June 11th, 2004.
Now the day is finally here. I've been waiting for over a month. Actually, I bought the ticket at the release date, I think it was in April. Thinking that I had to get one before they were sold out. They never were, though... I made my sister and a friend come. Not against their will off course, my sister listens to the same music as me, and Svein, my friend, also had shown a bit more than polite interest in the band. This was in the middle of final exams, the risk of getting an exam at that date was high, I had been thinking what-if-thoughts for the last couple of weeks. "What if they cancel" was the most frightening. But they didn`t.
It was a sunny day, I didn`t get an exam that day. I had the whole day off. I had borrowed the car from my dad, I was to drive, not drink (and even if I wasn't going to drive, I wouldn't have had anything to drink. It was Europe, much more important than anything. You don`t want to drug your senses or emotions on the biggest event of the year!!) At that point, the car still had a cassette player, so I had recorded a number of songs for the 3 hours long drive to Vallset, outside Hamar. On the tapes were Bon Jovi, Nightwish, Wig wam, (warm up band for Europe this day), and lots of other 80s bands. I picked up my sister at her house, she was dressed in mini skirt, a revealing top and a leather jacket. Nice. My sister is 8 years older than me, but still too young to have attended a Europe-concert in the past. We then went to pick up Svein, in the middle of nowhere, it took about an hour. Then the journey could begin.
I`m not going to lie to you, I was not driving nicely. Only 4 months with my drivers licence, with music in the car, people to talk to, and the thought of finally, after not daring to dream about a reunion, I was finally going to see my absolute no.1 favorite band.... This caused me to almost collide a zillion times. Okay, maybe not a zillion, but at least three! That`s one what-if reason I had already thought of (what if I never make it there) but well...
Anyway, it was a really hot day, driving through Oslo in rush traffic, windows open with music on loud and booming, oh heaven! After leaving the capital of Norway, we just drove straight forwards. This was my till then longest jorney with my certificate, but on a motorway I had no worries, just fun. We stopped a couple of times, for smoking, buying food and beer, but after a couple of hours after Oslo, we could see the sign: Tangen - Vallset. By that time the tape had played a couple of Europe songs, recorded from Rock the night-double CD, and I pressed the Forward-button. And you know what`s coming..... the end of "Time has come" tuning out from the CD player, an empty road, windows wide open, turning up the sound and listening to the first notes of "The Final Countdown". The feeling was indescribable. Just, you know, FREEDOM! Getting there at last.
With an hour left or more to the beginning of the concert, we arrived in Vallset, the size of a village, but we still couldn`t see where to go. We asked a fellow at the gas station, and he pointed the direction. We followed the direction and pretty soon we found a lawn the size of a fottball field, which was clearly the parking lot. Guards were there to direct us, and we put the car there. Started to walk a dusty road, but I forgot my camera, so I went to get it. My head was not really on, you know. We walked a couple of hundred meters before realizing something was oddly wrong. Cars driving past us with only 40-50-60-year old folks in it. We got back to the parking lot, talking to the guard. Yep, we had parked at the wrong concert. But what were the chances? Two equally sized concerts on a middle of nowhere-village at the same bloody day. What was worse, we couldn`t get the car out, cars had been put closely to it, on both sides... But a guard offered to drive us. We had taken the right direction, but the wrong road...
Finally at the place where the concert should be, about half an hour before they let us in, we met lots of people. Some of them were swedish, even though Europe were to play at Sweden Rock Festival the next day. A bloke in a car with open windows played the Prisoners-album, and around us we could see people all ages. Finally, at the place where the concert was to be held, there was a stage in the bottom of a downhill tribune, with an open field in the middle. Up the hill, beside the tribune, were a restaurant where you could sit and at the same time see the concert. Svein and Kathrine sat there to have a beer, but silly me had to stand in front, so I occupied a spot at the very beginning. Before the show I also met Stein Vidar, from cold North in Norway, a 21 year old guy I'd bought a couple of Europe videos from. He'd come with plane and taxi to see the concert, not very cheap. He brought a friend, which took a picture of us.
After a really lame first warm-up band, came Wig Wam, you can check their image on www.wigwam.no . I once met the singer, he's really nice. They gave a hell of a gig. They usually do some of their own songs, and a bit of covers. Normally, they do The Final Countdown (and well, too) but not tonight, they didn't. The heat was rising, even though it was pretty cold, cause they made the crowd rock, you know. The crowd started pushing and pressing, and it was really a hell, using my effort to keep myself from getting pressed into the fence.
So after their half an hour gig, and after half an hour waiting for Europe to get to stage, I had to face defeat. So I retreated to the spot where Svein and Kathrine sat and had beer. After another ten minutes, things finally started to happen. I don't remember everything clearly, cause my mind just seemed to work in short flashes.
Setlist: Seven Doors Hotel, Wings of tomorrow, Superstitios, Time has come, Ready or not, Heart of stone, The king will return, Scream of anger, Sign of the times, guitarsolo, Stormwind, Open your heart, drum solo, Let the good times rock, Yesterdays News, Cherokee, Rock the night, Start from the dark. Then the concert was over.
Nah, just kidding. Of course they also played the big finish. Don't quite remember what it'ss called.. oh, yeah.. The Final Countdown. And you know what happened? I stood on a rock to see better, cause I couldn't just stand behind the crowd, I'm 5 feet tall, that's 153cm. .In my most extatic moment a guy touched my boobs. what the f...? Of course he was drunk, but hey.... He could just have waited 3 minutes longer! I couldn't hear the beginning of the song because of the crowd cheering so loudly, but that was not really a down side. It was really the biG bIG BIG final!
We bought t-shirts, and took of the high heeled shoes, to walk a kilometer to the car, then I found a car left with one window open!!! (My bad) nothing wrecked or stolen, Stein Vidar and his friend joined us for the long drive to Oslo, and at 4 am I drove past this Speed Check and got my self a speed ticket??? And arrived home at 6 am..... Thinking that I had had the best time of the year....
Then came Rockefeller....
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