I have been very tired this week. Deadtired, all day long. Maybe it’s because of all the partying I have been doing. Staying up late on a Saturday night. Tsk tsk. I’m too old for this sith.

But I’ll pick up where I left off. After greatly enjoying the Tina Dickow show on Friday, I was all ready for more concerts on Saturday. I was planning to go see some “unknown” bands before the two bigname performances in the evening. Carpark North and Mew, finishing off the festival.

The plan changed, though, when I discovered that Brøndby were playing on Saturday. Couldn’t miss that one. And Brøndby won the game 7-0, thus claiming the danish championship. We also won the cup this year. So a brilliant Brøndby season it has been.

After a game like that I was obviously in a great mood. It was looking like a beautiful day. So I headed downtown. Quite early. The Carpark North show was scheduled to start at 22.55. I think I was down there around 21.30.

At Ridehuset.

The riding house. Not your typical nightclub/discotheque/venue.

There were a lot of people down there, but most of them were just hanging out outside the place. In the yard, in the tents and all around. Inside it was almost empty. So I pretty much could have shown up 10 minutes before the show and I would have gotten in without problems.

But I had some time to spend now. So I went around. Peeked in on other shows.

I have no idea who that is, but hey, rock on. They were just finishing when I got there.

I also saw Rikke Frøjk

You’ll just have to trust me, that’s her. On reporter duty for Danish television. Exciting. I tried not to seem too creepy as I circled around and tried to get a picture. To go with my growing collection of celeb sightings. Kent Nikolajsen. Thera Hoyemans. Tina Dickow. Rikke Frøjk. I’m a veritable paparazzi.

Eventually I got bored of walking around and went inside to take my position. Stood under the spotlights and waited.

It was kind of a lonely feeling actually. Everyone else was there with someone. A constant background noise, a lull of chatter. People drinking and having fun. Meeting old buddies, kissing, laughing. I felt a little like I was back at one of the old school parties, standing in the corner and watching everyone else have fun.

It didn’t make me sad though. I was happy and looking forward to the concerts. Some time in the future I hope I will be going to shows with friends. Hey, I have already had two offers from girls on dland/lj. Turned out Stine didn’t have the finances to go to Spot 11. And Sara, I’m not sure hip hop is the way to go! Haha. But yes, it will be fun to share the music with others in the future. Right now I’m just incredibly excited that I can go to the shows at all. It’s easier for me to do it alone, until I get more used to it.

Oh, when I said I hated being short. What I meant was: I hate tall people.

No, no. Some of you tall bastards are okay. I just hate tall people that find the need to place themselves directly in between me and the stage. That’s very inconsiderate! The least they could do is bow down. Squat. Something.

It’s my own fault though. I once again took a place out at the side, up against the wall. I could have gone and stood right in the front, but I didn’t quite feel ready to stand in the middle of the crowd. That will be one of my next projects.

And it should be possible. Because I felt just fine. Throughout the whole festival, both days, all shows. I felt practically no phobia. A little nervousness in some situations. But I didn’t get scared. Didn’t get any panic attacks. I enjoyed myself. It’s really an amazing step forward. Being able to have fun in a big group of people. I have never been able to do that before.

I did feel a bit self conscious though. Carpark North got started. And they did a smashing show. I had been listening to their latest album on my mp3 player for days. It was amazing seeing them alive like that. Very different from Tina’s show. Tina is more personal, intimate. She has that “acoustic songwriter” feel. Carpark North, I don’t know how to describe them exactly. Electronic/rock/pop. Something like that. Very loud, with lots of coloured spotlights going off everywhere. Very engaging. I wanted to scream out loud, to sing along. But I didn’t. Only in my head. I didn’t want to attract attention. Eventually I loosened up a little though. And started bobbing my head, swaying to the music. I’m sure I looked like a dork, but who cares. It was such a great feeling. Again, the vibrations. The physical feel of being bombarded by soundwaves. Everyone going crazy around you. Amazing.

I have mentioned their Human video before. You can check it out on their website, in the media section. I love it. Although it really needs to be seen in higher quality than that.

Seeing them live has definitely made me a bigger fan of them. They rocked the house. I would say they’re better live than on record. And they’re local Århus boys too, doesn’t hurt.

