Guano Apes, @ Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 17-4-00

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I’d bought my ticket some time back. Henning said he’d put me on the guest list,but, i still had the ticket in case it fell through. When the band arrived at the venue i was greeted by Henning & then Sandra saw me ” Simon!?!! You’re Crazy Simon, for coming all this way ! Do you have a ticket? I’ll put you on the guest list” Me : ” Actually, yeah i do, but, Henning has already arranged guest list thank you “. Man, i love this rock n roll church called Paradiso! (I’ll go there many times over the coming years) When we went in, Henning showed me some awards for PLAG sales. Didn’t realise, but the show was being filmed for a DVD. Hows that for a bonus ? Anyway, after dropping stuff off, we all went round the corner to Hard Rock Cafe. Ooops, i forgot, i met a couple of cool GA fans outside the venue, Dennis V.P & Jill . I must say, it all felt a little surreal hanging with GA for me! But of course, i was loving every minute of it 🙂 The gig was great. I was in the photo pit for quite a while. When it was over, i went backstage & we had a “Spinal Tap” moment trying to get out the place ! We all then went to Hard rock Cafe again. During the course of the evening i told Henning how much i loved the gig & really wished i could get to more…but of course, the UK was not their highest priority & travel abroad was not cheap etc. Then he just smiled 🙂 ” I think we can help you out ” Huh? ” I think you could travel with us on the tour bus. I need to ask the other guys, but, it shouldn’t be a problem” . Man,my jaw pretty much hit the floor ! Dennis & Jill looked at me in astonishment. So yeah, i was pretty damn high right there. Well, eventually everyone left the party & myself , Dennis V.P. & Jill were the last ones there. Basically, we stayed untill they kicked us out in the early hours. I hadn’t booked a hotel as planned to just go through the night with no sleep ! So we all went to main train station. The others left eventually & i had a VERY tiring journey home. Confession time : It all could have ended before it started on the way home. About an hour into my drive home, at Peterborough, i had a “micro sleep” at a roundabout. It was a very close thing for me to have an accident. Thing is, i didn’t really feel so tired, but, somehow i just dropped off at the wheel for a second or so. I learnt from that mistake to ALWAYS book a hotel or something in future. And so my amazing “Guano Apes journey” was starting off…

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