2014/08/30: Skambankt, Verket

(Photos)

The last festival show of the summer – at Verket festival in Mo i Rana! I’ve been there once before, five years ago. After that, I decided that no matter how awesome the line up, Mo i Rana is just TOO far off to go there for a festival … Well, now that I’m based in Trondheim, I can just hop on the train (for six and a half hours …) and I’m there!

So everything was set for the last Skambankt gig of the summer, before the fall tour starts in October. And to jump ahead a bit: Skambankt delivered a great show, but the audience didn’t quite live up to the expectations … Throughout the whole festival, people in the audience weren’t really that interested in what was happening on stage, and even if they were, only the first couple of rows would actually participate in the concert. Everyone else would hold their drink and maybe listen – but more likely, they would be talking or wandering around (bumping into other people). So more of a bygdefest atmosphere than a great music festival, even though the line up was amazing and promised a great experience … which it was, from a musical point of view, but the atmosphere didn’t quite keep up with it.

Skambankt were the next-to-last band on the main stage, before Satyricon on the small stage and Åge & Sambandet as headliner. What a mixture! So it’s probably not really surprising that only the people in the front had any idea what they were in for. And that was obvious throughout the whole show. Usually, when Skambankt start to play Voodoo, a cheer or at least some murmuring goes through the audience after the first few notes. This time: nothing. Having the audience sing the chorus of Mantra? Forget it … Terje wanted to start a Wall of Death in Me sa nei and actually explained very clearly this time what he wanted the audience to do (“Did you understand what I said??”). But well, getting them to draw apart didn’t really work already, and while I couldn’t really see if anything happened when they were supposed to run towards one another, I seriously doubt it. There was some more jumping and “hands in the air” after that, and a few people were shouting “hey” in Tanker som Mareritt, but it was still far from what is normal for Skambankt shows – or even Skambankt festival shows.

Skambankt really tried their best to get the audience to go along. At the end of Voodoo, they improvised a part where the audience would just have to sing “ohohoh” – but no, not even that really worked. It was fun to see though!

And I’m not sure if they just gave up after that or if it was some joke that I didn’t get, but Terje asked which song we would like better – an up-tempo, typical Skambankt song or … “or no, you don’t get an alternative, here is Min Eliksir”! Probably just afraid that the audience might choose the alternative? =;-)

In the end, they were finished ten minutes early, but I understand why they didn’t add another song to the set … =:-/

Here’s the setlist:

• Anonyme hatere
• Skambankt
• O dessverre
• Mantra
• Vå bør
• Som en sirene
• Me sa nei
• Dynasti
• Min eliksir
• Tanker som mareritt
• Voodoo
• Stormkast #1

And to conclude the festival season, Skambankt pulled a special stunt later on and played a song together with Åge & Sambandet, the headliner of the night. From what I heard, that was really awesome and a great experience for both band and audience – but then, I was already on my way back to the hotel and only found out about it afterwards … *grr*

But hey, no reason complaining about a rather uneventful festival show and a missed special performance – let’s instead focus on the upcoming fall tour, which I’m sure will be amazing. Can’t wait! =:-)

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