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Malmo Kulturbolaget
Electric Boys / FM
11 November 2015
FM Tour Diary: Malmö Kulturbolaget - 11 November 2015
Well here we go… After four successful shows in the UK we're moving our Heroes & Villains Tour over to Europe, taking in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and France.
The backline left the UK on Monday with Steve C. at the helm. I have a feeling the crew are planning some blogging action so with this you should have both sides of the story, although mine will be the truth. :)
We have a 10.30am meet at Luton Airport. Th
e 'Merv The Swerve Travel Emporium' has
come up trumps again by securing eight flights to Copenhagen for £68. Our cab to
Luton Airport cost £70 so work that one out… It's Remembrance Day and the two-minutes
silence is respectfully at 11am observed by all in the Airport. The flight leaves
on time we're soon high above the clouds cruising at 39,000 feet. Talking of feet…
I bought some new boots for the tour and they appear to be in dire need of some serious
breaking-in. They're not comfortable i
n the slightest. The right one especially is
giving me some gyp on the top of my foot. Oh, the trials and tribulations of the
touring musician… okay, okay, touring drummer before the jokes start. Andy Barnett
came up with a good one actually. Many moons ago I was the proud owner of a Skoda
(before VW took over) when they were a joke vehicle and Andy came up with "What's
the difference between a drummer and a Skoda? A drummer speeds up." Thanks AndyB!
We've landed in a grey and damp Copenhagen. Steve C is here to pick us up. Next stop, Malmö. We're driving over the Oresund Bridge which connects the two countries. Very nice but we feel the €175 toll is a bit steep. It's apparently an hour and a half to Malmö… or apparently not because about 15 minutes later we arrive at the venue, I'm not complaining.
Electric Boys are
soundchecking as our gear is loaded in. They finish and our backline
goes up. We soundcheck with no issues, apart from the fact Swedish law dictates that
noise levels in venues must not exceed 100dB. James our soundman says we're hitting
96dB without the PA on. Well that's 4dB for you to play with James! :)
Time now for a quick bite to eat. Doors open at 7pm and we're on at 8pm.
Showtime comes… 
it's a very weird sound on stage, totally dead, but the audience
seem up for it so we give them 45 minutes of some FM classics. The show passes quickly
and we leave the stage to people chanting "blood and gas, blood and gas"… which we
didn't play. Doh! Next time guys, it's a promise.
We head out to the merch stand where we meet and chat to some fans. A group of ladies have a selfie stick. Mr. O is amazed by it. "That's brilliant, how does it work?" He' never seen one before or even heard of one. Look up 'luddite' in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of Steve Overland. :)
Time to leave for the hotel which is a short drive away. It's not that late, maybe a little after 11pm when we arrive only to be told they've oversold the rooms and are three rooms short for us. The receptionist offers three rooms at another hotel close by. There is much shouting and vociferating from da management but luckily Jem steps in as the voice of reason and sorts out six rooms at the other hotel plus the original three rooms - no sharing tonight. The hotel will also pay for cabs to get us to Copenhagen Airport in the morning so it's an alright compromise. I can't say I agree with the practice of overselling bit it's a fact of modern-day life.
And so to bed…