SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH, 2016 – PERFORMANCE IN VOSS, NORWAY:
Made it to bed a few minutes before 4 am. At around 6 am, a text message came in and woke me up. I can’t turn my phone off at night because of the time difference and needing to be available if something should happen back home. The text was a “group” text so for the next 2 hours, I received copies of the replies from everyone in the group. Finally got up at 8 and went to breakfast. I kept thinking about the “fire drill” last night and everyone standing around in their underwear. There was one little Asian guy at the end of the hall who couldn’t have weighed more than 90 pounds and he had on Speedo underwear. That vision scarred me for life. J
We left at 1 pm to drive about 90 minutes to our performance in Voss. We’re traveling in a Mercedes Sprinter Van with a trailer which is a very comfortable ride. Stig – our driver – is a good driver which is helpful on the curvy roads. I was sleeping like a baby on the drive – probably snoring and drooling and I’ll be the guys took photos of me! Then, my leg accidently touched the floor heater on the side wall and I thought I had burned a hole through my jeans! It was going full blast with the air conditioner going full blast overhead. Since this is a rental vehicle, Stig didn’t know how to turn off the heat. After quite a session of “trial and error”, the heat was turned off.
The hotel in Voss is AMAZING. It looks like a castle from the outside. It’s very old but has been refurbished and it has an elevator and free wireless! J It also comes with a ghost in room 407 (I found that on the internet). Obviously, I HAD to go walk by room 407 to see if I could “feel” anything since spirits have a way of following me around. I was carrying my iPhone with my “Ghost Radar” app activated and tiptoeing up to the fourth floor. The minute my foot left the last stair, my phone blared “RIVER” and scared me to death. Dropped the phone and nearly fainted. The app says “words” that relate to the spirits in the area and I had forgotten that I had my volume turned all the way up. I am in room 303 and worried that “it” will come visiting tonight. I purposely did not ask the reception what had happened and why the ghost was still here. Didn’t want to know until it’s time for me to leave here.
I went over to sound check with the guys and David has everything well-organized as I expected. It’s a “sports hall” and very nice. My dear friends from the Faroe Islands – Allan and Annie Samuelsen – came here just to see the Bellamys show. We have performed for Allan many times in the Faroes and will be back there the first weekend in February. The Faroe Islands are incredibly beautiful.
Sound check was quick because we have the same backline. I decided to walk back along the water with several of the guys. There’s also a huge cemetery right beside the venue. Got some great photos on the walk back.
Had about one hour to work before going down for dinner. It was a “buffet” tonight and really good food. We left for the show at 9 pm and had a quick “meet and greet” prior to the performance. It was another great audience and I was surprised by how “young” the fans are here. One very large girl had her sights set on one of the musicians and kept giving him the “eye” while he was performing. Then when the Bellamys sang “Beautiful Body”, she pointed at him the entire time.
Howard had a guy trying to buy his hat from him while he was on stage. He kept pulling money out of his wallet and Howard kept motioning for him to offer “more”. He finally offered all his money and then walked off and brought back a girl and offered her as well. LOL
The pickup in the pedal steel died right before the encore! Tomorrow is Sunday so shops aren’t open. We are scrambling to find a pedal steel player near Honefoss who can loan him one for the show tomorrow night. We can buy one in Oslo on Monday.
When we got back to the hotel, there was a really nice couple waiting to take a photo with the Bellamys. They had flown all the way from Spain just to see the show! So, we had people from the Faroe Islands and Spain here and the only reason they came to Norway was to see the Bellamys perform. Pretty cool.
It’s almost 1 am and I have to get up at 5:30 am. Bags have to be down at 7:30 am to be placed in the truck with the backline and driven to Honefoss. We depart at 9:10 am on the train to Honefoss and it’s a 4 hour ride. Should be beautiful though.
Please remember our fallen and their families tomorrow and take time to say “Thank You” to them and our first responders and Military for their sacrifices. It’s already September 11th here and has been on my mind for hours. May God Bless America and keep “her” safe tomorrow and every day!
If you are on Facebook, check out the photos of this area!
Jude