Hmm … Somehow, Kaizers have been doing lots of things lateley that I didn’t expect at all. For example this “studio tour” with exactly four shows to cover the album costs (and not more than four shows, because the four are sufficient, even though they could have easily filled Folken twice). Or the fact that they suddenly announced playing at EuroSonic festival (does that mean they are targeting Europe again? *startingrumors*). Or that they have posted new (and in my opinion still somehow immature) songs on their website the last few weeks, so that the audience at the studio tour has a chance to listen to them beforehand. Or that they, on the day of the first concert, feed information to the media that they will not only publish ONE album in 2011, but THREE – sorry by the way that I didn’t manage to pass that information on earlier (and that I don’t really have the time to translate anything right now), but hey, at the time the news came out, I was stuck at Copenhagen Airport without internet… *gg*
Because OF COURSE I could not miss out on the opening concert of the studio tour! Although I really wasn’t in concert mood at all (and this actually didn’t change until the concert started…), but still, of course I had to go see at least two concerts of the tour. =;-)
Arriving at Folken was fun, because there were lots of nice people to finally meet again! Some actually came over from the US to finally see a Kaizers concert (and people keep telling ME that I’m crazy…). The concert started a bit before the planned time already (probably because it was a Wednesday), with the opening band Grand Island. Guess I’ll find out tonight whether I remember some of the songs. In any case, it sounded great, and the audience enjoyed it.
And since I don’t want to sort out now what is general information about the concert and what was specific to the studio tour, here’s the warning: Here there be spoilers! =;-) Only read on if you do not bother to read about the details of the studio tour concerts before you’ve seen your own concert.
As always, it started with the Russian Dance. The backline was wearing gray suits (I think *g*) with white shirts, the guitarists came on in all black with red ties, and the Jackal … has apparently watched too much Rammstein lately. Short-cropped, half-gray hair, a mesh singlet beneath the jacket, and thick and heavy boots with the pants tucked into them?! What the heck? But well, if he likes it… *cough*
The first song was one of the new ones already, namely Femtakt Filosofi. Really not bad – if there only was a way to dance to that song! But that isn’t that easy in five-four time… And that is exactly the problem that I see with the other two new songs as well. They are too choppy, there is no consistent beat, and it’s not only the audience that has trouble moving and dancing to these songs – Kaizers themselves are also rather motionless on stage… But hopefully this will change once they know how to really play the songs.
The next songs were well-known: KGB, Djevelens Orkester, Knekker deg til sist, Delikatessen… huh? What kind of setlist is that?! Well, in any case, it was absolutely fantastic, hell yeah! =:-D The Jackal greeted us by announcing that Kaizers are in a kind of “intermediate” phase at the moment – not introducing a new album, not touring with an old one, but preparing their trilogy. As we all know anyway, of course, because after all we were the first who bought tickets for the concert (which was sold out within days), so of course we’re the ones who know what is going on. Killmaster’s objection that maybe we didn’t hear about that because we were getting ready for the concert was dismissed, so that we didn’t get to hear anything else about the trilogy. *g*
But lateron, the Jackal announced that he had to urgently tell us two things. Number one: Everybody at the concert will get a copy of the first album of the trilogy, more info about this is availale on kaizers.no (seems to be really complicated, because he didn’t want to explain it further – wonder why they not just added a sheet with explanations to the “Kaizer card”?). For the second issue, Hellraizer interrupted him: “Emergency exit!!1” Uh, sure. So the Jackal quickly explained to us where the emergency exits are, in case of fire. *lol* And for number three (of two *g*): Of course there will be a big tour following the release of the trilogy. And the climax and conclusion of the tour will be in Oslo on April 9, 2011, at their biggest concert ever at Oslo Spektrum! Hey, you only need 9000 people to fill that one… Did I hear somebody say “megalomania”? *g* But I will be there, of course… *cough*
The setlist remained rather unusual. We were still at the beginning of the concert – but now we got Resistansen and Maestro! Where Hellraizer proved his talent as a mime artist. “Pictures” and “gått ned” were not really difficult to depict. But when he came to “hundre menn”, Hellraizer looked slightly panicked when he realized that he only has ten fingers and it could take a bit longer to mime 100… *rofl*
After that, the song Kaizers obviously can’t do without, namely Apokalpys meg (I think I’ll mark the day in my calendar when they do NOT play the song *sigh*… I mean, the song in itself isn’t bad, it just kills the atmosphere because it is impossible to move to that song…), and then a surprise: Bris! =:-D
Well, and now most people (especially Norwegians) will probably disagree… Because then we were at the highlight of the show – at least I assume that was Kaizers’ plan. But I couldn’t have cared less… Because now it was time for the big “special guest” of the day (and also the whole tour, actually): Morten Abel. And no, I don’t like him at all. The main reason being his terrible guest appearance at Verketfestivalen, where he didn’t know either the lyrics or the melody, and he even managed to almost confuse the Jackal…
But it seemed to mean much to Kaizers to be on stage together with him. And the song was a perfect pick, actually, namely: Prosessen! This fit very well, because it is such a pop song, so it really suits Morten. So yep, I give my approval. *g * Even though he could have managed to learn the one verse he was singing by heart, rather than read it off the barrel in a totaaaaally inconspicuous manner.
