Gothenburg, day of the show…..

I slept ok but would have slept a lot better had i been in a hotel! i kept waking up through the night and i woke around 8am in the morning to notice something next to the bed that believe it or not was actually there before i went to sleep but i never even noticed it.

It was a large piece of wooden shuttering board! 6ft x 3ft just propped at the side of the bed, again, i put the following on my Facebook status with the picture below and sat back and waited, people did not disappoint!

“I survived the 1st night!! How is this for service, don't like the softness of the mattress ? simple, just slide in the supplied 6ft x 3ft piece of half inch plywood by your bedside and enjoy!!”

  

I walked up to the venue to meet up with Stuart and Ole, they were able to pick up their tickets from 10am this morning and wanted to get that out of the way.

Tonight's outdoor venue

After picking up our tickets we walked back down to the city centre, there’d been a huge festival on this past week, it was all part of the same festival that Roger played Ca-Ira for a few days ago. There were tents all over with stages, acts and bands and the place was buzzing with atmosphere.

We headed over for a walk around the food market where there were all different types of food from around the world.

Every type of Strudel                                The food market                                        English fudge! (and a picture of the queen!)

The guys had had breakfast earlier so i grabbed a cheese and ham pretzel and we took a walk around the city before stopping off at a cafe bar in the main square.

Ole had met the band and Roger a few days ago in Copenhagen, he got a great picture of him and Snowy together which he had brought with him in the hope of getting it signed by Snowy as he left the hotel  before the show. Stuart and i didn't have anything with us to sign, I’m not really one for hanging outside the hotels etc and only have one autograph from Roger which i got in 2002 in Dallas, Texas. i don't have any of the other band members signatures. I always feel a little uneasy waiting outside for them, i know them and they know me on first name terms. We found a cafe bar right across the street from the hotel, we ordered cokes and sat and laughed our asses off for the next couple of hours. I sent Dave K a text asking if he wanted to join us for a drink and he text back that he;’d come down and join us in a while.

Ole suddenly realised that he didn't have a pen to give to Snowy or any of the band to sign with! ole had his Wall vinyl album with him that he wanted to get signed by Roger too so Stuart decided to go on the hunt for a shop that sold pens! 20 minutes later he came back clutching a plastic shopping back out of which he took a white coloured black sharpie type pen. he also pulled something out of the bag that neither Ole and i had expected, it was a white ball cap that had embroidery on the front that said “ Bride to Be” Ole and i looked at each other!

Stuart then began to explain in his thick Scottish accent that the only pen in the store was sold as part of a “ bridal autograph  package” that one would only buy if a bride was getting married! The bride would obviously take the hat and the pen out with her on her hen night and get he friends to sign it and keep the hat as a memento of the occasion.

   

After realising that the pen was great on fabric but no good whatsoever on glossy shiny material, Ole decided to try his luck and went off on the hunt for a “normal” pen. Stuart and i sat there joking how maybe Ole would come back with a packet of coloured crayons and a colour by numbers book! Maybe we could tell that band that we didn't want autographs but wanted to give each of them a different colour crayon and get them to colour in one of the pictures in the book! We could see who was the bets at keeping the crayon colour inside the lines and have a unique item! Sadly ole was a little more sensible that Stuart and came back in 10 minutes with a pack of two black sharpies, how boring!

We joked how Stuart should get Roger to sign the peak of the hat and he would hopefully be the only person in the world who would have a singed Bride To Be hat! Stuart took on board the challenge and had no fears whatsoever about asking him to sign it.

Roger usually leaves the hotel before the band in a separate car, today was no exception. Ole and Stuart went over the road to join to three or four other fans who were also waiting and i sat and waited for them at the cafe. I had a pretty good view of the hotel steps and saw Roger coming down them to meet the people outside before getting in the car to go to the venue. I took a couple of pictures from across the street and managed to get a couple when Ole was asking Roger to sign his album and also when Stuart was asking him to sign his hat! My friend Nick from the UK had arrived earlier too and was also outside waiting,as i looked over and zoomed the camera in i could see both ole and Roger laughing as Stuart must have given him the hat.

Roger arrives                                       Nick, Stuart, Ole and Roger                Roger looking amused!

