(April 1st – April 3rd)
It all started when Sidney sent me an email with a link to an article, saying I really should go and read it. It was on the Hans Christian Andersen's website and it said Tina was going to perform there. From that moment my heart was beating faster and faster. I was like “Can we get tickets ?”, “How much are they ?”, “How can we get there ?” and much more. So after searching the internet for a while, we (my mother and I) decided to go to Copenhagen . First step in our mission was buying tickets. I tried to book them through the internet, but then I saw that they would send them home. I didn't want tot take the risk of not getting he tickets in time, so I called the ticket office in Denmark . They told me that they could keep them with them. So I booked 2 tickets : seats as close to the stage as possible (which was already 40 th row). Those were of course, the most expensive ones : 2600 DKK a ticket, which is little over € 350. Much money for maybe 1 song. But maybe this would be our last chance to see Tina, so I wanted to see Tina a little bigger than maybe 1 cm.
The next day part 2 of the mission took place : getting a plane ticket and a hotel room. The plane ticket wasn't a problem. We would be leaving on Friday April 1 st . The hardest part was finding a hotel with a twin room left. So after searching for a while, I just booked the first hotel I found with a twin room. April 1 st was never a problem, but April 2 nd (day of the event) was. So the first 2 parts of our mission were completed successfully.
Later that week I had plenty of time to become nervous. I also found out that my old friend Lucas from Denmark was coming too. So we planned to meet each other. Lars and Marco from Germany were also going to be there, so that could be great, hanging out with the fans.
On Wednesday and Thursday we were busy making a banner, because otherwise Tina wouldn't know we were there. It took some time, but I was pretty satisfied with the result.
On Thursday evening I could hardly get asleep, I was pretty nervous.
DAY 1
On Friday we had to get up early to leave to the airport at 6.30 AM. When I have to get out of bed to go to work I really have a problem, but now I got up really quick. We arrived at Brussels airport at 7AM and our plane was leaving at 8.55 AM, so we had plenty of time to have some breakfast.
There was a little delay, but at 9.10 AM we were on our way to Copenhagen . I was listening to and reading about Tina. I was completely in the mood and it helped me not to think about the flight (I don't really enjoy flying, especially when the plane is turning or is shaking, I hate it ;-) ). We arrived at Copenhagen airport at 10.20 AM. We had to wait a bit for our luggage. After gathering some information on how to get to the hotel, ticket office and stadium, we jumped on the train (which arrived when we got down) heading to the city centre. We even forgot to validate our ticket. Luckily the conductor understood.
We arrived at our hotel around 11.30 AM. Too early to have our room, but we could put our luggage in the luggage room. We planned to get our tickets first. But when I called Lucas he told me Tina was having a rehearsal at 2 PM. So, change of plans, we were going to Parken Stadium.
We arrived there a little before 1 PM. We bought a sandwich and headed to the stadium. While waiting for Lucas, who was still on his way, we sat down and ate our sandwich. All of a sudden I heard “What's love got to do with it”. I jumped up and walking very quickly to the back entrance. I could hear it was live, so Tina was there earlier than expected. I asked the security guy some questions and we were allowed to stay there so we could wave to Tina when she drove out of the stadium (we knew there were 3 cars). There we stood, listening to Tina and getting all excited that she would drive by. I send a message to Lucas saying he'd better hurry. Tina sang “What's love” and “The best” twice. Lucas arrived with a friend, Sahra. They were just in time to hear a part of “The best”.
Lucas was allowed to go in, and we could come too. We had to stay outside on the back of the stadium though. There were some people from he press standing at the back, because in a few minutes they would go in to shoot some pictures from Tina. Our plan was trying to get in together with them. Well, I can tell you, my heart was beating like hell. So, there was someone saying “Ladies and gentlemen from the press, follow me”. So we did follow him ;-) They weren't checking the permits. At first we were standing behind row 26, but was fine by me, we were going to see her. Then we could go a little bit closer to the stage and then someone told us, we could go on stage to take the best pictures from Tina. Oh my God !!!! I was afraid we would get caught, so I was trying to behave as “one of the press” haha.
