LILLEHAMMER CLASSIC ROCK FESTIVAL
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Left Thursday, May 25th to go to Lillehammer, Norway. We have Procol Harum on the Classic Rock Festival there. My flight from Nashville to Newark was on a small 50 seat plane, which of course was full due to being Memorial Day weekend. Felt like I was stuffed in a vacuum bag! Made my connection just fine and of course another packed flight from Newark to Oslo. We were about 45 mins late leaving Newark but must have made the time up in the air because we landed on time.
Friday, May 26, 2006
My flight landed at 10:00 AM and Procol does not land until 4:00 PM so the promoter of the festival in Lillehammer made a reservation for me at the Oslo airport hotel. I was able to collect my bag and walk over to the hotel for a few hours of shut eye and a shower. It was Heaven! Thank You Andree! Meet Rolf in the lobby of the hotel at 3:30 and went over to the airport to meet Procol. Their flight was 30 minutes late getting in from London. Procol Harum is an English band that had several hits in America, their biggest one being “Whiter Shade of Pale” Once everyone collected their luggage, had a few beers and a hot dog, we loaded up the van and drove the 2 hours to Norway. The drive is very pretty, you drive along Norway’s largest lake, Siiddašjávri. Lillehammer is a very cute little town. The 1994 Winter Olympics were held here and you could see the ski slopes as you drove into town. Andree was there to meet us as we arrived and give us our room keys. Everyone went up to their rooms and some went down to the club. Some of the bands playing tonight are 10cc, Georgia Satellites, Two Timers and Eddy and the Hot Rods. I grabbed some dinner then went up to bed. I noticed it was about 10 pm and bright as day outside.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
We had load in at 10:30, or at least we tried. The festival’s backline guys did not show until 11ish because they were there so late the night before. Soundcheck started about 12 and we finished around 1:30 with no problems. I went back up to my room to try and get my computer going. I had blown my converter and / or adaptor earlier and one of the backline guys went into town to buy me another one so trying to get this to work. It didn’t. I guess I blew both of them L Showtime for Procol isn’t until 9:30 pm so I was able to get ready and go get some dinner before I had to be downstairs for the festival. I went down around 8:30 to listen to some of the other bands tonight. All of Procol was already down there hanging out. They are all very nice guys and I really enjoyed getting to work with them. Their show was really really good and I recognized more songs than I thought I would. Stayed for a little while after they were done playing then went up to pack. It is midnight and the sun is just setting! The sun will rise again around 3 am!
Sunday, May 28, 2006 Everyone was in the lobby and ready to go by 8:00 am and we headed back to the airport. On the way back we got to see a moose! The driver said that they are normally not out this late (9am) usually out early in the morning. It was off the side of the road in the woods and it was huge! Arrived at the airport and said my good byes. My flight leaves at 11:30 and theirs not until noon. Checked in with no problem and made my way through security and to my departure gate. At the gate, I was the lucky one picked to have all my stuff in my carry on gone through, oh well, it passed the time while waiting to board. Thank God this flight wasn’t as booked coming home. No problems with my connection and actually landed about 30 mins early in Nashville. Very quick trip, but really enjoyed it. Everyone at the festival was so nice and hopefully I will see them again in October.