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Re: CrashDïet review, Jevnaker Norway 18.06.2011
"It's just his native nature"
I had my doubts when CrashDiet was booked to a venue in the middle of nowhere in an untapped territory like Norway. Jevnaker is regretfully situated right between two population centers of Oslo to the south and the towns of lake Mjøsa to the north.
However, as several famous bands like Wasp, Uriah Heep and Hardcore Superstar have been booked or having recently played there, I was fairly optimistic. One thing worried me though, as CrashDiet largely caters to a young audience, how would they get there? No public transportation at all meant you had to drive yourself or know someone that could take you. Realistically, that means anyone outside an area of 1-2 hours drive would deem the trip too far to take even if they could make the necessary arrangements.
Second doubt was if CrashDiet actually could fare well in a country in which the media have rediculed any artist with hair going further down than the ears for decades. Norway is indeed the birthplace of death metal bands like Dimmu Borgir and Satyricon, but what foreigners largely don't know and which my foreign wife so disappointingly found out; their fanbases are in Germanly and Poland. Not in Norway. When did any of those bands last tour in Norway? Only exception to this case of media redicule is Turbonegro. I still struggle to see why but they seem to be «accepted.»
25 years ago, Norway had it's own rock movement like Sweden have had in the recent years with bands like CrashDiet, Crazy Lixx, Sister etc. Several very talented rock bands came out of Trondheim (or had connections to Trondheim) in the early 80's like TNT, Stage Dolls or Tindrum. These bands too, have largely been recieving cheap shots from the press for years and years. For example, TNT's largely successful comeback album «My Religion» from 2004 was for once given good reviews in the press, but not without cheap shots like; «TNT got a new album, I'm not sure what to do with it. Give it to the dog, or use it as a frisbee». Second example, Bon Jovi did a massive concert in Oslo recently to good reviews, but yet again not without journalists being passive aggressive in their statements and indirectly mocking both the band and the audience even though one reviewer admitted he had never heard such a massive roar from any crowd ever before. Like pointed out, anything with long hair will be labeled unsophisticated, bad taste or cliched by the media. It was interesting to watch CrashDiet's second warm-up band on the bill, Molotov, with this in mind. They play good stuff, but they look more like bankers and kindergarten assistants than a rock n roll band. Are they just a product of medias redicule of bands trying to look the part on stage?
Arriving at Glassheim at nine in the evening, the place was largely empty. Going on 23:30, it was still pretty empty. For a band like CrashDiet, you might have to go back to gigs like The Anchor Pub in 2005 (see YouTube) to find a smaller audience.
They started off with Breaking the chains and the volume was too low. Martins guitar was almost non-existant and Simons vocals was blurry. I'm no sound tech, but when a guitar is low, isn't there simply a volume button to drag upwards on the board? Yes? If it is, why not pull it up? Isn't there also a master volume button you can do the same with? Why did CrashDiet get half the volume compared to the first warm up band? And when there clearly are problems, why not just take the time to fix it properly? And who is to blame for it? The soundguy? Venue? Band?
Regardless of the crowd, which I estimate to around 50 people, the band went through their set list, and by So Alive the sound started to get better. Queen Obscene was done brilliantly and the small crowd of 10 loud people in front, enjoyed themselves immensely. With a bigger audience it would have been just like the good times at Sticky Fingers. Before Native Nature, Simon wondered if we understood what he was saying. I think we all understand Swedish, but the bad sound mixed with the crowds screams made it impossible to hear anything he said. Like he also pointed out, we were a small crowd, but a very loud crowd. People seemed to get the tribute to Dave Lepard on It's a miracle, but I'm still not sure if people did it because they heard what Simon said or not.
Going into Chemical, we all had a jolly good time. But entering the last part of the song, terrible feedback appeared through the speakers. It was quite unbearable (yes, we heard it too, Simon). It was then Mr. Cruz decided to «pull an Axl Rose». He threw his guitar to the floor (hope you didn't break it, old boy), kicked his microphone in the air and slammed his microphone-stand onto the stage as well. I thought it was rather embaressing as it reminded me of the children I had to endure when I was subbing as a teacher six years ago. Maybe it was his «native nature» kicking in. And so Simon left the stage with a hissy fit and the rest of the band followed pursuit. I calculated later on that Chemical would have been the last song before the encores anyway, so maybe the pause was already planned although not in such temper-tantrum fashion.
Coming back 10 minutes later, they blasted into Armageddon, still with feedback coming from the monitors. Simon had obviously broken his microphone, and it took him a good minute to figure out he had to take Martins mic to sing. This mic was already low on volume, and Martin had already tried to get the soundguy to increase the volume three times to no prevail. So, with low vocals, Simon hesitantly sang the song. Midways, he had another hissy fit and took his microphone-stand and threw it into the audience. It barely missed a chaps head, but landed on a poor girls shoulder just two meters or so to the left of my wife. She was clearly in pain and left shortly afterwards. She re-appeared ten minutes later. From that moment on, the show for me was pretty much ruined as I had brought my wife even though she's not a big fan, and suddenly she was two meters away from being smacked in the head by a microphone-stand. I do not tolerate such bullshit. It was pure luck it didn't land on the poor girls head which I think we all should be glad it didn't. Several people behind us left when the incident happened.
Simon then left the stage to drive his motorcycle before Rebel was played, and that was plenty of fun to watch. I was too annoyed to really enjoy it, but most of the crowd in front kept having a good time. At the end of Generation Wild, Simon decided to stage dive on 10 people. I did not know it was possible to stage dive on such a small crowd, and one poor girl took the brunt of him when he landed. I politely took three steps to the right to avoid him coming down, as I do not support antics and flying microphone stands. For me it was revenge enough.
And with that, Simon disappeared once again and left Martin and Peter to thank the small crowd for their cheering. They were indeed loud for such an amount.
I do have to address one thing though, and that is first of all Peter London, (but also Martin Sweet) for being professional to the bone. Even with all those horrible sound issues and a singer trying his absolute best to be Axl Rose, Peter kept smiling and went on with his job. Ever since I met Peter while taking a piss at Sticky Fingers last year, he's grown in my book to be an absolute gentleman and a diehard professional.
I think we are all very sorry for the small crowd and the never-ending sound problems Peter, but do give us another chance later on. And may I suggest you get your booking-people to focus on Oslo first, not a venue in Jevnaker which absolutely needs a firm and reliable (and maybe older) fanbase to work. Coming Vains of Jenna in august at the same venue, I fear a repeat of last night. For CrashDiet, it's about starting from scratch in Norway and while the cause is just, I'm not sure if it's worth it. I hope I'm wrong, and that Norway can be taken over by CrashDiet, just like Dave Lepard had plans for in 2005. Nothing would please me more.
Re: CrashDïet review, Jevnaker Norway 18.06.2011
In their defense, when you're trying to put on an absolutely professional show, and unprofessional issues 'cause sound problems or other technical glitches... it can cause you to go a little crazy.
Like they always say... it's the little stuff that puts you over the edge.
