Europe in Oslo cancelled. :(

They got stuck in Hardangervidda on the way to Oslo due to bad weather.

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Here's the story:

The band is in Oslo. The equipment is not. The truck with the equipment got stuck in Hardangervidda, apparently because the truck was equipped with SUMMER TIRES. IN NORWAY. IN DECEMBER.

Excuse my language, but....

FUCK!!!

Hopefully the date will be rescheduled in the not too distant future. And when it is, I WILL go.

Here's the whole story. I just felt I had to write it out, so here goes:

EDIT: Added some stuff, rewrote some stuff.

In September it was announced that Europe was going to play at Rockefeller in Oslo on Sunday December 9. The last time I'd gone to Oslo was in October 2004, also to see Europe at Rockefeller. And since my best friend, Martin, lives in Oslo, I thought: Why not go to Oslo that weekend, stay at his place and hang with him and his wife, and then finish the weekend off by going to the concert? So I ordered the concert and plane tickets maybe two, three days after the announcement. I kept waiting and waiting, and then finally, December rolled around. I went to Oslo on December 7 and was going to go home on December 10. This weekend Europe were scheduled to play three gigs in Norway: Stavanger on December 7, Bergen on December 8 and Oslo on December 9. Another good friend of mine, Tone Irene, decided she'd attend all three gigs. I guess somewhere deep inside the thought might have occured to me too, but I decided one gig was enough.

Early in the afternoon on Sunday Tone Irene called me up and said that she'd hang out outside Rockefeller and maybe catch Europe's soundcheck. At first I figured I didn't want to stand around there and freeze my nuts off for hours (lol), and that I'd just wait until the doors opened in the evening and then go there with Martin. But after a while I began to think and I REALLY wanted to meet the band again (I know, I've already met them once, but hey, once a hardcore fan, always a hardcore fan!). So I just couldn't stop thinking, "What if the band shows up outside Rockefeller before the gig?" so in the end I just couldn't pass up the opportunity, so I decided to go to Rockefeller on my own and I agreed with Martin that he'd arrive by the time the doors opened in the evening.


I got to Rockefeller, where I met up with Tone Irene and a couple of other fans. They had snuck inside the venue and we kept the time going by talking about past Europe gigs, albums and stuff. Then all of a sudden this guy comes up to us and says, "Europe is cancelled." We were like, "Yeah, sure." because we thought he tried to get us out of the venue. But he said, "No really. It's cancelled. They got stuck in Hardangervidda." We still thought he was kidding and waited for a while longer. But a while later he came back and said it was really true, the Europe gig was cancelled and that we had to leave. He said the opening act, Mustach, would still do the gig anyway, but since neither of us came because of Mustach, we declined to stay.


At first I thought I'd go back to Martin's place, but since I hadn't seen Tone Irene in so long, I figured I'd hang with her for a while. So then we met up with a couple of other fans that we had met before at past gigs, and someone decided we needed to go to a club and drown our sorrows. We went to a club called Fridays, where a couple of the girls drank Mojitos (naturally!) while Tone and I settled on Coca Cola. It was very nice to hang out with the other fans so at least something good came out of it, but...


But here's the icing on the cake: It turns out the band is in Oslo, but the equipment truck is not. Why? You're gonna love this. Apparently the truck driver thought it was a great idea to use SUMMER TIRES. IN DECEMBER. IN NORWAY. So unsurprisingly the truck got stuck in Hardangervidda on the way to Oslo and since the band couldn't get their equipment, the gig had to be cancelled.


Of all the things that could happen that could cancel a gig...


Pardon my language, but:


FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I got back to Martin's place a while ago and we're gonna play video games and maybe watch a movie tonight, so things could have been worse, but again...


I'm going home tomorrow. I went all the way from Båtsfjord to Oslo just for this concert (even though I've enjoyed staying at Martin's place) and then this had to happen. You know what's ironic about all this? On Friday I was worried sick that one of the plane rides would be delayed or cancelled due to bad weather so that I would miss the Oslo trip and therefore the concert. And then, in the end I got to Oslo and missed the concert anwyay?!


Hopefully the gig will be rescheduled in the not too distant future. And when it is, I WILL go. I don't care what time of year it will be, I'm going no matter what. And hopefully the gig won't be cancelled AGAIN due to some fuckup. Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice... Right?

A gift from Tone Irene. Thanks.