It’s been another busy week. Two more countries visited and the last Ozzy show of 2011 is now done… But let’s go back to last Friday, to somehow recapture the past week that I never quite had time to write about until now.

I had a visitor here, Vera who I met at Sweden Rock Festival, that she was covering for the Russian edition of Classic Rock Magazine. A really cool girl, so it was fun having her here, eventhough it was very improvised.
I got sick,  was almost broke, then it was raining most of the day on Sunday so maybe some of the circumstances could have been better but all in all, it was great.

It’s just rare with other girls that are just as passionate for rock’n’roll as myself, who are in the biz and can relate to the same things. It’s also interesting to learn a little about how things are in another country.

Went to the Modern Museum, a small private museum in town, because she wanted to see the Picasso-exhibition. I found a painting by Matisse that I stopped at because I know that it’s David Coverdale’s favorite artist. Or one of them, maybe I should say. :)

Then I thought I’d show her Turning Torso, but instead we ended up in the middle of a dog-exhibition of some sort out there on the beach! I didn’t even know there was an event there, but it couldn’t have been more perfect, we both LOVE dogs!!

In the evening we met up with my friend Henny, went to L’Angelo to “have a beer”, but as we were all either sick or driving, we ended up ordering TEA and JUICE! How very….rock’n’roll ;)
Went to the rock-pub Dead End for a short while but there were only annoying people there so we just decided to leave.

The next day was spent indoors watching videos on Youtube, music-DVD.s or flipping through music magazines. Pretty much like the classic “nerd evenings” here. :) She left in the evening for Gothenburg and her friend there.

I went home to try to get better, because I was coming down with the worst cold ever. But Monday was POLAND-time. One of the last OZZY-shows this year. The flight was an hour delayed due to technical problems, which was ok by me – I was so sick that I just sat there sleeping at the airport. Slept all the way to Gdansk, and then headed straight to the first taxi I saw.

The people in Poland weren’t better at English than the Greeks, so when I asked the cab-driver how much it would cost to the hotel, he drew “80” with his finger on the cab window.
80 zloty. Ah.

I got the absolutely coolest hotel-room ever. I checked into this art hotel called Lalala, every room is different, and mine was designed for a rocker. :) You’ll see pics of it in my previous blog.

I just went to bed early that day. The next day – the day of the show – it was pissing down. The sky was BLACK and I had a fever, could barely breathe, felt like shit.
I stayed in bed all day, until it was time to get going, cause I wasn’t going to miss the concert.
I’ve been sick at shows before, so I was determined to go.

Asked the guy at the reception (which was actually also the hotel BAR…) how to find Ergo Arena, and he immediately said with a big smile: “Ah! OZZY!” He knew what was happening there that day apparently. :)

It wasn’t close, it was a good 30-40 minute walk, but it was easy to find. Just straight, across the railway station, two more right turns then I could see the arena from afar and people with Ozzy t-shirts in a caravan walking across this huge field. I guessed that they knew a shortcut, so I just sort of blended in and followed those people…

Called my friend Mari who was my personal GPS when I got lost in Greece as well and she looked up Google maps once again. I found the way to the arena, but then finding the way to the entrance was a different story. The security guy answered in Polish and that didn’t help me much. I eventually found that too.

Security people in Poland were kind of intimidating, and they were shouting out instructions to people that I didn’t understand, so I didn’t dare filming in there at first cause there was a shitload of security guys looking like a freaking army, but then I laughed to myself when I realized that these guys had NO idea what was about to happen to them in a few minutes! :))))

They would all get hosed down with FOAM from head to toe, and lose their faces and image completely, so suddenly they didn’t seem as intimidating anymore. :) My videos could make anyone seasick but I was trying to make it look like I was taking pics, not filming so…. ah well, what can you do. :)

The Polish crowd was WILD! Absolutely crazy! I mean – the NOISE that they made when Ozzy and his guys walked up on stage…!! The energy that they kept throughout the whole show, it was amazing! I was too sick to do anything but just HANG there on the barrier. I felt like a zombie, but at least I was there. It just puts a smile on my face seeing Ozzy and his boys – there is so much LOVE on Ozzy’s stage.

