Roskilde Market, Denmark, Friday the 30th of July, 2004
"How much candy can be put in a piñata?"

Who would have known, that after seeing Safri Duo live in Vega for the first time in 2001, we would one day wake up on a bright sunny day and head off to our 50th Safri concert?!!!
Bloody Hell, somebody could have warned us. But here we were, once again in Roskilde Market to see Uffe and Morten perform for the f-i-f-t-i-e-t-h time.

When we arrived at the market, we had a look around the market shops, immediately finding a slush ice stand. Now, anyone, who has attended The Safri Zone Summer party, became aware of our addiction to blue slush. Since this shop had blue slush, we arranged a "date" after the concert.
We went to the amusement park to look at the rides and whom did we almost literally, bump into: Clark Anderson, who was joggling a big plate of food. We asked if he was up for a go on some of the crazy rides, but the look on his face indicated a BIG NO to that! Aaaarh Clark, you're no fun!!
We had a short chat and then he headed backstage to have his dinner.

We found us a great spot in the front row and suddenly Summer, Clark´s friend from America, appeared wanting to witness the show with us up front.
Summer wasn't in the correct concert gear, wearing high heels in a tent...placed on a soft fields.
She was literally going under.
The people in the front row, leaning against the fence, stood on a platform, so Summer decided to get a bit close to a young boy, so she could get out of the mud.
She asked us to tell the boy, that she did not mean to squash him, but she needed to get off the ground. So we told him. He turned around and looked at Summer, who smiled. He looked back at us and said: "Oh....that's perfectly alright!!!"
Bet it was......guess Summer got a little fan that night.

It was really great talking to Summer and also the waiting time didn't seem all that long, because suddenly it was time to bongo!

Uffe had decided to put on a blue shirt and jeans. Morten went for the sleeveless "star" shirt and the jeans with the white markings.

As always not a finger to put on the show, the sound, the light, the energy...everything was down right funkylicious and people were in a terrific mood.

When they reached the break in Played-a-Live, Uffe took the microphone, but this time, he had changed his speech.
We went kinda red, when he, on behalf of him, Morten and the band, thanked us for our support with the fan site and congratulated us on our 50th concert.
Man, we hadn't counted on him mentioning us in the show; it was such an honor and it meant a lot to us. Thanks so much, Uffe and Morten!
-And people actually cheered which made us blush even more; it was kinda freakish!

After the show people lined up by the fence, hoping to get an autograph.
-And they were in luck, because after a quick change of clothes Uffe and Morten appeared!!

We had a short talk about the summer party and this being our 50th concert. We said "see ya tomorrow", and then it was time to collect our slush ice date.
Oh, we could hardly wait for our "Blue slush brain freeze."
But, oh the heartache......man, you can dress me up as a piñata and fill me with candy, if that wasn't a bad, bad, b-a-d day for blue slush.
-In fact...we wouldn't even call it slush! It was more like.......crushed ice cubes, which someone had thought about mixing with blue flavor. Hrmf!

The Safrizone Mobile drove us to Ishoej, where we camped out at Nickie´s dad. For a man, who had never seen us up earlier than 10am, he kept up a convincingly straight face when we told him, that we had to get up at 4.30 am in order to catch the ferry to Jutland the next day. Think he actually had money on us missing that ferry, since we arrived at his place at half past midnight.
Yee of little faith.......



Vesterhavsrock, Fjerritslev, Denmark, Saturday the 31st of July 2004
"I´ll call your English breakfast and raise you a bruised upper lip!"

Guess we proved daddy wrong, because at 4.30am, we were up!! Neither spunky nor in good moods, but we were UP!
At 5.10am we were cruising down the free way on our way to buffet heaven on the ferry! Yes, we had been on the ferry 2 days earlier when going on a family trip to Randers Rainforest, and sitting in the restaurant we noticed that they served English breakfast on the early departure times. And if 7am wasn't early, we don't know what was.
So we speeded on board, got ourselves a table and speeded to the buffet.
A good thing we weren't British, because then we would have opened up a can of whoop-ass. English breakfast, my butt! Come to Casa del Safrizone, then we'll give ya an English breakkie, like you've never had English breakfast before: Eggs, sausages, beans, -oh, back to the story...

