Shinedown Roadtrip: London

Kilometers traveled: 3.904

Shows: 2/10

London has always been one of my favorite cities and I've been there every year since 2012. My first concert ever in a foreign country was Shinedown in London, in the same venue they played this time. It was also Zach's birthday, so pretty much everything about this second show was special to me.

We waited almost all day in front of the venue because we wanted to make it to the front and didn't have meet & greet this time. So, yes, eight hours at the o2 Academy Brixton for us. Fortunately enough, there were some amazing people waiting with Stef and me.

Due to Shinedown I met so many beautiful and lovely people. Stef, of course. But also Lara, Stine, Sissel and Debs. And those are only the ones I know from the London show. Others that I'd love to mention are Rike, Em, Rita and Gabrielle. All these Shinedown fans I got to know during the years are super kind and lovely and spending time with them makes me really happy. It is simply beautiful how there is never a jealous word to be heard between these people and how we can just be good friends because of the music that connects us. 

The show in London had me emotionally all over the place. First of all, the venue let about 100 people in before us only because they had a certain mobile phone provider (which had not been checked, by the way). So Stef and I ended up in the second row behind some really nice people. Unfortunately, the people behind us were drunk and out of control, so during the show Stef and I both got hurt quite badly. To get this clear, I totally understand that sometimes you accidently hit someone because you're having a good time. Most people realize that, say sorry and help you up then. That's okay. But those people were drunk and/or on drugs and they shouldn't have been there like this.  

Shinedown still killed it! They played an amazing show and managed to make us happy anyways. When the whole venue sang happy birthday for Zach, he got really emotional on stage which I think was absolutely beautiful. Then he and Eric played "Don't look back in Anger" again. 

So, to take all the positive aspects of this day and show, I want to thank the amazing people that hung out with us before, at and after the show. I want to thank Barry, Brent, Eric and Zach for making everything better. I want to thank Matt and John for taking care of us. And I want to thank Stef for being herself and for being such a wonderful friend.