Friends amongst Killers

Hello, Oslo!!  It has been so long... But your boy is back.  It feels so good to be back!  Well, maybe not that good... but yeah, it was too long.

So... what have I missed?

So... nothing?

Good to know some things never change.

Well, for me, I returned with a beard... but better.  Good, because the Norwegian winter was acting all emo and keeping it cold here.  

Also, I made it back in time to go see The Killers at Telenor Arena!  

That's right... Space Age Norwegian Architecture.  Terror Dome in the back, Innocuous Store-front facade out front

The best, and worst, thing about Telenor Arena is that it's in the outskirts of Oslo in the Fornebu neighborhood.  The party doesn't have to worry about annoying the neighbors because there aren't any, but it also means there's only two ways to get there... a 20-30 minute bus or car ride from downtown Oslo (I guess helicopter would be the other one... where's the mambacopter when you need it?!?!?).

I pause here and have to thank Ruter for scrambling extra busses to ensure the to and from trips were only hellish (as opposed to the apocalypse that would've resulted if Daniel Snyder had been given the chance to host the evening).  So yeah... appreciate it.  The girl who used me as a human shield to avoid a creeper, unappreciated it.

Back to the concert.  Telenor was, originally, constructed to host soccer football games (while its indoor, the field is a full-size soccer game... yes, this is what happens when your country is covered in snow nine months out of the year) and so, there was a large mass of people gathered on the ground level in front of the stage.  Fortunately, I was in the seats that ringed the field and stage.

(Here's where I'd include one of the dozen or so photos that were taken, but the two ladies I was with haven't sent me the pictures yet)

There was a guy in a seat two rows in front of us with his laptop live blogging because he's more about this life than I am.

The show started with all the lights on and little fanfare... I think every band has a song that they don't really enjoy playing anymore, but they have to because it's a staple of their discography (I caught this vibe with "We are Young" at the Fun. show).  I bring this up because, again, all the lights were on and there was no warning, The Killers launched into "Mr. Brightside"... like, a really fast version of it.

Most of the crowd was in a "wait... what?" mode.

Things returned to normal speed after that and the show was decent.  The problems you might imagine were there (A place built for soccer football doesn't have the best acoustics), but I was still dancing and singing along for most of the show (yeah, there's like two albums of there's I'm going to pretend were never released... I'll let you guess which ones).  I nearly lost my voice screaming along to "All these things that I have done".  Good times.

Otherwise, it's back to the program, writing this blog, and living the dream in Norway

Alt for Norge

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