Auning Hallen, Friday the 4th of October 2002
"Yippiiiiii, tonight we are going to see Safri Dy with Morten and Yffe!!!" (Quote: DJ Easy)

We left from Stege at 1.10 pm after Bente had raced home from work like a crazy woman on her bike.

We had been invited by a fellow Safri fan, Brian alias DJ Easy, to have dinner with him before going to the Safri Duo concert in Auning together.

So he picked us up in Hadsten 15 minutes from his house and he was kinda surprised by the amount of luggage we had brought with us. (What…..two big bags? What´s he talking about?!!)

Then we arrived at Brian's house and……………..there it was……right in front of us: Brian´s self-made garage, which he had been talking about since God knows when,…… the Home of his Dark Blue Mazda , (The undying words of DJ Easy: "Der er plads da…-det´ en Mazda!!)

Thumbs up Brian, good job!!!!

While Brian claimed to be slaving away in the kitchen we invaded the bathroom and changed clothes for the concert. We were really impressed by the fact, that there was a lit candle light in the bathroom, hey….nice touch!!!

Then we had a delightful dinner. Brian makes a killer pasta, but the meatloaf….hey, that wasn't homemade, you little cheat!

But we immediately forgave him, when we spotted his wicket disco light!

To sum it all up: Brian has a pretty cool place!!!!

Then it was off towards Auning. We said hello to Anja and Tina in The Safri Shop. -And believe it or not: Brian was shopping like a girl, buying pretty much one of everything!!!!

Brian knows the Safri Duo roadies Lars and Kenneth, so he was off chatting with them, while we found a great spot in the second row. The front row was taken up by kids, and they were all smaller than us, so no problem!! (And we were actually very happy, that they were smaller than us, because they were like….8?)

Safri Duo entered the stage at 9 pm and they were in a kick ass mood, not having played live since the Jarre event.

Uffe was wearing a red sleeveless shirt and his nice white, torn pants.

Morten had on white pants, a new tie-dye t-shirt and new shoes!! Looking pretty good, guys!!!!

To our delight they had brought the Party Bazookas to the show, which always creates a party vibe.

When it was time for Morten to sing "Higher Love", Uffe alias "Little Mr. Jealous", said with a smile: "Morten sings this song through a synthesizer, which means, that it sounds really great, even if you can´t sing!!!" Morten looked at him, and made a face! And of course, as always he did the vocal part so brilliantly, that when he asked the audience if we liked his singing, the cheer was so roaring, that Uffe had to say: "Well, ok then….sorry!"

The atmosphere was truly magnificent and the crowd was out of this world, sometimes acting like it was the flaming Backstreet Boys visiting Auning. They screamed like mad, wanting to touch Safri Duo, and Morten almost started a fight, when he threw his towel into the crowd!! Let´s just say, that Safri Duo was pretty much appreciated in Auning!!!

Uffe announced that the tour was almost over, and that they would return to the studio for about a year, working on the next album.

We didn´t feel a need to cry at all…………..

They promised to stop by the Safri Shop to write autographs and while waiting for them we handed out fliers for The Safri Zone and checked out the new cool Safri truck.

Then we got in line at the Safri Shop and when it was our turn to get autographs, we asked Uffe about their performance with Michael McDonald at Top of the Pops in London and Uffe told us that, sadly, it had been cancelled. (Bugger that!!!)

Then he mentioned our Safri tattoos and then we, of course, had to show him some skin! Uffe thought they were pretty dang cool……so do we!!

We stayed at the arena until midnight, then we headed off towards Brian´s favourite pub "Biffen", a cozy place to hang out.
After a while Brian casually mentioned that he believed to be the owner of a video tape containing the Danish Music Awards 2001.
And that´s not just an award show.
No….. it´s THE award show, since it was at this event, that we actually saw Safri Duo for the very first time!!!
Being hit by a nostalgic wave, we raced to the car and back to Brian´s house where he looked through a huge stack of video tapes, finding it right after a taping of "Seinfeld."…Aha..

It was the first time we saw it, since the epoch-making night at Nickie´s dad´s apartment, where we looked at each other during "Played-a-live" and said: "That´s God damn genius! Who are they? Where can we buy their music and where can we see them live?!!!"
And the rest is history!
It was a pretty nostalgic moment, and we almost missed our train at 2 am from Aarhus to Copenhagen.

