Slade in Mørkøv, June 24

On June 24 Slade played a glam rock festival in Danish town Mørkøv. Mørkøv is a very small village indeed, so we were staying in the bigger city Holbæk. Saturday noon I took the train to Holbæk, a 2 hours drive, and met up with Don, Hanne and some Danish friends at the hotel. The weather was beautiful, so we sat outside on the terrace with a wonderful view over the inlet. It was nice sitting there on the terrace, talking. Also I'd brought Don and Hanne some pics from the 2 Danish concerts earlier this month as well as the article that I wrote on Don for the paper in the town of Nordborg 2 weeks ago.
Around 5.30 p.m. we went to the venue in Mørkøv. I drove there with Don, Hanne and two Danish friends, both women. We were listening to the new re-releases all the way, playing it LOUD!! So when Don drove up the car at the parking lot, it was really rock'n'roll. It turned some heads, especially when we got out of the car. Don and four women! As Hanne jokingly said, "Here comes Don and his harem!!"
Don started to assemble his kit and I took some pics of him, before I went out front to say hello to Danish hard-core fans Per and Kirsten. Don had to change the head of one of the drums, and Hanne saw to it that Per got the used head. Signed and everything. Very nice!!
The venue was an open air festival that could hold up to 6,000 people, but the audience only counted around 1,000. The thing was that at the very same day the Germany-Sweden football match took place, there was also a big speedway match in Copenhagen and finally a lot of people had started going to the nearby town of Roskilde for the Roskilde Festival, which is not only Denmark's but also Europe's biggest music festival. So a lot of people who normally go to Slade-concerts had other things on their minds! Furthermore Slade had to change slots with Sweet because Sweet got delayed in the airport, so Slade was on already at 8.45 p.m. instead of 10.15 p.m. as scheduled.
Well, when Don had finished his business with the drums we sat backstage and talked for a while. I also had a good talk with Hanne. The rest of the guys then showed up and as I'd promised my daughter Tea I said hello to Dave from her. The guys had a bit to eat before getting changed and John emerged in a jacket that I hadn't seen before. Very becoming. Then they were on. The set list was the same as two weeks ago, namely:
We'll Bring The House Down
Take Me Bak 'Ome
Lock Up Your Daughters
Far Far Away
Everyday
Red Hot
Look Wot You Dun
'Coz I Luv You
Run Runaway
My Oh My
Hear Ya Callin'
Gudbuy T'Jane
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Get Down And Get With It
and for the encores:
Cum On Feel The Noize
MXE
As always it was a great concert. And as always Don was breaking sticks and throwing them to the audience. During Red Hot he accidentally hit Dave with one of them, though. I've only seen him do that once before and back then Dave was on about it for the rest of the concert. This time I don't even think that Dave noticed, because the stick hit his hat, not his head!
Mal got into a bit of trouble when they were to do Hear Ya Callin' as he started introducing Gudbuy T'Jane instead. You know, with the "It's time to say goodbye" etc. banter. The other guys just let him go on, and then to Mal's surprise they started playing Hear Ya. People were rolling with laughter both on and off stage!! When it was finally time to do Gudbuy T'Jane Mal then kept singing, "He's so young," pointing to Dave. A great time was had by all!
I was going a bit to and from the concert, as my back was killing me. I have a slipped disc in my back and normal painkillers can't take away the pain. As it was a Saturday I couldn't get any prescription drugs, either, so I had to ease the pain with red wine!! Did I get drunk? Oh, yes! I don't think I've been that p*ssed for almost 30 years! It did the trick, though, as I didn't feel a thing! But, man, I'm getting too old to this kind of thing!!! Well, at least I managed to take some decent pics!
After the concert I said hello to Michael Helmuth of the Team Theatre who was there with his girlfriend and children as well as that wonderful singer Flemming Bang, who did the narrator/"Noddy Holder-double" for the Oliver T. play at the theatre last year. It was so nice seeing them all again.
I drove with Michael and his family back to the hotel and here we met up with the band and the Danish friends. We sat in the lounge, talking, and I had a good chat with Mal about birthdays, with Slade's chauffeur Peder about his work and with Don about books, fans, the Walsall Museum exhibition and whatever. And poor Hanne had to listen to me complaining about my back! Sorry, Hanne! Anyway, I didn't get to bed until 5 o'clock in the morning!
Up again at nine, and when chauffeur Peder had driven the boyz to the airport he picked me up and drove me all the way back to Odense. Thanks a lot, Peder! It was such a nice drive as the weather was wonderful and we did a few stops, so I could stretch out my back. Now I hope to be in better shape when Slade plays Denmark again in August!