Backstage stories

The Nibe Festival, Saturday the 28th of June 2002

This concert was very special for us, because we had backstage passes to the festival. So you can imagine that we were kinda hyped when we stood in line to get in!

But....then the thing we had joked about that could happen: HAPPENED!: Nickie and Bente were not on the list!
So we tried alternate possibilities, like our last names, The Safri Zone and Torben Toft and we could see the ticket guy´s eyebrow going higher, as he was warming up to kick us over the fence and ask us to stay out!
So we said:

"Well, we guess we could try calling Torben, Safri Duo´s tour manager?"

-lying like mad, because we didn't have his phone number. We just wanted to get away and head on to Plan B: PANIC!
Ok, we got ourselves together and because we are clever girls (and maniacs) we had brought the phone number to Johnny, Safri Duo´s Light manager.
So we called him up, and it was safe to say, that he was pretty surprised to hear from US!
He went out of his way to help us and 10 minutes later we were on the phone with Torben!
As a true tour manager and our new found hero, Torben asked to speak with the ticket guy and suddenly Nickie and Bente were on the list! Well, hello Dolly!!!

Just before heading off with our shiny backstage passes, the ticket guy informed us:

"The only place you cannot go is behind the main stage!"

And we went straight back to Plan B: Panic!
Of course Safri Duo was playing on the main stage! Responding to our despair, the ticket guy said:

"Well, that´s just too bad, girls!"

We decided to go in anyway, and shortly after Torben called us, to check if we had gotten in? And we said:

"Well, yeah, but the passes we got can't get us behind the main stage!"

Torben responded with a sound that could be translated to something like:

"Well, we´ll just cross that bridge, when we get to it!"

Like always we managed to loose our way through the forest which lead to the main stage. How stupid are you allowed to be? (Please...no response in the "mail us" section on this one!)

Finally we reached the area in front of the main stage.
Originally our attention was drawn towards the ladies´ room, but then we spotted Torben at the Safri Shop, and skipped right over to him instead.
He welcomed us to Nibe and we thanked him for all of his help. Modest as always he simply overheard it.
We asked him about their trip to Mexico and he told us, that it had been great and added that they had also visited Costa Rica and Venezuela.
We asked him about Uffe loosing his voice on the trip and he replied with a smile:

"Yeah, he couldn't talk for 3 days. It was GREAT! Then someone else could get a chance to speak!"

We smiled and said that they were a little rough on Uffe! Then Torben asked if we had "called in sick" from work today in order to be in Nibe (what´s he implying?) and we answered:

"No, we just called and said, that we weren't coming in today!",

which made him smile and say:

"Oh, well then I guess it´s ok!"

Then he mentioned the new stuff in the Safri Shop and Bente made preparations to clear out the entire shop, but Nickie decided, that she couldn't afford it!

Well, Torben went backstage and we decided to listen to the band on stage: Danser med Drenge.
About 20 minutes later we just had to try out our backstage passes, so we went around the festival to find the backstage entrance.
Of course we got lost, so we had to ask for directions!
We found the backstage entrance and walked through it without problems.
But as we approached the main stage, the two security guards standing there looked at us, like we were going nowhere fast!
When we got to them, one of them gave us a patronizing smile and told us, that there was no way in Hell we were going to be let through to the main stage!
We had the wrong backstage passes.
Politely we told him, we were guests. To which the man replied:

"Well, it´s not gonna help you, that you have friends inside."

(Friends? It´s freakin´ Safri Duo!)

Once again we were back to Plan B, so Bente called up Torben once again, who was standing only 20 metres away.
As he answered the phone, Bente asked:

"Can´t we come in and be with you, Torben?"

(Later on we discovered that we have a tendency to get a "little-sister" attitude towards Torben. It´s just because he took such good care of us even though he is very, very busy!)
When he spotted us, he waved at us, and said:

"Sure you can come in here, just walk through!"

And we said:

"No we can´t! We are not allowed!"

Torben wanted us to make the security guard look his way, but the guard refused and repeated:

"It doesn't help you, that you have friends inside. Safri Duo will just have to drive you to the entrance and get you the right passes, because you are not coming in!"

(Yeah, like that´s gonna happen!)

Then Torben appeared from the other side and asked us just to walk through:

"I´ll keep an eye on them. They won´t make any problems!"

