|
April 19th-20th 2004
Petter is a great driver and is going to be a big
asset to the tour I think... we rolled into Oslo at about 5:30am
and couldn't get to bed fast enough. Today was going to be a tough
one for me as Universal had a lot of promotion lined up starting
at 13:00!!
Well, sleep would have been nice, but the person in the next room
decided to take a shower and this resulted in our bathroom flooding
with nasty-looking black stuff at 10:30!!! Aaaaaagggghhhh!
Then it was lunch with my good friend Morten Jensen before leaving
for sound check at the TV station. This went well but, as I always
say, good sound checks don't necessarily mean good gigs!! More of
this later!
I decided that Jerry (from Universal) is a sadist and that there
were not enough hours in the day to do all the interviews he had
arranged but he wouldn't let me off so before during and after sound
check I met and talked to a lot of interesting people from Norwegian
radio and press. No chance of a siesta today I'm afraid!!
So now it was time for my live slot on Oslo TV, the one we did the
sound check for. This didn't go so well. I waited for a long time
for my "turn" and when I got the signal to go I began
strumming madly and singing "Second Chance" from The Last
Dance. As it turned out there was no sound on my acoustic guitar
(their problem not mine) so, little know to me, I was singing to
nothing!! A guy started crawling around the floor of the studio
(you had to be there) trying to fix things but then they gave up
and went back to the news… just wait until I am famous…
I'll show them! But the interview part went smoothly enough, especially
considering that the lady interviewing me had no idea at all who
I was but we promoted the CD and we pushed the concert so the job
was done. Somehow I managed to remain calm through all this but
I was very relieved to get back to the gig… and more interviews
of course!! I'll get you Jerry!!
Rockefeller is a big club (1300 people) and is very professional
so we were looking forward to the show. Morten, Petter and Jerry
were there from Universal and that made me happy and then a surprise
visitor, Morten Harket, from AHA, showed up and blamed me for everything
that happened in his career, after he picked up a copy of Wonderworld
many years ago!! No credit you notice… just the blame!! It
was nice to meet him and we enjoyed a short chat before the show.
The atmosphere back-stage was a little like the old days in a way!!
This was a great show! The band is coming together really well,
the audience was fantastic and everything…… just clicked!
In the same way that I pray before each show that the show will
go well and that my voice will hold up (I am still learning to sing
you know!) I said prayers of thanks afterwards. This is a gruelling
tour with long distances on tiny roads and many hours in an uncomfortable
van so a measure of grace and patience (not my strongest points)
will be essential.
The after-show festivities were very enjoyable and it seems we have
a lot to look forward to as far as this tour and the music goes…
Next day...
|
