A look ahead to the Slottsfjell festival.

With only two days until this years biggest happening in Tönsberg kicks-off I thought I would do a little "look ahead".

This year marks the 10th year anniversary for the festival so it should be something special. Already their first booking last year showed proof of this when they booked Seigmen, whom I wrote about yesterday. It's been a decent run of bookings since then as well. I'll go ahead and list the shows I plan to catch, day by day. You can find the entire program and everything else on the Slottsfjell festival website.

Thursday:

As this is the first time me and my girlfriend will attend the festival as parents (we missed last years festival as our son had just been born), we get one day where he'll have a sleep over at his grandmothers'. Thursday is this day so this will be the "party day".

Music wise the first day is probably the weakest one with only two "must sees" for me. These two are Rival Sons and Seigmen. That gives more time for socializing though so that's cool! I'll catch parts or the whole shows of a couple of others as well including Bare Egil Band, Janelle Monaé and Suicidal Tendencies. This evening will hopefully end at Total Bar, where an official Seigmen after party is being held. Hopefully we'll get there in time before the place is packed!

Friday:

Friday is probably the strongest day, in good competition with Saturday. I have a couple of more must sees this day. This will also mean a lot more running up and down the hill, as Slottsfjell is held at a hill with stages both at the top of the hill and further down. The most interesting shows are usually held at the top, with the biggest stage situated in the middle of the hill (or can you call it a mountain?). I'll start at the top watching Black Tusk and probably hang around there to have a good spot for Tortoise. This is one of the shows I look forward to the most at the festival. I really hope to hear the song "Djed", from their masterpiece "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". There is one more must see this day and that is Wolfmother. Timubtu & Damn! usually puts on great and fun shows so I'll so most of that as well. And why not end the night dancing to Chase & Status?

Saturday:

Saturday starts quite slow as the first band I want to see starts at 16.45 and that is Graveyard. The Swedish hard rockers should put on a great show and besides the Tortoise concert this is really one to watch. Apart from Graveyard other must sees for me are: Gallows, Red Fang and New Order! I'll catch parts or the whole shows of: Daniel Norgren and Lissie.

What other bands are must sees? I don't know too much about some of the other ones...

See you at Fjellet!

Seigmen - Live at Total

During the 90's, Seigmen from Tønsberg was one of the biggest rock bands in Norway. They played the big stages and venues, until they split up in 1999.

Since then they have done a couple of re-union gigs, most noteably on the Slottfjell-festival six years ago and at the Opera in Oslo four years ago. Both of these shows were of course very well attended, with thousands of people coming to see them.

Last night they played a "secret" gig in their hometown (the town where me and my family lives). To get access to tickets you had to be invited to this special website that was originally linked in an e-mail, sent from the band. Luckily we have connections relatively close to the band so we got that e-mail. So with the tickets in our hands we could only start to look forward to a very special evening.

I should write a few words about the venue as well. Total opened it's doors around christmas in 2010. The venue/bar is run by the people behind the Slottsfjell festival here in Tønsberg so music is a huge part of this place. All over the walls are old concert flyers, posters and stuff. It's named after  one of Seigmen's albums. So it's a special place for the band to play, to say the least...

I don't know if the circumstances were the reason but the show started a bit slow. Both the band and the audience seemed a little hesitant, as if they didn't really know what to expect from each other, mind you that Seigmen hasn't played "at home" for six years. As the evening progressed, band and audience got more comfortable with one another and everyone was able to let lose a little. About halfway in, after a spectacular presentation of Marius Roth's vocal abilities (his an opera singer) the venue kind of explode and the next half hour or so showed me why Seigmen must be mentioned among the big ones in Norwegian rock.

I kind of envied the people in the audience who have grown up with the band, knowing every lyric etc. Norwegian music was never big in Sweden (which is kind of sad as it has a lot to offer), so I had never even heard of Seigmen before I moved here- I've heard a lot about and of them since though. I know the feeling of having this band that has been with you your whole life, in front of you on stage, where you never thought you'd see them again. It's a special feeling! I had no problems appreciating the experience last night though!

This intimate venue was the perfect setting for Seigmen to mark their return, as we got some surprises last night that might lead to something more...? They are now playing a few festival shows this summer, starting at the Slottsfjell festival on Thursday, where they will be performing in front of about 10 000 people (me and "the missus" included) instead of the 2-300 people that were present last night. The festival-goers will not have the same experience as we did last night and I feel privileged that I was there to witness the spectacle!