(How did he know?)
The guard wouldn't budge, so we offered to go aaaall the way back to the entrance and get the right backstage passes.
Torben told us which ones to get, so off we went.
Finally reaching the entrance, we discovered that the ticket guy didn´t have the passes we needed, so he sent us to the Backstage 2 area.
Being a bit pissed, we asked for his name, so we could have a reference when we got there.

Reaching Backstage 2, we kindly asked to have our passes switched to All Area Access Passes, and the nice lady told us:

"Sure, I´ll just look up your names on the computer!"

Getting very tired we said:

"Don't bother, because we won't be there!"

Then her eyebrow went high, but before it went straight over her head, we mentioned the name of the ticket guy and that we could call up Torben, and then FINALLY she said:

"Well, I guess it´s ok, since you already have got some backstage passes. I am just gonna write down your names and then you can be off!"

Relieved beyond words we promised to mention her on The Safri Zone as the most effective and most polite festival crew member of the year!
She looked a bit surprised, but thanked us.
On our way back we ran into Agneta, who was just as hyped as us about the fact, that we were going backstage!
We agreed to meet later, and then we went backstage.
After having our passes checked, we suddenly found ourselves behind the main stage.

The Safri Tubes were lined up by the stage and the crew was walking around, getting ready for the show.
We walked a bit around, trying to find a spot where we wouldn´t be in the way.
Suddenly Morten Friis appeared, coming down from the stage and walked towards us!!
He said hi and shook our hands.
We thanked him for the opportunity to be backstage and told him about the problems we had with the back stage passes. We finished off by saying, that we were thankful for Torben helping us out, to which Morten smiled and replied:

"Yes, we are pretty thankful for having Torben work for us!"

Then we asked him about their trip to Mexico?
He told us, that they had been a huge success, because drums are a big part of the culture, so they were very well-liked. It had been a great experience and they were filled with new ideas.
We told him, that we had seen a mini concert from Mexico on www.safriduo.dk and mentioned that we had made a link on the Safri Zone, which made him smile in a way, which indicated that he perhaps hadn´t stopped by our site as often as Uffe?
He then said he had to go prepare for the show and off he went.

We had a look around and barely managed NOT being hit by a car. We then found two chairs to sit on, so we wouldn´t be in the way of the working stage crew.

Half an hour later, Uffe Savery skipped around the corner!
We tried looking like we hadn´t noticed him at all, and looked as if we were discussion very important issues, when we actually were whispering something like:

"Is it Uffe...Is he coming this way.....Where is he going....Uh, here he comes!"

We got up from our chairs, and Uffe said:

"Oh, you have arrived", shook our hands and gave us a hug.

For the 3rd time that day, we asked about the trip to Mexico.
Uffe eagerly told us, that it had really been a great trip! Everywhere they played the people went nuts! On their way to the car after a concert, they had been completely surrounded by fans, who all wanted them!
So naively we asked:

"Oh, they wanted your autographs?"

Uffe raised an eyebrow, smiled and said:

"Oh no....they wanted MUCH more than that.........Skin and all."

We were genuinely surprised, and replied:

"Oh my God, you could have been hurt! So Torben had his hands full?!"

Uffe smiled:

"Oh yeah, you bet!! When he opened the door to the car, a fan jumped inside and Torben grapped the enthusiast with the words: "You!...Get out of the car!"

Smiling on the inside by the thought of Torben trying to control a crowd of screaming Safri Duo fans, we commented on Safri Duo creating a boy band atmosphere, which made Uffe nod and smile.
Uffe also told us, that they had been challenged to play a local folk song, and Torben had said:

"Sure, just bring it on! Hand them some sheets and they are on to it".

Just one minute later Safri Duo had all the practice they needed and played the folk song on the marimba.
Safri Duo: The new found heroes of Méchiko!

Then one of the crew members called for Uffe to collect his chair!
We looked kinda surprised and Uffe told us, that when they warm up, he plays on a chair to loosen up his wrists.
We walked with him to the back stage platform to have a look at a blue office chair with his name on it.
We asked if we could take a picture of him and his chair?
He agreed and also played a bit on it, just to show us how it is done.

