I like to think of myself as slightly autistic. Hopefully, autistic people won't find that offensive. I think we all have autistic traits. My autistic trait is a memory for dates. More or less important dates. Birthdays. Not just my parents' birthdays or my friends'. I think I still remember the birthday of 95% of the kids in my year at primary and secondary school. It was a maximum of 30 pupils, but still. I think I know most of the birthdays of the people in my class at upper secondary school as well.
Where am I going with this? Oh yeah, dates. I remember the date, year and place of at least 27 of the 32 concerts I have been to with Europe. So it's easy for my built-in calendar to sort of notify me on those dates, so I can reminisce by reading old blog posts. Luckily, I have been travelling to Europe gigs for nearly 13 years (case in point; it will be 13 years on the 11th....), and I have written about the majority of them. Sadly, some aren't written down. And so, when I went to my blog today, to look for my entry from Skien in 2010, there was nothing there!
So I just want to share the things I actually remember.
This gig was awesome. Firstly, because I went there with two of my closest friends; Eirik and Merete. They were interested enough to go with me, and I was comfortable enough with our trio that I could be my usual intense die-hard-fan without it getting weird for them. I had had my license since 2004, but after my first experience with driving to and from a Europe gig (the very first, I might add), I didn't trust myself to drive there, although it was only a 40 minutes drive from where Eirik lived, and from where our journey started. So I was relieved when Eirik volunteered to drive us. We came to the centre of Skien at least 3 hours prior to the concert, and on the town square, I found more fans, from Norway, Italy and other countries. We were lucky enough to witness the soundcheck as well! But, alas, during the soundcheck, which I enjoyed very much, I really had to use the restroom! The timing sucked! But when nature calls, you gotta answer, right? So, I ran into the shopping centre right next to the town square, and found the ladies' room..
There are things you can check off your "to do"-list that you never knew was on there, and that day I checked off "listening to 'Last Look at Eden' at a Europe soundcheck while sitting on the toilet". It was loud and clear! On the way out of the mall, I noticed some beautiful Europe posters with 'Last Look at Eden'-motif, and asked someone working there whether I could have one... and he obliged!
(I had that poster on my wall for 5 consecutive years!)
This was my 5th concert during the Last Look at Eden-tour. The first three had been in 2009, and the fourth in February 2010. I remember saying after the fourth gig: "Now I'm satisfied, I won't rush to go to any more Europe gigs for a while..... unless they come to Norway!" And then they announced this gig, and I just went "Yay-ish". I love Europe, but at the time of the fourth gig, I felt that they did the same old set, without shaking anything up too much. So I was thrilled to have them back on my turf, but I was sceptical to the setlist. I hadn't needed to worry, because now they added new songs! And not only did they add new songs, but during one of Mic's intermission solos, they implemented a piece of the motif from "In the hall of the mountain king!" by Edvard Grieg, the famous Norwegian composer. I almost squealed at that, especially because Skien is the birth city of another famous Norwegian name, namely Henrik Ibsen, the playwright. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is composed by Grieg to the play "Peer Gynt" by Ibsen, so you, I think, can see my fascination. Add that this had been a sunny day in the beginning of June, the best month to be experiencing Norwegian nature of forests, mountains and fjords, and I was the proudest norwegian you ever did see :)
At this point, my 10th concert in Norway, my 13th concert in total, I had not yet managed to catch a plectrum or a drumstick from the men on stage. And part of a fan's experience is the hope to one day do just that. Today was my day. I have told the story sooo many times, so I don't need to have written about it before to remember it. It was after The Final Song, and I had caught John Levén's eye multiple times during the entire gig, and so, during that song, I had mimicked to him, by rubbing my thumb and index finger together, that I would like his plectrum. To anyone else, of course, that gesture means "I'd like some money, please!". After the song ended, he tossed out a bunch of plectrums all willy-nilly. He looked me in the eye and indicated he would toss me one. He tossed, and I tried to catch it, but it missed. Then, I looked back up, and he mimed that he was proffering his non-excisting cleavage. I was packing a little bit of cleavage that day, and a too revealing top (I threw it in the garbage that same summer), so I pushed my uhm, rack up from underneath and looked at him again. He tried again, like a kid trying to get a ping pong ball in one of the holes at the tivoli to win a plushtoy, but the plectrum landed on the ground between the crowd fence and the stage. However; a guard had witnessed this uhm, exchange, and he picked up the plectrum and gave it to me :-)
My friends hadn't been with me all the way at the front row, they had been watching the concert from a bit further back, so I was giggling when telling them that story when I caught up with them.
So; the soundcheck, a poster, some new songs, an excerpt from "Peer Gynt" and a plectrum; it had left me in a funny state. I hadn't been touching alcohol on this concert either, but I was hugging my friends a bit extra that night. And as I was sitting in the back seat going back, I had to laugh at myself; I was sighing and moaning to myself, without no apparent control! I caught myself sighing - as after having ingested a particularly good meal - and then I stopped. 2 more minutes, and a new sigh or moan came. My friends teased me about that. But I don't think I came down from cloud nine for a week after that gig... and my need to see Europe was rejuvenated! I went to my next gig the following July ;) You can read about that in the blogpost from Karlskoga!