Safri Duo were playing fairly late in Fjerritslev, and since it was a looong way to drive overnight, we had booked a room at Get In in Aarhus. We arrived at noon, and were really longing for a nap since we weren't driving to Fjerritslev before 5pm. So that was a 4 hour nap! Swe-e-e-eeeet!!
Guess the joke was on us, because we were told, that our room wouldn't be ready before 2pm. So instead we camped in the TV-room at Get-In, watching very interesting episodes of "Hanging with Mr. Cooper", in company of a Scotchman wearing the national costume. At first we thought we were hallucinating due to the lack of sleep, but he was actually there! Looked pretty sassy!
After 2 hours and 4 episodes of "Mr Cooper" our room was ready for the taking, and we more or less passed out on our beds, before waking up at 4 pm, and getting ready for the trip to Fjerritslev.

It was a very beautiful trip to the concert and it was pretty darn easy finding Fjerritslev. Instead it turned out to be nearly impossible finding the backstage entrance!!
We went to the entrance and got our entrance passes, which read "Vesterhavsrock 2002". Now, we knew we were in the North of Jutland, but that was a pretty wicket time difference, haha!!!
We asked for the way backstage and they didn't know, but sent us to the info booth. So we found the info booth. We asked them about the way to the backstage area.....but they didn't know, so we went searching for someone, who looked like they would know the way around the festival.
We decided to ask the first aid crew. Well, they....didn't know, but said that they believed it to be to the right of the stage. So we walked for a while until we became aware that the first aid tent was placed right of the stage!
So back we went.
Now we kinda confused them, so they sent us to the info booth. But we had been there before, and they still didn't know.
They sent us to the entrance.
So we were kinda back to square one.
They looked in their papers and one of them said......"we really don't know the way...I can only encourage you to find a man wearing the same outfit as me.....but who knows the way!"
Aaaaaaaaah, could we expect this man to be wearing a sign?
So we grabbed a man with the same kinda clothes, but to our huge surprise.....he didn't know the way, so he suggested that we ask in the info booth.
(Why I oughta...)
We told him about our little Vesterhavs Marathon and we guess, he could see, that we were getting a BIT tired of running around the festival, so he walked with us to the info booth, and tried to find a solution.
It all ended up with him walking us backstage (which actually went straight through the first aid tent), and checking if our presence there was cleared with the right people.
We sat down with Clark, Summer and some of the Safri crew. The Danish boy band C21, was also backstage getting ready to go on stage, and Bente thought about going out and watching parts of their show. But decided not to push her luck after all the trouble finding the way backstage.

The vibe backstage was pretty relaxed, so we used the opportunity to take some pics of Summer and Clark.

Uffe had not arrived yet, so we surrounded Morten for a picture, who commented the idea with "Hmmm, since Uffe isn't here, I guess I'm going in the middle?" You bet ya, Mr Friis, we saved the best spot for you!

Since Uffe was a no-show, we joked with Morten about getting Bente to play Uffe´s part. Morten wasn't too unsympathetic about it, saying that we ought to know the routine by now, so it really shouldn't be a problem.
Clearly he has never seen us with an instrument.......

Lucky for us, and the audience, Uffe arrived shortly after. A pity though, since Bente was already planning to sneak "Crazy Benny" into her and Morten´s debut concert. It could possibly have been the beginning of a beautiful collaboration...But then again...the world might not be ready for it....-yet!

Then it was time for dinner, and the food was simply divine, which was enjoyed to the lovely sounds of C21 singing from the stage. Well, the beauty sort of left when Robbie Williams Jam decided to sing along to "She cries", which they sadly did just behind us. There was just no heart in their performance. Guess they are not C21 fans.....
Uffe came and had a bite to eat at our table and we thanked him for mentioning our 50th concert from the stage yesterday. We also talked to Ian, the sound guy, about filling out a Crew File, which he thought would be a swell idea. Ian seems like a really, really nice guy!!
Of course neither us nor Summer could send Clark to his dressing room, without teasing him about his high-maintenance, which made him go all Elisabeth Taylor:
" Nobody loves me! -I´m going in my tent!"
Aaaarh, that's not true, Clark, we DO love you, in our own tough loving kinda way, whahaha. It was all good fun...but we actually think, that C21, just leaving the stage, had us picked out as completely insane.

When the Safri show started we had the pleasure of seeing it in the great company of Summer and Ian in the sound booth. That meant, that we were not in the front row, but now we could really enjoy the fabulous light show, get totally thrilled with Uffe and Morten´s synchronized playing and get a view of the audience reaction to Safri hyping them. It's totally breathtaking when a sea of people wave their hands rhythmically to the music.

