12th June 2015 – Trondheim

SPEEDY RECOVERY

A day off in Oslo in the Summer sunshine should have been a day to get out on a boat for a Fjord cruise, however, that didn’t happen so a very late afternoon stroll with Ianto taking in the sea breeze sufficed. Time has been passing by so quickly on the road this trip that no-one thought to organise it. Maybe next time. The evening meal however was a long way from a let down. Hos Thea, a recommended little restaurant at Gabels Gate 11, 0272 Oslo was quite stunning. Possibly the best on-tour meal I’ve experienced in the past 5 years or so. All I can say is that if you are in Oslo looking for a culinary treat, go.

A great night’s sleep, a spot of Yoga and a couple of soft boiled eggs (whatever) and we were finally leaving the Grand hotel. At exactly the same time as the Foo Fighters who have been lapping up its luxury for the past few days. I bumped into Dave Grohl in the lift on the way out who was with his 2 boys, little did either of us know that later today he would break his leg taking an ill-advised leap onstage at their show in Gothenburg. We wish him a speedy recovery.

We sped off to the airport where our Embraer was waiting next to the Foo Fighters’ Boeing 737 at the GA terminal. We walked from the terminal building, boarded and waved goodbye to beautiful Oslo. Just under an hour later we were landing in Trondheim and making our way through the drizzle alongside the Trondheimsfjorden, the third longest fjord in Norway. Our local driver in charge of his super comfortable short wheelbase Mercedes S350 Maybach, a stunning machine costing upwards of £200,000, noticed that I was about to photograph an innocuous looking railway bridge. He informed me that the Skansen railway bridge (pictured below) was designed by Joseph Strauss, who among other things also constructed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It was built in 1918 and allowed trains on Dovrebanen access to Trondheim Central Station while also being able to open to allow ships on the Trondheim Canal access to the Trondheimsfjord.

At the venue, we chose a very truncated sound check and headed for catering where I was talked into having a small piece of fresh Cod as the fish up here is as good as it gets, even though we had all devoured fabulous plates of sushi on the plane courtesy of our delightful Laetitia. After a meet and greet which took place in the hallway next to the dressing room, we were taking to the stage again in the cold gloom with rain threatening the whole evening. Naturally I was layered up so the cold didn’t get to me although at the front of the stage it was a lot colder and Mark said that was one of the coldest ‘Sultans of Swing’ he’s ever done. Another great crowd who were all suitably attired in the inclement weather, the main movements in the crowd were people heading for the huge beer tent and back again.

With hands tingling from the blood returning to fingertips, we sped back to the airport, the plane and a Martini session spearheaded by Mark who knocked us up a most magnificent drink. An hour and 15 minutes later, we were descending into Copenhagen ultimately bound for our hotel for the next few days. A diary page from our most Northerly location of the tour wouldn’t be complete without a picture of the stunning skylight from 35,000 feet at midnight.