So. Now the big conclusion, the last concert of the tour, after almost 2 months on the road. Of course, I expected something special – a different setlist, collecting all forces again, gathering all the energy for the final show. But well… the concert turned out to be absolute average.
Still – an average Kaizers concert is very entertaining, no doubt about it. =;-) So please don’t let yourself be scared by the rather negative tone of this report, that’s because of other things… more about that lateron. I really had a good time (up to the encores), and also after the concert, I didn’t feel like this was a bad conclusion or something. It was just a pity to see how much more would have been possible if only some people had cared a bit more about how the show turns out…
But I’m getting ahead here. The concert started really funny with Geoff Berner. After he made fun of Norwegians in general, the monitor mixer suddenly came on stage and almost invisibly and without any comment replaced Geoff’s whiskey by a bottle of water. *rofl* Which Geoff probably wouldn’t have noticed at all for a while, if not for parts of the audience screaming out in laughter. *g* But then he started complaining and got his whiskey back rather quickly. =;-) And then Geoff played a completely new song that he had written during the tour and somehow about the tour. Unfortunately, I only turned on the camera after the first line (which was “One must be a man to wear my hat” *g*):
And then it was time for Kaizers. The setlist was almost identical to the first concert in Copenhagen – a pity, I had really hoped for some surprises there. On the other hand, the setlist is about perfect by now, and I can absolutely understand that Kaizers really don’t want to bother with changing the setlist for the last show, and maybe even practicing some songs just to be safe… Here’s the list: Maskineri, Bastard sønn, 9mm, Sigøynerblod, Veterans klage, Ompa til du dør, Bøn fra helvete, Blitzregn baby, Volvo i Mexiko, Kontroll på kontinentet, Enden av november, Resistansen, Apokalyps meg, Den andre er meg, Maestro. Encore Knekker deg til sist, Bak et halleluja, 170, second encore Die Polizei.
Of course the crew also played a small prank on Kaizers – the Jackal’s microphone stand was at the height of about his knees. And of course this caused some confused looks on stage. =;-)
As yesterday, Kaizers didn’t talk a lot on stage but played one song after the other. And honestly – EVERYBODY knows the 1:40 announcement by now… so no, I’m pretty sure that the guy in the audience that guessed the 1:40 didn’t know that because of the Amsterdam concert, but because of yesterday’s concert… *rolleyes* And I think I’ve also heard the part about CLOCKS! that actually exist in Holland before. But the funny part was that afterwards, the Jackal used Hellraizer as a clothes hanger and Omen was sleeping on his organ in the meantime… *lol*
During the introduction in Kontroll på kontinentet, Omen was busy drinking and so he was dripping afterwards. =;-) Thunder was from “Wunderklammer, Coroform and The Big D Upstairs”. And while introducing Hellraizer, the Jackal suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore: “He made him look good in black, he made him look good in red, he… or she???” – and then he checked the color of his underwear once again – “yes. SHE made him look good in pink!” =;-)
Towards the end, the Jackal asked again who had gotten to know Kaizers via the radio or the TV. And just like in Cologne, the answer was clear – almost everybody knew Kaizers through a friend! And I can absolutely understand that it is frustrating to see that all the promo and all the radio singles just don’t work… =:-(
So far so good. As I wrote already – the concert was really entertaining. Nothing special, but the atmosphere in the audience was very good and the concert was a lot of fun. But the part I really hated was the atmosphere on stage, especially from the Jackal (but of course it’s just most noticeable with him =;-)). I have no doubts about that this tour was extremely long and exhausting and that at some point in time, you just don’t care about it anymore and want to go home. But during the very last concert it should be possible to gather the forces again and just focus on delivering a final good show?
Seems it was not possible. During Volvo i Mexiko, the Jackal did not jump from the barrels this time. When he didn’t manage to put his microphone on the stand (well, if you don’t hit the clamp… *rolleyes*), he started to curse and rant loudly about how he’s been asking for a new clamp for 30 days now, but no, nothing is happening, what is this shit… And then he screwed off the clamp, handed it to the monitor mixer (and no, I don’t want to think about the conversations accompanying that..) and threw the stand into the aisle in front of the stage. Kind as he is, the monitor guy got it up again before Bak et halleluja (I wouldn’t have done that…) – and probably out of pure gratitude for that, the Jackal gave him the finger when he didn’t react at once when the Jackal wanted the guitar a bit louder…
As I said – I can really understand that this tour is nerve-wracking and demanding and that they just wanted to get it over now. But I have no sympathy for them really losing control and starting to drag stuff like this on stage. Especially when the end of the tour is at hand already… This is just completely unprofessional, sorry.
Well, so that’s why I couldn’t believe a single word of the Jackal’s announcement when they came back for the encores: “The show must go on! We will play until 3:00 am, and then we start again tomorrow at 8:00, when they open again.” Sure. Would have been a really nice announcement with just a tiny little bit of enthusiasm in it. But there wasn’t, and it seemed completely out of place to me.
I also thought that Bak et halleluja was very sloppy and quick then, just as 170 (but I have to admit that I just don’t really like that song anyway). But it just ended, suddenly, without a real climax.
Honestly, I didn’t expect a second encore. So it was a bit of a consolation that all of them actually came out once more to play Die Polizei. That was really nice, and you could see that the atmosphere on stage was a bit better again. Still far away from other conclusion concerts I have seen (I remember some tears on stage there, and hey, that’s how it’s got to be, rock music IS emotional after all!), but better than the atmosphere before.
And as I wrote – all of this might sound really negative, but that was just my subjective impression. I can really understand why and how it turned out like this, but honestly, I expect some professionality there. Even if the tour was just too much. And at the same time I hope that the next tours won’t be that bad and that they will never do such a long and exhaustive tour again.
It’s kind of stupid to finish off a tour with a report like this… But I can only say that I did not go home with a bad feeling after this concert. But with a big grin in the face, just like always. Because even a bad Kaizers concert is a Kaizers concert! =;-) And Kaizers are still the best, no matter what, and even though I have to admit that they seem to become more and more aloof and “rockstar-like” – that’s not the whole band, and everyone gets back down on earth once in a while. =;-) You just need to wait for the right moment and ignore all other events. *g*
In any case, thanks so much for a terrific tour! It was absolutely worth it – all the concerts were different, some were perfect, others more average, but there was none that I would have wanted to miss. Greetings to everybody I was on tour with or met on the road. It was great being with you, and see you next time! =:-)