Unfortunately, it got worse afterwards… “We called Morten to ask if he wants to join in for a song, and he immediately asked ‘One song? Or two, three, four?'” Argh… So the guest star stayed on stage a bit longer. Next up was one of his own songs, “Hands of the Lord”. I didn’t know it, and I doubt I will remember it tonight, but it was actually saved when Killmaster played his guitar solo and suddenly used the Maestro riff, and shortly thereafter, the whole band was playing more Maestro than anything else. They hijacked the song, yeah! *gg* But that still wasn’t the end of the guest appearance. Next, the Jackal handed his mike to Hellraizer. And yes, we got Rulett! Yeah! =:-D Unfortunately, it was destroyed a bit by the guest musician that didn’t know the lyrics and that nobody wanted to see anyway… *cough* (Sorry, I know I’m being mean here, and probably a lot of people loved it, but I’ve paid for Kaizers and not for Mr A. I don’t care for him, and I don’t want him to ruin the concert by jumping around stupidly and forgetting the lyrics – that’s the Jackal’s job, goddammit! *grr*)
But then, that part was finally over. =;-) Kaizers continued with Ompa til du dør and Bøn fra helvete, and then it was time for some new songs again, namely Philemon Arthur & The Dung and then Sju botter tårer er nok, Beatrice. For both it is the same as for Femtakt Filosofi – I didn’t really like them when they were first released, but in concert, they did convince me – as songs. However, they are fully “undanceable”, and the band is all focussed on playing and thus not moving at all, so that in my opinion, the songs don’t really have live qualities. And that is deadly for a live band like Kaizers… But let’s wait and see, it’s still a bit until 2011.
As conclusion, we got Kontroll på kontinentet (without band introduction this time), before Kaizer said goodbye.
I had already spotted the vibraphone before, and the encores started in a perfect way: They played Maskineri! Yeah! Unfortunately, it wasn’t as peppy as I had remembered it, but still great. *g* And as nobody was in a hurry to get home, although it was a Wednesday night (a short survey: “Who took a day off from work tomorrow?” *g*), there were some more songs. First up Senor Torpedo! =:-D And as final conclusion, they played Dieter Meyers Inst. – which actually fulfills exactly the same criteria as Apokalyps meg, with it being impossible to dance to that song, but still, this one is plain out great, period. *g*
And then they were gone again – but of course there was a second encore. And as in theater plays, all the guest stars come out again at the very end… So Morten was allowed to sing along during Sonny again – but he couldn’t really ruin anything there. *cough* On the contrary, actually. It was very amusing to watch Morten Abel and Hellraizer at the same mike, simultaneously singing two different wrong lyrics, while the Jackal looked at them reproachfully, shaking his head, and grinning. *rofl*
Hach ja. I’m not quite sure yet what I think about the concert – I guess I need today’s concert for comparison. In any case, it was terrific to finally see them again. The setlist was absolutely perfect, the atmosphere was great, they had gread fun on stage, and the only downside for me was Morten Abel. But tonight I will simply ignore him. *g* Because otherwise, the concert was really great, I think! =:-D
Here’s the overview of the setlist: Femtakt Filosofi, KGB, Djevelens Orkester, Knekker deg til sist, Delikatessen, Resistansen, Maestro, Apokalyps meg, Bris, Prosessen, Hands of the Lord, Rulett, Ompa til du dør, Bøn fra helvete, Philemon Arthur & The Dung, Sju bøtter tårer er nok Beatrice, Kontroll på kontinentet, Maskineri, Senor Torpedo, Dieter Meyers Inst, Sonny.
Gosh, that was long! =:-o
Comments
Gibt es später auch noch (Rammstein-)Photos zum Konzert? *vorfreu*
Liebe, aber ungeduldige Grüße, ;0)