While standing on the platform, we suddenly realized that we had a perfect view of the crowd in front of the stage.
Uffe, noticing our paralyzed looks, said:

"Yeah, it is sometimes overwhelming to be on stage. And you really have to be focused on what you do."

"But you both look so relaxed during the performance", we said. He smiled and said:

"We ARE relaxed, but focused at the same time."

We also got a few pictures of the two crew members, who were acting a bit giddy, claiming that they knew exactly where to put the Safri stickers we had bought!

Then we were disturbed by a male voice, that politely asked:

"Could the young ladies please step down from the plat form, so they won´t get hurt?"

And Uffe responded:

"Sure! We´ll all get out of your way now!"

Uffe said, that he had to go prepare for the concert.
We asked, where we were allowed to go, and Uffe, thinking that we wanted to go and look at Safri Duo warming up, said, that their preparations for the concert was something very sacred.
We said, that we would just stay put by the stage and see them both later.

While we had been chatting with Uffe, Danser med Drenge walked from the stage to write autographs and they walked right passed us. And we missed them! Damnit, Bente had her heart set on cornering Uncle Tjelly! Maybe she can get a rain check on that one?
So we sat backstage taking down notes for "On Tour with the Girls", while surrounded by the crew on break. We felt a bit alienated, but quite amused by the puzzled looks we got from them.
When it was almost time for the concert to begin, Uffe and Morten returned to the stage and did their final preparations for the show.
Uffe walked to us and said:

"Well, now we are all set!"

We asked him about how much time they need in order to prepare for a show? He answered, that they begin their warm up about 60-90 minutes before they go on stage.
He added, that like a tennis player playing with a steel racket, they play really hard, (in this case, on their office chair) so when they come on stage and hit the drums, it´s not so hard on their wrists.
When Safri Duo leaves the stage after their 75 minute show, they have sweated like after a 13 mile run, so before the show they also drink aprox. 2 litres of water to prevent dehydration during their performance.

"So even though 75 minutes seems short to you, believe me, when you are playing the drums constantly, 75 minutes is all we can endure!", Uffe told us.

We sat quietly, watching them get in the mood for the concert and you could literally see them changing from Morten and Uffe into Safri Duo, one of the most successful groups in Europe!
That was really a memorable moment!

They went on stage and we sat there, thinking we should probably get our butts on the other side of the fence, so we could see the concert!
-But then Torben whistled at us. We weren´t quite sure if it really was us, he was trying to contact, so we went:

"What? Who? Is he pointing at us? Are you pointing at us? Can you see if he is pointing at us?"

He made a gesture, which made it pretty clear, that he WAS pointing at us, so we got up, and walked onto the stage. One of the crew members came to us and showed us to the right of the stage, pulled away the curtain to the front and said, that we could see the concert from there!!!
We were totally blown away! Right there in front of us Uffe and Morten were playing Samb-Adagio and in front of Safri Duo thousands of people were going nuts!
We couldn´t believe what was happening to us. We were on stage with Safri Duo!
We felt so humble, very honoured and extremely privileged!

When they played The Bongo Song the response from the audience was so overwhelming, it sent shivers down our spines and brought tears to our eyes!

We wondered if we were allowed to take pictures and signaled to Torben, who gave us the "thumbs up".

Never have 75 minutes raced by with such speed. We considered pinching each others arms just to make sure that we weren´t dreaming. But if we actually were dreaming.....would we really wanna wake up?
Torben passed us a few times and asked if we enjoyed watching the show from a different angle? We tried to answer him, but only

"yeeeeeaaaaah, bafhjklskjal#!&^*#!!!!!",came out.

We think he understood.

After this amazing experience we went down the ramp, and Torben made a sign for us to follow him. While Safri Duo went to the Safri shop to sign autographs, Torben escorted us to the back stage restaurant, and said we could go inside and enjoy ourselves.
Us, being in a Safri Duo fog, had to have the exact house pointed out to us. (The other buildings being toilets and dressing rooms, we would probably quickly discover if we had made a wrong turn!)
We went inside, found a table and had something to drink. After half an hour, we were kindly asked to leave the table, since we were only a party of two and they desperately needed the table for some dinner guests.