But it also meant - gasp - that we couldn't quite determine what the guys were wearing!!! Oh, my God"!! But we CAN assure you all, that they were in fact NOT nude, just couldn't get a close look at the outfits.

We can also inform you all, that Clark has decided to keep his bare-chested performance of "Knock on Wood". It's a hit every time!!!

After the show we went backstage to say a sad goodbye to Summer, who would be heading home first thing Monday (Boooohoooo, gonna miss that girl!)

Then we drove back to Get In in Aarhus and had a good night's sleep, before heading back to Moen, where we, on Monday, both started new jobs.



Showstars, Risskov, Denmark, Friday the 13th of August 2004
"The way to Eldorado"

This was truly no ordinary Safri Duo adventure, because Safri Duo were not only playing the bongos....they were also playing soccer. Now, who could miss out on an opportunity to see that?!!! So we left Moen at 9am, 4 man high. Yes, even our mums refused to miss the chance to see Uffe and Morten on the soccer field.

We decided to travel by ferry to Aarhus, where we had the pleasure of making acquaintance with "Honka-mama!". She was truly a treat. We were waiting to be directed to the ferry and on the way, there was a red light, which we knew would stay red for a long time, so Bente used the opportunity to get out of the car and collect her wallet in the trunk.
-And at this precise moment "honka-mama" entered our lives, being in the car just behind us. Apparently totally freaked out by the fact, that the driver in the car in front of her had left her car, and fearing that this would mean, the ferry would leave without her, she honked that horn as if it was the way to Eldorado!!
-And the light was still red.
Bente got back in the car and we got directed to the car line to the ferry. There was some waiting time before we were guided to the ferry, so Nickie´s mom decided that it was time for a smoke. Now.......no one was getting on the ferry for at least 15 minutes...all the cars were stopped and people were walking around...but when WE got out...we could hear that horn right behind us. Nickie decided to give her a taste of "the evil eye" and started staring at her, until she got her butt off the horn.
Nickie´s mom got totally stressed out and didn't really get a chance to get that smoke. When we started driving on to the ferry, Bente simply couldn't help herself, so she rolled down the window, waved and shouted: "LET'S GET THIS LINE MOVING, PEOPLE!!! WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF TIME! MOVE IT!!!"
The mums pretended not to know us....

Because we had a bit of time to kill before going to the soccer game, we decided to go and visit "Den Gamle By". It was really interesting seeing the old buildings and shops, and Nickie also did a bit of shopping while she was there.
Too bad, that she didn't buy a map, because it proved darn hard to find Risskov!!!! We tell ya, Aarhus is a labyrinth of one way roads, for people not knowing the town. We didn't yell at each other at ALL!
Finally we found the place and entered the stadium, where we met Brian (Dj Easy), his girlfriend Heidi, and Lea, whom we met for the first time at the concert in Train last year.

We also met Lone from our Safri Party, who had taken up position in the front row. Nice work, Lone!!

Safri was giving a mini concert before it was time to play ball, so they played Prelude, Samb - Adagio, Rise-Leave Me Alone, All the People, Crazy Benny (YIIIIHHAAAA!!) and Played-a-Live. It was a very small stage, which meant that Safri played without their band. They had brought Clark, though!
Uffe was wearing jeans and a peach colored shirt and Morten had a white sleeveless shirt with stripes and the jeans with the white markings.

Safri playing soccer....that's a pretty big thing if you are an insane fan, so we had brought Bente´s mum's video camera, because ordinary pictures just weren't enough. We simply had to get it on tape! So when the concert ended we rushed to the field to get a good spot in the front row directly on the field.

Searching intensely for a good spot meant, that we got separated from the mum's. But since we had the video camera and the car keys, we weren't too worried. It later turned out, that the mums had found a great spot very close to where the Showstars team was seated. Just like our mums to mingle with the stars....Actually they decided to try and find us during the half-time. So were to look? Some might have done the obvious...look near the front row on the playing field. But not the mums. They went straight to Safri Duo's tour manager Frank, who was chatting with Clark Anderson on stage, and asked if they had seen Nickie and Bente? Frank kindly told them, that he did not know our where-abouts.
MU-UUMS!

Due to Uffe and Morten´s live performance, they were a bit late getting on the field, but when they arrived, Morten was wearing a light blue t-shirt with the words "Morten Friis" on the back and the number "26". He was also wearing white shorts and soccer shoes. Uffe had decided to put on a light blue t-shirt with the word" Uffe Savery" on the back and the number "25". He had chosen to match this with a white pair of shorts and soccer shoes. We must say that they fitted right in with the rest of the Showstars team, who apparently all shop at the same store!!!

