Consider this: A band's very first US appearance is also their last. Now consider that the band is Norwegian with musical influences that merge polka, pop, opera, rock, and classical and their stage presentation looks like a cross between Stanley Kubrick and the Dresden Dolls. Now picture this event taking place at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and you have it: 

 

 

 

Presenting their most ambitious project to date, the trilogy Violeta, Violeta : a romantic tragedy that aims to present all of Kaizers Orchestra's musical facets, as well as tell the story of Violeta, her mother, Beatrice and her father, Kenneth. The family of three lose their twin daughters and end up making a deal with the devil to get one of them back. The devil is eager to get back into heaven after having been kicked out some thousands of years prior and uses this unfortunate family as the key back into heaven. The story was released as a trilogy of albums: Volume I released January 31, 2011, Volume II November 2011 and Volume III November 2012. The band also saw this final volume as their 'Grand Finale' and will perform their very first and very last New York show as well as their first and last show in London as well. 

The musical expression of Kaizers Orchestra is constantly changing with their wide references and the band's openness to new musical arrangement and approaches. Listening to the opening track of their last studio album, Violeta Violeta, a delicate though menacing piano slowly opens “Begravelsespolka” belying the full force of the ensemble, which doesn’t so much as begin but rather is unleashed. Less than a minute into the song, a triumphant march begins and continues straight through 10 unrelenting, lush tracks.

 

You don’t need to speak the language to feel the drama imbued in the instrumentation and in the  choral and singular voices. For those who have seen them live, the drama is even more evident in the stage show, which looks less like a collection of instruments then a collection of found objects from a yard sale hosted by Bauhaus or Marcel DuChamp.

 

Just as their first song begins so did their career - out of the blue, Kaizers Orchestra stormed onto the Norwegian music scene in 2001. Their debut album Ompa Until You Die followed by a year-long tour introduced Norway to a charmingly crazy and shamelessly exuberant orchestra with eccentric and fiercely expressive aspirations, giving Norway something they had never seen before. Their music draws influence from every genre, employing whatever is necessary to articulate the dramatic truth of each song.

 

A self described “six headed monster, a coarse and fine mesh machinery, a well-oiled locomotive, without rails, but with good speed and direction”, Kaizers Orchestra have always followed their collective creative muse throughout their career together, which produced 6 number one studio albums, four EP's and a DVD and two live CDs. It is only fitting it has been a democratic and organic collective decision to end the group this year (2013),  but not before throwing 3 of the best parties New York and London have ever seen.

 

 

 

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