(I just wrote about 5 pages about my whole tour weekend. I WON’T translate all of this into English. =;-) So, if you want to read that, you’ll have to do this in German. Or you can just read my report on the concerts of Janove Ottesen and Pål Jackman…)
Janove Ottesen
Janove Ottesen entered the stage as the first artist of the night. The hall was pretty full, not overcrowded though, and I had the feeling that most people knew him (well, Kaizers have played three times in Groningen already). Almost nobody knew the record and the songs though, but some people had apparantly seen him perform in a record store in the afternoon, but that was about it.
He started with Forget About Me, alone on stage with his guitar. That was definitely nice. But it got a lot better when his band entered the stage – I didn’t expect to be very excited by this concert, but hey, no question – they rocked! The record is pretty calm, but well, it’s possible to build up on that and make something really nice out of it, as I found out. Even Go Tell Her, a song I never really liked, was great and I enjoyed it a lot. And even though he played almost exactly the “wrong” songs, thus the ones I don’t like, the concert was awesome. I don’t have a setlist, but I can remember that he played Forget About Me, Go Tell Her, Garbage Man, Neighbor Boy, Tickets, Juliet, I Feel Fine and Wonderful Show.
Inbetween the songs he was busy talking, joking around with his band collegues, and he was obviously in a great mood. Some of the talk was almost identical to the typical “Kaizers announcements” (“We came a long way from Stavanger to here!” – “Do you love us? We love you right back!” etc.), but well… =;-) In any case he did a good job heating up the audience and making them go along (which was definitely necessary… *sigh* Somehow everybody was busy “looking”…). So we were clapping along and counting in the songs (Neighbor Boy), singing along (I Feel Fine, a new song that is not on the record – “the most positive song ever made!”). And of course the audience was analysed, as always – “Someone here from Denmark? Okay, one. From Finnland? Also one. Hey, this is the same person! Any Swedes? No? Ha, this is my audience!” Or rather… “for sure they are here, but they don’t dare to admit it, ’cause they know I would throw them out!”
Janove announced Juliet as his favorite song and explained that he would also do his first guitar solo during this song. And that’s what he did, very extensively… and what should I say? Wow! Okay, in a way he was “hunting for applause”, but he deserved it… *g*
Neighbor Boy is the reason why his album will also be released in the US, because it is blue grass – “aehm, or what I call blue grass, MY blue grass, ’cause I don’t know how to do it…”
And of course he demanded over and over again that we should by his album, especially as the poll who already owned the album wasn’t very positive. So we should all go to the record store tomorrow – hmm. Maybe someone should have told him that his album isn’t released in Holland yet (I believe)… *gg*
During the last song, Wonderful Show, Janove sat down on the edge of the stage and so played it in the middle of the audience, somehow. Nice! =;-)
Some words about the band: First of all, they were great! *gg* A trumpet player and background singer who was also busy joking around with Janove (pretty funny even… *g* When Janove explained that everybody should stay at this one location, ’cause that’s were the best bands play – “stay here!”, he started singing “Stay you, stay me…” *lol*). Then, a Swedish keyboard- and piano player who was forced to dance for us during the introduction, which he did almost voluntarily and started dancing around wildly… *rofl* Plus a cute drummer and a quiet bass player with huge glasses. *g*
In all, the band stayed in the background, of course, and Janove was the front man. But they were definitely more than just a “backing band”. Perfect!
After the concert, I stayed a little and looked for people I knew, but I didn’t really find anyone and was totally bored… *g* Then Moneybrother started to play, pretty nice, I didn’t really know him though, so I found it a nice show but nothing “special”. So after half an hour I left to meet my friend (who had to stay at another location and couldn’t see Janove… =:-() and then went on to another club, where Pål Jackman was supposed to play. There I met Carline and thus wasn’t bored waiting for the next concert… =;-)
Pål Jackman
When Pål Jackman entered the _tiny_ stage, I accidentally found myself in first row, how embarrassing… =;-) But well, I wasn’t really uncomfortable until Pål decided it was too hot on stage and turned one of the spots around at the audience… *sweat*
Anyway. The concert was totally amazing, some of the songs I already knew from the Kaizers concerts and my Wunderkammer cd, but as he had a drummer and a bass player with him this time, everything sounded a lot more “full” and more “rock” than at his songwriter-gigs last year.
The club appeared to be pretty crowded also (but it’s always hard to judge when you’re in front). Of course it was a lot smaller than the Grand Theatre where Janove played, but that was fine. There were probably more Norwegians than Dutch people, and the atmosphere was great. The three guys delivered a great show, the bass player was jumping around, the drummer was playing on very weird things, like a saw, I love that *g*, and Pål had to show off all his guitars… *g*
During the Erlkönig, someone started to bawl in my ear right behind me, but I decided to ignore Mr. Kaizer and concentrate on the guy on stage. =;-) During the whistling solo though, Janove had to enter the stage of course and help Pål out, and he also seemed to enjoy the rest of the concert. Just before the end he disappeared, though, guess he wasn’t in the mood for fan talk, tse, his problem… =;-)
The concert was very very good, in any case, and the audience was almost jumping and dancing around, at least that’s what it felt like. And that really was nothing I expected as actually you had “some songwriter” on stage! *g*
After the concert, we could talk to Pål a little, he’s really really nice and great and everything… =;-) We learned that the drummer was his brother and that they played punk before… well, that explains a lot!
Well, after that, the “Norwegian part” of the night was over. I would have liked to see Gåte and Thomas Dybdahl, but Gåte played at the same time as Pål Jackman and Thomas D. *g* at the same time as the Beatsteaks. And this in connection with the queues in front of the Grant Theatre convinced me that I would have to go without them…
Conclusion: It was a great festival and a great tour for me. 1500 kilometres, that IS crazy, I know. But it was worth it…