My story starts Friday 19th August at Oslo Central Station at 09.30. My train leaves in 4 minutes, I’ve just been walking around the station gathering supplies, so now I’m stocked up on coffee, Coca Cola, a bottled smoothie, a really nice club sandwich and some chocolate for my train ride to Åndalsnes, then bus to Ålesund. My Facebook status reads
"(…) it's Joey's birthday and also the day before my 29th concert. I've already started my trip towards Ålesund. Looks like a clear day so the scenery should be epic.» I’ve got a new book from an author I really like, so the 7.5 hours ride should go pretty smoothly."
When leaving Oslo, it’s just the city, and then a few tunnels till you’re at Oslo Airport, and it takes a few hours for the real sights to appear, but I’m keeping myself entertained, with music and my book, and a little bit of social media on my phone. I should probably save the battery more, cause it’s a long trip, and my new phone is a battery eater, but I’m in control.. I can stop whenever I want …. Finally I’m able to put away my phone, the landscape outside the window is now more countryside. The grass and the trees are still summer green, there’s only some occasional auburn seasoning of the treetops here and there to tell you that autumn is waiting. I’m passing rivers and streams which are oh so merry and blue. Occasionally I see a cottage with thick, green grass instead of roof tiles, it’s a fairytale landscape, but nothing compared to what’s coming! I’m finding it hard to keep my face passive, I’m actually sitting there half smilin’ although the concert is not ‘till tomorrow, even though I’ve been up since half past six!
In some of the rivers there are boulders with moss on top of them. This suddenly reminds me of the love trolls from Frozen. That movie has some clear hints to Scandinavia and our folklore, and the «trolls-turning-to-stone-in-the-sun» is one of them. So now I can’t even look at a rock in a stream without thinking about trolls … I can be such a national-romantic cliché-loving person sometimes. Have I mentioned I love the country I live in? I am truly grateful to Europe for having played at some genuinely remote places in this vast country. 4 hours in, I’m looking at my phone, it has lost half it’s battery power by now, and I remind myself that I shouldn’t use it too much; my student ID is on there, and without it, I cannot hope to get a reduction in the bus ticket fee. As usual my funding isn’t great.
You know what it’s like with long rides, though… You just wanna check Facebook one more time, you want to take a picture here, and listen to a song, and end up listening to the whole album. The battery is showing it’s critically low, so I make a decision to put it away. The pictures I want to take for this review (which I have already started writing in my head, in english) I’ve already taken! I was in this particular area for 4 days in July with my girlfriend and her family, experiencing the best of Norway’s spectacular scenery, even bathing in the green rivers filled with glacier water! Now the mountains are wilder-looking, one of the bridges we’re passing is … words elude me on this one, see for yourselves:
And now I see the mountains of Åndalsnes. I know I said I had taken lots of pictures in July but I just… can’t … help … it … just … one … more …. «Oh, the view is even better here» *click*. Battery power 2% … I might still yet make it. The last half an hour before the train arrives in Åndalsnes must be THE reason why so many tourists come here every year. When arriving in Åndalsnes I’m experiencing the same sensation as the first time I came here: dizziness, nausea and butterflies in my stomach. It’s like car sickness mixed with anticipation, but I’m not car sick, I’m just totally overwhelmed and in love with the mountains. They make me feel so small and insignificant. As you might have guessed; when I’m boarding the bus to Ålesund, my battery is all out, and I have no physical student card to show the bus driver, so I have to pay the full adult ticket, costing me 100 NOK more than I planned for. But it was worth it.
I was never a big fan of Geography when I was in school. Memorizing the names of the deepest oceans, the longest rivers, the widest lakes or the biggest fjords was not in my interest at the time. I grew up near a lake called Holsfjorden, connected to Tyrifjorden, so all my life I thought a fjord was a lake, and that a lake was a fjord. I learned the error of this some time last year, but while on the bus from Åndalsnes I really realize for the first time what makes a fjord so intriguing to people from other countries. I ask the couple in front of me who sound like they’re from abroad if they know the name of the fjord we have been driving next to for nearly an hour now, and they give me a map that tells me it’s Romsdalsfjorden.
A new pop culture reference slams into my head; Slartibartfast. He is a character in Douglas Adams’ book series «A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy». Slartibartfast is a «designer of planets. His favourite part of the job is creating coastlines, the most notable of which are the fjords found on the coast of Norway on planet Earth, for which he won an award.»
I can’t really say what it is about fjords that suddenly is so mesmerizing to me. Maybe this is about size too… The mountains and islands seems to go straight down into the body of water, the bus is driving through tunnels and over bridges, and the water outside of the bus is the same fjord that you have been driving by for almost 2 hours, you expect the next big turn to show you the ocean, but then it’s another mountain in the distance. It’s just epic! My kind host HK meets me at the bus station near Ålesund, and we go out with friends that night, before going back to his house where I get the guest room.
