The next day started with a big breakfast and a sightseeing tour of Drammen (which was really nice – even though you probably wouldn’t expect that in a town like Drammen *gg*). Then the trip to Oslo, some speed-shopping and dinner with Linda, until it was time to get to Rockefeller.
Yes, Rockefeller. Definitely too big for Skambankt, they will never fill that up… Or so I thought. And actually, when we came there (which was already a quarter to ten or so, thus long after the doors opened), it looked like I was right. Hardly anybody there, the gallery was closed, and when the support band came on stage, there were maybe 5 rows in front of the stage and very few people in the back… I judged the support Captain Murphy to be extremely boring, but it filled the time – until the people turned up to see Skambankt! And they DID turn up. When Skambankt came on, Rockefeller was filled. Not sold out of course, but really crowded. And for the first time (of those concerts I saw), people started screaming for Skambankt before they came on!
So there was no doubt that the concert would be terrific. And just to prove it, Skambankt came out and started with full energy. During the second song already, Fist and Panzer were standing on the front row rails, seeking the contact to the audience that was going mad. And they didn’t let down a second – well, except for “taking it down” a bit of course, as they had studied the manual of how to do rock concerts very carefully, and well, you must have some curves there. =;-) This time, the “down time” was Fritt fall.
And this concert wasn’t just “going to be good”, as Ted promised in Drammen. This time, he promised right from the beginning that this would be “only better and better and better!” And he was right! Honestly, I can’t really attribute that to the band – they performed like always, maybe with less “downs” than at other concerts. But the energy is always there on stage, so there wasn’t really that much difference. But the audience was going along so well, the atmosphere was so amazing, that this concert really turned out special. We had to sing the ending of Tyster again (and hey, THAT smile on Mr. Winters’ face afterwards!), we had to count up during Alarm (and it actually _worked_!), and at some point in time, they got some people up on stage to count up as well. Before playing Tyster, Ted admitted that they have become really commercial by now, a “radio band”. But nobody cared. =;-) And in the middle of the song it all builds up to (*grr*), Winters suddenly stopped, said “Takk for oss” and disappeared off stage. Well, guess he shocked his band colleagues more than the audience there… *gg*
The setlist was the same as in Drammen – or well, almost. ‘Cause in the end, Ted stayed on stage when the others disappeared backstage, and declared that he wouldn’t go off stage without playing one more song. The audience got to choose, and then we got Panzersjokk as last song. And that was it, the end of the concert, and the end of the tour for me… but it was the best last concert I could wish for. This was just perfect!
Another beer at Mono with Linda, Truls and Titti, and getting up quarter to five the next morning after one and a half hours of sleep… Did I say already that Ryanair sucks? =:-(
Anyway, this was more than worth it. I had such a great time in Drammen and Oslo! Thanks so much to Aud for the nice welcome, and to Truls, Linda and Titti for the company. And I’m really starting to feel comfortable in Norwegian now, yeah! So, if anybody got a job for me in Norway… =;-)
And of course, last but not least, thanks a whole bunch to Skambankt. Love the music, love the shows, and I can’t wait for some festivals to see you guys again! Hmm, or maybe I should take that trip to Fredrikstad next month?
Comments
ich bin nur ganz wenig neidisch. ;D
OK. I just found out that Captain Murphy wasn’t Captain Murphy but some other Swedish band that filled in for Captain Murphy. So I take it back, Captain Murphy are not boring, but the band that did actually warm up and spoke Swedish and mentioned the name Captain Murphy was boring. *g*