Copenhagen, Denmark – 2015

Copenhagen, Denmark – 2015

Copenhagen! Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen! Definitely international and cosmopolitan. It’s bustling and busy with shoppers and stores and people on the go, including tourists who are easily recognizable. BUT. There is no sense of hurried crowded nervousness, and things are as “cool” as their winter snows.

Wow! What an amazing rock club venue that our promoter, Peter found. You know it immediately. It shouts at you, “We’re here to have fun. Let’s sing and dance and let’s rock.” It’s industrial looking with silver air duct decorations. These people will come here with their chests pressed against the stage, shoulder to shoulder, and back to belly immediately absorbing the energy from stage and quick mixing it with their own electric excitement.

That was the story all night long from the time me and Larry walked on and started our quiet “Your Song” duo. They sure sang along. The guys played a fan fare, which announces that pretty soon it’s going to get busy. Hands inside the car and hold on to your hats! And away we go with them almost leading the way and screaming, “I need somebody”.

The main floor holds about 1,000 standing people and there’s a balcony that holds about 400 more. It’s loose and fun and you can tell the band loves it. Internal phrases and solos and subtle snap endings are appreciated and they get it. Mark is killin’ them. This situation is so conducive to loving and appreciating some great drumming. Hot licks and explosive kicks! At the end of one of our fiery songs, Mark stands up at his set up and yells, “I’m Mark!” They go crazy!

Once again, this is the kind of interaction with the audience that was permeated the entire night. When that happens musicians on stage end up playing at a new and heightened level of their abilities and virtuosities. The audience brings that out of them. This exchange is touchable to the sense, and sure enough we rise to a new level. A common reaction is, “God, you guys really played with inspiration.” Well, the audience did too.

The whole story about “Moonlighting” and Cybill Shepherd and the UNKNOWN actor, Bruce Willis, is surprising and interesting. It’s so easy to sit here today and think Bruce Willis was always a huge star J.

Pretty soon after we’ve mixed a few more tempos, including a very serious ballad, we go charging home. They’re singing real loud, “And all I need is to get my Boogie Down!” Well, this audience isn’t even thinking about going home. They’re on their feet and screaming and we know that we’re going to be here awhile. I probably should not have even taken the walk.

So here we go with “Day-O” and “Roof Garden” back to back. “Day-O”! We’re singing Harry Belafonte’s banana boat song and, boy, are their eyes wide open and lit up. This is truly unheard of. Then we party hard with everyone dancing to “Roof Garden”. Hands up in the air and hips bumping and swaying. We leave but immediately realize that we can’t. We ignored some other possibilites and went with “Mas Que Nada”. Yay!!! That was a real win for the audience and us.

And we really are trying hard to leave now so I do one more big bow on the far left side of the stage balancing on Mark’s shoulder and pretty soon Mark and I are trading vocal percussion solos. He’s wonderful at this! Everyone is screaming and caught by surprise and now we really are through and they are satisfied.

We say thanks to Peter, and I take a short walk to the bus and head for another midnight sun destination.

Oslo, we’re coming for ya, baby!

Love,

Al