Now.....we have never been that keen on soccer....in fact we find it kinda boring. But it just so happens, that it's quite an interesting sport, when it's suddenly Safri Duo running around on the field wearing shorts! Whahahaha, we have it all on tape!

Uffe and Morten did a great job! They didn't score, but they ran around like mad; Uffe almost scoring and Morten doing a wicked header. We don't understand soccer...but we know what we like; and they were s-m-o-k-i-n-g!

-And they actually won the match 9-2! Showstars couldn't have done it without Safri Duo!
When the match was over, the field was overrun by kids wanting autographs from the soccer stars and Uffe got totally surrounded. We used the opportunity of Uffe being trapped and taped his autograph séance. He asked us if we liked them in soccer clothes, which we couldn't deny. Blue is definitely their colour and they looked g-o-o-d in shin-guards.
Suddenly all the players had left the field except for Uffe, so now all the kids wanted HIS autograph. Poor Uffe, he almost went down, but luckily Frank came to his aid and rescued him.
You could almost hear William Shatner go: "This series is dedicated to the true heroes, who risk their lives....to save the life of a stranger. I'm William Shatner. Join me next week for more true stories on Rescue 911"

Safri Duo was traveling on to Randers to do a show there, and we were going home to Moen. On the way to our car, the sky got all dark and rain started to pour down. It was unbelievable. Then lightning started and the rain got even worse. It was terrible driving home on the high way, not being able to see a thing and the car was almost washed off the road due to aqua planing. We went for a rest at MacDonald's in Kolding and luckily the rain stopped soon after.
By the way...thumbs up for MacDonalds coffee...it´ll have you awake for hours!



Skovlunde, Denmark, Saturday the 14th of August 2004
"The voice of an Angel"

Returning home at 2am from yesterdays concert, we allowed ourselves to have a goooood, looooong sleep, to the great annoyance of Coco-Adagio, who, more than once, ran from room to room, making sure, that we were still alive. Indeed we were, and when we finally managed to roll out of bed, we were ready for another Safri-fun filled day!

It was fairly easy finding Skovlunde, which was quite lucky since a shopping spree in Naestved had proved longer than calculated! We were sure, we would almost FLY into Skovlunde, but since we had no wrong turns, dead ends or one way streets going in opposite directions, we suddenly found ourselves in Skovlunde.
We went directly to the stage, where we took up positions in the 2nd row, only overtook by small children. We soon discovered that we were standing very close to 2 fans from our Summer Party, so we said hello. It's truly fun meeting some of the guests from the party!

Believe it or not, once again Zididada was on just before Safri Duo! Now we almost know their songs as well as Safri´s. Hope Zididada don´t think we are stalking them..........

While waiting for Safri, some of the silly security guards were teasing a girl just behind us, about her lack of ability to sing beautifully. We thought, that even though she knew them, it was a bit rude to make fun of her that way. But we tell ya....when "Rise-Leave Me Alone" began, and the girl opened her mouth to sing.........it was so horrible that we are sure cows were stampeding on Samsoe! And to make matters worse, she was drowning Clark´s voice. Guess she was a fan, bless her soul.

Skovlunde had the pleasure of seeing Uffe wearing the white torn pants (aaah, like the good old days) and his "Space is the Place" t-shirt. Morten was a sight in his black sleeveless shirt and the white marked jeans.

It totally seemed like Safri and the band had just returned home from a 3 week vacation in the pacific, because they were filled with energy and totally blew away the crowd. Especially Morten was an explosion of energy, jumping while playing and hyping the crowd at any given moment! It was pretty remarkable since they had all just arrived from another gig at Telmore´s client party a few hours before!
Clark had carried out his "threat" about going power shopping after the concert in Fjerritslev and went on stage wearing completely new outfits. Guess there are a few fashion stores, that don't have to worry about the annual output, heh-heh....

The concert was truly fantastic...we won't say religious, but definitely bongolicious! The energy coming from the stage truly had an impact on the audience...it was party time!!!!

It was really nice seeing a concert on Zealand, because this meant, that we were actually back at Casa del Safrizone at about midnight! And once again it was time for a goooood, looooong sleep.
Cheers to another great Safri-weekend!

Roedkaersbro, Denmark, Saturday the 21st of August 2004
"Well now...don't be a fusspot!""

