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SeigmenHulen, Bergen, Norway
29th May - 1st June 2019
Seigmen - Special for the 50 years of Hulen celebration - May & June 2019

The student club Hulen in Bergen at the West coast of Norway is celebrating its 50ies anniversary in 2019 and therefore serving friends and fans a very special birthday program. Announcing SEIGMEN to play at Hulen once would have been already a special treat, but that was not enough. For this special occasion Hulen and SEIGMEN announced not one, but in total four gigs in a row recreating the four gigs that took place here throughout the 90ies, in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997. A truly special event for SEIGMEN fans and the guests of Hulen.


29th May 2019 - ‘Ameneon’ Era - 1993

The back in 1993 very young Rock band from Tønsberg, SEIGMEN, sent their first EP ‘Pluto’ to Hulen, hoping to play a gig there in the near future. The request followed and so in 1993 SEIGMEN were invited to play their first gig in Bergen at the legendary Hulen student club that exists since 1969. At that time the first album, ‘Ameneon’, was just released and so the newcomer band set off to present it to the audience in Bergen.

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Music & Performance
Hulen as venue is literally build in a cave and also looks all the way like this inside. The area in front fits about 320 - 350 people, with additional bar areas spreading throughout the cave. On that first night the doors opened at 8pm and the show was about to start at 9:30pm. The fans came not just from many places in Norway like Tønsberg of course, Stavanger, Oslo and more, but also from Sweden, Russia, and Germany etc. to take part in that special event that later got called as SEIGMEN festival. Though at the beginning the crowd spread all over the venue, when the lights were turned off and the intro started the space in front of the stage filled in very quickly and a tense waiting was to perceive all over the place. The unusual to most other concerts appearance from behind and going through the crowd to get to the stage was the first element that made the shows so different from what we were used to. There is just no backstage behind the stage due to the structure of the cave and so the band entered the stage from behind.

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Recreating the gig from 1993 the band started with ‘Simone’ which happened to be the first SEIGMEN song that I’ve got to listen to live and that totally impressed me back then. ‘Simone’ is dark and aggressive, literally pumping blood through your veins. With the deep ‘Simone’ scream at the end of the song just making the feeling perfect. It continues that way with ‘Monsun’, ‘Mono Doomen’. The show is somewhere between Punk Rock and Metal. The songs that the guys play are “dark and dirty”, smashing the drums, pushing guitars and bass, raw vocals that fit perfectly to the style that Alex, SEIGMEN’s vocalist chose for today: sleeveless shirt, shorts, knee socks with turned around crosses on them and chucks. A surprising, though really cool outfit fitting in the time in 1993. A really rare gem is ‘Rosa Boots’, one of the first songs that was written at all, back in 1989, when SEIGMEN called themselves KLISNE SEIGMENN first. A real time travel back to the roots. ‘Rosa Boots’ is just a lot of fun and is perfect in that setlist that represents the raw and unforced energy of the very young band.

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The first part of the gig is over with the epic ‘Mesusah’ that already revealed the whole talent and potential of the new band back in the days. The band leaves the stage after this the same way they came - through the audience. The audience itself of course doesn’t let them go just after playing eight songs though the setlists back in the day used to be shorter than nowadays due to the amount of songs released at that moment. So SEIGMEN are coming back to give us more of the Punk-Rock-ish Zeitgeist of the early 90ies. ‘Ikon’, ‘Fra X’ and ‘Skjebnen’ close that first encore. What more to come? Well, here the band decides to make a historical break and is playing the well-known und must-have last song of their career - ‘Hjernen er alene’ that wasn’t actually released at that time is closing the gig that focuses on playing straight away, without much talking, just the music, the anger of the youth, rebellion. The performance is convincing and pure and the band and fans having fun all together resurrecting that memories.

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Setlist
01. Simone
02. Monsun
03. Mono Doomen
04. Negativ
05. Korstoget
06. Rosa Boots
07. Korsfarer
08. Mesusah
---
09. Ikon
10. Fra X
11. Skjebnen
---
12. Hjernen er alene

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30th May 2019 - ‘Total’ era - 1994

Just one year later, in 1994, SEIGMEN returned with their new release, ‘Total’. The album already receives some decent attention and it is also the year when the cover of ‘Hjernen er alene’ by SEIGMEN is born. A song that became their own over the years. No SEIGMEN gig ever can be imagined without that one.

Music & Performance
The setlist is truly monumental and also starts like this with ‘Monument’, an epic start that shows the new direction that the band was going to take. As the day before, the band enters the stage through the audience and Alex keeps representing the Punk-Rock-ish attitude. The knee socks with turned around crosses are truly epic. ‘Ohm’ and ‘Colosseum’, heavy and dark, pushing forwards and leading into the darkness of human existence.