I made a great video of Transparent & Glasslike with my camera. As great as it can be with a digital autofocusing camera. I wish I could put it up. Stupid KODA. I’m going to have to look through our copyright law and see if I can’t at least put up a little excerpt of Tina’s show. You’d think they would be happy that I want to promote Danish artists to the great foreign market. But no no.

Anyway. The Carpark North show was thrilling and brilliant. When it was done I had some time to kill before Mew. Almost an hour in fact. I went out to the local Burger King, thinking I could grab a little bite. But it was chock full of festival goers so I anbandoned that idea and went back to Ridehuset. I wanted to be sure that I could get a spot for Mew. And that was a good idea, because the place started filling up quickly. Lots of people wanting to see them.

There was a group of 4-5 guys right behind me. For some reason they started singing old songs. Like songs from the 80s. And they would make each other guess what the songs were. And then at one point one of them tapped me on the shoulder and said “Excuse me sir, would you like to participate in a musical quiz?”. Haha. Odd. I said no, though. I am not one for Jeopardy.

The Mew show got started. And Mew were great. I love Mew. One of my favourite bands. Unfortunately the room was really packed for this one. So my place at the side of the room wasn’t so good this time. I couldn’t see much of the stage. Too bad, because Mew really have a great stage show. The stuff on the monitor in the background is fascinating. I wish I could have seen more of it.

But I enjoyed the show greatly. It was a thrill to hear those great songs live. Those songs I have been listening to for ages. I heartily recommend Mew, if you ever get the chance. They are already pretty big in Europe, I hope they get even bigger all over the world. They’re going to be supporting R.E.M. by the way. Faq, I’d kill to see a Mew/R.E.M. show. That would be something epic. They’re not coming to Århus for that one though. Too bad.

Mew were a little late. At around 1.50 they said “goodnight everybody”. I didn’t know if they were going to do an encore. Tina had done one. Carpark North hadn’t. The different bands had a pretty tight schedule at the festival. 50 minutes each. But Mew hadn’t played Comforting Sounds yet. One of my favourite songs. And one they usually close their sets with. So I was having a bit of a dilemma. My bus home was at 2 o’clock. If I stayed to see if there would be an encore then I’d have to wait for the next bus at 3. Even with an encore they would be done by 2.10. So I’d have to stand around and wait for ages in the middle of the night, being all tired and alone. I didn’t like the idea of that, so I decideed to run out the door and catch the bus. That had been my plan all along actually, to leave for the 2 am bus even if the show wasn’t over. But as I was getting really into the shows I had changed my plan to “I’ll stay till the bitter end”.

Anyway. I made my 2 o’clock bus. And then the next day I see the setlist.

INTRO
SHELTER
SWANKY
AM I WRY
1 5 6
SNOWBRIGADE
ZOO KEEPER
X MAS
PINK MONSTER
GRAVE
SHE SPIDER
APOCALYSO
JAPANESE
COMFORTING SOUNDS

Damn! Damn dam damn. I missed Comforting Sounds. Oh well. If I had stayed then I guess I would have been even more tired this week. I still had a great time.

So that was my festival fun. Two days, three acts. I wish I had gone to a few more. And I wish I had stayed for the Mew encore. But no regrets. I had a fantastic time and I can’t begin to explain how incredibly happy I am that I have crossed that bridge, conquered that fear, beaten that foe. I am no longer sitting in front of my computer, listening to MP3s and hoping that I can go to a concert in the future. I have done it. I have done it, I have loved it and I know I’ll do it again.

In fact I have already gotten my next concert lined up. On Friday. Swan Lee, live in Tivoli. An outdoor concert. Another Danish band. You see, I’m hooked. I love concerts as much as I thought I would. And I want to go to as many as I can. I want my life to be one, long concert. An everlasting encore. I want to drown in music.

Aaaah. I am happy. But this has gone on for long enough. Time to say goodnight. Like the lazy enchilada.

Thank you all for listening. It’s great to have people to share this with. It makes me so happy, that you guys are happy for me. Some of you have known me for years, known me when I was bitter and depressed and lonely. It makes me happy to share my progress with you.

Group hug!

(Don’t forget to scroll down and look at my concert pictures, if you haven’t already. I posted them on some livejournal communities and got nice responses. I love politeness!)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 15th, 2005 at 21:27 and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.