[Video: SOMEONE THREW A PURPLE BRA AT OZZY :-)))]

That whole Prince of Darkness-bullshit is just ridiculous. There is no danger-factor to Ozzy, he is more like Barney than Lucifer. All I see is a man who has come to a point in his career where he doesn’t need to pretend to be someone he’s not. He is OZZY. People love him no matter who or what that is. He has earned the right to just do his thing and be happy! I love the sincerety, the true enthusiasm that he projects, it’s very contageous.

And the guys in the band are like brothers, it’s very obvious that they really enjoy playing together and that there is a wonderful chemistry between them as people, not only as musicians – and all of that is what makes a great concert experience.

You go to a show because you want to feel something. You want that adrenaline-kick or you want aggression, euphoria, sadness, happiness, anger – whatever, it’s just a question of emotions. Ozzy treats “his” guys like they are his beloved sons, and they love the man – we all do.

So, it doesn’t matter if Ozzy loses his voice or fucks up every now and then, he is the REAL DEAL, one of the few in the music business nowadays. And it’s been worth every hard earned buck that I’ve spent on my trips across Europe this summer to see the Ozzy-shows.

Anyhoo…. walked back to the hotel – across that dark field, through the dark streets of Sopot/Gdansk, and slept for 2 hours. Then a cab picked me up at 3.45 in the morning to drive me to the airport. I was totally gone, my head felt like a bowl of Jello.

Changed flights in Warsaw, then back to Copenhagen – straight on the next train to work…. and I had the late “shift” of course. I don’t know how I managed, but I felt like I was going to throw up all day…

Pretty much passed out when I got home that day. I had the next day off, because I was going to the LAST Ozzy show of the season. Smukfest in Skanderborg, Denmark. I had a long drive ahead of me and of course – it was going to be rain. LOTSSSS of rain. It took almost 5 hours instead of 3, because the rain was so bad at times that you had to drive really slow on the motorway.

When I finally got to the festival-parking lot, there was so much mud – I was afraid my car would get stuck in all that goo. The actual festival was far from the parking so I got on one of the shuttle buses and picked up my pass. The festival was actually nicely arranged, right in the middle of the woods, very cool.

When I got there I saw that there were two stages next to eachother, at the foot of a hill, so for once it seemed like a better idea NOT to stand in the front row, but to stand a bit further up the hill as it would be like standing right in front of the band on the same hight. Well… BAD idea.

It seemed like a brilliant idea when some Danish band played earlier in the afternoon that didn’t have that many crazy fans in front of the stage…. BUT – as it was getting time for Ozzy to hit the stage, the situation was TOTALLY different… I had all kinds of annoying, tall assholes in front of me, couldn’t see shit.

I actually asked one of them to pleeease not move another inch, otherwise I wouldn’t see anything. He heard I was Swedish and asked if I was there just for Ozzy. I said yeah – and much to my surprise, he was struggling all evening -with people pushing HIM, not to end up in front of me. That was super cool – so there are nice people everywhere. :-)

It was a great atmosphere at that last gig. The band played so well – it was as if they brought it up a notch because it was the last show, it was just so effing GOOD!!

[Video: GUS & ADAM enjoying the last evening on stage in PARANOID, hugs Ozzy/band]

I left with mixed emotions. On one hand I was buzzing because it had been an excellent gig, and once again, Ozzy’s smiling face is so contageous – same with the big smiles on the guys’ faces – cause Gus, Adam, Tommy and Blasko all seemed to be having a blast that evening.

On the other hand, it felt crappy because it was the last show. It’s easy to get used to this. I’ve had shows to look forward to since June, and now it’s all over.
Well… I’ve got the Firewind-shows to look forward to at last – all 9 of them. And at least 1/5 of Ozzy’s band will be there, so…that’s good enough for me. ;)