TD played their first ever concert in Norway on Friday. It was also the first TD concert I attended. It all started with an interesting interview with TQ, Ulrich and Bianca on a very windy outdoor stage in the afternoon, lasting for almost an hour. A bit too much talk about Kraftwerk by the interviewer, but particularly Ulrich has got many interesting thoughts about music to share. A bizarre act followed when people were allowed to ask questions. A guy jogged to the stage and managed to ask "where is Jerome"? They answered "probably home", and "you can reach him on Facebook". :-D

I was lucky enough to get to chat with TQ and Ulrich for five minutes after the interview. They signed my Quantum Gate cover. TQ is a very down-to-earth and polite man, almost humble. He said he remembered me from Facebook. Actually we also used to play the online music quiz SongPop against each other. Ulrich was very nice too. He didn't know that TD had never played in Norway. Kind of unreal to stay on a field of grass in Norway and talk to members of my favourite band.

The concert… TD played a festival set lasting 75 minutes. Me and my two mates was at the very front by the fence. It's no doubt about it - TD 2018 has wholeheartedly embraced the 70s style of TD again, playing stuff from Stratosfear, Sorcerer and Tangram. They also played Love On A Real Train, plus It Is Time To Leave When Everyone Is Dancing and Roll The Seven Twice from Quantum Gate. According to setlist.fm they also played a track called Oslo By Night, which was a loooong improvised track which wasn't the most interesting track for me.

Hoshiko's violin drowned almost completely in the massive sound from the synths. I also find it weird that Ulrich stands with his back to the audience all the time. It can't be too hard to turn his equipment around so he actually faces the crowd?

I must say that I missed some more melodic stuff in their set. TD has released tons of melodic music up through the years, but very little of it was heard at the concert. It was almost entirely sequencers. So what is for sure is that the ex TD fans who stopped listening to TD after Franke left in 1987 can safely return to the band now! No more saxophone and percussion, and no more "sugary" melodies...

One of my mates who I saw the concert with was very disappointed and gave TD 2 of 6 points. He is no fan of the 70s sound. Me and another friend gave them 4 of 6. I guess my favorite tracks were Love On A Real Train and It Is Time To Leave. The visuals were good, the sound too. Several thousand people were present at the concert, I guess quite a few heard them for the first time as it was a festival. A girl next to me danced like crazy the whole concert,, she said she became a fan that day. :-D

Nice review, Jon. Strange thing happened at the conversation session. I agree, hehe.
The concert was really great. Overwhelming response from unknowing concert goers. 3000 (?) in the tent. Great setlist!
Cool that you met the guys after the conversation.
Hope this has genereted a few more fans in Norway. :-D

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http://www.last.fm/user/Insvims

Would have been fun to find out when was the last time TD played for so many people? Years ago?

My guess is Royal Albert Hall 2010, which was a pretty big event!
But for that matter, there may have been big audiences in other festivals this year also. I don't know how it was in for example Holland and Finland. Wish I could hear some report from the Finland concert. Would be interesting to know how long they played, and what tracks.

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http://www.last.fm/user/Insvims

I guess you could ask TQ on Facebook?