SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH, 2023:
These early morning lobby calls are NOT fun! Up at 5 am again for a 7:15 am lobby call. The truck and great crew guys arrived promptly at 7 am to pick up our band gear and luggage. The taxis decided that they were not supposed to arrive at 7:15 am with a mini bus and instead arrived at 7:30 am with a small van and car. It was a short trip to the Hydrafoil boat and we only had to wait a few minutes for boarding. The crew guys took care of loading all our equipment and luggage on the boat for us.
I had an email from the venue giving our Reference Number where he had paid for our tickets. I asked the only staff member in the building if we could go through the lane for people who had already purchased their tickets. He insisted that there were not any passengers who had purchased tickets for the trip today. I finally asked him why all our luggage and band equipment were being loaded on the boat if we had not already paid for our tickets. He looked surprised and said, “Oh, that’s yours? Yes, you can board first”.
It’s a really nice, large boat and not many people on board. There is a small “café” on board. I was a little worried about the waves because the sea is still pretty choppy from the storms 2 days ago. The Captain told us it would be smooth except for about 10 minutes when we would be going through a Fjord. The board just seems to glide over the top of the water and although it is going really fast, you don’t notice it.
I had to sit with the group since I had the ticket receipt on my phone but I put my bag in a seat at the front of the boat where there were tables that I could work from. After the agent came by and checked our tickets, I went up to that seat to set up my computer. The lady sitting a couple of rows back said, “Oh is that your bag? I moved it and the agent was going to remove it because we thought someone left it there”.
I was able to get about an hour of work finished before we hit the “rough spot”….and it was definitely rough. Fortunately, it did only last about 10 minutes. We made a couple of stops to let people on and off and at one of the stops a large group of mentally handicapped teenagers boarded. Several of them came to the front of the ship where I was working and sat together. We hit another “rough spot” and this time the Captain did not warn us and it was much worse than the first one. It lasted a lot longer, too. The kids that were sitting in the front started standing up and jumping around and I was afraid one of them was going to be injured. No one seemed to be chaperoning them. I knew they didn’t speak English so there was no way I could warn them. The lady behind me eventually said something to them in Norwegian and they sat down. The Captain finally came around and explained that it was going to continue to be rough for at least 6 more minutes. Then a few minutes later, the lady from the restaurant came around offering “barf bags” to everyone.
When it finally calmed down a little, I went to the restroom but they were all full — with people throwing up!
Our transport was waiting for us and we had crew guys to help unload the bags and band gear and load it onto a truck to go to the venue. Our hotel is another Clarion Hotel and is connected to the venue. We don’t even have to go outside to get backstage. That’s pretty wonderful because it is snowing like crazy. There’s already about a foot of snow or more on the sidewalks so we won’t be “sightseeing” today!
All the rooms were ready and the stage manager met us and told us the stage was ready for us as well. Everyone wanted to go over for sound check immediately. I had been told that there was another production in the hall and we couldn’t sound check until at least 3:45 pm but obviously that was not correct.
The technicians and backline gear were excellent. According to the musicians, they are the best we’ve had the entire tour. They finished sound check in record time. I was able to go to the gym and lift weights and run on the treadmill for about an hour. Showered and worked for a few minutes and then at 6 pm, we all went to the restaurant where there was a complimentary dinner being served. We made “to go” plates and put them in the refrigerator backstage. There’s a microwave backstage as well so we were able to heat them up after the show.
It was another packed house. I was able to figure out how to get out front without going on the stage and took a few photos. Show ended exactly on time and for once, we didn’t have to search for a restaurant that was still open at 9 pm so we could eat dinner!
Have been working for a couple of hours but going to bed now. Another early morning lobby call tomorrow. We have an excellent change of seeing the Northern Lights tonight but so far, no luck.