Then the moment came where we could go on stage. The children choir was there and Tina would come too. There we were, standing on stage, waiting for Tina. I was going crazy, my legs were shaking and I was thinking “don't catch me now”. Someone asked me “Where are you from ?”. I just said “ Belgium ” and acted as normal as possible.
Then the moment we've all been waiting for : Tina was coming on stage with Solange and Claire. Roger was there too. She was standing less than 2 metres from me. They started to play “The best”. It didn't take long before Tina saw me. So she was smiling, pointed her finger to me and was singing towards me. I was so happy ! Then she also saw my mother. This was so great ! I just kept shooting pictures (96 to be exact), while singing “The best” and enjoying the moment. She missed the lyrics a bit, but she was really having fun. After “The best” they kept clapping for awhile and then she bowed, turned around and was gone. We had the chance to say a quick hello to Solange and Claire. They were so sweet.
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Some of my pictures from the rehearsal |
Then we had to leave. I was behaving because there's no way someone from the press would make a jump from happiness ;-) As soon as we were outside I jumped up and down. This was so great, a once in a lifetime ! I gave my friend Lucas a big hug, cause without him this wouldn't have happened.
We went back to the city centre for a hotel hunt. Claire said we could come over to the hotel. The only thing was, we forgot to ask which one. So first we went to the Marriot hotel. There were police men outside, so I'm pretty sure there was someone famous. But a lot of famous people were coming. We went inside and asked the woman at the reception if Solange was there. We said she was from Tina Turner's crew. She told us Tina wasn't staying there. She even asked a colleague to double check. So no luck in this one. The next stop was hotel d'Angleterre. We had a drink there but also, no Tina. Our next guess was hotel Phoenix. Over there they told us that she thought she was staying at the Marriot or d'Angleterre.
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Sahra, Lucas, my mother and me at Hotel d'Angleterre |
We went over to the Royal Theatre where the guests were arriving for the gala dinner. There were a lot of famous people, but as we expected, no Tina. So we went to our fourth guess, hotel Skt. Petri. There were some people standing outside, so there was a chance she was there. We went in and asked at the reception for Solange and Claire, from Tina's crew. They told us they weren't allowed to say room numbers. So now, we were sure they were staying there. We didn't want to stay there, because it was pretty noisy since there was a party going on. We wet outside and talked to some Tina fans. After a while Sahra and Lucas had to go to the airport to pick up Ewa from Poland . My mother and I went to the centre to find something to eat. At around 9.30 PM I got a message from Lars saying they arrived at their hotel. Lucas also called, they were on their way back. We decided I'd call him after I went to the hotel were Lars and Marco were staying. Lars and Marco wanted to hear everything about our little Tina adventure. They wanted to see my pictures too. They simply couldn't believe it. We were really having fun and the funniest part had something to do with a poster tube. But I'm not gonna tell the details here cause I'd be embarrassed ;-)
I asked them if they wanted to join the group. So we hooked up with Lucas, Sahra and Ewa at a Thai restaurant. You can imagine the subject we were talking about. It really was great. We had some good laughs especially when all of them were trying to pronounce some Flemish words or the name of a fan. Of course, when talking about Tina, you also talk about fans you know. So all of a sudden we were talking about Dave Schuit from Holland (nothing bad Dave ;-) ) It was so funny how they pronounced it ! They wanted me to teach them how to say it right. But they didn't seem to manage well. So I told hem that schuit meant something like boat, so they could say Dave Boat if they wanted to ;-) Well of course it isn't that funny when you just read this, but we really were having fun over there.
After some time we went back to the hotel and agreed to meet each other the next day.
DAY 2
On the second day my mother and I first took a bus to the ticket office to pick up our tickets. After that I called Lucas and he told me they would come to the city centre and he would give me a call once they were there.
So my mother and I walked around in the centre and did some sightseeing. We saw the changing of the guard and we saw the famous Little Mermaid. I got a call from Lucas, they would be at the centre at 2 PM. So we went back to the centre to meet them. Lars and Marco were close to the stadium, so they told us they would see us after the show.
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Some pictures from our sightseeing tour |
We sat down for a while to have a drink and a little later Lucas, Sahra and Ewa joined us. We were talking about Tina of course. Then we went to a nice restaurant and we talked some more about Tina.