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The setlist is full of gems, especially for those who have been fans since the early 90ies: ‘Plutonium’, ‘In Limbo’, ‘Skjebnen’, ‘Korstoget’ - all of them recreating the atmosphere in 1994 - heavy, thoughtful, mysterious. ‘Lament’ is one of my personal highlights on this evening. The light and playful melody compared to many other songs of the band at that time on the verse with the calm vocals creates a cutting contrast to the extremely strong screams in the chorus spreading shivers all over your skin. The ‘Lament’ screams kept strolling around in my head long after the gig was over. The mystic ‘Sort Tulipan’ creates another contrast with the ritual-like atmosphere and Marius adding a very specific note with his classic and unmistakable voice. ‘Döderlein’ finally appears and with it one of the songs that became very characteristic for the band and inviting everyone to sing along - an invitation that everyone is following without hesitation. ‘Döderlein’ guarantees for great atmosphere and loud fan choir singing - be it anywhere in Norway or even in Germany as the song proved a year ago.

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The band is obviously enjoying themselves and the special time travel journey. The time flies by so fast and suddenly it’s the last song of the main part again, ‘Mesusah’ is once more closing it. Of course it doesn’t take long until the band comes back on stage to give us some more, starting with ‘Fra X Til Døden’ which is one of the most driving, epic, raw songs filled with that aggression that makes it so intense and impressive to listen to. This is one of the songs when you can watch the guys having the best time treating their instruments and showing what they can get out of them and letting this seemingly never-ending energy out. ‘Pantheon’ appears like the opposite - very calm, melodic, beautiful, melancholic, dreamy and fading away at the end. And then it is time again for ‘Hjernen er alene’. The 1994 gig comes to an end. Mind-blowingly epic and diverse, emotional and driving, aggressive and playful.

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Setlist
01. Monument
02. Ohm
03. Colosseum
04. Plutonium
05. In Limbo
06. Skjebnen
07. Korstoget
08. Lament
09. Sort Tulipan
10. Döderlein
11. Mesusah
---
12. Fra X Til Døden
13. Pantheon
14. Hjernen er alene

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31st May 2019 - ‘Metropolis’ era – 1995

The night was short, though the bars are closing way too early in Norway - some-time between 2 and 3 am. Quite unfamiliar when you are used to the literally never-ending night life of Reeperbahn in Hamburg. On the other hand this for sure safes a lot of money since the bear costs here up to four times more than at home, in Germany. Tonight the doors are opening an hour later than the last two days and the concert starts around 22:30. Half of the gigs are already over, the time is just flying by. Tonight is dedicated to ‘Metropolis’, the song and album that catapulted the band directly into top of the Norwegian charts back in 1995 and made SEIGMEN popular in the whole country and even beyond the borders. What followed was for sure a memorable time and the power of ‘Metropolis’ is still unbroken.

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Music & Performance
The Friday gig is completely sold-out and Hulen is packed way sooner than the days before. The temperature inside feels already hotter before the gig starts than it was the last two days afterwards. And the crowd is on fire. Just before the gig starts the energy inside gets crazy intense and I am feeling that this night will be epic. The show starts with the song that definitely made SEIGMEN famous all over Norway, ‘Metropolis’, a strong and emotional Rock ballad with that genius pinch of madness. The crowd is on fire and the atmosphere immediately at 300 degrees. Also Alex’ outfit shows the transformation: the chucks give way to the black boots and the latex hand gloves. Following ‘Rød himmel’ is a rare one in nowadays setlists and therefore very welcomed as well. ‘Korsfarer’ is pushing ahead like a thunder and sweeping everything out of its way. And here we go again, ‘Mesusah’ left its spot at the end of the gig and moved to the start.

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By the way, the 1995 setlist is all the way original like it was at the gig in 1995. As it was not that easy to find the original setlists from Hulen in 1993 and 1994, the band relies on the several setlists from that time, but this one tonight is all the way the same as it was in 1995. Another rare one is ‘Regn’, a melancholic song with the most catchy guitar line and emotional vocals. Here we go again with the most epic ‘Fra X Til Døden’, famous for the instrumental solos and virtuosity. Somewhere at that point the guitar of Marius unfortunately gave up, so the band had to continue without him for a moment. Also there must have been more things that went wrong on stage, but don’t think that this somehow destroyed the show. If you know SEIGMEN, you will also know that any challenge forces them to give 1000% more. And therefore the energy that unfolds on stage just grows exponentially.

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While there was some “chaos” happening on stage with the technical equipment as Kim called it later, the band was rocking it at its fullest. I doubt I’ve ever seen them smile that much during a concert in the last three years. At some point it felt like the band and the audience just melted together and celebrated like there was no tomorrow. Fortunately there was a tomorrow for all of us. But that wasn’t important at that moment in time. For the encore that consisted of mysterious and nostalgic ‘Nihil’, one of the epic sing-along-songs ‘Slaver av solen’, the sacral ‘Sort Tulipan’ and the mandatory ‘Hjernen er alene’ hymn, Kim even jumped into the pit and the energy once more exploded during the finale. A memorable gig.

