Finland, Russia, Russia and Switzerland… "96
tea bags and 2 pedal bins"!
Day 2
I didn´t sleep
well at all. Don´t know why and don´t care too much because I will have a siesta
later. Tapio and Hekki joined me for breakfast and then I visited a few
shops finding some cool jeans, a warm top and some toothpaste!! Then it was
back to my room to practise.
I had a lot of
songs to choose from for tonight´s show and some of them I haven´t played for a
long, long time (like Tales for example) and I needed to spend time becoming
familiar with the keyboard so I worked for a while, took a siesta, worked a
little more and the decided to shower and get ready for sound check.
The guys came
and picked up the equipment and we went to the venue (On The Rocks) at 7 for a
quick sound check which was not particularly good.
Next was the
fan meeting at a nearby hotel. This was really cool and it was webcast so
that people all over the world could check it out. Perhaps the best thing about
these solo events is that they draw people who are really into the songs and we
get the chance to talk about the music in detail. This carried over into
the show where I deliberately created space in the set to "chat".
Overall, and
from my personal point of view, the show was really great and I enjoyed it very
much. I had fixed four songs to start with but other than that I left it loose
so that I could respond to requests from the audience. I spent a long time
signing and chatting after the show and the general feeling seemed to be really
positive and upbeat.
I need to
thank Kirsi for preparing the little booklets of lyrics that we gave out to
everyone. This was a fast response to a last-minute request and it meant a lot
to me as well as the people who came to the show.
And of course
I want to thank all of my friends and fans for making it possible and for making
it so special.
It was an
evening I will never forget and everyone there played a part so thanks to you
all, very much!
