May 23, 2025, 9:15 a.m., London

Travel Day, Arrive UK

Ground Transport: Taxis (yuk)

We landed at Heathrow after our flight from JFK. It was one of the worst flights I’ve ever taken. I sat cramped with my knees in my mouth, and even with my skinny excuse for a derriere, the width (or lack thereof) of the seats was brutal. As I may have mentioned, I’ve lost my Super Power as SleepyMan, formerly able to fall asleep before takeoff and not even stir for five or six hours. I was wide awake the entire trip. It was ugly, but thankfully it’s over.

We get cabs from the airport (fun, with all that gear) and arrive at the hotel sometime around 11:00 a.m. Some of the rooms are ready but some are not, so a few of us camp out in the lobby and wait.

By noon, we’re all checked in. I’m toast but plan to stay awake for the remainder of the day because that’s usually the fastest way for me to acclimate to the time change. There’s no show today, but a few of us agree to meet and go “exploring.” We’ll start with a trip to Abbey Road to pay homage and do the obligatory Beatles-crossing-the-street photo. I’ve done it before, but it’s been a few years. This time it’s around 4:00 p.m. and traffic is heavy, so we carefully plan our saunter through the crosswalk without getting hit by a double-decker.

This is followed up by a trip to the Abbey Road gift shop. Man, they know how to do merch(!): T-shirts, hoodies, socks, track sheets, pens, pencils, vinyl records, kitchen magnets, pens—anything you can imagine. The selection of trinkets would shame Taylor Swift’s merch tables. We head back to the hotel and go out for dinner.

 

May 24, London (show day)

Travel: None (yay!)

Ground Transport: Taxis

Venue: Islington Assembly Hall

FOH console: Midas Pro2. I’ve got a fair amount of hours on this desk and even though it’s long in the tooth, it still sounds good. Midas should be drawn and quartered for the way they handled the lack of default routing of the solo bus to the headphone jack, which requires nothing less than a Ph.D. in quantum physics.

Status: Oversold. (I’m still not really sure how that works, nor if the fire department would approve.)

Technically, it’s not a Blue Öyster Cult show, it’s a Soft White Underbelly show (that was one of the names the band used before BÖC). This one went on sale after the first one at the London Palladium sold out pretty quickly. We needed a warmup show for the tour, plus it gave hardcore fans who missed out on the Palladium a chance to get tix to see the band.

In the afternoon, the room doesn’t sound promising, but when it’s full—and it was packed—it turns out great. The system has tons of horsepower, and my systems tech Rafael is worth his weight in gold. The show is a home run: The fans are pumped—all standing except for some seats in the balcony—and at times, they’re singing louder than the P.A. The reception warms my heart.

Dinner: Takeaway from a local Indian restaurant. Seven-point-five on a scale of ten.

 

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May 25, London (show day)

Travel: None (yay!)

Ground Transport: Taxis

Venue: The Palladium

FOH console: Yamaha CL3. I haven’t seen the CL3 as much as the CL5, so I’m all thumbs navigating it. I much prefer the larger work surface of the CL5. Mix position is in the last row of seats, under the balcony. Ugh. The room sounds okay, but the P.A. isn’t really reaching me under the balcony overhang, so I occasionally walk away from the desk to hear what’s going on in the room. It’s typical sound for that mix location: I hear plenty of bottom at the desk, but when I walk out into the room, the mix is anemic. I have to live with too much bottom at the desk so that the majority of the room hears sufficient bass.

Status: Sold out. The audience (seated) pales in comparison to last night.

Dinner: I don’t remember.

 

May 26, Oslo, Norway (show day)

Travel: Lobby call at 5:00 a.m. Ugh. Ninety minutes to Gatwick in four taxis. Fun! One flight from London to Oslo. We arrive at the airport three hours before flight time, and it’s amazing how fast that time becomes tight. We have to clear the equipment carnet out of the UK and will check it in when we arrive in Norway. At check-in, we break the ticketing agent. She’s having a hard time wrapping her head around nine people checking 21 (or was it 22?) bags, and the process takes more than 90 minutes. Ugh.