We had to keep our eyes on the time, cause we didn't want to be too late at the stadium (they were closing the doors at a certain time). We left the restaurant at 5 PM and agreed to meet after the show. My mother and I went back to our hotel to pick up my banner.
We arrived at the stadium at 6.30 PM. There where 2 checkpoints. It wasn't possible to get very close to the stadium without a ticket. We had to take entrance C5. They were body-searching everyone. They wanted to know what was on my banner. They called some head of security because he had to give his permission. I thought it was funny, just for a banner saying “Nutbush girl loves U” ;-) Because of all the attention for the banner, they forgot to body-search me. Well, I didn't have anything with me that wasn't allowed, but I could have brought my minidisc. Even photo cameras with big lenses were allowed for personal use (I should have brought mine).
We had a nice seat : last row of a block, next to a passage, ideal !
At around 8.30 PM the guests were arriving. We saw Roger Moore, Harry Belafonte, some royals (like the Queen of Denmark) and many others walking on the red carpet (it was shown on the big screen). Then everyone stood up because the Queen was entering.
At 9 PM the show started. It was very nice with pieces of a movie showing the life of H. C. Andersen, a children choir, Olivia Newton John, Jean-Michel Jarre, Daniel Beddingfield and much more. I knew Tina was going to sing at the end of the show. During the show, people were walking around o get drinks and go to the toilet. So I thought, why shouldn't I try to get closer to the stage when Tina was on. As long I wasn't standing in front of people I thought there wouldn't be a problem. So the moment was there that they announced our Queen. So I headed to the front and sat down on my knees, next to the 10 th row or something. I was shooting pictures and enjoying the view. Then some security guy pointed at me to go back. So I just put on my sad face and doing “please”. It was alright to stay, but I had to turn of my flash… well, no problem.
When Tina started to sing “The best” everyone stood up. So I could hardly see cause people were coming on the passage. I went to the front and asked a big guy if I could stand in front of him. That wasn't a problem. So there I was : standing front row with Tina and the girls right in front of me ! This was so great. At the end everyone joined Tina on stage. When Tina was leaving the stage I shouted “Tina I love you”, she smiled and waved at me. I was so happy that I could go that close and that Tina saw me !
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Tina performing "What's love got to do with it" and "The best" and together with some children from the choir |
After the show we joined some other fans (Lucas, Sahra, Ewa, Lars, Marco, Kalle and some others) and we took some pictures. We all thought it was great, but we wanted more of Tina (of course).
We agreed to meet each other the next day at Lucas' place. My mother and I went to the bus and headed back to the hotel. I was still enjoying Tina's performance.
DAY 3
At 10.30 PM we met Lars and Marco to take the train to Lucas. Sahra and Ewa were staying at Lucas' place. Over there we started talking about Tina and we had a look at a small part of Lucas' collection. He really has some great scrapbooks and pictures. He also showed us some really nice video material.
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At Lucas' place : Marco and Lars watching some scrapbooks / Marco, Lars and Ewa watching rare videomaterial / Lucas, Sahra and Ewa |
Time flew by and before we realised, it was time for Lars, Marco and Ewa to go to the airport. So my mother and I joined them, that way we had plenty of time to have something to eat. We had to say goodbye to Lucas and Sahra. So sad, because it was really a very nice weekend (thanks again for that !).
After check-in, Lars and Marco were going to their gate, because they didn't have much time left. We had something to eat together with Ewa. She is such a sweet woman, really nice to meet her. A little later she had to go too, so my mother and I just walked around at the airport. All of a sudden my mother saw a newspaper with Tina on the cover (we checked some newspapers before, but no Tina). I asked the man where he got this, if you could buy it somewhere. He just gave it to me, really sweet ! I saw it was newspaper you had to pay for, so I went to a newspaper shop showing the newspaper. This was so weird, they had the same newspaper, but without Tina on the cover and with a different back, all the rest was exactly the same. The man from the shop didn't understand. I tried 2 other newspaper shops in the airport without any luck. Well, at least I had one for myself, but I wanted to have some extra for my friends.
At 6.30 PM we had to board the plane. The fantastic Tina weekend came to an end. At home I even got more happy, because my neighbour told me that something big arrived… finally my Tina display I've been waiting for for some weeks. The ending of a perfect weekend !
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