JUNE 5, 2025: Helsinki, Finland
Tonight marks the end of a two-week/ten-show run of dates with Blue Öyster Cult that took us to London, Oslo, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Tampere and Helsinki—though not in that order. I began advancing these shows back in March and worked out a lot of the logistics while I was still on the first leg of the 2025 Jon Anderson & The Band Geeks Yes Epics Classics and More tour. It’s probably a good thing that I was preoccupied with JA & The Geeks because I might have chickened out of the BÖC dates if I had realized how nasty some of the travel would be.
The front end was quite civil: two shows in London—one at the Palladium and the other a warmup show at the Islington Assembly Hall with the band billed as Soft White Underbelly (a name the band used before they were Blue Öyster Cult).
The remainder of the run featured a lot of early lobby calls, two flights per day, and on at least one occasion, two flights plus a two-hour drive thanks to the “industrial action” (labor strike) courtesy of the Finnish Aviation Union. A minor consolation: The airlines had advance warning regarding the labor action, so not all flights were canceled, and they were able to announce cancellations on sort of a “rolling blackout” schedule. Our Finnair flight on June 1 from Helsinki to Paris was okay, but our flight from Berlin back to Helsinki on June 4 was canceled. Why we were going from Tampere, Finland, to Paris to Berlin and back to Helsinki is a topic for another time; suffice to say, it’s just the way the routing worked out.
Which brings us to tonight: the last show of the run. Well, sort of. We have a show in Bilbao, Spain, on June 13. Some of us are going straight from Helsinki to Bilbao, others are going home to the States and will fly back to Spain.
The Helsinki show was well-attended, with an audience of 1,450. It was added to the tour after the show in Tampere sold out in, like, a snap—hence, the silly routing. We sold a ton of merch in Helsinki, but due to some complications with our POS (Point Of Sale, not the other POS) credit-card device, settling at the end of the evening was difficult. The show ended at around 9:50 p.m., but I didn’t leave the venue until 11:30.
11:40 P.M.
I’m in my hotel room with a 3:00 a.m. lobby call looming. For me, that means setting the alarm for 2:30 a.m. Thirty minutes is about as fast as I can get out of a hotel room without being frantic, and the last thing I need—especially when my brain is cooked from a crazy work schedule—is to be running around like a chicken without a head. The question becomes, “Do I stay awake, in the hopes that after a 90-minute flight from Helsinki to Copenhagen I’ll pass out on the flight from Copenhagen to New York? Or do I go to sleep for two-and-a-half-hours?”
I’d prefer the sleep. Unfortunately, the Travel Gods make the decision for me, first in the form of a phone call from the band’s manager, who needs some critical information regarding the Paris show so we can settle payment. I get that sorted in about a half-hour, then set my clothes out for the next day and pack up what I don’t need. Hmmm… maybe I can get a two-hour nap before I leave for the airport.
No chance.
June 6 12:27 A.M.
I get a text from one of the guys who is traveling from Helsinki to Bilbao. They, too, are supposed to depart the hotel at 3:00 a.m., but their first flight is delayed more than three hours, the net result of which is that they’ll miss the connection from Munich to Bilbao. Lufthansa has “protected” them on a brutal itinerary with three flights, the last of which lands in Bilbao at 11:25 p.m.
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I need to do some math… Okay, it’s 12:27 a.m. here in Helsinki. St. Roy, our travel agent, is in the Central time zone, so it’s 4:27 p.m. his time, definitely early enough for me to call him. Roy is able to make it a bit better for the Bilbao guys; they still have to take three flights and change from Lufthansa to Brussels Airlines, but they’ll arrive in Bilbao at 4:05 p.m. —much more civil than 11:25 p.m., and early enough to get a proper dinner.
1:05 A.M.
I get the new info from St. Roy and disseminate it to everyone, now contemplating whether I should stay awake while knowing that even if I try to take a nap, there’s no way I’ll fall asleep.
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I opt for the evil alternative: I leave most of the lights on, set my alarm for 2:30 a.m. (with backups, of course) and lay down. As expected, I don’t fall asleep, but at least I’m off my feet. I get out of bed a few minutes before the alarm on my phone goes off. Or goes on? I don’t know, I’m delirious.
3:00 A.M.
We depart the hotel for the airport. Our gear remained in the minibus after the gig last night, so no need to load it from the hotel to the bus. Yay.
3:30 A.M.
We arrive at the Helsinki airport. I head for customs so we can get the carnet for the gear “stamped out” of the EU. The Customs Officers at HEL airport are very hospitable, and it goes smoothly.
6:35 A.M.
The flight from HEL > CPH takes off on time. It also lands on time. Yay/yawn.
8:28 A.M.
I’m seated on the flight from CPH to JFK and ready for a snooze. The gigs? We’ll talk about those next time.