This Saturday, poor Nickie had been working since Friday, so Bente picked her up in The Safrizone Mobile at 9.30 am right after her visit to the florist, where she had bought a big bouquet of flowers for today's birthday bongo-boy.
Again, we had decided to travel by ferry...(yes, we may have a serious ferry addiction).
Since we hadn't eaten yet, we stopped by MacDonald´s for breakfast, and it was the worst combination of guests ever: A children's party....and Danish soldiers. Oh, the horror of it!!!!

Getting to the ferry, Nickie was on a mission. Ever since our first trip with this ferry, Nickie has had her heart set on a window seat in the lounge. This trip was no exception. She got out of the car, and with the determination of a great white shark going for a windsurfer, she headed straight for the lounge!
Even with her impressive speed....she was too late. All the good seats had been taken up by senior citizens (How quick are they?!); even in the smoking area!!!!
Oh, no fury like a scorned Nickie, who literally was stamping her feet, turning pale green and proclaiming:

"Had I been Bruce Banner right now, I swear to God, I would have turned into The Hulk, and trashed the place!!!"

Oh, she was so angry, that Bente had to buy a Coca Cola and a ladies magazine to calm her down.

2 hours, 40 minutes and a lot of cursing later, we reached Get In, where we once again would be spending the night. Since we were going to a Christening on Sunday we choose NOT to drive home after the concert, but stay in Aarhus, get a good night's sleep, and then drive directly to the church the next morning. We were truly up for a cultural weekend, since we were going to a christening in a Catholic church.

Opening the door to our hotel room, we discovered, that we could have brought friends, since it was a room with 6 beds! N-i-c-e!!! And to add to the greatness: It even had an indoor pool!!! We are NOT kidding! Simply turn on the water in the shower, and the water would automatically rise in the entire bathroom!!! Sadly Bente didn't discover this "indoor pool", until her clothes and sponge bag came floating right by!

After 25 lanes in the bathroom, we drove to Roedkaersbro, and found the festival. Today we were guests, so we went to the entrance to get our passes. We had an hour until Safri Duo would arrive, so we had a bite to eat, and the coordinator of the festival told us, that Safri Duo had another gig in Odense, so they would be flown from Roedkaersbro to Odense by helicopter after their concert.
When Safri Duo arrived, we gave the flowers to Morten with a big Happy Birthday!! It actually turned out to be his first present of the entire day (What was up with THAT?!), and one of the backstage crew said, that had they known this, they would surely have made him a cake. Uffe looked up from his dinner and said with a smile:

"Well, there's really no need to make such a big fuss about it."
(-well, apparently no-one had!)

We also brought fan mail to Uffe and Morten, which they both checked out, while Clark was checking out some hype fans of his, trying to climb the fence to the backstage area. They had made him a sign saying : We love you, Clark!! That was very nice of them.
Uffe and Morten really appreciated the fan mail, and wrote greetings to the fans: Malthe from Denmark and My from Sweden.
Oh yeah, must not forget: Mads and Peter would really like some fanmail too, so if you dig the band, get those fan letters to The Safri Zone!!

When Safri and Clark left to prepare for this, their last outdoor concert of the year, we went to the festival ground to find a good spot to view the show. Only 15 minutes passed, then the sound of "Prelude" began and the concert was on!
Uffe had on jeans and the sleeveless "Action" shirt from the Mad Drums Tour. Oh, it was a trip down memory lane; how nostalgic!
Morten was wearing jeans and the tight, black, sleeveless shirt.

One would think, that Safri would save some of their energy, since they had yet another show only a few hours later. But not these boys!! They always give it 112%. In fact Mikkel, the 3rd drummer had also been playing with the act going on stage just before Safri Duo! There is just no stopping Mikkel!!!

During the break in Played-a-Live, Uffe remembered to congratulate Morten on his birthday and Clark also made the crowd cheer for Morten in All the People.
(You know guys......there's really no need to make such a big fuss about it.)

We had planned to meet up with Safri fan Randi, but couldn't spot her during the concert, so we tried looking for her after the show. But we couldn't pick her out, so we started walking to the exit, where we were stopped by Anja, Sanne and Louise; the Clark fans with the sign. They recognized us from The Safri Zone, so we had a little chat, about how cute Clark is, and how sweet Clark is, and how good-looking Clark is. Yes, indeed...they were very devoted Clark fans. But we told them...."girls..there is really no need to make such a big fuss about him".
Nooo, just kidding, we assured them, that he IS a really sweet guy.

