The Stockholm Syndrome!

The airport was simple and easy, we went through with no issues, all the paper work was in order and we were even warmly welcomed by some of our pop heroes including Europe and ABBA! Something we should definitely do in the Bangalore Airport, of course with Indian celebs :p

We were promptly whisked away to our hotel in the heart of Stockholm and one of our cab drivers was a little morose in that he quickly educated us about the ‘dark’ side of Sweden and while that was intriguing, it was not even close to dampning our spirits. We were the sunshine boys from the land of the Sun and we were ready to radiate

A quick meeting with our host, Niclas Lindblad of the Sodra Teatern followed and we were all set to explore the city. The only issues – it was cold and it was dinner time in India! A short walk from our hotel and we spot the ‘Jerusalem Kebab Center’ – Perfect! Dinner was dealt with, a little early in the day, but it was the fuel we needed. All of us pulled out various layers of clothing and after 5 minutes in the cold evening air, I had to rush and buy gloves before my fingers fell off!

Our brave attempt at exploring the city had a short life when slowly, each of us retired to our rooms for some much needed rest before the show. In the brief time we were walking around the city, we saw so many posters stuck all over the city announcing our show and we were quite impressed with the publicity for the show!

At 4 AM, Willy woke up, looked outside the window and saw that it was snowing! now, most of the band had never seen snow and it was time to wake everyone up and like ‘pukka tourists’ all 5 of us headed out into the streets and experienced our first burst of snow, while trying hard to photograph it in the little light that was available to us. We realized it was a futile attempt a little while later and went back to sleep only to wake up in the morning and see the entire place covered with snow! At that point, it was time to go out, take pictures and even fling snowballs at each other! childish, but extremely fun!

It stopped snowing a little later and we headed out to the old city to catch a glimpse of Stockholm, a long walk, some souvenir shopping and loads of photographs later, we were ready to get back to the hotel to get ready for sound check.

The Sodra Teatern is a beautiful venue. It is one of the best venues in Stockholm, it has 3 different venues and events through the year. We were set up and ready to go with very little effort, Anton, our sound guy, working with us for the first the first time ever, was brilliant and had things ready in an impressive manner!

We had a couple of hours to chill out before we went came back to the venue for the most beautifully set dinner, at the top of the Sodra Teatern, overlooking the entire city of Stockholm, candle lit and the works!

When we came back to the stage, it was empty and we were on the verge of panic when we were told that the audience was either at another stage or just outside and will enter when it was time. And they did! not as many as we would have wanted to, but enough to make it a brilliant show. The sound was brilliant, Magnus on the lights did a fantastic job as well and the people who had braved the cold and come for the show loved it! I know coz we were told so

We sold a bunch of CDs, made a lot of friends and with promises to come back very soon, we packed up for a quick dinner and drink with the organizers before heading back to our hotel to be able to make it to the airport on time in the morning.

We loved Stockholm and we really want to get back to Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia as well very soon. Till then, we will be preparing for the cold!

Thanks Hysen Rebello for amazing pictures of us playing on stage!