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Through my years travelling in, with and to see Europe, I’ve experienced some fantastic hospitality. This time is no exception. I have acquired a lot of friends and acquiantances through all my years studying, going to concerts and parties. I can’t really say I know exactly where everyone lives. So a month before the gig I made a shout out to my friends and acquaintances of Facebook asking if there was someone who could offer me a sofa for a few nights in or near Ålesund. A relatively new acquaintance, Hans Kato, heeded my call. He even told me he made some really mean breakfasts.
A couple of days before my departure to Ålesund, he contacted me to ask what I’d like to eat, offering quite a range of choices for breakfast. This was also one of the reasons I was smiling on the journey to Ålesund; I was looking forward to all of it, not just the music!
So, when I get up all rested on Saturday morning I take a shower, and the unmistakable sounds of breakfast-making comes from the kitchen, accompanied by a delicious smell. Hans Kato serves me Morrocan omelet; fried eggs with garlic, chili and ginger, with red onion and sweet cherry tomatoes; it’s the most perfect start to a concert day, all full of proteins and vitamins. The recipe may sound hot, but it is actually very balanced; sweet and seasoned all in one.
Hans Kato isn’t that into Europe, he isn’t going to the concert, but almost by mistake I discover that we share a common interest for Nightwish, so we spend some hours listening to, goofing over and really appreciate some fine Nightwish-songs while I am going to and from the mirror in the hallway to the sofa in the living room trying to get the make-up just right! I am relaxed, not stressing about going to the venue really early to maybe catch the sound of soundcheck. I still ride on a wave of energy; this time provided by Nightwish music that I haven’t listened to in a while. Safe to say, HK isn’t just an aquaintance anymore, I can honestly say we’ve become friends.
My newfound friend drives me to Ålesund (it takes a little while by car and a 15 minute ferry ride to get there), and drops me of an hour before the festival opens for the day, I’m gonna catch some Pokemóns while waiting, exploring a new city and just get to walk a bit, in the hot sun. Caught myself a Pikachu and a lot of Magikarps. Yes, I know; I’m 30 years old, and cell phone games aren’t cool when you’re 30. So maybe I should’ve kept it out of the review? Nah, I like it, it’s fun, and you wasn’t expecting to read it. So there :P
I eat a sandwich and a couple of carrots before entering the big Color Line Stadium where Europe is due at 21.20 p.m. My first impression of the stages (there are two) are that they are a bit small, you can’t even tell if the one is bigger than the other, so how do I know where Europe will appear? Oh right, look after clues. Clue number one: I spot an Italian girl sitting on the ground with her back to the fence in front of one of the stages where a band is currently playing. Impersonating Sherlock it wouldn’t take me long to deduce by the fact that she’s sitting there reading a book, that she’s not here for the current band. By the amount of stuff she’s brought, one could deduce that she is experienced at going to festivals and waiting for a long time in order to secure a good spot. Her warm clothes also shows that she’s used to a warmer climate.
I didn’t deduce any of that; I know she’s Italian ‘cause it’s a girl I know; Valerie. I have only ever met Valerie while in Norway. But still, I have met her more than three times. Not for a long time now though! I sit next to her, also ignoring the band on stage, and we catch up a bit. Looking around inside the stadium I see balloons in different colours on the various sides of the stadium. One has «WC» on it, and is hovering in a direct line over the signs to the toilets. Another balloon shows where the exit is. Smart, for when the stadium will be filled with people, already there are people sitting in the seats around the stadium. Having some experience with Europe playing in Norway, I am not really expecting a full stadium, but judging by the flow of people passing when I was eating my lunch, it should fill up quite good.
Looking around further, there’s also a big banner there advertising Burn, the energy drink. The slogan reads «Light it up». I smile to myself; this is one of the songs on the most current Europe album; War of Kings. I see more people I know, funnily enough they are all from not Norway. Michaela, like Valerie, has travelled from Italy, and Kelly has come from Glasgow. Through them I meet Cindy who is also Italian.
The only artist I want to mention before Europe hits the stage is Ina Wroldsen, a norwegian singer. Her voice is so clear, and she certainly know how to use it! Her next to last song is Space Oddity by David Bowie. Only its' several keys higher than anyone has ever sung it before, I think. And still she manage to sing beautifully! Check her out sometime, if you get the chance!
After Ina and her band (a dj, a keyboardplayer, a guitarist and a drummer) leaves the stage, the crowd is thinning again, to check out the band playing on the other stage. I decide to find a toilet, just in case. I ask Kelly and Michaela to save my spot. They pledge to try. When I get back, I find there are quite a crowd in front of the stage, but I still get a spot … right in front of Joey’s white mic stand. And I mean RIGHT in front of it! Suddenly the stage doesn’t seem so small. It’s perfect height, the front row fence is set 5-6 metres away from the stage. Close to the stage, maybe half a metre out, there’s a row of tall amps. Not as tall as the stage, but tall enough. In front of those are another row of amps, half the height of the big ones. Pay attention; This will become important later ... Our band enters the stage, and although small, the stage is not cramped. The band has space to move around. The first three songs is as always all about the press. The photographers are all over the band members. But I feel that at this concert, the press is also very intent on capturing the audience, I even catch some photographers trying to get my crazed (but well groomed for once) face on their cameras. So I might have been a little extra crazy, trying to represent my band as best as I could in terms of devotion. I think I succeeded.
