Slade in Aarslev

Slade played Danish town Aarslev on April 29. I was to meet up with Don and his lady Hanne in the afternoon prior to the concert so at 4 o'clock my daughter Tea and I caught a train to go there. It was only a 15 minutes drive away.
It was a bit difficult to find the backstage facilities, though. Slade was to play a glam rock festival, which was held in a big tent, but the backstage facilities were in a house opposite the road and a bit away from the venue. Well, after a quick call on the mobile phone we finally found it.
As usual it was so great seeing Don and Hanne and we had plenty of time to talk as Slade wasn't to go on stage until 10 p.m. Tea had made drawings for the whole band and for Hanne as well, so Don and Hanne got theirs immediately. They really liked them and Tea was ever so proud.
I also got something as Don and Hanne gave me a beautiful 12 x 15 inch photo of Slade from their hippie-days in 1969. Thank you guys! It's going up on my wall!
We had been told that it was going to rain the day of the concert, but luckily it didn't happen. It was freezingly cold, though. But as we were indoors it didn't matter much. Tea had such a good time, running to and from the house, going over to the tent to listen to music. The other bands playing were Danish Hitfingers and Fi-Fi Dong, and then T. Rex, Sailor, Sweet and Hot Chocolate. Tea hung out with our Danish friends, hard-core Slade-fans Per and Kirsten, with the guys in the Slade merchandise-booth and with the security guys! She made quite some friends among those tough-looking fellows! I was staying put in the house with Don and as usual we had a good talk, among other things about my new blog consisting of interviews that I've made with him during the past year. Check it out at Don Powell interviews.
I had a great time chatting with Don, with Hanne and whoever else was around. And Tea did a hilarious drawing of Don on the blackboard in the backstage house. It showed him in his youth spitting out a piece of chewing gum. It was so good!
The by now almost traditional Danish shoe fetishist element of the day came from quite an unexpected direction, though! You see, at one point I had Don at my feet feeling up my shoes, as they would be perfect for him to play in, due to their softness where you can feel everything through the soles. Very funny indeed!
When Sweet went on stage at 7 p.m. we all went over to the tent and watched them for a while. It was so cold in the tent that several of the audience had actually brought blankets and duvets to wrap themselves in! We didn't stay for long, but at least I got to say hi to Per and Kirsten. We then went back to the house and my daughter popped around from time to time to get something to eat. I must say that the food there was really good!
At nine o'clock the rest of the band arrived and Tea gave them her drawings. They really appreciated them, and her "special friend" Dave told her that he'd take it with him back to England and put it on his wall. Tea was beaming! Mal showed his drawing to everybody in the house, saying, "This is really me! This is really me!", and John was very happy as well as it was kind of a birthday gift for him, him turning 44 the next day.
Then I took some great pics of Tea and Don. Tea is a kid who gets easily attached to people, so she sees Don and Hanne as a kind of uncle and aunt. When it was time for Slade to go on stage she insisted on Don holding her hand on the way to the tent, and it was just so cute seeing the two of them, hand in hand, trotting off towards the venue in the twilight. That image will stay in my heart, I assure you!
During the concert I stayed behind the stage as I found it difficult to box my way through the big and rather drunk audience, but Tea was out front with Per and Kirsten. She was even allowed to sit on the edge of the stage. Hanne was also sitting on stage during most of the concert.
The set-list was:
We'll Bring The House Down
Take Me Bak 'Ome
Far Far Away
Everyday
Red Hot
Look Wot You Dun
'Coz I Luv You
Run Runaway
My Oh My
Gudbuy T'Jane
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Get Down And Get With It
and for the encores:
Cum On Feel The Noize
Merry Xmas Everybody
The audience was very receptive and everybody had a great time, dancing and singing. Although the tent was huge it seemed that all 1,500 people in the audience had decided to stand in front of the stage, so it was really crowded!
As usual the boyz did a great job. Mal was incredibly strong on vocals, especially during Cum On Feel The Noize, and Dave was in a fantastic mood running all over the stage. John played the violin on both 'Coz I Luv You and Run Runaway and Dave did his Smoke On The Water-bit during Red Hot. Dave himself was really "smoking" as well. It was so cold in the tent and the guys got so hot on stage that steam actually came off of Dave. At one point Mal pointed to him saying, "He's leaking! He's leaking!" He and Dave then went through their usual routines dancing to Run Runaway and Don remembered to save some of his broken sticks for me to give to Dave Iozzia from the Dave's On Tour-site. Thanks a lot!
At one point John was close to falling off the stage, though! I don't know what it is with those guys! Just 2 month ago it was Dave who was close to falling down in Danish town Næstved! Try to be more careful, guys! You have us all worried!
Then suddenly something unexpected happened. As said I was behind the stage so I couldn't really see what was going on. But at one point somebody said, "Isn't that your daughter?" I looked up and lo and behold! There was my daughter, dancing with Dave. On stage. In front of the whole audience!! Dave even gave her a small peck on the cheek before she went off again. It just happened so quickly and as it was totally unforeseen, I didn't even get a pic of it! Luckily Per did! Thanks a lot Per, also for letting me use some of your other photos.
Well, the funny thing is that to Tea it was no big deal dancing on stage with Dave in front of an audience. She knows Slade so well now that to her it was really nothing! But to her Mom it was a big deal and I must admit that Dave got a kiss or two for it afterwards. He told me that he seldom brings people on stage, but he couldn't resist when seeing Tea sitting there. I guess he really did like her drawing of him!
To Tea it was just, "He wanted to dance old-fashioned, and he didn't understand that I would rather like to spin around under his arm. And afterwards when he kissed me it was really yukky, because he was sweating and I got his sweat on me!" Here we go again with the sweat!!!
Anyway, the concert was awesome and it was no wonder that in a review in the local paper Slade was rated the best band of the festival. The local reporter wrote that Slade had totally brought the tent down with a phenomenal round of rock music and that they defy all laws of nature and play even better for each year. Especially Dave's stage-present got a favourable mention, but it also said that Mal wasn't upstaged by the "Duracell-guitarist". And as the reporter wrote, you can feel that they love what they deliver: glam rock at its sweatiest, most bombastic and most sovereign.
When the concert was over the backstage house had already been closed down, so the guys had to hurry getting changed. The rest of us went in as well as we had all our things there, but we all had to clear out very quickly. We did however manage to sing happy birthday to John (it was after midnight!) and he got a cake with a candle. Then it was time to go home. After the usual hugging and kissing we said goodbye to the band and the crew and of course to Don and Hanne as well. Tea got her long-awaited kiss on the hand from Don, so she was very happy.
Hanne's girlfriend had volunteered to drive us back to Odense, thanks a lot!!!, as the last train had already left. As soon as we got home Tea went straight to bed as it had been quite an eventful day for her. I must admit that I didn't go to sleep, the whole experience having been so good that it took me almost 7 hours to get back to normal again. Thanks a lot everybody, you're wonderful, and of course a special thank you to Hanne and Don! You're the best! See you soon!