WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2ND – PERFORMANCE IN KRISTIANSAND:
What a miserable night. The bunk was so “hard”, it was impossible to sleep. I finally fell asleep around 5:30 am and slept for 3 ½ hours but it was a restless sleep. It took us a total of 11 hours – and two ferry crossings to drive from Bergen to Kristiansand! We arrived at the hotel at 11:00 am.
I got off the bus to try and get rooms for everyone because check in isn’t until 3 pm. They had rooms available just not the ones they had “reserved” for us. I assured them we didn’t care about getting the reserved rooms, we just wanted the rooms that were available.
We are staying at the Radisson Blu New Caledonien. Radisson’s are my favorite hotel chain overseas. It’s a really nice hotel. I had planned to take a really quick shower and grab something to eat since I had not eaten all day. But problems came up and kept me from showering or eating before we had to go over to the venue for sound check. We walked over and it’s another beautiful venue. Annika is the person looking after us at this venue and she was great. Sound check ran smoothly with no issues today. There was some cheese, fruit, sliced meat, etc. in the Green Room so I ate a little of the cheese. Gunnar and his wife Tone came by and Gunnar and I “did business” for about an hour. Guys finished sound check and I “rushed” back to the hotel. Again, no time to shower or eat. Guess it’s more cheese and fruit at the venue!
We departed at 6 pm and tonight I didn’t take any chances on the weather. Got Howard and David a ride to the venue! They had about 10 minutes to eat some of the food backstage before the VIP Meet and Greet. There were over 20 people at tonight’s M&G including their former sound manager who was on tour in Norway with us many years ago, fell in love with a lady over here, married her and had a beautiful daughter. They have since divorced but are still friends and his ex-wife and daughter as well as his boss and co-workers were also here tonight. Gunnar and his wife were also at that gathering.
Show started promptly at 7 pm. Again, it is a gorgeous venue and the audience was fantastic. There were a few “not so great” seats left in the balcony but almost sold out. Bellamys performed another great show.
I forgot to mention something about the bus we have. Howard was the first to go into the toilet last night and he slashed his hand on the metal part of the door that goes into the door facing. It is “wedge shaped” and it was sharp as a razor. I had some Neosporin in my suitcase so before we left Bergen, we had to unload all the bags to get to mine so I could give it to him. One of the drivers used a file to try and make the edge a little less sharp but it didn’t help much. If he filed it anymore, the door wouldn’t stay shut at all. Also, the toilet door won’t lock! There is a keyhole but no key to lock it. I am going to steal the “Do Not Disturb” sign from the hotel tonight so we can use that!
Show was over at 8:30 and after Howard and David ate some more of the food backstage, we rode back to the hotel. I FINALLY got to take a shower. Now I am going to try not to work until 2 am. I need to get up by 6:30 am for an 8:30 am departure to Stavanger. Once again, the tunnel is closed for construction so the 4 ½ hour drive is going to take more like 5 ½ hours!
Jude