God tur!

Last semester, I only managed to make it out to one show. (Let us not forget the glorious Antony.) So this semester, I thought I’d outdo myself by going to two! (Of course, there might be more than that, but I’m at least setting a baseline of two.) The big winners on the list of bands coming through Oslo were I’m from Barcelona and Joanna Newsom. I don’t know anyone else here who likes I’m from Barcelona, and concerts in Oslo are fairly expensive. So, like my solo Antony adventure, I thought I’d solo my way over to IfB and have fun singing along to twee songs about waking up late, building tree houses, and doing your crappy art.

This album got me through the fall, I kid you not. If you’ll remember, I had Norwegian class at 8am two mornings a week during the dark days, so I would get up in total darkness and ride the train in darkness and then speak awkward Norwegian for 3-4 hours. Blech. So, on my dash out the door and up the hill to the tbane, I would crank up the first song on “Let Me Introduce My Friends,” which, appropriately enough, begins “Daaaaaamn … oversleeping again.” However, this stressful phrase is accompanied by bouncy bells! Bouncy, happy bells! So you feel good about your tardiness! At least, I did.

Anyway, the concert last night was a joy. It takes about 30 minutes to play the entire contents of the album, basically, but the addition of balloons, confetti, and a bunch of random people wandering on and off the stage, hugging, sitting on each other’s shoulders, teaching audience members to play the kazoo, etc., made the whole affair festive and well worth seeing live. They also added a couple of songs not on the album. Themes included Britney’s shaved head, being a bear, and one particularly clever song about Steve Zissou which managed to rhyme the words “ecstatic” and “aquatic.” Listening to a bunch of Scandinavians sing “a-kwatic” at the top of their lungs was pretty delightful, let me tell you.

Oh, the other fun thing about going to concerts in Oslo these days is that I can tell what they’re saying in that funny language of theirs between songs. Not that between-song banter varies too much, but still. I feel cool. For example, one of the little additions they made to the album versions of the songs was at the end of “Oversleeping,” where they sang “Faen!” over and over, again at the top of their lungs. “Faen!” just means “the devil!” in Norwegian, but it’s one of the strongest curse-words they have, because, frankly, they don’t have that many curse words. Hence, if you watch a Norwegian movie, they will translate “Faen” to the f-word. In fact, many Norwegians will tell you that “Faen” means “f***”, but don’t believe them! (Like the censoring there? I’m learning to be a responsible internet-user.)

All this to say, I had an excellent time with my new friends from Barcelona (well, actually from Sweden, but whatever). And I’m glad I got the chance to show my appreciation for the sunny music that kept me going during the rainy, grumpy months of fall. In conclusion (and in the spirit of IfB!), might I remind you: Don’t give up on your dreams, buddy!