OK, at some point in time there had to be a “stupid” concert. And today was the day – but it definitely wasn’t due to the band. They were giving all they had, as always, and the concert could have been one of my greatest shows. If the audience had been interested in what was happening on stage… but nobody cared. This was already obvious during Geoff Berner’s performance. I was in second row, and behind me – nothing. OK, maybe 10-20 people were standing there, but all the other people in the audience were sitting somewhere in the back, out of sight. Terrible! At least there were some “hardcore-fans” there, so we could do something to heat up the atmosphere (we even managed to get the first row to clap along, ain’t that great? *argh*), but the rest of the audience consisted of the worst and most boring people I’ve ever seen, at a concert, at least. If someone feels offended by that – good, this is exactly what I wanna say. *grr*
So of course this report will sound very very negative, just because I was in a _very_ bad mood after the concert that I could never write anything better thatn that. *g* OK, there’s one thing about the audience that really was good: They did actually wake up during the Gypsy Finale, and afterwards they were applauding so long and so loud that there even was a second encore (something I would NEVER have expected), but I really think it’s very bad style to only show how much you appreciate the concert at the end of the show.
Well, in the end the night ended really nice, as we (meaning the fans) were standing around talking for fairly long and ended up in the pub nearby, explaining German traditions (so hi to all of you and thanks that you still talked to me even though I was in such a bad mood and tired and half dead and so on… *g*). Weirdly we even managed to compose a long list of notes about the concert, even though “nothing at all” had happened. =;-) And as I refuse to further think about that concert and will just erase it from my memory *g*, I will just copy what it says on that list. =;-)
But first the setlist: KGB, Delikatessen, Knekker deg til sist, Container, Ompa til du dør, Bøn fra helvete, De Involverte, Kontroll på kontinentet, Rulett, Dr. Mowinckel, Dieter Meyers Inst., Maestro. Encore Gypsy Finale, second encore Mr. Kaizer, hans Constanze og meg.
- No singing along, no audience interaction: All the parts where the audience should have acted were completely missing, the Jackal left them out. During Maestro, during Resistansen, during Kontroll på kontinentet – we sang along anyway *g*, but the singalong-parts were as short as somehow possible.
- Before the encore: “It’s a thing of giving and receiving!”, or, in other words, “you only get an encore if you do SOMETHING, damn!”. “What happens if I take up my hands like this now?” – okay, most people actually put them up as well, wow!
- “We played this next song a lot on our last tour, and we always dedicated it to Johnny Cash” – De Involverte. But Hellraizer wasn’t done yet with tuning his guitar. Jackal: “Are you ready now? My god, we’ve played 500 shows now and you’re still not ready!” At that point, someone in the audience shouted “faster” – that was actually pretty funny. *g* And then the Jackal acused Hellraizer of having a “bad hair day” today (hey, that was yesterday, definitely *g*).
- Time for questions. First one: “Are you from Norway?” Argh, how stupid can you be?!? Second “question” of a Swedish girl: “It’s great to be here!”. Third question: “Why do you guys always put your sweaty sport shoes in the bus?” – Jackal: “They don’t smell, Geoff…” – Hellraizer: “I can still smell it here!” – Jackal: “Security, get him out!” – Hellraizer: “Who IS that guy anyway?!?” *rofl*
- First Rulett and then Dr. Mowinckel, hey, do you want to kill me?!? Waaah… *drool*
- After that the mike was changed back to Jackal’s mike, ’cause he always needs his own microphone. And then we got the Sennheiser story again.
- During Kontroll på kontinentet – Jackal: “Should I introduce the band now?” – Audience: “…” – Jackal: “Uh… was that a yes? Should I introduce the band now???” – Audience: “Do it if you want to, but don’t interrupt us talking all the time, we don’t care for what you are doing anyway…” – Jackal: “OK, I’ll help you out, I take that as a yes…” Argh. Stay at home, people, if you act like that… *shakehead*
- In the end we actually got Mr. Kaizer, hans Constanze og meg, where the band (except for Hellraizer by the way, I guess someone’s not too fond of that song *g*) had to come out and sing, of course, ’cause nobody except for the second row knew the lyrics =;-). The Jackal didn’t know them either, by the way, he had to think a little somewhere in the middle, but well, good they practiced it before Copenhagen. *g*
- Jackal about Hellraizer: “This is the man I almost married – but then I found a better man!”
- After Dr. Mowinckel: “Now get your gear, Geir!”
- Before Sigøynerblod, Hellraizer was climbing the barrel – exactly the way the audience applauded all night – verrrrry slowly and carefully. At some point in time he decided that was stupid, got up and commented dryly: “whatever…”
- When they went off stage, Killmaster went to the mike: “See you next time – bring 5 friends!” *rofl*
So well, actually the concert was great, and we had LOTS of fun when we thought about all those things again afterwards. But it hurt to see how the audience just didn’t care. And it was hard work to not get caught in that atmosphere, but cheer and have fun _anyway_. But we managed, at least a little… =;-)