TIVOLI TARDIS
The Tivoli is the second oldest amusement park in the world dating back to 1843 and in all the years we’ve been coming here, I’ve never visited. It’s a bit of a Tardis to be honest. Once inside, it opens up into another almost miniature world. A few of the guys went earlier in the day with families making good use of our all access wrist bands to ride the rides.
Today’s show day, I walked from the D’Anglattere to the Tivoli along the pedestrians-only østergade with camera in hand hoping for some interesting sights. Unfortunately, it could have been any European city with common high street brands vying for vantage points along the way amongst the familiar sickly sweet smells of high street doughnut and pastry stalls. I showed my pass to the uniformed security guard at the Tivoli entrance who reluctantly let me into the ‘other world’. It was pretty easy to find the gig as a large crowd seemed to have already made itself at home on the lawn in front of the stage. Our trucks arrived late due to the extensive distance from Uppsala and combined with very restricted backstage areas, our catering wasn’t running today. The crew had meal tickets for various food outlets on the site and the band dined in a private room at the five-star boutique Nimb hotel which I must say was delicious, which made it difficult to impose the usual pre-show consumption restrictions. Somehow I managed to leave a portion of my Rib-Eye steak and we filtered across to the stage area and slipped discreetly downstairs to our bunker-style dressing rooms complex. The show was upon us once again and unfortunately so was the breeze. This made for yet another thermal underwear event as the onstage temperature dropped rapidly throughout the evening, Mark saying when he came off stage that the back of his head felt like an ice block. By the end of the set, our fingers were numb once again but it takes a lot more than that to have any real impact on our performances. The crowd were once again magnificent with ten and a half thousand of them huddled together, keeping each other out of the direct chill of the wind. The post-show runner was very cooly executed and we were back in the D’Anglattere in no time where I was due to meet a couple of my guests, one of which being my very old friend Nev.
Belouis Some was an artist who had success in the 80’s with a couple of crossover dance hits and we worked together a lot around the time I first met up with Mark. Neville has since moved on into other various lucrative fields and was on his way through Copenhagen to meet up with his family. It was so great to catch up and as is often the case with long lost mates, when you see them, it feels just like yesterday we were hanging out, recording and getting up to all sorts of nonsense. It wasn’t until way after 1:30am we finally said our goodbyes with a promise not to leave it so long next time.
Los Angeles based, Danish film director Henrik Hansen who recently made a short film for Mark came along to shoot some more footage. Henrik and Marc Flennert, his cameraman utilise the Canon 6D so I have spent much time discussing technical aspects of the camera since that’s what I use on the road. It’s quite a piece of kit and along with some serious lenses can really deliver.
Note to non-golfing readers – There’s no disgrace in ignoring the following paragraph.
6:00am and I’m up and ready for another day off and in Copenhagen, an opportunity for golf at the Scandinavian GC, a stunning, award-winning Robert Trent Jones II designed facility on the outskirts of the city. Carsten Brandt from Toro has kindly set up a game there on the new course and together with Russell Anderson, the Scottish head green-keeper at the club, we tee’d off in the brisk morning light at just after 7:30am. This is a tough course which could easily accommodate any level of PGA tour event. The greens are spectacular and some of the par 5’s are quite insane, in particular the 11th. Quite the most challenging hole I’ve ever played. I lost about ten balls in the round, something which is not unusual here as there is plenty of water and the rough is very thick and the fairways narrow. Carsten, Russell and the club staff made me feel like royalty even to the extent of raising the Union Jack flag at the club entrance, something they do as a little touch for foreign visitors. Another great day with some new golfing friendships forged.
The evening dinner was right across the street from our hotel at a Trattoria named Fiat. The restaurant scene here in Copenhagen is impressive and the Italian menu did not disappoint. Just time for a nightcap in the hotel bar with Henrik, Marc, Mark and Richard to round off another relaxing day off.
