FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4TH – PERFORMANCE IN BERGEN, NORWAY:
I never found a store that was open late that had Dramamine. I decided that I would have to take one of my prescription Zofran just so I could work on the long bus ride. It at least worked for 2 hours and allowed me to get somewhat caught up. Then at 1:30 am, the roads got really curvy and I had to shut down and try to sleep.
I actually slept a little better but woke up at 3:30 am and thought I had slept all night! Woke up again at 5:30 am and finally got up at 8:00 am. We were still about an hour out from the hotel.
Obviously when we arrived, rooms were not ready but while we were asking about storing the luggage, 2 rooms became available. We got Howard and David off the bus and by the time they came in, my room was ready as was one for Tim. A couple of the guys decided to stay on the bus and sleep but we got rooms for the others pretty quickly.
It’s a really nice hotel. Behind my bed, the entire length of the wall, there is a huge glass “window”. On each end of the bed, there is a large opening. Behind the bed, is a humongous shower stall! The sink and toilet are in a separate little room off the shower. Pretty cool because I can watch TV while I shower!
I walked down to the venue early and several of the guys joined me. It was hard to locate the backstage entrance (which was on the 4th floor) but Monika met us. She has been so great to work with…as were all our other “hosts”! I figured out what I needed to know then walked down to the venue where Brad Paisley is performing tonight. Our promoter and my friend Kjell met me there and Kevin (who has worked for Brad for decades) met us. Well, he would have met us but AOL shut down my account AGAIN because I signed on from a new location. We were actually inside before he met us. I am furious with AOL…nothing new!
It was great to see him and Brad’s other crew that I have known for a while. Scott Scovill (Brad’s video company from Nashville) was also there. Really enjoyed chatting with everyone. Not sure I’ll be able to go back over after our concert. We finish at 8:30 pm and Brad doesn’t finish until 10:30 pm. Will have to see what Howard and David want to do.
Kjell walked back to the hotel with me and I had to come to my room to SCREAM at AOL for an hour. I still don’t think the problem is fixed and the only solution is probably going to be for me to completely switch to Gmail!
We left for the show at 6 pm but ran into Allan and Annie and Allan’s partner in the lobby before we left. Annie brought Allan to Oslo as a surprise and they are going to see Brad Paisley perform tomorrow night in Copenhagen. They came backstage to talk to the Bellamys and my dear friend Lise was there with her friend as well. Kjell also came and watched the show.
After the show, there were a lot of fans standing outside waiting for autographs. We had a taxi and he got tired of waiting and was going to leave. I pulled Howard and David away and they told the fans to meet them at the hotel. The fans beat us back to the hotel! They signed everything for them and then went upstairs to go to bed. I put my bag in my room and went back downstairs to walk over to the venue to see the end of Brad’s show. The fans were still sitting in the lobby when I came down and while I was waiting for Kjell, I heard this loud crash and people screaming. Up above the front entrance of the hotel, there is a “shelf/ledge” and there were four huge ceramic tigers sitting up there. Someone slammed the front door and one of the tigers fell. It hit one of the fans on his head and then broke into a dozen pieces. It also took a huge chunk out of the sofa. The man’s head was bleeding and I think the only thing that saved him is the fact that he had on a hat! The ambulance was called but I left before it arrived.
We got to watch the end of Brad’s show and it was phenomenal as usual. It was a packed house – 8,000 fans! Got to talk to Kevin for a minute after the show and saw Scott again. Highlight of my evening was talking to Brad’s dad – Doug. He’s such a sweet, sweet man!
Kjell walked me back to the hotel and he’ll come to our show in Malmo Sweden in a few day. I noticed that the 3 remaining ceramic tigers had been removed from the ledge above the door!
We leave at 9:30 am tomorrow for about a 4 hour drive to Lillehammer, Norway – where the winter Olympics were held years ago. I love it there, too. Almost 2 am so bedtime for me! Our nice bus driver got me the Norwegian equivalent of Dramamine today so hoping I will be able to work on the bus ride tomorrow!
Jude