After the Sundsvall concert

The crowd slowly disburses and we scramble to the left hand side of the stage. The entire stage is blocked off by massive metal gates and is watched over by several guards.

We arrive at the left gate and can see the band leaving the stage. The guards are eyeing us and quickly tell us to back up. We try to convince them not to shoo us away but they don't want to hear it. We see Jenny and Jakob exit the stage. They see us and wave, but the guards push us away and make us leave the area.

Original photo from st.se

We walk away mildly disappointed, yet we still have hope. We spend the next half hour chatting about the concert; the best parts of each song, the best moments, what footage we got. We sit there waiting for some signal from the band. Maybe they'll come out to greet us. Maybe Jenny will send a text to Jessi's phone because Jessi gave her the number before the concert. We wait patiently.

Twenty more minutes pass by and nothing. We still wait patiently. Jerry Williams is up on stage singing country rock. I'm actually enjoying the atmosphere. It's a beautiful night. I just heard an AOB concert and could possibly meet the band. I dance away to the music, as do a few others in the crowd.

Anna tries to convince the guards to let us backstage but it doesn't work. Thirty minutes, forty minutes pass by. We're thinking this probably isn't going to happen. We spot Susanna and Linnéa in a window to the right hand side of the stage. The building directly behind the stage, Stadshuset, is being used to house the artists. The band obviously has a room there and they're using it to relax after the concert.

Photo from stadshusetsundsvall.se

Screenshot from www.aceofbase.pl

Anna keeps asking the guards to let us go in the back, or even give the band a message. She tries everything she knows. It doesn't work. The guards don't pay attention to anything she says. This frustrates her to no end.

More time passes. We see AOB in the windows. We're pretty sure they see us. It's not so difficult to spot us in the crowd. We're standing off to the side with cameras in hand, looking up at them. Jonas sits reading a newspaper. Jenny looks out at the crowd every now and then, wine glass in hand. We see Ulf walking back and forth between windows. We even get more glimpses of Anna, Susanna, Linnéa and Jakob. I even think I see Rickard Engfors up there.

Anna finally gets fed up after waiting for a few hours. She and Andi go home, as do David and his friend. Jessi, Anja and I sit around a little longer, giving up only after we see the band pack up and the lights go out.

We spend the rest of the evening talking about the history of AOB, about the good times and bad times. We talk about our disappointment over not meeting the band when we thought the interview would happen that night. We try to rationalize out the reasons why it didn't happen.

Jessi and I discuss our experiences of Swedish culture, society and cultural expectations. We wonder why so many people here make promises and then don't follow up. We have both encountered this phenomenon during our time working and studying in the country.

We also talk about acquaintances versus friends in Sweden. How it's easy to talk with someone, yet it's near impossible to have deeper friendships. We spend a good amount of time talking about living abroad, about German culture, about American culture and the comparisons to Swedish culture.

We also talk about Sundsvall, what we liked, what we didn't. The evening passes, becoming progressively colder. Darkness never really descends though. It's more of a dusky look and it lasts only a few hours, then the sun is back up again.

Five in the morning and it's finally time to go to the airport. We grab a taxi with a crazy driver who thinks he belongs in a Formula 1 race. When we get to the airport, we discover it isn't open yet. It doesn't open for another hour.

Picture from of lfv.se

It's really cold outside and nothing makes sense to us. Ace of Base, the Swedes, Sundsvall. We vent our frustrations by making jokes. Jokes about ourselves, our lack of sleep, our situation as fans.. We're tired, cold and ready to get out of Sundsvall.

This trip has suddenly become a roller coaster ride. From a concert high to a promise-breaking low in only a few hours, something only an Acer can fully grasp.

Jessi, Anja, and I decide right then to re-define the word Sundsvall. Since arriving, nothing had really made much sense to us. The direction of the band, the transportation difficulties in the city, the cold reception from people, the band's reaction after the concert. The expensive and crazy taxi ride. The locked and deserted airport an hour before our flight. Nothing is logical. So the name of the city itself becomes a word for something that doesn't make sense, something that is utterly illogical.

One woman finally opens the airport doors for us at 6 am, then she disappears into a back office. We're the only ones in the entire airport. We begin to wonder if we're even in the right place. No one is there at the ticket counters. No one is at the coffee shop. No one but three tired Acers waiting to leave this place. The soles of our shoes echo off the tile flooring with each step until we find a few seats to collapse into. It's all so Sundsvall.

A few people slowly trickle into the airport. A woman finally appears at a ticket counter and takes our bags. Security personnel show up. A few more passengers arrive too. We go through security, which takes all of three minutes and are ushered out to our plane sitting on the tarmac. We've bought our tickets from Skyways but the plane is a loaner from a Scottish airline called ScotAirways. Even the crew is Scottish and they welcome us in English as we board.

The plane is incredibly small. It's a turboprop charter plane. I note the name of the plane, a Dornier 328, because my brother is interested in all things aviation and I'm expected to give a full report upon my return home.



I plop down in my seat and it's the last thing I remember until we touch down in Gothenburg barely an hour later. I've managed to sleep the entire way and I'm grateful for it. I've now had 1 hour of sleep in 26 hours and I'll need that little boost to help with driving to Töreboda.