Skambankt unplugged. OK.

So, I had absolutely NO idea of what to expect from this concert. I had seen a few short videos of Skambankt playing unplugged on Instagram, and while it seemed like an interesting concept, it felt WEIRD. And there have definitely been Skambankt concerts where you needed the energy from stage to make up for … well … let’s call it “imperfect intonation”. =;-) And this would be so much more obvious in an unplugged setting, so … does that work?

And the answer is: Hell yeah! =:-D I didn’t have much time to listen to the album before the concert, but I gave it a quick run-through just to make sure if they really meant this, or if it was all a sarcastic thing “just for fun”. And if you’re as doubtful as I was: give it a try! And you’ll quickly find out that yes, they mean it. And then go to a concert and see for yourself that yes, they can actually pull it off!

Of course, it is a bit of the “opposite” of a Skambankt concert, as Terje pointed out right in the beginning. And of course, you also need an audience with a different mindset so that everyone can enjoy it. Unfortunately, there was a group of people in the audience that wasn’t really there for an unplugged show … =:-( But they did shut up most of the time they were told to, and it could have been a lot worse.

Skambankt started off with Horisonten brenner, which is a kinda calm song anyway, so the unplugged version didn’t really seem so far from the original. Gribben was way more different though, and then – Levende legende! I love this song, but I feel it’s a difficult song to fit in a live setting. It doesn’t really fit on a club stage, but more at a festival in the middle of the night – but only if people actually KNOW the song, which most don’t. But hey, the unplugged version was awesome! Less of a hymn, but really impressive and catching.

Balladen om deg was surprising because it felt like this was the first song of the night that actually rocked – and usually, at the plugged shows, this is the first calm song. =;-) And then we took a dive back in time – Sånne som deg had an extreme Blod, Snått & Juling feel all over it. I think it was mostly the interval between the singing voices, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

The new song is awesome (would be interesting to hear that one in a rock version as well). But then a little downer – Slukk meg is usually my highlight of each Skambankt concert, but the unplugged version … not sure. It’s a great song, no doubt about that, and it’s a nice unplugged version on the record as well. But at a concert, I want more energy from that song. But to make up for it, I felt that Vår bør was even more catchy and “rock-y” in the unplugged version than usual.

Of course there was quite a bit of talk between the songs as well. Trondheim is Skambankt’s second home town (get your asses up here more often then!! =:-p). None of them would have ever imagined to play their own songs unplugged in front of a sold-out club when they started up at a festival in Bryne 25 years ago. The stage was so small they had to tune their own guitars. Using an accordion even in unplugged music is questionable. There’s nice music and there is rock music, and rock music is tough and therefore not nice. There was quite a bit of disagreement about that last one, and count me in: there is definitely nice rock music as well!

No break before the encores, since there was no way for Skambankt to get off stage anyway … So we got two more songs: Skumring and Født på ny! Jaaaaa! <3

All in all, an awesome concert. Totally different from all other Skambankt shows I’ve seen, even though a lot of the songs were the same. I had a little flashback to the Kriegsensemble concert I’d seen (which was actually the first concert I ever saw at Familien – which is now called Tyven). That one had Kaizers songs played weirdly. This one was Skambankt songs played … differently. No weirdness involved at all, just great musicality!

The full setlist:

1. Horisonten brenner
2. Gribben
3. Levende legende
4. Balladen om deg
5. Sånne som deg
6. I dette huset
7. Når eg sover
8. Slukk meg (for eg brenner)
9. O dessverre
10. Vår bør
11. Fritt fall
12. Kommer snart hjem
    ————
13. Skumring
14. Født på ny