Day 22: Stockholm
Nau mai
Yesterday we played our first ever headline show in Stockholm, Sweden.
There was an aggressive 9am cutoff for the hotel breakfast so I hit the buffet right after waking up. It was an overwhelming spread, about five or six different stations that I had to reconnoitre before grabbing a plate and beginning the difficult task of serving up a healthy and photogenic meal. I began with a tumbler of yoghurt with rhubarb compote, and a tumbler of overnight oats. Next I served up slices of melon, cucumber, pickles, cheese. I added a smear of cream cheese and a slice of cheesy warm vegetables and then headed to the sprout station where I trimmed some fresh alfalfa sprouts with the scissors provided, and then some beetroot sprouts for good measure. Finally, I retrieved a slice of Knäckebröd, a crispy toroid cracker with poppy seeds and sea salt.
Shower Door Daily is a new segment inspired by my regular interactions with what is a very simple piece of technology, but in reality, is a challenge faced by hotels around the world. Over the past couple of weeks, I have seen some hilarious attempts at containing shower water and now I feel the need to start putting them on record. This is a story that deserves to be told.
The shower door at the Scandia Elmia in Jönköping was an elegant, curved piece of glass which prevented spill into about 2/3rds of the bathroom. There was still a two foot gap that was directly in the line of spray so there was considerable water egress that covered a part of the floor. I think the intention of this design might be more to prevent direct spray into the bedroom in case of a misfire that coincided with the bathroom door being left open.
“⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️”
It was only a few more hours to Stockholm and we arrived nice and early, giving the rest of the afternoon a laid-back feeling. Our venue was called Slatkyrkan, a nice (if slightly dramatic) compound word that translates to slaughterhouse church, referencing this building’s former role (not a church, just a slaughterhouse). We were in the south of the city in the historic meatpacking district of Slakthusområdet, an area that was sensibly far away from the city centre but as such was devoid of anything to look at, save for a large football stadium and a mall. The space itself was nice though, a long room with nice acoustics, and capacity for 750 persons, mostly standing but with a set of bleachers at the back wall. We were met by the venue staff, who showed us in and provided the essentials that made us feel very welcome, a pot of coffee and a sandwich station. The receipt of this hospitality put us in fine spirits as we went around the business of the day, enjoying a long soundcheck that gave ample opportunity to tweak and setup all our new equipment.
Operation More Paul continued at a steady pace yesterday. For one evening was Jon the proud owner of a 1973 Les Paul Deluxe, a beautiful old guitar that had had a lifetime of being played and loved. Jon said that this was possibly the best Les Paul he has ever played, and apart from the puny size of the strings and the lack of bottom end in the sound, I have to agree for it sounded amazing and I have rarely see that man look as contented as he did during our set.
There were also exciting developments in the world of mechanical woodwind launchers. After weeks of struggling along with a hand-operated bike pump, Tristan was finally forced to upgrade after said pump suffered a mechanical failure. He is now in possession of a powerful foot operated pump and while his arms get to rest the recorders will continue to fly.
It was a great night of music. There was a small lounge area behind the stage and watching Dateline from such a close distance was thrilling, the sweat and spittle flying over us as they powered through their set with a furious energy. We had played in Sweden only once before, in 2019 as the support band for Deathcab For Cutie, and we didn’t know what to expect going into this show. After an audience survey we found that only one or two people had been at that concert, which was surprising as we had a decently full room of people in front of us. It was a Tuesday night, or so they told us, and there was a nice energy about this crowd. Like so many of these lovely assemblies of Beths fans that we have been encountering they were polite, but not afraid to get a bit riled up, and knew how to deliver a good, clear heckle. We were stoked with our first headline appearance in Sweden and we can’t wait to get back.
