WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19th AND THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20th, 2012:
Left Nashville today with the Bellamy Brothers for three shows in Europe – Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. We flew Delta via Atlanta, to Amsterdam and on to Billund. When we checked in, the ticket agent said that since I’m Platinum and get to check 3 bags at 70 pounds free of charge, everyone flying with me is entitled to the same allowance! That saved us about a thousand dollars since we had 20 pieces to check and only 9 passengers. Love Delta!
The fight to Atlanta was full and it was a big plane. The new International terminal is now open in Atlanta and it’s awesome but a LONG way from where we landed. Took the Tram and it was the last stop. The Delta Lounge was great, too. Crowded but really nice.
The flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam was also full and they were asking for volunteers to take a later flight. Business class was filled with a lot of men going to Kazakhstan to work on oil refineries. I sat next to a very large, very loud, very, very chatty guy from New Orleans. He warned me before we ever took off that he snored and snored really loudly and I should just “poke” him if it bothered me. Trust me, he wasn’t lying!
The flight attendants were so nice and the food was good. I watched a not so good movie that I can’t even remember the name of and then tried to sleep – between snores!
We landed on time in Amsterdam and had about an hour before our flight boarded for Billund, Denmark. Had some empty seats on that short one hour flight so I didn’t have to sit with anyone. We landed a little bit late because we were late departing.
Our bus driver “Jan” was there to pick us up in a nice tour bus. I told him it was going to be a very quiet ride for him except for the snoring. I was right. I think we all slept better on that 1 hour ride than we did the 8 hours on the plane! We are performing and staying in Viborg. The hotel is a Best Western and one of our promoters – Carsten – met us with our room keys. The hotel is really spread out and a different key is needed to enter each section unless you have a room key for that area. I had to get two extra keys just so I could access everyone’s rooms.
The Bellamys and I are in “suites” and boy are they nice. It’s three huge rooms – office/sitting area, bedroom and bathroom. The bathroom has a walk-in shower, huge Jacuzzi tub AND a full size Sauna! Wish we were here longer to enjoy a little more.
When we arrived at the hotel, it was pouring rain. But it stopped as soon as we got all our luggage inside, of course. It’s rained off and on all afternoon and is cold enough for a jacket. I worked until 6:30 and then met everyone to go to the venue for dinner.
Dinner was great – lots of fish and local delicacies. After everyone had filled their plates with the fish, the waitress brought out beef and vegetables. We had a really nice, private dinner and told lots of “road stories” because we have lots to tell from all our years over touring overseas.
Back in my room and working on answering hundreds of emails before I go to bed. Hoping it won’t rain tomorrow so I can go jogging. Our driver said there are two large lakes near the hotel where I can run.
Jude
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST, 2012 – PERFORMANCE IN VIBORG, DENMARK:
So, today I am using the correct date on this Road Report. J Hard to keep up with “dates” when you travel overseas as much as I do. I kept hearing noises last night in the bedroom while I was in the sitting area working. I made the mistake of turning on my “ghost app”. It picked up 3 strong signals for spirits in the bedroom and gave me the words, “Kristin”, “beyond”, “family”, and “Lee”. Strange!
Up at 7 am to jog. Only one problem. It was pouring rain and cold. So it was another “in the room workout”. My trainer would be proud of me. Hiked over to the reception area for breakfast and a couple of the guys were there. Not a very good selection and coffee was bad but that’s typical.
Had time to work for about an hour after showering and then went over to the venue with the guys for sound check. We performed in this same venue and stayed in this same hotel in September, 2000 – 12 years ago. Hard to believe it’s been that long ago! I remember we played in Copenhagen on that tour as well and hired a stripper for David’s 50th birthday!
The hall is beautiful. Production Company was there and had things set up. I checked out dressing rooms, figured out some logistics and right before I was ready to come back to the hotel, the nightliner bus pulled up and I was able to check it out. It’s really nice and the driver “Mathias” is, too. Came back to the hotel to get ready for a meeting with Stig – another Danish promoter and record distributor that I work with. I had a text from Wally saying the monitor console didn’t work and it was going to be an hour before they could get a new one in place. So, the guys came back to the hotel, too.
Howard, David and I met Stig and his very pregnant, beautiful wife and talked for about an hour making plans for 2013. Then Howard, David and I had dinner at a restaurant next to the hotel rather than going to the venue to eat. The guys stayed over at the venue after sound check and ate dinner there. It was good food at the restaurant.
We left for the show at around 7:20 pm and met Jytte (my promoter from Silkeborg) backstage for a few minutes.
It was a great crowd and a great show. The audience kept asking for encore after encore and the Bellamys complied. Instead of a 90 minute show, it turned into a 2 hour show!
We took some photos backstage and then came back to the hotel to pack up. Will depart at midnight on the nightliner for the trip to Hannover, Germany. I’ve asked the bus driver to drive slowly so we won’t arrive too early. If all goes as planned we should be checking into the hotel at 9 am tomorrow morning.
Jude
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH – SWITZERLAND TO USA:
Very short night! We were all in the lobby (well, almost “all”) at 5:30 am and left for the airport. Traffic was already heavy and I’m glad we left early. We arrived at the check in counter at 6:15 am. There is a lot of construction at the airport and we had go “downstairs” to locate the Delta ticket counter this time. The counter was supposed to open at 6:30 am. But, at exactly 6:30 am, a lady came in and gathered all the ticket agents around her and made a speech for 20 minutes! She wasn’t speaking English, so I have no idea what that was about.
We were finally able to check in and they made us each go to a different ticket agent. Which means Wally had to run his credit card several different times to pay for the excess. I told Delta that when we left Nashville, the ticket agent told us that if one person in the group was “Elite” and allowed to check 3 pieces free of charge, then everyone in the group had the same allowance if we were all flying together. Delta in Switzerland didn’t agree. It’s so frustrating that there doesn’t seem to be any “cooperation” even with the same airline from country to country.
We had time to stop at Marche in the airport for breakfast. I had an amazing omelet which mean I didn’t eat when we got on the plane. Glad I didn’t because they were serving lunch at 10 am! Flight was full again but this time no “oil riggers” so it was much quieter. I watched a movie about the “Marigold Hotel” in India which was really surprisingly good.
Had a little turbulence but nothing that made me grasp the arm of the man sitting next to me. J We landed about 40 minutes early at JFK. This time, there wasn’t any construction after Customs and we were able to throw our bags on the re-check belt and head straight to the gate. We had about 1 ½ hours before we were supposed to board, so I went to the Delta Lounge and answered email.
When I arrived at the gate, the guys were already there and laughing about the pigeons in the gate area. Seriously…..live pigeons walking around looking for food. Everyone was taking photos.
Our flight was delayed due to waiting for the arrival of our pilot to come in on another flight. They finally boarded us about 30 minutes late but announced after they had us “captive” that they were still waiting on the pilot to arrive. Then, of course, we lost our “slot” for takeoff and had to wait even longer. Left about an hour after we should have. It was one of those small jets with one seat on one side and 2 on the other but they DID have a First Class Section which was nice.
Arrived Nashville and Lindsey and the Z’s were waiting for me. I took Zac and Zoe on the Bellamy’s bus so they could see what it looks like. Now they want to go for a trip on it and sleep in the bunks. But absolutely NOT going to close the curtains on the bunk. J
Jude