Well, that was a weird start for Rock im Park. After looking for a parking space for almost an hour, a half-naked man (or better: boy) suddenly jumped into my car through the driver side window, landing on the shotgun seat, where he was then pulled out again by his friend. Neat and orderly through the door. Well, that won’t happen to you very often. *rofl* OK, but then I actually managed to find a parking space and was on my way to the Alternastage. Luckily Kaizers were the first band I wanted to see, and so I didn’t mind being one and a half hour late – I’m paranoid enough to leave much too early. So there was enough time to take a look at the Clubstage first and then walk back to the Alternastage to watch the last few songs of the Editors (I think it was them, some “The”-band, at least *g*). When they finished, I walked right into the center of the second row without any problem (uh, what was that?!?). OK, the sight of the stage wasn’t that good, ’cause it was just too high (but lateron that night I was happy about that), but I could see all Kaizers and there were several Kaizer-T-Shirts and fans with weird names right there in the front *g*, so I decided to stay there. And the view was really pretty good, the light was perfect for taking pictures, and the concert was great!
Normally I would now write “wait, I’m getting ahead”. But somehow that’s not really true. There’s not much more I could write about, actually. =;-) The concert was really cool, but somehow, there’s not much that stuck to my mind. Don’t know why, but one reason was probably that it was a typical “festival show”, thus one song right after the other, without much talk or stuff inbetween. Also, it might be due to the stage being so high and even though you were very close, somehow you weren’t really “there”, don’t know. But it didn’t matter, it was a great show, perfect for dancing, and the atmosphere was good. According to the Jackal, it was even better than at Rock am Ring, but well, I’m not sure if I’m gonna believe that or not. *g*
A very bad thing were the “summer suits” of Omen and Thunder. In white and baby blue, respectively. Buuuuh! Terrible! Awful! The beige of the Jackal’s suit was okay, but white and light blue… uargh.
Of course all the “typical” announcements were there, just like it has to be. “Who got the album?” – “This is the oldest Kaizers song, from 99” (I first understood 1909 and was a little confused. *g*) – and when suddenly some “Elvis lives”-choirs came up, the Jackal introduced Elvis, of course, he works behind the scenes now, “he brought us up”, etc. And I found it really cute when the Jackal announced again: “My name is the Jackal, but YOU can call me Kaizer! Say my name, scream it – mean it!” – and then he just smiled, said “Thank you.” and jumped off the barrel. =:-)
Oh yes, and then there was the thing about “catching the applause”. The Jackal did this a few times before, and it is just reaaaaally nice. Everybody screams, and then the Jackal “catches” the applause, sets it free again, catches it, puts it in his pocket, sets it free again… just so cute. And everything while behind him, people were already busy clearing the stage. I think the Jackal should cover the whole break with things like that! =;-)
Finally, the setlist (but from memory, thus I’m not sure if it’s correct, but it should be, as it is the same as Rock am Ring *g*): Ompa til du dør, Bøn fra helvete, Container, Blitzregn Baby, Di grind, Kontroll på kontinentet, KGB, Katastrofen, Maestro.
And the wisdom of the day: If you don’t have a band-aid, just use Gaffa tape. *outch*
So, after the Kaizers concert, I went to the Clubstage and saw the end of the Kashmir show there, then the Japanese band Kagerou (completely crazy…) and then the band that everybody will hate me for because I like them, but yes, I do: Virginia Jetzt!. And they rocked. Actually, I first thought I was in the center of flash mob when suddenly people started to do crowdsurfing, but then it turned out that it had just started raining outside and the Clubstage was in a tent… *g* Then some time to get something to eat, one song of Keane and one of Tool, and back to the club tent to see Art Brut. They are just amazing! But I had to leave early to get a good place for the Bela B. concert. Well, it was too far in the back, so I was happy about the high stage, but the concert was really good. It’s cute to see how a rockstar can be this nervous and unexperienced (waah, I have to sing now and my mike is over there!!!1). But the show was great, and I think I should take a closer look at the tour dates again…
So, to sum it up, a really great day. And surprisingly I liked Rock im Park a lot more than Rock am Ring. The number of stupid people was a lot lower, the distance between the stages was about the same (but the ways were less crowded) and there were much fewer people and it was organized better. I didn’t expect that.
So, if I handed out a prize for my best concert of the night, I would have to divide it up into for parts and give one to Kaizers, one to Virginia Jetzt!, one to Art Brut and the last one to Bela B. But I don’t hand out prizes. =;-)