And then -by golly- Randi found us!!! So we talked for a while about Safri Duo, about Roedkaersbro (that girl knows some cool town history!) and much more. Sadly we had to leave, since we had an early appointment with the Catholic church on Sunday.

At 6.30 am on Sunday, we were ready to leave Aarhus, but as we have discovered quite a few times, we never leave Aarhus without driving helplessly around for at least 15 minutes without a clue of direction. It's really odd...and Bente is completely convinced that just like the stairs at Hogwart´s, the streets change directions every now and then. She claims, that reading Harry Potter hasn't had an effect on her grasp on reality at all.
.....Oh yeah...and Voldemort isn´t real.....
( -Schyyyh!!! -don't say his name!!)

We arrived 15 minutes early to The Catholic Church. You must know, that this wasn't a normal Christening of a normal child...NO, this was the christening of Lucas; the youngest Safri Duo fan from our Summer Party!!!
After a very interesting Christening (where the priest encouraged us to "give a BIG HAND for Lucas and his acceptance into the Catholic church!!", how cool was that?!), Lucas invited us all to a pretty wicket buffet. Nice touch, Lucas!

Now, this had literally been both a religious and a bongolicious weekend!!!


Faaborg Hallen, Faaborg, Denmark, Friday the 8th of October 2004
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee LOoooooVE ´EEEEEEEEM!!!"

After being at work ´till 4pm Bente raced home to Nickie, who was ready to go on tour, having snacks and Coca Cola´s all ready and packed for the 2 and a half hour drive to Faaborg!
It turned out to be a slightly longer journey since our internet travel guide had chosen an "alternative" route. Still....now we know our way around aaaall the small roads going to Faaborg!

The doors opened at 7pm and we were there (finally) at 7.40. It was an indoor concert and someone had seriously been playing with the smoke machine, because we were beginning to think something had caught fire and we should head directly for the emergency exit! Instead we went to the front row.

Safri Duo had substitute players at the show, Peter being off to play in a Nik & Jay gig and Mikkel playing in a TV-Show. So 2 blokes, Jesper and Mogens, were keeping Mads company. In the front of the stage Uffe was wearing khaki green pants and a yellow sleeveless shirt with the words "Brown Sugar" on it. Morten had on the jeans with the white markings and his sleeveless "star" shirt. Normally we don't mention the shoes, but Morten´s green sneakers deserve to be mentioned in this report as a spunky high class accessory!

The Set-list had been altered a bit, but they still started off with "Prelude", and had kept the striptease. Then they continued with "Samb-Adagio", "Rise" and "Agogo Mosse" entering a scruffy looking Clark Anderson wearing sunglasses. (We mean "scruffy" in a good way!) Then Safri played "Fallin` High" finishing this song with a bit from one of the remix versions.
Uffe and Morten met in the middle of the stage and played a short, quiet number called "Kalimba Dreams"......it was really beautiful and took us back to another Safri Duo night in the amusement park Tivoli, where we, to pass the time before the concert, visited "H.C Andersen´s Kuffert. The music there was also kinda fairytale-like and dreamy like "Kalimba Dreams".

Then Clark returned to sing "All the People" and after a kick-ass drumsolo by Uffe and Morten (yeah well, who else?) they played "Ritmo de la Noche", which made the audience sing and dance.

For the first time in our 55th Safri Duo concert career, there was a break!! And it wasn´t a
"Wooops, somebody accidentally lid the stage on fire" break,
no, it was a
"We are not going to play ANY drums for 20 minutes" break.
Making us go: "Eeeeeeeeeeeehhhh, somebody stop those percussionists running for the backstage area!!!!"
Now, having a break is just fine, since they played a longer show, but someone might have announced, that they were going for a short break, because people were kinda surprised and wondering if that was it? And the music during the break....somebody shoot the DJ, because it was ba-a-a-a-ad.

Safri Duo returned and started off with "Laarbasses", making people forget that Safri had ever left! Then Morten kicked butt in "Moonwalker", Clark returning to the stage in "Walking Away" (Thank you for keeping that song!) "Baya Baya" and "Sweet Freedom". Man, it was so loud, that there was a tickle in our ears!! LOVE IT!
Not a Safri show without "Played-a-Live" and the encore "Knock on Wood", which they really ought to play twice.
But we must not forget a very important piece of information, which Uffe announced during Played-a-Live: After the Winter tour Safri Duo will return to the studio to record their next album!! Weeeeeeee LOVE ´EM!!!