Ground Transport: Promoter-provided transport

Venue: Sentrum Scene

FOH console: Midas HD96. The more I use this desk, the more I like it. It sounds great, and I find it easy to use.

Status: Packed, though not sold out. Audience is standing, and I’m surprised at the number of youngsters (read: under 30). They have no problem providing the energy, and the vibe is great. Mix position is raised off the floor (Yay! I can see the band), and though I’m near the balcony overhang, I’m not under it. The mix is fairly consistent throughout the room. It’s a hair splashy around 3 to 4 kHz, so I notch out a bit using a graphic on the L/R bus.

Dinner: Burger, unremarkable.

 

May 27, Travel day, Oslo to Malmö, Sweden

Ground Transport: Promoter provided transport

The flight is at 1:35 p.m. How civil! We’re at the airport by 10:30 a.m. because Norway is not part of the EU, while Sweden is—so we have to clear the carnet. We actually fly into Copenhagen, 35 minutes from Malmö. After we’re settled in at the hotel, a few of us go off exploring and decide to take a train back to Copenhagen (there’s not much happening in Malmö).

We get into Copenhagen around 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. and take an Über to an outdoor “food hall” called Reffen Copenhagen Street Food. It is an absolute grand slam. It’s built on an old dock and uses repurposed shipping containers to house the concessions. There’s everything from pizza to Danish hot dogs (amazing) to Asian to Italian and everything in between. It’s what Red Hook Brooklyn wishes it could be. The food is unbelievable, and it’s reasonably priced.

When we’re ready to leave, we decide that instead of taking an Über back to the hotel, we’ll rent bicycles and continue exploring. Über has an app-based service called Lime where you use an app to unlock a bike that’s parked on the street and rent it by the hour. We have a blast cycling through the streets of Copenhagen terrorizing the locals (kidding), and it reminds me of the epic bicycle tours my buddy Matthew and I would take through Brooklyn when we were kids.

A happy accident: We’re a ten-minute ride from the Edvard Eriksen statue that inspired The Little Mermaid. Of course we go to see it. Some of us pose in front of it but those photos are reserved for blackmail purposes only.

We cycle back to the train, arrive Malmö by 11:00 p.m. I’m out cold by 11:02 p.m.

 

May 28, Malmö, Sweden

Travel: None (yay!)

Ground Transport: Promoter-provided transport

Venue: Slagthuset Saluhallen (try to say that three times, fast).

FOH console: Yamaha CL5, which is well into my comfort zone. We can’t make noise until after 13:30 because there’s a restaurant attached to the venue. No biggie. Doors aren’t until 18:00 anyway.

Status: Almost sold out. Another enthusiastic crowd that, at times, sings along louder than the P.A. It’s nice to see the band appreciated.

Here’s a rare treat: The audio and backline vendors will work all three Sweden shows with us. Olle Magnér is my systems tech and Heidi Meri is in charge of backline. They’re amazing. Before we even walk in the door, they have our backline unpacked and roughed into position. Olle looks young enough to be my grandson, but he’s on-point and has the system ready to rock. He’s a certified (and perhaps certifiable) Gear Slut and has more outboard processing than I’ve laid eyes on in one location. For giggles, he brings me a rack with a Klark Teknik DN780 reverb, t.c. electronic M2000 and a t.c. electronic D•Two delay. I’m thrilled, and before I can even think about how to patch that DN780 into the CL5, Olle has it sussed out.

Lunch: Amazing. Not sure what they call it, but it’s akin to a meatloaf served over a potato puree, with asparagus and fresh cranberries. It’s obvious that a lot of care was taken to make sure my crew and I are feeling welcome, and I can feel the pounds piling on. Maybe I won’t need to put quarters in my pockets when it gets windy come November.

Dinner: Off the chart. I’m stunned. Not only does it taste great, but the presentation looks like a page out of Food and Wine. We send our compliments to the chef and he comes out to meet us.