So we went outside and found a table for two. Then we saw Osman, one of the singers from Basix and we went and got his autograph. Bente wanted to know where aaaaaaaaall the other guys from Basix were, so she went up close to Osman. She took him by surprise, his eyes wandered, like she was going to punch his lights out, when he had to tell her, that they had all gone home!!
Of course she didn´t and we told him, that we would put his autograph on the fridge right next to Safri Duo´s.
We left Osman, walked to our table and then Uffe and Morten returned from the Safri Shop.They were to do an interview with Radio Himmerland and afterwards they had time to stop by our table, write autographs, inspect what we had bought in the Safri Shop and say goodbye.

We left the backstage area and before meeting up with Agneta and Uffe we went to the Safri Shop, to see if we could find Torben. -And lucky us, he was standing behind the desk with Johnny the light manager, so we could thank them both for a great day and all their help!

We went to Nibe with Agneta and Uffe, found a restaurant and had a really cozy and delightful time getting to know each other and talking about Safri Duo.

It had truly been quite the experience getting the chance to witness it all from a different angle, so a BIG THANK YOU goes out to:

The nice lady at the Backstage 2 Area!
Johnny Sørensen!
Torben Toft!
Morten Friis!
Uffe Savery!

You all just made our day perfect!!!

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The Vig Festival, Saturday the 6th of July 2002

Again this festival was kinda special to us, because we also had backstage passes this day!

We were just a bit nervous, thinking back at the trouble we had getting backstage at the Nibe Festival, but we had a feeling, that this time everything would run smoothly.

At the entrance we said we were guests and asked where we could get the passes we needed? We were guided around the corner, where a lady asked us what our names were and whose guests we were?

We answered:

"Nickie and Bente!"

and not without pride:

"Safri Duo!!"

The lady then asked where we were from and without thinking we said:

"The Safri Zone!"

She looked at her papers looking for Safri Duo´s guest list and finally said:

Oh yes, here you are!"

We stooped over the counter to see our names and BY GOLLY it said "Nickie and Bente - The Safri Zone!!" It was truly a Kodak moment!

She gave us the admission passes and told us, that we couldn´t go back stage! Remembering Nibe, we went all pale but in the same breath she said :

You see, you have to go inside the festival and have them changed to backstage passes!"

We thanked her and skipped into the festival!

We found the info-shop from where we were shown to the "Plaster-stue", where we could get our passes. They were very polite, and there was no trouble at all getting our passes. They thought it was pretty God dang cool, that we were guests of Safri Duo (SO DID WE!!) and one of the crew members asked if we could try to get an autograph for his son Niklas? Of course we would, so we wrote down his name, so we wouldn´t forget.

Of course we had to ask for directions to the backstage area and then we found ourselves being escorted all the way backstage by two very nice crew members!
They almost lost us at the crew area, but they returned and made sure we were hanging on.

When we arrived backstage, we were "checked in" as guests, which we found pretty dang cool!
The backstage area was an aula at a school, which had really been decorated for the special occasion. With flowers, a huge fruit stand, a buffet with coffee, tea, different kinds of cake and a beer and soda stand.
And it was all FREE!!!!
It was really neat and cozy, much different from Nibe!

We sat outside to check out Christian, who was coming from stage and to look at the working crew members, carrying equipment from the trucks to the stage.

Then Lars and Kenneth arrived and we followed them inside to ask them, if they would mind answering some questions for "The Safri Files" when they had time? They didn´t seem overly enthusiastic about it, but we convinced them, that it was a great idea!

While waiting for things to happen, we found a table in the aula and had some tea, coffee, fruit and cake (This day we made sure, that we got something to eat!)

It was also very interesting to look at all the performers, who "checked in" backstage. We saw Hampenberg, Nikolaj og Piloterne, Johnny Madsen, Bamses Venner, Roben og Knud, Erann DD, Christian, Klassens Tykke Dreng, Gnags and of course Safri Duo.

But anyway...we sat there eating and looking like we had been backstage all our life (Nickie even did a little: "I wonder what kind of tea I will find here?" just to show a bit of attitude!), and then Lars and Kenneth returned.

When they sat down at our table, they had reached the point of no return, so we attacked them with our questions.

We found it pretty difficult to keep their attention, because they had to comment on just about everything around them, and it was hard not to laugh at their funny remarks! But still....we got a few answers.

Then Thomas Hendrix arrived and sat down at our table! We had mailed him about the possibility of him filling out a fact file for "The Safri Files" and he said, that he was very honoured about the fact, that we wanted to mention him on our site.