I told you I didn’t think the stadium would fill up. It does. People everywhere! Of course this cause for a bit of drama, people getting shoved into other people, creating uncertainty in the front rows now and then. But I get to keep my focus on the band. I didn’t tell you, but there are big screens on either side of the stage, so that the people watching from the seats and further back can also see the artists performing. Europe is being filmed from down on the ground in front of the stage and on the actual stage. The overlapping between cameras is smooth, and the camera men manage to not not take the focus off the concert. But poor guys … when Joey jumps down on one of the aforementioned hig amps, further down on the lower amp, and then onto the ground in front of the audience…. He is reaching out to the audience, running from one side to the other, and I can almost feel the confusion and frustration coming from the camera men «Now what do I do??» What becomes more and more apparent while Joey is down right in front of us, however, is the question: «How does he get up again? There’s more than two steps up from the highest amp to the stage, AND there’s a half a metre gap between those two!» It seems to me that Joey is working these same questions, cause he is taking his time down on the ground with us.
He goes back up on one of the smaller amps, sings a little bit there. Then he goes onto one of the bigger amps, and it takes me a bit longer to realize that the security guys have also been working on the problem. The solution to the confusion is provided by one of the security guys, he lends his shoulder (!) to Joey as the missing step between the tallest amp and the stage.
Speaking of security guys... For those of you that have attended one or more Europe gigs the past 4 years, you may have noticed parts of the entertainment routine Europe does. One is John Norum stopping to play a phrase, then putting his hand behind is ear and looking encouraging out into the audience, as if to say “so, do you think I’m good? I wanna hear ya!” Joey has a call and response-thing during Rock the night (I’ll come back to that in a second), and he has this thing where he lowers his microphone beside one of the security guys, maybe this time they will actually sing into it? Well, today’s victim is with his back to the stage, looking out into the crowd to make sure things go smoothly. Michaela is trying to mimick to him that he has a microphone beside his head now. He is smiling, and giving her a thumbs up or something. I take part in the mimicking and pointing, so he understands there’s something going on at his side.... The look of this guy when he very visibly jumps with surprise is just hilarious! Thank you Joey, that was priceless!
This is my concert no.29. At one point, no at several points, it takes me back to my 14th concert, at Karlskoga in Sweden. The post reads: “The sound was clear. But let me tell you, this was a bit of hard audience in a way I've never seen before. If the band waited too long between the songs, they would start, almost synchronized, to hum this tune (...)” Back to the present: Hello again, “Seven Nation Army” by “The white stripes”. I had heard it sung several times during the concerts of the previous bands, and in the breaks between. Europe had been spared... until “Rock the night”, that is (and that song came as number 3 in the set, so...) I notice Joey is whispering into John Levéns ear right before John Norum lets go of his guitar. Then Levén proffers four descending notes on the bass. It doesn’t take the crowd half a wink to catch onto it “Oooh oh oh oh oooooo oooo!”. That’s the only thing I’m less happy about during this gig.
Anyway; like in Karlskoga 6 years ago, the sound is so clear, the lighting is as always perfect! It has just been 7 weeks since I last saw Europe live, so the set list hasn’t changed that much, except they played “Cherokee”! I haven’t heard that song live in 3 years, so when I hear Ian taking it away, I can feel my tonsils vibrating as I yell “Jaaaaaaaa!”.
Speaking of Norwegian words, Joey has a tendency to pick up the local expressions. Like for instance he’s saying “Tusen takk!” (Norwegian) Instead of “Tack så mycket!” (Swedish). The norwegian word he is testing today is “Stas!”, which can be translated to something like “Grand!”. He is a talented entertainer for sure.
Europe is offering the perfect ending to a good show when they do “Cherokee”, followed by “Days of rock’n’roll”, and concludes with “The Final Countdown”. Three amazing songs, I think the crowd really has had a good time.
Epilogue: Hans Kato picked me up in town an hour after the concert had ended, and made me a really late dinner. While he was making food, I decided to go online to see if the local newspaper had written anything about Europe before the concert. The first thing I saw after the page was done loading was a picture of me and Valerie. We were interviewed by a couple of young women at the concert, and I had thought they were junior reporters doing something from the festival or something, but it turned out they were actually from the biggest local newspaper.
http://www.smp.no/kultur/2016/08/20/Europe-trekker-n%C3%A6r-og-fjern-til-%C3%85lesund-13214795.ece
The next day HK served american pancakes with bacon, maple syrup and blueberry jam, before driving me to the bus stop where the bus was going to take me back to Åndalsnes.
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