    

The guys came back over the road and at this point i had no idea whether Roger had signed the hat or not, i know in the past there's been a couple of things he has refused to sign and he wont usually do personalised items. Stuart was laughing as he came back over and then promptly pulled out his hat with Rogers big scribble all over its peak! he said he didn't even read what was on it and just signed it, Ole had also managed to get his album cover signed too.

15 minutes later Dave K came out and over  to sit with us for a chat, Stuart wasted no time in explaining the story of the hat to Dave and asked him if he wouldn't mind signing it. Sure enough he was more than happy to oblige and it was then 2 down 9 to go! Robbie spotted us and again came over to catch up and say hi.

By this time the band were due to be leaving in 10 minutes, Dave and Robbie headed back over to the lobby and Stuart and ole joined them over there. 10 minutes later they came back with huge smiling faces, ole holding up the photograph of Snowy that he had had signed for his dads birthday!

                                                                                                                                                           

   

All 11 band members! the only one in the world!

Stuart joked that when he bought the pen and the hat he was going to throw the hat in the trash bin before he got back to us, he’s glad he didn't now!

It was gone 4:30 now and i headed up to the Hard Rock cafe to meet up with my friend Anneli while Stuart and Ole took their prized possessions back to the hotel before joining up with Anneli and i for something to eat and drink.

Album link below with more pictures of meeting Roger

View Full Album

Oslo to Gothenburg….

The three of us were getting the train today, 1pm from Oslo central station, arrive Gothenburg 4:30pm no show tonight so we get a night off but Gothenburg show tomorrow.

We left the hotel around noon and made our way to the rail station, wasn't as sunny as it had been the day before, in fact it was just like English weather, cold cloudy and damp! it started to rain heavily as we got on the train and continued for a couple of hours on and off.

We were half hour late getting into Gothenburg due to us leaving late. Stuart passed the time opening a few tins and i managed to get a couple of hours sleep on and off.

Stuart and his cans!                    Stuart, Ole and myself.

 

Stuart and Ole had booked a hotel in Gothenburg, they had booked it several months ago and got a reasonable deal. Sweden is cheaper than Oslo but still compared to the UK its expensive. I on the other hand had gone a different way for my accommodation for the next two nights. I’s booked a room in an apartment that was only 200 metres from the guys hotel and it was only $40 a night! The downside was it was someone's apartment and they just rent their spare bedroom out! I’d booked it on Airbnb.com, never used them before and to be really honest i might not use them again unless i can get a place where you actually get the whole apartment to yourself.

I walked to Stuart and Ole’s hotel with them, check out their rooms and then headed out to my place, The apartment was habited by Vishal, an Indian student over in Sweden for 12 month and trying to make money to pay his extortionate rent by renting the bedroom out in his apartment and himself sleeping in the living room!

I was a little apprehensive about staying in someone else's place and made the following comment on my Facebook status:

“Just got to my room in an apartment booked with Airbnb, its strange staying in someone else's place when they are around, the guys ok though. cant complain though for the centre of Gothenburg for $40US a night! not sure its my sort of thing though,probably the first and last time I'll do it.”

Jeez, did that open the door for some comments or what!! I’ve put screen captures below of some of the fifty odd comments that i got within an hour! read then in order and they’ll make sense.

1                                                                  2                                                  3                                             

   

4                                                  5                                                                       Vishal, my host!

   

The place wasn't too bad, it was a bed for the nights that's all. I put some clothes in the washer and chilled out online for an hour before heading up to the Hard Rock cafe to meet up with Ole, Stuart and a couple of Ole’s friends,  Sverre and Bettina  who had joined us in Oslo and taken the train down with us.

Apparently the Norwegians come to Sweden to get drunk due to the prices, the Swedes go to Denmark to get drunk and the Danish go to Germany to get drunk, again because of the prices.

My regular drink, a Long island Iced Tea was nearly $35 in Oslo!, suffice to say i didn't have one and they were a little more respectable here at the Hard Rock ay $15 each! We all ate, drank and chatted for a couple of hours, the rain was really coming down now and people were coming into the restaurant totally drenched! It was due to stop raining at 6am the next day and the sun would be out for the show, i dread to think what it would have been like had the show been tonight in the rain! no fun whatsoever!

I headed back to “my” apartment around 10:30 leaving the guys in the Dubliner Irish bar.