After saying goodbye to Brian, we traveled all through the night, getting pretty surprised by the huge amount of people actually traveling this late! Where are they going?

We reached Copenhagen at 5.35 am and entered Nickie´s dad´s apartment at 6.20 am.
We had a bite to eat, before taking a 5 hour nap.

Then it was off towards our next Safri Duo adventure!

Vega, Copenhagen, Saturday the 5th of October 2002
"Who let the Smerfs out?! Smerf-smerf-smerf-smerf…Who let the smerfs out?! Smerf-smerf-smerf…"

Around 3 pm we left dad's apartment and jumped on the train towards Hilleroed, where we were going to meet up with our friend Anja at 4.30 pm.

We had planned to visit this supposedly knock-out Mexican restaurant before heading off to Vega, where we were to meet up with our webmaster Thomas!

But the rail work in Hellerup had other plans…….

When we reached Hellerup, we discovered that the train conductor had gone missing, so they had to cancel a departure!!!!

So we had to wait for the next train and to our "extreme pleasure" it was pretty much filled up with people…..so we got to know some of the passengers quite well….

Finally at 5.30pm, we met up with Anja, had the quickest change of clothes ever in the history of "On tour with the girls" and raced to the restaurant, which of course was located at the other side of town. But the food was definitely worth the walk! El Castello in Hilleroed….they serve excellent Nachos!!!

We left the restaurant at 7.30 pm and called up Thomas to let him know, that we were A BIT behind schedule.

The concert was set to begin at 9pm and at 8.35pm, when we finally got off the train at Enghave Station, we were beginning to get a bit nervous. Once again we phoned Thomas, who told us, that he had just arrived in Vega, and he would meet us in the lobby (well, he had to, since we had invited him to the show….therefore we had his ticket!)

At 8.45pm we raced around the corner and finally arrived in Vega, where we met up with Thomas. We speeded by the Safri Shop to greet Anja and Tina, ran into Torben, who encouraged us to get our butts moving and at 8.55pm we had taken up position in the 2nd row.

Thomas gave a round of drinks and while waiting for the show to begin he uttered the funniest remark that night:

"During the show, one of you ought to get up on the balcony and take a couple of shots of the stage and crowd!"

We stared at him, fascinated by his chain of thought: Us, leaving our spot up front?!

Sweet Thomas, you should know us by now….we NEVER leave our front spot!!

We tried to persuade Thomas, that this sounded like a job for him, but he insisted that this was his night off. He could see, that there was no way we were going to move, so with a smile he said: Well, I guess close-ups are great too!" (You bet, mate! Close-ups are the best!)

At about 9.10pm the show began, Uffe wearing a sleeveless blue shirt…west…thing, and odd, but t-i-g-h-t pants. The clothes he also wore at the Jean Michel Jarre concert. He looked pretty dang cool (especially since the pants lit up in the dark!). Morten had on dark green pants (Love ´em!!) and a white shirt with a pattern on the front, which also lit up in the dark.

Both looking spiffy, they were ready to bongo their butts off!

This evening "Crazy Benny" had a nice touch to it. The first part was played in the dark, with luminous sticks! Although Bente got a bit freakish saying: "They´d BETTER NOT be playing my favourite live-song in the dark!" Lucky for them, it was only the first part, and believe us…it looked pretty hot!!

Peter and Mads were very popular this evening. Every time they walked to the front of the stage, playing their solo, we were bombarded by hordes of women all having Mads and Peter as their "Kodak Moment of the Evening!"

When it was time for Morten to sing "Higher Love", Uffe once again proclaimed that the Synthesizer was a great device for people, who can't sing. And then someone played a dirty trick with the synthesizer making Morten sound like a SMERF!!! Oh, that's just not right, especially since we had praised Morten´s cool voice to Anja, who was now standing with a puzzled look on her face, saying: "Sure he LOOKS cool, but doesn't he sound an awful lot like a smerf?"

Can´t argue that……..

Right before the encore Uffe once again mentioned that they were going in the studio for a year (some fans may have a hard time with that…….NOT us, of course…), and to our e-x-t-r-e-m-e delight he informed us all, that Michael Parsberg has agreed to work with them once again!!!! Yippe-di-doo-dah!!!!!

