Comment: Concert review: TIX, Oslo Spektrum: Til ungdommen

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Photo: HELGE MIKALSEN / VG

Rumors of TIX’s artistic death are greatly exaggerated.

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When Andreas “TIX” Haukeland has charged up for his double concert in Oslo Spektrum by posting an Instagram photo of a tombstone, with the inscription “14.01.23 Spektrum” above “Remembered in our hearts forever”, it can mean (at least) two things.

The most obvious meaning is an announcement that he intends to kill it, purely metaphorically, in Oslo’s great hall this Saturday in January. A more dramatic interpretation is that with this Haukeland is burying the entire TIX persona once and for all, well before he turns 30 in April.

It is not the only thing to which there is a certain tension in the run-up to this concert. Because who is really TIX in 2023? The cynical hitmaker who for a number of years served the beer-hazed soundtrack to Blood Harry guy vibes in the Russian bus? Or the repentant sinner, misunderstood and sensitive, with a heart of gold throbbing beneath the battered facade?

Photo: HELGE MIKALSEN / VG

On Spektrum’s own website, he goes to great lengths to suggest the former: “Russell songs will be served on silver platters. Tonight it is allowed to be…”.

Whether the same motto applied to the afternoon’s more family-oriented concert is unclear. But in any case, nice to know – and an honest matter, strictly speaking.

A majority of those attending Spektrum are drug addicts, people who will soon be drug addicts, have recently been drug addicts or are just in good contact with their inner drug addicts. In the car park outside Oslo Plaza, various buses take their triumphal laps. Inside the arena, a lone candle rests on a white coffin. TIX knows how to set the jovial mood.

A little over half an hour after the scheduled start of the concert, a funeral procession comes out on stage. “Let’s get up,” says the priest, before the white-clad protagonist is hoisted down from the roof and fires “Fallen Angel.” “Welcome to my funeral,” he announces before the last chorus ebbs and he is placed in the coffin. Pompous? Undoubtedly, but still quite tightly implemented.

After short but effective pyro, a tombstone with the inscription “TIX the kind” rises from the stage floor, and the message is emphatically stated by the main character himself: Engle-TIX is now safely planted six feet underground. Tonight there will be drinking, whoring and drinking.

Photo: Helge Mikalsen / VG

Modern Norwegian party classics” from the catalog – “Tronen”, “Skål”, “Sheikh” and “Bergen” – are contrasted with more jovial summer tunes such as “Lifet er herlig” and “Nå koser vi oss”. The combination shows that Haukeland possesses a greater range than he is sometimes accused of – and demonstrates a pop craft at the bottom which shines through more clearly live than in the studio versions.

Of course, reviewing TIX’s songs for their musical value only makes limited sense. This is music created to work within a very specific context, and which either does or it doesn’t. That Haukeland has a tight grip on his audience and gets a lot out of his limited toolbox is hard to deny.

The insistent idiocy that flows in torrents through the majority of these songs sometimes feels somewhat monotonous, and the almost timid ballad “Hvis jeg llot world” feels like a breath of fresh air in a nachspiel-filled basement room when it first comes on.

Photo: HELGE MIKALSEN / VG

In addition, there is something a little static about the musical expression, and that Haukeland – with the exception of some drunks (shock!) he has invited on stage – chooses to carry the whole show alone, sonically as well as musically, borders on foolhardy.

But when TIX goes from its roughest and most raucous song to a beefed-up version of the HGVM interpretation of Bigbang’s “Jente i Oslo”, which culminates in ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”, he shows that he has realized something.

When he is clapped back to the stage after the regular songs, he appears genuinely moved behind the round sunglasses. And yes, the acoustic guitar is brought out for a messy but charming version of “Ponni” and “Shotgun”, as well as “The Sheik” for the third(?) time.

Summa summarum: You must have had a sensational ass Russian time not to see and hear some qualities in this project. However, to really love it, you probably have to be in the middle of it – if only mentally. There were many from that category in Spektrum tonight.

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Published: 14.01.23 at 23:32

The article is in Norwegian

Tags: Comment Concert review TIX Oslo Spektrum Til ungdommen

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