(Photos)

It’s 5.45 am, and my alarm is waking me up after a night on a mattress on the floor in Helene’s room in Oslo. The day before, my friend Trine Lise and I arrived in Oslo after hitching a ride with my neighbor from Arendal. After about 3,5 hours in a car, we stood in the street outside what we hoped was Helene’s home. A phone call later we were inside and I met Helene in real life for the first time. We also met her friend Sara. The evening went by fast and soon we went to sleep, or tried to.

Now the clock is about 6 am and it’s finally the 18th of February. We’re up early getting ready for the walk to NRK at Marienlyst in Oslo. There, two busses will be waiting to take about 100 people to Loppen in Christiania, Copenhagen. Helene and I were two of the lucky fans to win a trip for us and one friend each to Kaizers Orchestra’s release concert in Copenhagen.
Just before 8 am we’re finally off. The busses take us through Sweden and over the Øresund bridge to Copenhagen in Denmark. Helene and Sara unfortunately ended up on the other bus (since I was on the list from the management and they on the list from NRK P3), so we are separated for most of the trip. In addition to that, our bus ends up standing in line because of a trailer loaded with explosives that has overturned and now lies blocking E6 on the Swedish side of Svinesund. That means we have to turn around and go back over the border and drive through Halden (the other bus went that way, and never over the Svinesund bridge) where we have a weird go around in a roundabout. We catch up to the other bus somewhere in Sweden by skipping a stop they had somewhere after Halden. The first stop for our bus is somewhere I have no idea where is (Where are we? Somewhere in Sweden…). Here I finally talk to Helene since Oslo and take my first pictures of the trip.

Many hours later we’re standing still (we were stopped -_-) at the customs on the border to Denmark. The Swedish border police have found some fault with the driver’s papers according to some new EU rules. It looks like we’re stuck. But no, after 30 minutes they actually let us go and we’re finally free to drive over the Øresund bridge and arrive in Copenhagen. Once again the other bus arrives before us. They took another way over, by boat (do we have a bad driver or what?!).

And we’re in Copenhagen, finally after 9 hours! On the way we got one copy of the album each, and a t-shirt. We also listened to the album three times, the last time after demanding something other than National Bank of Håkon Moslet, P3’s music boss.
The first thing I do when we arrive, is to go looking for a mini bank. There are two reasons for this. One is that I need money to buy new batteries for my camera (ouch, forgot to bring extras) and cigarettes for my mom. And I need money for something to drink at Loppen.

It’s 6 pm and we’re at Loppen. I got the cigarettes and the new batteries. The show is about to start. The warm up isn’t really my taste in music, but it’s nice enough. Although I see it as more of a cool down before the building is about to explode. After three or four songs by Mats Langer (some Danish artist) we are treated to a special selected song by Janove (Bob Hund’s 115. dröm) before it’s time for some selected fans to ask the band questions. All of this is directly broadcast on Norwegian (and Danish?) radio.
It’s time for the questions, so Janove and Geir appear on the stage (which is only 15-20 cm high!). These are the questions asked:

Then we listen to “Nirvana – Smells like teen spirit”, also chosen by Kaizers, before there are more questions. They are:

And finally it’s time for the concert. They open with “Maskineri“, followed by “Moment“. The new songs are great live. The oil barrels on “Maskineri” are great! I love being at Loppen right at this time. It’s definitely worth the 9 hours with lack of fresh air in a bus full of people.
I sing along to the new songs, even though I stumble over the lyrics at some places. I just can’t keep myself from it.
After the opening with a couple of new songs they play some old ones, before Janove ask us how the bus ride went. The he announces that NRK has 958 000 listeners in Norway right now. Then we get “9 mm“, “Volvo i Mexico” and “Enden av November“. Before “Volvo I Mexico” ,Janove asks us if we have learned the new lyrics. The answer is a bit hard to hear, but he decides it’s a yes. The chorus for that song is extremely jumpable either way, so we jump! And it helps that Janove yells “Loppen jump, jump!” in between the singing.

By the time they play “Enden av November” , we can hear by Janove’s speech that he is drunk. But who cares, it’s the release party! And the singing isn’t affected so that we can hear it anyway…
We get three more old songs before they end the radio show with “Med en gong eg når bånn” and “Apokalyps meg”. Somewhere in between there, Janove announces that we who have traveled all the way to Copenhagen by bus will get an extra something later. This turns out to be three more songs. Namely “Blitzregn baby”, “Resistansen” and “170”.

The full z-list ended up as:

  1. Maskineri
  2. Moment
  3. Container
  4. Ompa til du dør
  5. Bøn fra helvete
  6. 9 mm
  7. Volvo i Mexico
  8. Enden av november
  9. KGB
  10. Maestro
  11. Kontroll på kontinentet
  12. Med en gong eg når bånn
  13. Apokalyps meg
    ———————————————

  14. Blitzregn baby
  15. Resistansen
  16. 170

After the concert we have one and a half hours to do whatever we want before the busses depart for Norway again. During this time, I talk to Helge, Geir, and Janove a bit. And I meet a lot of fellow fans. I also had in mind to talk to Terje, but before I get that far, Helene mentions to him that it is Nils’ (the light guy) birthday. So therefore Terje runs off to congratulate him before I have a chance. I only got to answer no to the question if I had a lighter…

I also manage to get a z-list and a drumstick from the concert. YAY! I get them signed by some of the members of Kaizers. (This is my third drumstick from Kaizers, I have one from each Kaizers concert I have been to)

It’s now 10 pm and we climb into the busses again. After a u-turn in Copenhagen (yes, we definitely have the worst driver), we party our way home again. A nachspiel over three countries, that’s something to brag about in school XD.
The toilet is full so we make several stops on our way through Sweden. I vaguely remember a McDonald’s somewhere, I am so tired at this point…

Then at 6.30 am, I stand at the bus station in Oslo. I’m dead tired and can’t think straight. My phone is dead and the next bus to Arendal leaves at 8.15. I’m HAPPY because I’ve finally seen Kaizers live again after a long break! And now I can’t wait until March when they play in Arendal… My conclusion is that the trip down to Denmark was dead boring, but it was definitely worth every second on that bus. No question about that!

Some fun facts from the trip:

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2008/2/18: Copenhagen, Loppen
(by Linn)