The concert in Prague was organized by a Norwegian student union – which meant that you basically didn’t hear anything but Norwegian after you entered the venue, and hardly any Czech at all. As a result, we got a Norwegian concert in the middle of the European tour, in a way. Okay, actually it was more of a “bygde concert” than a real Kaizers concert, thus a “happening” where everybody wanted to attend, no matter if they cared about Kaizers or not – but it was definitely impressive. And the venue was packed!
Right from the beginning you could notice that the noise level in the audience was very high – not everyone was there to see the concert, but it was an “event” for the Norwegian students in the Czech Republic. In addition, only some of the people actually knew the songs – except for the hits of course. Hjerteknuser, for example, was sung by the audience alone. But other Violeta songs or for example Min kvite russer seemed to be completely unknown to most of the audience. I found it really funny when the Jackal had to explain three times that the song title is En for orgelet, en for MEG, and then the audience didn’t manage to figure out the correct rhythm even until the end of the song. During Kvite russer, the Jackal started improvising a bit at the end, which caused the audience to lose track, so that they didn’t know anymore how to sing along.
And still – the atmosphere was splendid, of course! Right in the beginning, the Jackal asked who was from Norway – and after about 95% raised their hands, the Jackal decided to do the announcements in Norwegian. “If you don’t understand, just ask your neighbor!”
In the beginning, it seemed like the audience had to wake up a bit first (and like they didn’t know any of the songs), but throughout the concert, they got louder and more enthusiastic. During Kontroll på kontinentet, the Jackal told us that this was maybe the best audience on the tour – well, it is much easier for Norwegians to sing along than it is for Europeans. =;-) (But then, the Europeans usually do a much better job with Kvite russer …) And Killmaster proved the point by jumping into the audience for his solo, and the crowd carried him across the room. It worked almost TOO well, ’cause it took really long until he made it back on stage. The following hits got a great reaction, of course, and the grins on stage were basically as broad as they could get.
There was a reason to celebrate as well – not only because of the prominent visitor Bjørn Eidsvåg (if I understood correctly; didn’t see him), but also because of tour manager Marcus’ 50th birthday. Gosh, he looks young for that age. =;-)
So we got some cake! A birthday cake in Swedish colors after the concert at the merch, and another one with the Kaizers logo on stage after we passed the “Kaizer test” (to cheer enough for Forloveren). Kaizers worked on that cake with the crowbar to “cut” it into pieces. Or mess it up, that’s probably the more fitting way to describe it. =;-)
What I found surprising was that they did not play Svarte katter. They had played that one at all other concerts – but the Roxy is known for a strict curfew, so maybe there just wasn’t enough time to fit in all songs. They also had Drøm videre, Violeta on the setlist but didn’t play it.
Not much more to report, actually – all in all, it was a great concert with an awesome atmosphere. However, I really don’t want to compare it to any other concerts of the tour, because it basically was a Norwegian concert somewhere in Europe.
The setlist:
- Aldri vodka, Violeta
- Siste dans
- Det polaroide liv
- Din kjole lukter bensin, mor
- En for orgelet, en for meg
- I ett med verden
- Støv og sand
- Ompa til du dør
- Bøn fra helvete
- Min kvite russer
- Philemon Arthur & the Dung
- Kontroll på kontinentet
- Tusen dråper regn
- Maestro
- Forloveren
- Hjerteknuser
———– - KGB
- Dieter Meyers Inst.
———– - Begravelsespolka