
• Begravelsespolka
  ——

• Die Polizei

Gnaah… the concerts on this Kaizers tour are really really inconvenient for people who don’t live in Norway. Lots of concerts in one city (which would be great!), but from Monday to Friday… yeah, sure. =:-( And on the weekends, Kaizers keep playing up in the VERY north… *sigh* But well, that just means you have to be really creative when planning your concerts and figure out that Trondheim and Levanger are fairly close! So like that, I managed to fit in two concerts and another evening with Sonny (this time in Oslo), with a reasonable amount of vacation days. Yay!

So I got on my way to Trondheim for the last of the concerts there. Samfundet is known for an amazing atmosphere and great concerts – yeah! But actually, it started out rather disappointing. Last time at Samfundet, we stood on the stairs and had a great view at the stage. This time, no one was allowed to stand there… So we decided for the stands instead, and got a good place with okay view there, but the sound was just awful! I’ve never experienced such bad sound at a Kaizers concert before… probably that was mostly due to where we were standing and it would have been better in the center, but where we were standing, it was almost impossible to even understand anything that was said on stage… And the setlist didn’t really hold any surprises in the beginning – at least no positive surprises. 9mm?! I mean, really…?! =:-/

After half the concert I started wondering what I should write in the report – up to then, Kaizers just played one song after the other, without any talking in between; and while the audience obviously was in a good mood, I’ve definitely seen a more enthusiastic audience before. And the bad sound… No, that wasn’t what I had expected and hoped for for my trip to Norway. =:-(

OK, there were some highlights – we got to hear Diamant til kull and Prosessen, but they were followed by Ompa til du dør and Bøn fra helvete. These two are great songs, no doubt, and I usually like to hear them, but considering that I could have gotten songs like På ditt skift and Tokyo Ice instead?!

And then the concert finally started. I mean, REALLY started! Hellraizer took over the microphone and started out with Rullett. =:-) And as a “mini encore”, we got another Hellraizer song, namely Dr. Mowinckel, yeah! (After the Jackal put on the required protective clothing – read: working gloves. *g*)

And then, from one second to the other, the concert turned absolutely awesome. No idea what the reason was that I couldn’t enjoy the concert that much before – maybe it was just me and my mood, maybe it was that the audience was too “reserved” (even though I don’t really think that; shortly after, the Jackal said that this was the best of the concerts in Trondheim), or if Kaizers themselves had to warm up a bit first – but well, it doesn’t really matter either. In any case, from then on we got a lot of talking between the songs, the audience didn’t just sing along but was fascinated by everything that happened on stage, and everything was just amazing! =:-)

The Jackal mentioned that Kaizers have the world’s best fans (and no, this is not just something that the newspapers write, but it’s true!) – but well, that’s not much of a surprise, since he himself is a big fan. He attended ALL concerts! And he actually knows the band! And he hangs out backstage!! *lol* Probably he even knows all the songs, pff… *g* And the best fans in the world don’t only like the old songs, but they like the new ones even better! We were about to protest when we found out that the next song was… Drøm videre, Violeta. So we didn’t complain. *g* And when the whole Samfundet waves their hands in the air in unison, this looks really really impressive…

Not sure, that might have been later when they played Hjerteknuser. Or during both songs, don’t remember. *g* Before Hjerteknuser, we were asked to decide if we wanted the French or the Russian opening for the song. Seems like this was not the first time that the Russian opening won – but we are supposed to tell everyone who’s going to attend a concert the next weeks to decide for the French opening, because they came up with a great intro there as well! So you know now. *g* And we got the Vodka opening, and the song started when the Jackal put down his glass. =;-)

Svarte katter was very impressive – in the beginning, Killmaster got up on his barrel (which works especially well if you’re busy writing down some setlist notes and don’t look at the stage until the song has started, and you’re completely surprised *g*). Since his hair is gone again, Helge did not take out a comb this time under his “big moment”, but wiped off his sweat. And anyway, he was the coolest guy on stage during the whole concert, as always. *g*

The Jackal stated once more that he definitely has the best job in the world. And we should get such a job as well! Don’t worry, that’s easy, no problem at all. “I mean, Hellraizer can’t play guitar either!” You just need some good ideas, and then it doesn’t matter, you can get this job even if you can’t really play the guitar… *lol*

As encore, we actually got the Gypsy Finale – even with the old “Do you want one more song? Or two more songs? Or THREE more songs?” to start it. Yaaaaaay! Nostalgia! =:-) And party! *g* By that time, Kaizers had the whole Samfundet under their control, absolutely. So it was no surprise whatsoever when the audience won the competition between band and audience about who was louder! But the band put soooo much more heart into it! At least that’s what they said… pff. We were louder and more heartily!! *g*

As conclusion, we got a beautiful version of Bris, with only the Jackal on acoustic guitar and Helge on the organ, and off they went… And then the boxes with shot glasses were sold out, grr… Let’s hope they find some more until Sunday!

But in any case: AWESOME! I WANT MORE!

And here’s the complete setlist:
I ett med verden, Tusen dråper regn, Femtakt filosofi, 9mm, Støv og sand, Din kjole lukter bensin mor, En for orgelet en for meg, Diamant til kull, Prosessen, Ompa til du dør, Bøn fra helvete, Rullett, Dr. Mowinckel, Philemon Arther & The Dung, Kontroll på kontinentet, Drøm videre Violeta, Svarte katter & flosshatter, Hjerteknuser, Dieter Meyers Inst. First encore Sigøynerblod, Bak et halleluja, and Resistansen, second encore Bris.