Well, I know I wrote that I won’t be able to make it to the concerts in Moss and Sarpsborg – but well, never say never. =;-) And theoretically, I could have worked from Norway as well, if my machine had actually let me access the network. As it didn’t, I just have to hope that everything went well while I was gone… *uhem*
But hey, already after the first concert I am sure that this trip was worth it! Even though I encountered all the typical “Skambankt concert travel catastrophes” on the way – but I guess I’m already used to that by now. First: Flight to Amsterdam delayed due to the weather in Amsterdam… After an hour we were allowed to board, just to hear from the captain: “Well, actually we have a start slot twenty minutes from now, but now, there is an emergency at the airport and the airport is closed…” Luckily, it only took another thirty minutes. But of course, that meant we were late in Amsterdam, my flight to Oslo was gone, and I spent one and a half hours waiting in the transfer queue. Luckily I knew exactly when the next flight would go, so I could cut in line and insist on being re-booked a few minutes before the check-in for that flight was closed… Otherwise, I would probably still be in Amsterdam. *rolleyes*
Anyway, I actually MADE it to Norway, and after a short stop in Oslo, we found ourselves in Moss. We had been there for a short visit a few years ago, and the only thing I remember from that is that it stinks. And we got out of the car – yep, still the same. Guess there’s some factory around…
We found Tivoli Amfi, met up with Ragnhild, and started waiting… The concert place was kinda cool – an old theater, with a gallery, chandelier and red walls (but no chairs, even though we imagined that might be kinda funny as well – or maybe rather ridiculous? *g*). But it was pretty empty, not a lot of people there, and it was clear it wouldn’t be sold out in the end. When Skambankt came on, there was basically only a first row and a couple of people in the back. Ooops…
But: It didn’t take more than the first song for the audience to heat up! People were in a great mood (and full, okay, but not aggressive), they wanted to party, and Skambankt delivered the perfect soundtrack!
To cut it short: The concert turned out really amazing! I hadn’t expected that at all, but the audience was great and loud, and everybody in front of and on the stage was having great fun, it seemed. Yeah!
Skambankt played quite long actually, about 70 minutes. The setlist didn’t contain big surprises: Vår Bør, Skambankt, Slukk meg, Me sa nei, Dynasti, Malin, Alarm, Desertør, Tyster, KKK, Tanker som mareritt, O dessverre, Stormkast #1, encore Panzersjokk and Skamania.
KKK wasn’t really planned, but people asked for it so loudly that they replaced Panzersjokk, which was actually on the normal setlist, and moved Panzersjokk to the encores.
Everybody shouted along loudly on Skambankt (something that the band obviously hadn’t really expected *g*), Slukk meg was amazing again, and in Me sa nei we had to count down from 10 – something completely new. *g* During one of the first songs, Ted tested whether the monitor boxes could hold a man – they couldn’t, so he involuntarily greeted the first row before he warned his collegues: “Tollak, Børge, Hans – don’t step there, that’s dangerous!” *lol*
After a few songs, it was time to greet the audience. “Vi har jo hørt mye bra om oss!” – huh?!? Argh, okay. Norwegian desperately needs a glottal stop! Of course, that was “Vi har hørt mye bra om Moss!” *rofl* Anyway, the next five minutes were spent with talk about pølser with waffles, which seems to be a local specialty. With marmelade, of course! (ARGH! =:-o) But Skambankt will try that today, they promised… *g*
At the beginning of Alarm, Ted wanted to get us to count in, but nobody really got that. So, of course, they had to take a girl up on stage in the middle again to count in. She managed. *g*
Right after Alarm, a guy in the audience started to shout for a drum-solo – kinda stupid, as he had just gotten one… =;-) Then we got to vote: Do we want some hard stuff, or a Skambankt ballad? The vote was clear, so we got an extensive and impressive version of Desertør again. Followed by the ballad Tyster of course. =;-) Then the audience managed to convince Skambankt to take KKK next, instead of Panzersjokk.
As last song, Skambankt played the song that they stole… no, they DIDN’T steal it, they were just inspired by Iron Maiden. And only in the beginning! The rest is real Skambankt… *g* So, last song Stormkast… last song before the encores of course. Panzersjokk wasn’t a big surprise, but I hadn’t expected Skamania, actually. So great to hear that again! =:-)
The only problem was that Panzer’s guitar suddenly stopped working. So they had to take a short break – and took some questions in the meantime. First question: “How do you like Moss?”. Ted’s answer: “Det lukter dritt!” – “It smells like shit!” *rofl* Luckily, we were standing on the side without the Moss patriots, because we just HAD to applaud to this answer. *lol*
Then they managed to finish Skamania – just amazing, the audience loved it, the band loved it, and it was really fantastic. =:-)
So that concert alone was worth the trip already. Let’s see if Sarpsborg can keep up…