So he filled out one of our fact files and we had a great talk. He showed us pictures, he had taken of different performers, and also a couple of shots of his two daughters. Man, they are cute!!!
He also complimented us on The Safri Zone, saying that it seems like, we put alot of work into it. Thank you, Thomas!
So we had the most fantastic afternoon, feeling like queens, being in great company and enjoying every moment of being backstage in Vig!!!

At about 5pm it was time for dinner and this grand buffet was wheeled in, by the extremely nice crew working backstage. So in the company of great performers and their crew (including our favourite crew: Lars and Kenneth) we went in for the kill!

Late afternoon Peter and Mads arrived and they also sat down at our table! We had a whole Safri Duo table going on,....and Safri Duo hadn´t even arrived yet!

Bente had quite an amusing experience going to the toilet. While she was waiting in line a young man standing in front of her, turned around and said:

"So...when are you going on stage?"

Desperately trying not to laugh by the thought of strutting her stuff on stage, Bente managed to tell the nice man, that she was merely a guest of one of the acts.(Yes, of course she told him, who it was. Couldn´t keep her mouth shut!)

We also said hello to Johnny, who sadly was very busy and therefore didn´t have time to chat.

At 6.40pm the Safri Duo mobile came raging across the courtyard and ENTER UFFE AND MORTEN!

They went over to our table and greeted everybody. Morten came over to shake our hands before going to the dressing room for a bit of private time and to warm up before the show at 9pm.
Uffe decided he wanted to get a bite to eat before preparing for the show and to our huge surprise and extreme joy as fans,....he sat down next to us and had dinner!
Like always, he was very polite and relaxed and we talked about "On tour with the girls". Uffe was wondering if we had ever considered getting a car, so we wouldn´t be stuck in Ringsted all night long? We replied, that we couldn´t afford both buying a car and "going on tour" with them, so it was a matter of what we wanted the most. And that was going on tour with Safri Duo, which Uffe respected with a laugh.

Then Torben appeared holding a brand new Safri Duo sweatshirt and telling us, that the Safri Shop had gotten some new merchandise. There was no way around it: We had to go shop!

Just before Uffe went to warm up, we asked him for autographs for some friends and of course Niklas, and when Morten passed us later on, we got a hold of him too. -And we also had a talk with him about their concert at the Danish Embassy in Berlin the night before.

He said, that it had been an interesting experience for them, playing their bongos in front of an audience full of ambassadors.

"But we managed to get them out of their chairs!", Morten told us with a smile.

To which we said:

"Well, of course you did!!"

Then we went to have a look at the new merchandise, and of course we couldn´t leave without buying something!

We returned backstage and wished Uffe and Morten a great show before they went on stage, and then we went back to the very muddy festival area to watch the concert. For once we weren´t in the front row, but we had a pretty good view anyway!!

It was a terrific concert, Safri Duo had brought a new "gimmick": The Party Bazookas!

When it started getting dark you could really see the great light show. Great job, Johnny!!!

After the show, we speeded backstage in order to say thank you and goodbye, and while Nickie visited the little girl´s room, a lady came up to Bente and politely asked her, if she was a member of the Danish group Gnags, because she had a message for the lead singer?

"Sorry, can´t help you with that one!", Bente kindly replied.

Then Uffe and Morten returned to the aula, still hyped from the concert and we said thanks, bye and see you at Grøn Concert in Odense on Saturday. Morten turned around, did his puzzled face, and said:

"Hey..wait...Grøn Concert, doesn´t that start in Esbjerg on Friday?"

We smiled and said:

"Well, yeah, Morten, but we can´t make it to that one", being quite honoured by the thought of him wanting to make sure, that we wouldn´t miss a Safri Duo concert. Thanx alot, Morten!

Then we raced towards the train station, but not before stopping by the "Plaster stue" and handing Niklas` autograph to one of the festival crew members, because Niklas´ dad wasn´t there. We hope, he got it!

This had truly been a fantastic day. Quite the experience for two Safri Duo fans. We really enjoyed everything and we are very thankful for the opportunity we got.

So a BIG THANK YOU goes out to:

The incredible festival crew!
Torben Toft!
Uffe Savery!
Morten Friis!

Thank you for yet another terrific day!