Lucky for us all, they played The Medley, and Morten and Uffe went completely berserk on the drums with such a passion and energy, that we all forgot to breathe. It was just really beautiful and also a bit sad, knowing that we won't see them for a year when they go in the studio.

Then it was over and we turned to Anja to get her response, which was: "What?! Where are they going? Are they leaving?! I'm just getting warmed up?!"
And this coming from a Metal head going to an Alice Cooper concert this month, this is probably one of the biggest compliments Safri Duo could ever get.

Then Thomas bought another round of drinks, and we are seriously considering inviting him again! He is a true gentlemen……a real "ladies first" type of guy!
Bente just had to make herself noticeable roaring out to Johnny "HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT THE NEW SAFRI ZONE?!!!" Johnny nodded and gave the site the thumbs up.

Then Nickie cornered poor Roadie-Lars making HIM promise to stop by The Safri Zone and sign the guest book (which he did! Thank you, Lars!)

Safri Duo were signing autographs in The Safri Shop, so we got in line.
A fan just had to tell Uffe that he had the hunkiest arms, she had ever seen! (No, it wasn´t one of us!!!)
And as Anja also said when Uffe entered the stage: "Uffe is wearing a nice shirt……not too much fabric!"
Oh please everybody, don´t hold back, just let it aaal out!

We had a short chat with Safri Duo about the new Safri Zone and we also tried to persuade Uffe to sneak in a few concerts during the making of the next album? But he was very persistent…even threats didn´t help! Don´t say we didn´t try…….

Outside Vega we hugged Thomas goodbye, thanking him for a totally cool evening. When he walked away, we yelled "bye-bye, Thomas!" and it must have sounded kinda squeaky, because suddenly we could hear Lars, 20 metres away, screaming "BYE-BYE!!" in a really high key! Funny how he and Kenneth tend to be mischievous, when they think they are home safe! One day we are gonna catch them off guard……….

The fabulous evening ended with yet another train ride back to Hillerød.
We were going to stay the night at Anja´s (-and Anja´s cat Tjalfe, who has a tendency to always steal Bente´s pillow, leaving her….with no pillow!)

So at 2am we were ready to get some sleep (Nickie having a small struggle with Tjalfe about the ownership of her sleeping bag) but apart from that, it was a quiet night.
-And just when we thought we had made it through a Safri Duo adventure without getting lost, Bente lost her way to the toilette, in the dark 39-square metre flat, walking helplessly around for a few minutes before deciding just to give it up and go back to sleep.

In the morning Bente claimed that it was all Nickie´s fault, because she had made the bed, in the opposite direction of what Bente usually does when staying at Anja´s. Thereby confusing her sense of direction.
Nickie claimed that this was impossible since Bente doesn't have a sense of direction AT ALL!

We left Anja´s about noon, and reached Stege at 6pm, getting ready for the next, the 30th and the final Safri Duo adventure this time around.

-And if anyone claims to have seen us cry on the train home, they are lying through their teeth!!!

Vejle, Thursday the 10th of October 2002
"30!!! Going once…going twice…SOLD, to the two girls in the front row!"

So…..here it was…..the final Safri Duo concert in Europe…….

It was truly with mixed emotions that we started our journey towards Vejle. To the definitive last adventure on the Mad Drums Tour……wow, what a strange feeling.

29 concerts all around Denmark; they have all been unique. -And this 30th concert in Vejle was no exception!

We left Stege at 3.50pm and reached Vejle at 7.22pm, where we were greeted by Brian (Dj Easy), who was up for another evening with the girls, and his friend Susanne.

We arrived at Vejle Sports Centre, and before going to the front row, we said hello to Anja, Tina and Johnny in the Safri Shop.

There was no fence and no security guards at this event, so we were UP CLOSE. We were waiting for the show to begin, when we suddenly spotted Uffe entering the arena, flanked by Lars and Kenneth, dressed in their Roadie outfits…. …….. ……. …… ……Let´s just say they all looked pretty spiffy!!!!

The roadies walked on stage to prepare for the concert, and just as we were standing there, peacefully, minding our own business, a water bottle screw top came flying from the stage, hitting Nickie in the back. We turned around, and there was Lars with a giddy grin on his face!!! We promised him a good beating, but when he, 5 minutes later, came down to speak to Brian, we had a change of heart.

