This is the first installment of hopefully many where I reminisce about concerts I've attended. But the focus will be on what occurred before, during or after and not so much on the music and bands at hand. Some memories are very short but definitely worth publishing and when that occurs the setup will be two or three short ones pieced together as chapter. Only time will tell though. If nothing is stated my friends names are real and I have asked the involved parties for permission to include them. I sincerely hope you, dear wave riders, will enjoy this as much as I did and still do writing down these memories!
The B-52s at Falkoner Teatret, Copenhagen November 17th 1992
Back on November 17th 1992 we, that would be my childhood friends Andreas, Johan, Kalle and myself, journeyed down the Swedish west coast with the Danish capital Copenhagen as our destination. Our mission was to attend a concert by The B-52s who for some reason omitted Sweden from their Interdimensional Tourgasm Tour. Not deterred by this we were going and I took it upon myself to obtain the tickets and duly called a ticket agent. Yes, this was back when you either called for tickets or if you lived close enough went and stood in line for them, there was no such thing as online booking yet. No problems, I got the tickets easy enough but miscommunication between yours truly and the agent would mean issues later on which we will get to shortly.
If memory serves me it took us just over 6 hours in all to reach our destination. That included the drive south, the car-ferry ride across the Danish Strait from Helsingborg, Sweden, to Helsingör, Denmark and then the drive south on E-47 trying to locate the venue. Keep in mind, this was before GPS-systems so a road map was all we had and this is where the miscommunication reared its ugly head. Falkoner Teatret, or Falkonersalen as it is called today, is located in a part of Copenhagen called Frederiksberg, easy enough right? Well I swore up and down the ticket agent said it was in Eriksberg...which is actually in Gothenburg, Sweden! Yes, you're right, I screwed up big time and this error caused us to drive back and forth through the Danish capital until the guys decided I was wrong and took the exit for Frederiksberg. And lo and behold our chief driver Kalle took us straight to Falkoner Teatret in no time.
As we parked right outside the venue I was still in a bad mood by the mistake I made but as we disembarked the vehicle a pizzeria was discovered and starved as we were hope arose in us all...well, sort of. After just a few steps towards it Andreas wants us to remain outside the venue with other gathered fans in case the band shows up so we could get autographs. Our collective response was:"no problems, you wait here while we eat because we're starving. We'll save you a seat." He joined us under protest but once food was served we all felt better. However, that only lasted for so long. Our next and last mission before the show was to find a grocery store and stock up on Danish beer. The beverage was super cheap in Denmark at the time and we had rented a minivan for this trip so plenty of beer could and would be purchased. There was a store on the other side of Falkoner Teatret, and as we pass it Andreas talks to people already waiting in line and sure enough, while we were eating the band did arrive. They signed autographs and talked to the fans. Andreas' mood dipped considerably hearing this and he wasn't happy with us. Unfortunately for him it was going to get worse once we entered the grocery store.
Wasting little time Kalle, Johan and I quickly grabbed what we wanted and lined up to pay while Andreas took his time. I don't intend to be mean but for an outsider the Danish language is very hard to understand as is their monetary system when spoken. However, Danes understand Swedish much easier...go figure hahaha. Knowing this the three of us walked up far enough so the display on the register was visible and we'd be able to know what to pay hence avoiding any confusion. As we stood by the exit waiting for Andreas, who still wasn't in the best of moods, the cashier overheard us talking about if our friend would even consider checking the display while paying, or is he still too upset to think about it? Well, being distracted Andreas did not consider this and put his loot by the register. The cashier keyed in the price and said something completely incomprehensible in the thickest Danish brogue. Andreas switched to English and German in hopes of getting through to the man whose brogue got even worse which left our friend dumbfounded. By now the rest of us were rolling on the floor with laughter adding more frustration for Andreas who was about to blow. Don't remember who it was that took mercy on him and said: ”step up a little bit further so you can see the display!” Problem solved and we all left in better spirits, even our unfortunate friend who began to lighten up.
We all got separated quickly but eventually Kalle, Johan and myself found each other towards the back catching our breaths. One of them asked if anyone had seen Andreas but no one had. However, before the show Andreas had mentioned that Kate Pierson usually was to the left of the stage and that's when it hit me: ”Look for Kate Pierson on the stage. Wherever she is and moves look right below at the front row of the crowd.” Lo and behold, it didn't take us long to discover a 6'3 half Swede half Finn moving along with Kate wherever she went staring at her with devoted, lovelorn eyes. Miss Pierson had been Andreas' crush since childhood and nothing would stop him from being in her presence. And nothing did. As much as the crowd swayed back and forth and side to side Andreas never strayed from his idol!
After several mishaps along the way this was a brilliant adventure any which way you look at it. Of course we were tired driving out of Copenhagen bound for Helsingör but it was a happy tiredness and thankfully nothing happened on the way back home. Subdued was the state of mind for a while but once the car-ferry docked in Sweden and we rolled out on E-45 northbound for home driving parallel with the Danish strait, we all came back to life.
-Swedebeast
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