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It is early afternoon and I�m in a borrowed house that I share with my band at the Faroe Islands. I close my eyes and open them, close and open, just like I did two days earlier while on stage, and try to remember the feelings and impressions I had. Ten thousand people in a park, bathing in sunshine from a clear blue sky. The butterflies in my stomach, and the fantastic feeling that the audience sang along to my songs � that they knew my lyrics.
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I�m on tour. It looks like this is becoming the best summer of my life.
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Today we play an open air show again. Initially romantic and idyllic, but at the same time a varied and at times an extremely interesting affair. I look out the window at the rain blowing horizontally through the air. At soaking wet sheep and cows, miles of emerald landscapes and mountains hiding in a heavy fog. It is four hours until I�m about to play. I have been told that the stage is carefully placed in one special spot where the rain won�t reach me. Once again, I think that my suitcase should have been filled with varied outfits for all kinds of weather, including a fancy dress in Gore-tex that I could pull out on occasions like this. Tonight, jeans underneath my floor length dress, a cup of warm tea with honey and as much movement as possible will have to make do.
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Playing an outdoors festival demands spontaneity, the ability to make fast changes and a good portion of patience. I have played shows in minus 20 degrees Celsius, wearing wool underwear, where I�ve had to just hope that I have made the right chord changes, because I could not feel my fingers. Once it was so cold that I feared my mouth would stick to my ice cold harmonica. And not to forget, the time I kicked a bottle of water before my microphone stand that froze to ice during half a chorus. On the other hand, there have been occasions when the guitar strings have been so hot that they simply refused to stay in tune. I�ve had to play with sunglasses, which is something I dislike immensely because it ruins the good communication both with my band and the audience. There are initially hundred other small, and much more important things that must work out before the concert can be a success. Even if the songs we play, my sound guy and the band are the same, the concerts are always different from each other.
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So it�s about keeping your focus. That�s why I put my honour into becoming a professional and experienced festival artist this summer. The rain may blow onto the stage, my mike may sting my chin and the wind may blow me half off my feet. I will play music and enjoy myself, and hopefully make other people have a good time too. ����