I uploaded tons of new images to the
photos section!
OSLO, 9/3
We spent the day getting new clothes and running around town doing other preparatory things, but, really, in the end, how do you prepare for such a thing as playing one of these big shows?
OK, we’ve done big shows before, festivals, this kind of thing. But, playing with my old homies in REM was an evening guaranteed to stimulate all kinds of feelings in me.
Of course, first off, there’s the old home week reunion feeling—seeing all my friends on the crew and and the guys themselves. And, as glad as I am that fate led me to have the summer free for the Disciplines, it’s hard to here about the exotic destinations—Lithuania, Istanbul, Bogota—and know you’re missing out on that.
And just the fun of being part of that great band’s vibe and be on such a big, winning team. All of those thing affected me, I’ll be honest—I’m only human.
But, let’s look at the positives. That I’m no longer a part of REM’s touring band (for the moment, anyway—nothing is permanent) appears to be in no way due to some fuckup on my part. It wasn’t because I said the wrong thing, or made myself a nuisance, or played terribly. All have gone out of their way to say that I’m missed, appreciated, and respected. In fact, being that I was there as an invited artist, friend and colleague. PLUS, I am in much better mental and physical shape than I have ever been—and this is obvious to anyone looking. I do regret one thing, in that I wish I could have gone thru life—not just 7 years of REM, but certainly inclusive of such—with clear eyes, clear thoughts, and clear priorities.
The show: we did a great job, really. The crowd, a typical midweek Oslo (sober) crowd, were shy, and we got them going big time. The venue, a cow barn called Valhall, is awful sounding, but we managed (thanks to our FOH engineer Christophe) to sound great. We were a little under rehearsed, but, it didn’t seem to matter much, we have played these shows enough to know what we’re doing. REM’s crew were incredibly accommodating, so we had a proper soundcheck etc. So, show—and reaction—good.
REM also invited me up for the encore to play guitar and sing on ‘At My Most Beautiful’ and piano and sing on ‘Man on the Moon’. Michael was really cool here, I could really get a sense that he was happy to see me developed into a fuller person, and to have grown, his introduction for me to come onstage was full of warmth; really, the vibe was familial, as that is how an organization like REM, which has had many people working together for years and years, becomes.
I’m rambling, but my thoughts here are not in a tidy order…just watching REM gave me all kinds of feelings—pride, sadness, joy—my emotions were destinations on a wheel of fortune in constant agitation. The effect of a show like that, the magnitude of all it all, it’s easy to get drawn in to it’s immense gravitational field. But, there was the lesson.
Horoscopes. Please! But Dom read me one recently that was telling me of a fork in the road. I got it then—I had to see the path that wouldn’t give me instant gratification—the world travel, the massive audiences, the business class flights. I had to take the one that would build a deeper satisfaction. Not even with the band, but a journey where having too much access to money, esteem, bravos, etc. would be an impediment. I have to earn and create something totally new.
However—I did get to play a couple of songs with REM, and this was done with great love from both sides, so I can’t really feel left out—plus we were there, right?
BERGEN, 9/4
Dom and I opted to fly. We had a nice evening at REM’s hotel chatting with Michael and David Belisle, REM’s assistant and photgrapher. David took the promo photos for the Posies for the campaign for our last album. And, he’s published a wonderful book called “Hello”, which features his beautiful shots of REM on the road and at home. I’m in some amazing shots, including a glorious one of me playing with Neil Young…it’s published by Chronicle Books, who always make great music/art books.
Anyway, we got to Bergen. I had been lazy and hadn’t gotten around to booking a hotel for Dom & I, and everything was booked up by the time I started calling last week, except for the Radisson SAS Royal, which is (expensive and) 100 meters from the venue. Lucky! The place has a pool, which I used to get some exercise the morning after the show, and a Nespresso machine in the business class rooms (like ours) which did nothing but spray boiling hot water on my desk, and swallowed the coffee capsule while producing absolutely nothing of coffee value.
The venue here was an enclosure near an old castle in the old part of Bergen. Dom discovered a wonderful deserted train that would be great for a photo shoot.
Our dressing room was in one of the buildings on site, on the third floor, which gave us a perfect view of the REM show (this night they played ‘Harborcoat’, I’d been dreaming of them playing that song—and in Oslo they played ‘West of the Fields’!).
Our show: even better, WAY better than Oslo. We always look better in daylight, I don’t know why. But we were more comfortable and Bergen is probably our best city. So, we played better, looked better, and got an even better reaction from the immense (20,000) crowd. I split my lip on the mic at one point and had blood streaming down my face. Yes!!
And, in REM’s show, I did *three* songs! Fun.