Bonus: Heidi’s backline company will transport our merch and our fly gear in their truck for the next two shows so we don’t have to haul it back and forth to the airport, on and off planes.

 

May 29, Stockhölm, Sweden

Travel: Lobby call at 6:30 a.m., one flight from Copenhagen to Stockholm

Ground Transport: Promoter-provided

Venue: Stockholm Cirkus

Status: About 85% sold. Another really enthusiastic audience. Maybe they’re wondering if this is the last time that the band will play these locations.

Console: Yamaha CL5. Hey, wait a minute—it’s the same CL5 that I used last night…and the same backline and audio crew! When we walk in, Olle, Heidi and their crew have the entire backline placed almost exactly where we had it last night. The desk is tipped, the system is sussed out. These guys are fantastic. They’re happy doing the job, and they have a wicked sense of humor.

 

May 30, Gothenburg, Sweden

Travel: Lobby call at 5:00 a.m. One flight, Stockholm to Gothenburg

Ground Transport: Promoter-provided transport

Venue: Partille Arena

FOH console: The same Yamaha CL5 with the same audio and backline crews. I’m being spoiled. When my crew and I arrive, not only do Olle and Heidi have the stage set exactly the way we want it, they’ve got the cable runs from the pedalboards to the guitar and bass amps dressed and taped down precisely the way we did it. Whoa. Can I take these guys with me everywhere?

Status: Close to sold out. Third of four shows in a row. Yikes.

P.A. notes: Olle’s sound company, Sight and Sound in Sweden AB, has just purchased the first Meyer Sound Panther rig in Europe, and the guys from Meyer are at the venue tuning it. I’d better have a good show or risk embarrassing myself. We make a few tweaks to get the system show-ready. The amount of headroom is ridiculous, and even in this sports hall, the system directionality is well-controlled and isn’t splashing off the side walls. I’m impressed.

 

May 31, Tempere, Finland

Travel: Lobby call at 5:45 a.m. It was originally 6:15 a.m. but I’m finding that even within the EU and not needing to deal with customs, two hours is simply not early enough to be at the airport. Invariably, we get to the airport and think, “We’re too early,” only to find that check-in takes so long that we’re scrambling to get through security and run to the gate. This flight will be on a prop jet, and as we’re boarding, we can see the baggage handlers shaking their heads, wondering how they’ll fit all of our gear in the cargo hold. I hope it all makes it onboard.

Ground Transport: Promoter-provided transport.

Venue: Tempere Hall. This place is beautiful and is home to the local symphony. Someone really did their homework regarding the acoustics, including details such as that when the seats are folded up, the surface underneath the seat serves as a slat diffusor. Brilliant.

FOH console: DiGiCo SD9. Good thing I still have an old MacBook that runs Windows under Boot Camp. I keep it for special occasions like when I need to build a file for an old desk like the SD9. The touchscreen on this particular desk is filthy. Why, why, WHY? When no one is looking, I take out a napkin, wet it with some water and wipe the screen clean. Five years of muck comes off. Yuk! This thing is cranky, and the touch location is offset from where I’m actually touching the screen with my finger. Not exactly fun.

Status: Sold out. This is the first of two shows in Finland. The second will be at the end of this run, so we’ll go to Paris and Berlin, then back to Helsinki because the Helsinki venue didn’t have availability the day after the Tempere show—and even if it did, that would have made seven shows in as many days, which is insane.

This show is a home run. After, I get a frantic text from the merch sellers asking if I have another POS (Point of Sale) device because the line for merch is…easily more than 100 feet long and they can’t process the credit cards fast enough. I go out to the merch table to see if I can help by taking cash, but most of the patrons are paying with a card. I’ve never seen anything like this. By the time merch is settled and packed, it’s well past midnight and I’m virtually alone in the venue. Lucky for me, we have a relatively late lobby call tomorrow.

Stay tuned for the rest of the adventure…!