KAIZERS ORCHESTRA ::

KAIZERS ORCHESTRA
szene / vienna, austria
28th september 2005

there is no sure-fire way of testint whether a patricular concert was good or not. of course, there are the main 'ingredients' (if you will) like good sound, good crowd and things like that. but that's about it. you can't compare a concert of, say, THE BOSTON POPS with that of J.G. THIRLWELL or LOOPTROOP. totally different things. but if you want to measure a concert by how much the audience can and does tap into the performances, makes it an interactive experience, then KAIZERS ORCHESTRA make it to the top 5 of the list easily.

this was the third time i had the opportunity to see them live. first time around was when they were touring with their first album, 'ompa til du dor', sometime in 2001. that was also at szene. it was a tremendous show. about half a year later i saw them at an open air festival. and although it was early afternoon, there weren't many people in front of the stage and that whole club atmosphere, that you'd expect is necessary for that kind of music to work, wasn't there at all - depsite all of that, KAIZERS ORCHESTRA blew me away. and they did so third time round.

the szene was packed. that means almost 600 people. 600 sweating, drinking, pushing, clapping, dancing people. and i usually hate that. but i didn't mind at all yesterday. brilliant sound. brilliant band. they dug into all the good songs, playing lots off 'ompa til du dor' and some from the new record 'maestro'. when KAIZERS ORCHESTRA are on stage it's a mix between cabaret, pub at the docks feeling and entertainment revue. other people say do announcements inbetween songs. KAIZERS talk to the people inbetween sonsg, during songs, all the time. it was just as enjoyable as can be to clap along with the songs, sing the hooklines (even though they are in norwegian and we don't understand a bloody word of it) and just go along with the whole show. the humppa drums, the bashing of steel gallons, the silly jokes.

there were parts in the show were the singer didn't even have to say anything and they crowd clapped loudly and sang at the right times, the right lyrics. at one point the band even stopped playing and the crowd took the rythm and some "oooh-oooh"-ing on themselves for a couple of minutes! during another song they let a guy from the audience on the stage to play a short solo on the guitar. they got off the stage and mingled with the crowd. all of it. and it never seemed rehearsed or planned. it just ran so smoothly. a big jam between the KAIZERS ORCHESTRA and the people at the szene that night.

there's no way i can describe this concert. i can only say time and time again: go, go and see the KAIZERS ORCHESTRA as soon as you can. you won't regret it. trust me.