The next day, Dom, Claus and I flew back to Oslo. Dom and I almost missed our flight—the bus from BGO to our hotel took 30 minutes, but for some reason the same trip back to BGO takes an hour, so we arrived to BGO at 14.30 for out 15h flight. But we were fine. Back in Oslo we stocked up on groceries and Tim Wendelboe coffee for the bus…then chilled at Claus’ haus til it was time to board the bus at midnight for the trip to Copenhagen. I needed contact lens solution, and had to visit the scary all night pharmacy by the train station (i.e., get yer works here inc’.).
COPENHAGEN, 9/6
We got to the venue at about 10am. We have one bus driver, so he is required to stop and rest every few hours. I agree with this policy! Although I have to admit, it was amazing to tour Canada in 1995 with driver Bob Penny, who drove nonstop from Halifax to Toronto! 1790km!
We waited until noon, which is when we had been told that REM’s setup would be established enough for us to be able to access the venue without being in the way. Showering in the crew showers, getting my Aeropress set up for some great coffee, ironing some clean clothes, all in the grand project of restoring one’s humanity.
Tonight’s show: even BETTER. This venue is an enormous indoor stadium, and it was packed. We played a brilliant show. Really! REM’s caterer Toni had slipped me some oysters, so maybe that had something to do with it…but we really connected and played a great set. We got some local journalists drunk, which is part of the grand strategy, and I rocked out with REM. Funny, since Bergen I had been invited to play, among the other songs, “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” on guitar. But this night, I ran back to the piano, to what would have been my normal position 1998-2005. Haha! Again, a very respectful and heartfelt intro from Michael. I can’t help but feel like he’s really applauding my maturation into a complete adult…
STOCKHOLM, 9/7
Another post-bus, look-for-shower, crawl. Bigger dressing room this time, and not sharing showers with the entire crew meant less wait time! Slowly got it together. In the afternoon we all went to Stockholm’s greatest record store, Pet Sounds, to do an instore performance, Bjorn on acoustic guitar and me singing, no PA. The store was busy, having resumed its Sunday hours with the re-entry of the students to the neighborhood (the same neighborhood where I recorded the bulk of Soft Commands in 2003). A few people were there to see us, and then mostly just Sunday shoppers. In other words, a potentially awkward situation, and surely a few people were totally scared off by some weirdo just singing out of nowhere, but most folks were into it, and we sold some records afterwards (this is good!). Then, back to the venue, and we got ready for the show.
The Globe Arena is in fact a sphere, white with spaceship windows on the outside, red on the inside. I played with REM here in 2005. I can’t say it’s the most beautiful thing in the world, and this egg nests in a particularly socialist democrat architectural milieu. And, we were introducing ourselves to shy Swedes…but hell! This was the best show yet. I learned a few tricks from watching Michael (like—include slow moves for the people in back). Tho the reviews of the REM show in the Swedish papers chastised the typically hard-to-motivate Stockholm crowd, I thought they were great for us—there are quite a few REM fan club members traveling to multiple shows, and they are now fired up for us each night! I have been pointing out the guy in the Obama shirt to the crowd at every opportunity. We are now confident enough that we can mix up the set list now without fear, and thus we’ve managed to play all the songs on our album over our various 9 song sets.
So, verdict: this show rocked, and didn’t ruin my knees like Copenhagen!
After the show, we had friends backstage, including Lise, my bandmates’ former bandmate. My job is always to play the heavy, being the Tour Manager, we’re not supposed to mix our guests in the REM guest area…and of course, try corralling drunk Norwegians/Danes/Swedes…my plan to have almost zero alcohol backfired…my guys run out to the beer stands and restock. Oh well. No casualties…
Another great REM guest appearance mini-set in the encore, with the very nice intro from Michael, and after the show I basically collected everyone’s luggage after my bandmates and crew (!) ran off to party with the Editors at Berns hotel.
This morning, we were up at 7 to board the ferry to Helsinki, some of us more bleary-eyed than others hehe. We trumped down the stairs (there are 9 floors on this boat, well, actually there are 11 but the top two are for crew only) since at boarding time the elevators are impossible to snag. Basically, the trip takes 11 hours+, (plus a one-hour time change when we reach Finnish waters). We picked at shrimp sandwiches, watched the atrocious ‘Mamma Mia’ in the little cinema, and…Dom & I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary…again, it was simply great to see how far we’ve come and how much we’ve grown.
I did manage to do a recording session, too—I sang on a Minus 5 song, in Scott McOi’s luxury cabin! People gave us beer/wine/champagne for our anniv., and we were all right jolly when we finally pulled in to Turku, all of REM and Disciplines, band and crew.
Another night on the bus, and the last REM show tomorrow…what joys await!
Love
KS
Turku, FINLAND
