LIVE REVIEW
Seigmen, Tønsberg 16./17.12.2023
Støperiet, Tønsberg Norway
Text and photos Silke Jochum
German version published at: Culture Guerillaz
What a great Seigmen weekend in Tønsberg!
For a long time, it was quiet around Alex Møklebust, Kim Ljung, Noralf Ronthi, Marius Roth Christensen and Sverre Økshoff, the five musicians of the Norwegian band Seigmen. Until a few weeks ago, when the first signs of life appeared on social media in the form of photos from the recording studio. Hope for new music quickly grew, and soon hope became certainty.
The new Seigmen single "Berlin" was announced for 15th November. Shortly after, it was announced that the single would not be the only one.
There will be a second single, "Kollaps", to be released on 17 January 2024. And that's not all, the already completed album "Resonans" will see the light of day on 12th April 2024!
Yeah!
After all this wonderful news, loyal Seigmen fans started to hope that there could be also a pre-Christmas concert this year. The last time Seigmen were on stage was in December 2019. Since then, the pandemic stopped almost everything and Seigmen had to fight with serious health problems.
Like a little Christmas miracle, a concert in the band's hometown Tønsberg was announced. And one thing quickly became clear, four years without a single Seigmen concert were definitely way too long! What can I say, the concert was completely sold out within a few hours!
As a result of that, a few dates were juggled and an extra concert was organized for the following night. This was a bit of a challenge for Marius who already had another gig in another city with "Jul med Marius Roth Christensen & Bel Canto Vestfold" that same afternoon.
But hey, two different concerts in two different cities on the same day, what's the point? :-) He did it!
On Friday, full of anticipation for a wonderful concert weekend, I made my way to Norway, where I landed late in the evening at a frosty -12°C. On Saturday I went to the soundcheck at Støperiet at noon to take some pictures. It was incredibly nice to finally see Alex, Kim and everyone else again!
Seigmen took a lot of time for the soundcheck because they are real perfectionists and always try to do everything as good as possible. This was great for me because I got a little private concert and I have to admit that I was close to tears more than once.
At times like this, I'm just a little fan girl who really missed her favourite band ;-)
The doors opened at 8pm and the hall filled up surprisingly quickly. I've always had the impression that people in Norway tend to come later to concerts, but that wasn't the case tonight. The concert started at 9pm with the support band Astoria. The young electro duo from Tønsberg, consisting of the cousins Edvard and Henrik Mortensholm, impressed with their mystical and powerful sounds. Synthesizer sounds merged skillfully with rich bass, guitar and vocals. I really enjoyed it and I'm pretty sure we'll be hearing a lot more from Astoria in the future.
After a short changeover, the lights went out at 10pm and the first wisps of fog began to drift through the stage lights. Alex opened the concert alone with an electronic intro, at the end of which Kim, Marius, Sverre and Noralf entered the stage to thunderous applause.
Surprisingly, the band started with the song "Døderlein", for which the fans usually have to wait a bit longer. But hey, why not start after four years with a cracker :-) The atmosphere in the sold-out hall was great from the start and the audience sang along loudly.
The songs "Ohm", "Colosseum", "Juvel" and "Trøst" followed, and with each song you could feel the tension slipping away from the band and they felt at home on stage again. If I didn't know better, I wouldn't have noticed the long live break. After the old song "Rosa Boots", which was released under the name Klisne Seigmenn, it was time for the new single "Berlin". The new song works great live! It's full of energy and perfect for singing along and letting off steam on and in front of the stage.
It then became much quieter with "Agnus Dei", giving the fans a chance to take a breather. Marius impressed with his fantastic voice on this classical song, supported by Kim and Sverre and very atmospheric lighting. Once again, he showed his talent as an opera singer.
But that was it for the quiet sounds for now, because "Fra X til Døden" continued with full power, followed by the classics "Metropolis", "Slaver av Solen" and "Dråben", the last song of the regular set.
But of course, this wasn't the end.
The encore started with one of my (many) favourite songs - "Performance Alpha", from the somewhat underrated album "Radiowaves". I think it's a great song, especially live! With the last two songs "Mesusah" and "Hjernen er alene" the concert reached another climax and a grand finale!
My expectations for the evening were 100% fulfilled and this was repeated the next night. The setlist on the second night was identical and the atmosphere and energy on and in front of the stage was no less than the first night. The only difference I noticed was that Alex, Kim, Marius, Sverre and Noralf were a little more relaxed and able to enjoy the evening right from the start.
The energy and love with which Seigmen always give their all on stage gives you an idea of how much they too have missed these live moments and the exchange with the fans in recent years.
Over and over again I notice that Seigmen (and also Zeromancer and Ljungblut) simply love what they do. That they are grateful at every concert that their fans support and celebrate them so much. In all these years I have never seen them take the applause for granted. They always give everything to earn it. And they really deserve it, especially after the really difficult years that are now thankfully behind them.
In the summer of 2024, Seigmen will play at some of Norway's biggest festivals, including
Tons of Rock (26-29 June 2024),
Ravnedalen Live (19 July 2024)
Midgardsblot (14-17 August 2024).
I hope they will also surprise us with concerts for the new album, you never know. We've seen in the last few weeks that the five Norwegians are good for surprises :-D Fingers crossed! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the new music and more concerts!
From now on it's all about the future and new milestones -
Seigmen 4.0!!!
Seigmen
Astoria