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Setlist
01. Metropolis
02. Rød himmel
03. Korsfarer
04. Mesusah
05. Regn
06. Fra X Til Døden
07. Ohm
08. Bayon
09. Juvel
10. Sort Disippel
11. Döderlein
12. Nemesis
---
13. Nihil
14. Slaver av solen
15. Sort Tulipan
16. Hjernen er alene

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1st June 2019 - ‘Radiowaves’ era – 1997

Saturday came way too fast and so we are already about to arrive in the year 1997, the year when ‘Radiowaves’ was released. The critics back then were, to say the least, diverse. Not everyone loved the development, but for others this album keeps being one of the most important releases of the 90ies. ‘Radiowaves’ is a milestone and prove that SEIGMEN were never scared to mix new styles and influences. And though the development and change between ‘Ameneon’ and ‘Radiowaves’ is huge, you’ll still recognize the SEIGMEN sound in every single song. It has been such a great opportunity to experience this huge growing of the band throughout their career in the 90ies and having this chance to get it served in four evenings in a row. Truly blessed.

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Music & Performance
Here we go. The last evening starts even later than it already did on Friday due to the Champions League final Liverpool vs. Tottenham as I got to know the day before (not into football at all, so I had no idea about this). Lucky us, Liverpool won, so especially Marius was in perfect mood for the band’s own finale gig of that series. The gig finally started at 23:00. ‘Monument’ opened the evening. One more time the band paved the way through the crowd. The ‘Radiowaves’ album is for the cognoscente. Once you love it, you cannot let it go. ‘The World Revolves Around You’ is one of these songs that make ‘Radiowaves’ so incredibly fantastic. Bombastic intro, sensual and forbidden vibes, darkness surrounding everyone in the cave, bloody deep shivers running through your veins, electrifying sounds.

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Originally the visitors back in 1993 got ‘P-Machinery’ served here as song number three on the setlist, but the band decided for a change that was also welcomed by many, ‘Mercurial’. Fragile start, beautifully desperate lyrics, evolving and exploding melody wrapping you in. ‘Universal’ is going further the path of a popular Rock song, catchy, disturbingly fragile. Lorry is supporting with keys on this one from his covert position. ‘Fra X Til Døden’ breaks the ‘Radiowaves’ theme and here we go again with the epic guitars and killing drums. Nothing more to add for ‘Mesusah’ - if you should find a song to describe “epic” - take that. Alex is leaving the mic for a moment and Kim is taking over on ‘The Modern End’. There is hardly a song that I love more than this one. Apocalyptic synth hymn. This song is so much more than just a “song”. It is crawling under your skin and making it hard to breath. Kim’s voice is angelic and majestic in this one at the same time, leading to the fall. Like a ride on a rusty Ferris wheel in Chernobyl.

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‘Neon Sun’ just perfectly fits in that theme. The vocals seductive and forbidden sweet, the chorus tearing the soul apart, the instruments, what shall I say, they know how to cast a spell over us all. Then we have ‘Metropolis’ and ‘Döderlein’ for those who beg for the hits. The band is bundling up all their energies over and over again to let them explode inside of the cave. The water dripping down from the cave’s walls. Kim conquering the stage, from one side to another, shouting to the crowd at his best. ‘Performance Bravo’ has been a rare one in the latest setlists. So here is the hybrid of the heavy and pushing drums and guitars combined with the new ‘Radiowaves’ sound. The fragile ‘Dråben’ drops down in the lake of emotions and finishes the main part of this 4th night. One last time the band is leaving the stage and coming back after a little while to the applause and the crowd calls. Hard to believe this four-day-festival headlined by SEIGMEN is almost over. One more moment to go. Three more songs.

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And here it is, ‘Trampoline’. When SEIGMEN played it in December 2017 and I heard it live for the first time, it was hard to control the emotions at all. ‘Trampoline’ is like the abyss that is opening in front of you when things that are the most precious to you disappear and you still can watch them. Bittersweet. Sensual. Leading directly in the ruin. If you don’t get the deepest and strongest shivers when Alex is singing “depression will fade away”. Are you a human at all? Just wondering. ‘Performance Alpha’ is futuristic and perfectly fitting in the mood around the upcoming millennium back then. A classic loved by so many. One more breath! Alex thanks the incredibly great crew, Lorry and Zenoa - the “flexible friends” - not “only” supporting them through the whole gig with the gear and technic stuff, but even playing instruments on some of the songs behind the scene. Also he thanks “the four guys”. Happy and relieved faces. That must have been a huge challenge to perform four so different setlists on just four nights and we all are so happy that they did.

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One more time ‘Hjernen er alene’, one more time fighting the fact that this time it really means the end of four incredibly great, so different and unique shows, performed with such an immeasurable passion by the five with the passionate support of the whole crew who made it possible. One more time “jeg snur og ser tilbake”.

Setlist
01. Monument
02. The World Revolves Around You
03. Mercurial
04. Universal
05. Fra X Til Døden
06. Mesusah
07. The Modern End
08. Neon Sun
09. Metropolis
10. Döderlein
11. Performance Bravo
12. Dråben
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13. Trampoline
14. Performance Alpha
15. Hjernen er alene

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All Pictures by Nastja Iz

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