On behalf of the band I would like to express our deepest gratitude to the ones who attended our shows in Jørpeland and Kristiansand last weekend. Thanks for making this weekend the special party it was.
These two shows are probably the most exclusive ones we’ve ever done – with one surprise being revealed after the other. I think itfelt equally special for the people in the audience and the nine of us who were on stage on Friday and Saturday.
Of course, the biggest surprise of them all was the announcement of Kjetil´s role as a stand-in for Østen, who is awaiting his twins in a couple of months. All of us are very happy for Østen and Silje, and we wish them all the best with their family. Østen will surely be missed, though, when we now will do tours without him, as he´s been a part of the live edition of Tristania since 1999. He is a social cornerstone in our band. At the same time, I know now that we couldn’t have found have found a better stand-in for Østen than Kjetil. He is a good friend of us from before, and his great ability as singer and stage personality he is the perfect choice to replace Østen, while he will be busy with changing diapers and sleepless nights.
These two shows were unique as both Østen and Kjetil were on stage. Østen opened the show, while Kjetil took over after a few songs. They also performed Shadowman and Sacrilege together, which were memorable moments. Even I felt shivers down my spine when they did Shadowman together.
We´ve read your nice reactions on our temporary vocalist, and I know that Kjetil finds it very motivating to see this overwhelming reception to the news and the video we posted after the show on Jørpeland was finished on last Friday.
Another big surprise for this weekend was that Gyri Losnegaard, who some of you already know from Octavia Sperati, was presented with her first gigs as Tristania live guitarist this weekend. Gyri is fantastic. Expect more news about her within a few weeks.
As I’ve posted about before, Kenneth has had problems with an old soccer injury in his knee during the last couple of years. He has already gone through one surgery, and we still don´t know whether he has to have another one. This has prevented Kenneth for doing live shows with us for a while. The positive thing, though, is that he recently started to rehearse together with the rest of us again - so far without much pain.
We´ve had a great live replacement for Kenneth in Mr. Tarald Lie, who has done shows with us since 2006. I first met in Tarald back in 1998, when we were on tour together with Tristania and Solefald. Tarald was then their session live drummer, and we’re really happy that he wanted to help us out. Tarald is a fantastic person; the big comedian of the band – and an amazing drummer.
A very nice thing for us in the band was that that Kenneth joined us on stage and played Angellore and Beyond the Veil with us. Kenneth’s unexpected arrival was obviously a pleasant surprise for the local audience at Jørpeland, judged by their fantastic feedback.
In Kjetil’s hometown, Kristiansand, we got a couple of more local guests on stage. Jonathan Perez (Sirenia, ex-Trail of Tears) joined us on stage for Tender Trip on Earth. Jonathan did help us out as a live drummer on Wacken Open Air and the Norwegian tour in 2005. Kjell “Kjellhammer” Hagen (also from the band formerly known as Trail of Tears) was our session bass player from 2005 to 2007, and in Kristiansand he played bass on The Wretched. It’s been a while since last time we met Jonathan and Kjell and it was great fun to play with them again.
We’ve got some film material from the concerts and we will make a short film around it for the future.
Soon, we will also post online some high quality photos from the gig in Kristiansand.
The set list we played this weekend was:
World of Glass (Vocals: Østen – with Kjetil on backing vocals)
Mercyside (Vocals: Østen – with Kjetil on backing vocals)
Tender Trip on Earth (Vocals: Østen)
Circus (Vocals: Østen)
The Emerald Piper (Vocals: Østen – with Kjetil on backing vocals)
Shadowman (Vocals: Østen & Kjetil)
The Wretched (Vocals: Kjetil)
Angellore (Vocals: Kjetil)
Beyond the Veil (Vocals: Kjetil)
Lotus (Vocals: Kjetil)
Protection (Vocals: Kjetil)
Libre (Vocals: Kjetil)
Sacrilege (Vocals: Østen & Kjetil)
Down (Vocals: Kjetil)
Photo by Linda Tungaland