Shortly after Kenneth appeared too, so we were in great company!

Suddenly the lights went out and we could hear the familiar sound of a didgeridoo. God damnit, Safri Duo took us by a surprise!!! (Too busy checking out the roadies, eh girls?)

Morten was wearing his nice dark green pants (Oh, we'll miss them!!!) and a long-sleeved shirt. Uffe had on a blue denim west and a pair of really quibbling orange-like zebra pants. Looking….ehm…good? Of course they looked good!!! As always!!!!

And this final show was fabulous, fantastic, mind-blowing, out of this world, hot-diggy-di-damn, oh my God, b-r-i-l-l-i-a-n-t!!!

During "Played-a-live", Uffe announced that Nickie and Bente were at their 31st Safri Duo concerts (Oh Uffe, that's not right! You haven't been keeping score!!), making people cheer and pointing his microphone right in our faces! Thank you Uffe !

Bet he would have looked a bit surprised, if we had grabbed the microphone and given a thank you speech. Going something like :" We would like to thank our mum and dad, for without whom, we wouldn't be standing here in Vejle tonight! And our bank, for letting us have this colossal financial overdraft!"

This concert was truly magnificent and we made sure to enjoy every second of it.

When Uffe mentioned that this was the last concert in Europe, we didn't cry at all…….Well, Bente cried, even though she claims, she didn't.
(No, I didn't cry!!! -I had something in my eye!!)
Yeah right….

When the concert was over and Safri Duo had left, Lars came to the edge of the stage and gave us Uffe´s drumhead! By golly, thank you Lars, guess we won't kick your butt for gunning down Nickie with a screw top! You are our favourite Roadie!!!!

As Uffe and Morten crossed the arena to get to the Safri Shop, where they were signing autographs, we cornered Uffe, and asked if they had time to have their picture taken with us later? He asked if we had time to wait or if we should do it now? We answered that we had all night since we weren't catching a train before 2.53am!!!

Uffe smiled and said: "Oh, it's one of those trips!"

So we waited around, having a nice chat with Anja, Tina and Torben.

Brian was, again, shopping like a girl, while Susanne looked like she was thinking: "That's the last time I'm going anywhere with those 3 loonies!!"

We got Safri Duo to sign the drumhead, and Uffe recognized it, asking us if we had gotten it from Torben?

When we said Lars had handed it to us, Uffe smiled and said: "Fine, we'll just have it deducted from his salary." (No, we´re just kidding, Lars, he didn´t say that!)

We asked Anja if she could take a picture of the four of us, so we all lined up for a group shot!

Afterwards we wished them great fun with the making of the next Safri CD and thanked them for some great Safri Duo adventures.

While Brian heated up the car, we helped Tina and Anja load the Safri merchandise. Lars and Kenneth sneaked right by, totally ignoring our struggle with the boxes.

Gees, thanks guys, so not-attentive towards the ladies!!!!

We said a sad goodbye to Anja and Tina; we'll really miss those two.

Brian decided that we could drive Susanne home to Kolding and then it was off to McDonalds for a midnight snack! Entering McDonalds we were greeted with Played-a-Live on the radio, bringing a goofy expression to our faces. Man, it's really a terrific song!

Then we headed off towards Vejle town to find a small pub to spend our time waiting for the train to arrive. We drove around for ages, getting a bit lost, but seeing A LOT of Vejle, before finally finding this………bizarre place called "Den Smagløse" (Tasteless, ed.)

What a weird, but cool place, and we were greeted with Baya Baya, so it wasn't completely tasteless!!!

We had an Absolute Mandarin/Sprite, before Brian dropped us off at the train station at 1.30am. At 2.53 the train arrived and at 7.10am we arrived in Stege. Bente had a quick change of clothes before heading off to work at 8am and Nickie, who had night work later the same day, went straight to bed.

So, for now, a great adventure has reached the end.

30 Safri Duo concerts, where we have visited a lot of fun and beautiful places and have been privileged to meet a lot of great people, even making new friends!

We are truly looking forward to the new music from Safri Duo and when they go on tour…….we´ll be right there in the front row, ready for new Safri Duo adventures. 

The Safri Zone

Del siden