Europe gig no. 11 - December 28th 2009 - Hovet, Stockholm

4 hours + 6 hours + 7.5 hours with bus... It was soo worth it, going to Göteborg and then Stockholm to see Europe and meeting friends. I wanna share my experience of Hovet 28/12/09

People ask me if I don't get tired of seeing Europe live? It's the same songs, isn't it? And to that last question, I guess they're right. I've heard the songs before, and most of them live as well.. but it hit me last night, with a force stronger than before, that even in a big hall like Hovet, I'm basically with my friends at the disco that plays my favorite music. Even if my friends aren't there in the front line, I get some new ones along the way. Yesterday I even found a soul mate for the night.

If I could have documented my impressions on video rather than writing them here, this is what I'd show you:

5 p.m, outside Hovet: A group of girls, one or two with a blanket, that they take turns with. They've been there since 10. "Yes of course we've eaten, we go in shifts!" In the front of the line is a few boys in their late teens, with their rocking outfits, big hair, girlfriends to match, singing along with one of their cellphones. "I woke up this morning, leaving on my mind", sings a boy. It's almost an involuntary reaction when I respond "And I said to myself, I ain't gonna waste more time, noo" 

"YES!" the boys punches his fist in the air. 

6 pm: There's two queues in front of the two entrances, and people are warming up towards new people, introducing themselves, recognizing each other from forums and facebook. There are maybe 20 people singing along to Flames (whose timing is quite difficult toward the end with the breaks between "Flaaaaames" and the cymbal-crash) 

6.30: The doors open, after guards explaining the rules: "Don't run, or guys in Yellow/Red/Orange T-shirts will pick you up and put you in quarantine" So people hurry as much as they can without running to get to the front line, where our preferances in band members decides who we end up next to (...it's my 11th gig, I know this to be true) And I end up between two girls I don't know. Yet

Support act has some good songs, but dull musicians, and the special guests has good musicians but dull songs. 

Then there's a band called Europe coming onstage. A teenage boy behind me try to pry his way between me and the girl to my left by putting his hand on the fence. He doesn't succeed. We're lioness...es when it comes to defending our right to  keeping comfortable by the front. 

And so the rock disco experience is on. I dance mostly with a guy standing 10 meters from were I am, at the other side of the protrusion of the stage. He sings and headbangs and throws his fist in the air while looking at me, and I sing and headbang and throw myself around while looking at him. It's like two twin souls meet. 

I think my soul might be a quadruplet. I have met a few twin souls in my life. But it never gets boring. So when Joey (that's the singer, the front man of the band ) slowly and tenderly gives his guitar pic to this guy after Carrie, I feel that guy's joy like it's my own. The explanation is simple: I recognize in his face the same frenzied admiration for the band and the songs that I can feel on my own face. It's probably not as strong on my face now as it was when I was this boys age (he's a bit younger than me, it seems), but it's definitely the same spark.

John Levén is to my front left pointing his bass guitar to people and putting his hand behind his ears as to say "I can't hear you, are you enjoying this?".... About that pointing his guitar thing. It's such a cool thing to do. But you know about what they say about guitars just being a extension of a guy's "goods"? well, imagine my giggles when he came out on the protrusion and share his bass guitar for people to touch. I couldn't help myself but giggle a little.

I'm not going to share the less good things about the gig. A girl screaming Joey's name like her life was depending on it, or people not understanding that a fist UP in the air won't do any harm, but a fist FORWARD in a crowd is less smart.

You know how you can loose your friends out of sight in a big crowded venue after a gig? Well, I kept loosing people I knew, but other people I knew kept appearing in my sight. It was like I belonged there. People I had never met, people I'd only just met, and people I hadn't seen in a year or 3.. well, they were totally equal to me, like one big happy family. 


To quote Joey: see you all soon, take care!