– An era in the race is over – VG

– Actually, this year’s tour was supposed to be the last, but this year it was a bit halfway there and it was special. So next year will be the last, confirms Kurt Nilsen to VG.

Although he trusts his case, the melancholy is there at the same time.

– Of course. For me, an era in my career has ended. And I want to come out of that era both with dignity and with a bang, or on top, if you will. So I feel like the tour should be perfect too, but it’s not this year, he says.

Tonight, Kurt Nilsen begins a concert series of ten home performances at Bergen’s Grieg Hall. Due to infection control rules in Norway’s second largest city, it gets an audience of just 50 people per person. concert.

Kurt Nilsen admits that this year’s Christmas tour has been of the “alternative” kind.

– It’s a bit special here to walk around with bandages and wash our hands all the time, but it has been very nice, although we play less than we are used to. We all think it’s good that they let us work. I also notice in the gang around me, the band, the team, everyone, that they are very grateful for that opportunity, says Kurt Nilsen.

The decision to go on Christmas tours didn’t come overnight, he says.

– I’ve been thinking about it for a while, as the experiences have gone online, and it’s been amazing to see families of all ages return year after year. And then I’m really talking about all ages; children, parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts. I didn’t think this would be as gibberish and big as it was, he says.

– But it’s been a long time since I made new music, and at some point the question arises as to what is the next trip now. And there is new music right now. So I have to focus 100 percent to be in that bubble, says Nilsen.

Kurt Nilsen’s concert tour before Christmas has been by far the largest Christmas tour in this country since 2010. Last year, he set a new record with 48,000 tickets sold. Since the beginning, around 320,000 have been to his Christmas concerts.

In other words, his career took an unusual turn for Kurt Nilsen when he went into the studio with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (KORK) in mid-September 2010 to record the holiday album “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” which was released two months later. .

For seven years, this holiday album has topped VG’s album chart, the most recent last week. Kurt Nilsen says he still doesn’t feel stigmatized as a “Christmas artist.”

– It’s not something I think about every day, no, he laughs.

– I understand that people associate me with Christmas, but I love being a musician and an artist, and now it will be fun and exciting to travel with completely different songs and in a completely different format again, says Kurt Nilsen.

Earlier this fall, it caused consternation in parts of the music industry when this year’s Christmas tour received NOK 13 million through the incentive scheme for the Ministry of Culture. The actors called for “moral bankruptcy”, while Culture Minister Abid Q. Raja thought that Nilsen had undeservedly become an obstacle for impatient cultural actors.

Kurt Nilsen himself couldn’t help but join the debate.

– I felt a bit of that, I did. I probably felt that it was a bit unfair and I am sorry I lost weight for a chance to tour and lubricate the wheels at Culture Norway that could be lubricated. It’s not that I keep this money, it’s used for the tour. But that is always the case; some may not fully understand the mechanics, and some may be too quick to speak, says Nilsen, who looks forward to Christmas holidays, chops on Christmas Eve, and ribs on the first day.

But there will be a celebration without children or grandchildren this year.

– Normally we all get together, with mother and children, but this year we will only be my boyfriend and me. It will be very cozy and of course with good food and Donald and all that.