After the amazing concert we got something to drink and waited for Safri Duo to come out and greet some of their fans. After half an hour we were all asked to go to the dressing room area, where Uffe and Morten would appear.
Lucky for us and the rest of the fans, we were a fairly small group, which meant, that there wasn't a lot of pushing and showing down the narrow hallway to the dressing rooms.
One of the fans asked if she could get a picture taken with Clark, so he came out too. On our way around the cool celebrities we landed by Clark first, getting a hug and asking if he was doing ok?

"Yeah, I am" he answered.. "and I'm really excited, because I have a friend coming over from The States....Jeremy!"

We know that the American (HOT!) actor Jeremy Renner is a close friend of Clark's, so Nickie immediately asked: "Wha?..Not...not Jeremy Renner?!"

Now.....had Clark had time to consider his answer, he would probably have played it safe and said no.
But him being on the spot, he said:

"Yeah....how do you know Jeremy?!",
Bente immediately almost yelling: "From the MOVIES!!!" and Nickie grapping poor Clark's shirt with the words:
"Oh, my God, we are TOTAL fans!!!"
Looking back now....we really don't hope Uffe and Morten noticed our display of fan-fanaticism......we must have looked totally off the wall....
(But oh my God, Jeremy Renner is coming to Denmark!!)
Poor Clark, who got caught in the middle, haha...

Well, then we talked to Morten, who was standing with a bunch of smashing new Safri postcards to sign!
We had promised a boy named Casper, that we would try to get him an autograph, which we did, so now he is a happy little camper.
Then we talked to Uffe about the new songs in the show, upcoming shows and the substitute band members, and we also had a chance to meet the new tour manager Stine.

We said "See ya next week" and then it was time to head home. We chose to ignore the Internet Travel Guide and simply follow the road signs, which had us home 45 minutes earlier than scheduled.



Hoeng Hallen, Hoeng, Denmark, Saturday the 16th of October 2004
"Hippo of the Night"

For once we didn't have to race around in order to get to a concert in time. No, this day was spent more or less on the couch only moving about when one of us reached for the remote to change the channel.......aaaaaah yes, sweet relaxation.
Still we DID manage to get too late out the door, in fact we were 45 minutes late!!! How did that happen?!!

Prior to Safri Duo going on stage it had been possible to enjoy a buffet and there was also live music! They did a terrific job, getting a lot of people on to the dance floor.
Nickie had forgotten her money in the car, and Bente only had 20 kroner, 10 of them going to the cloakroom attendant, so there were no drinks this night!
We went to the front row and waited for the show to begin.

After "Prelude" Uffe had on his multiple color pants and the sleeveless "Brown Sugar" shirt. Morten had on his white marked jeans and a grey sleeveless shirt. Fairly good looking, guys!!!

To quote Gollum from "Lord of the Rings" the show was preeeccciiioouuuus! It was loud, packed with energy, the guys were totally kicking percussion butt and the crowd was simply loving it!!

The way the light interacts with Morten and Uffe´s silent and dreamy playing during "Kalimba Dreams" is truly magnificent. And it's fascinating, how Safri can make the change from a high tempo track to a meditative dream-like tune just like that and so well done.

We also have to mention "Ritmo de la Noche", because everyone on stage went totally berserk!! We couldn't help but laugh, because it was simply divine!!!
Clark tried to get us to sing along, but we gesticulated to him, that we do not know the Spanish words. He shook his head and signed back: "Well, neither do I!!" and laughed. We tried our best, and actually came up with some pretty interesting wanna-be Spanish words to fit the song. It was just as much fun as at the Jean-Michel Jarre concert, where we tried to speak French.
But the award for the best interpretation of what Clark sings in "Ritmo...." has to go to the girl next to Bente, who was actually singing: "Hippooooo, hippo de la Noche!!" That was totally cool!

Then it was time for the Newly Invented Safri Duo Break, this time with Uffe announcing they would leave,-but return. This was a good call, because the vibe was so much different than in Faaborg, now that people knew, what was happening.
Also there was no music during the break......hope somebody didn't actually shoot that dj.......

This night Mogens was still covering for Peter, but Mikkel Benn had returned to the Safri camp, doing a passionate job, especially in "Ritmo...."

After the break we noticed that Clarks "clothes-changing-frenzy" has rubbed off on Uffe and Morten, because they both had fresh shirts on. Uffe now wearing a green sleeveless shirt with reflections in the light and Morten wearing a patterned sleeveless shirt with green selvage.

At the end of the show, Uffe and Morten found an opportunity to jump off the stage and run from one end of the front row to the other, clapping as many hands as possible. Aaah, they really know how to please the crowd! We cashed in a decent smack from Uffe; he really put some strength into it!

We had some fan mail for all of the guys, but there was no time for autographs this time, so we handed it to the tour manager Stine, before we headed off toward Copenhagen, more precisely Ishoej, where we were crashing at Nickie´s dad's place, before yet another Safri gig on Sunday.



Drum Show, Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday the 17th of October 2004
"Benny´s back. -And crazier than ever!!"

This wasn't actually a Safri concert like we were used to. This was a percussion exhibition, where Safri Duo would appear for a short performance. And that was pretty much all we knew.
In connection with this event we had bought 2 extra tickets and had a competition on The Safri Zone, won by Rikke from Tappernoeje.

We were really happy about the fact, that this exhibition was held indoors, because it was raining like mad!

We arrived, and it was safe to say that the females were outnumbered! And we were also pretty much the only two visitors, who did not try out a drum set. No need to scare people.....
There were drum sets everywhere and it was free to try out ones skills, so it was L-O-U-D!!! Amager Bio had transformed itself into percussion Heaven!
Sadly the location was a bit too small for all the enthusiastic guests, because people were literally standing on each others toes. Still, people seemed to be having one heck of a good time, and it was fun walking around, checking out the drum sets and all the drum gear on sale, new stuff and old.

PJ Percussion was also represented and we actually spotted Peter Kragh Jacobsen several times (check out "Around Safri" for reference). He did not seem to recognize us and we did not want to interrupt him, so we simply checked out the drums and a HUGE Conga in one of his shops!!! Oh, my God, it was big!!!!

At 1.30pm it was time for Safri Duo to appear and they were announced by Tom McEwan, our childhood hero from the children´s shows back in the 1980´s. Oh yeah...and also a fabulous percussionist.
The stage was without a fence so we were standing against the stage. Which meant that Safri was up close!!
Uffe started out by telling us the Safri story. We know it by heart, but it's still great hearing it.
Morten then told us, that they had given Clark, Mads and Peter (and Mogens!!) the day off, but had brought their drummer Mikkel. He also told us, that they were going to play a different show, because there was no room for all their instruments on the stage. He finished off by saying that due to the fact, that the speakers were put in the middle of the room, everyone would get a better feeling of the sound if they all stepped back from the stage.
That may be right, Mr. Friis........but we all know where the best spot in the house is. Apart from that, the room was packed so we couldn't really move, which Morten also pointed out.
So they started off with "Crazy Benny!" Yyyyayayyayayaaaahoooooouuuuuwwww!!!
Because we had the speakers behind us, we could more or less only hear the drums, which was FLAMIN´ HOT! Standing SO close to the drums, meant that it kinda felt like our hearts were jumping and blood was running out of our ears .........It was pleasure beyond chocolate cake....even better than a hot double chocolate-fudge Sunday! -With ice cream!

Then they played "A-Gusta" where Morten was seated with a...ehm....djembe? (Please don´t kill us, if it was not a djembe!), sitting so close to the edge of the stage, that we could have tied his shoe laces together. Which we, of course...didn't.

They finished off with a kick-ass drum solo, which turned into Played-a-Live. After this, they said goodbye and took a well-deserved bow, which included dripping sweat all over the front row. -As we have said so many times before: The best spot in the house!

Then Christina, a girl from The Safri Zone Summer Party recognized us! It's really curious being recognized due to The Safri Zone, but also very cozy, when people come up to us and chat. She had heard, that Uffe and Morten were to sign autographs, which she was really happy about, since she really wanted to talk with Uffe and Morten.
We waited for about half an hour and then Safri took up positions besides the Monster Conga in one of the PJ Percussion stands.

We had a short talk with both of them, and we asked Morten about the name of the little thingy, Uffe plays in Kalimba Dreams? Morten told us that, oddly enough, it´s called a......Kalimba! Well, that kinda answered our next question about why the song is called Kalimba Dreams!
We would like to thank Morten for not indicating that we had just asked a silly question....
And thank you to Uffe for arranging it, so we could get a pretty cool picture of them, just before they left the Drum Show 2004 and we headed home to Moen.

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