Christina Perri’s European summer tour is under way! So far, we have dragged our mountain of luggage through the airports and hotels of London, Paris, Helsinki and Norway. It’s been a varied and interesting batch of shows so far to say the least. The Isle of Wight show, in typical UK “summer” festival style, was an unending sea of mud that made it more or less impossible to even venture out into the grounds during the day. Soundcheck is a luxury you rarely get at a festival, and this was no exception; even our changeover ran a little late and we ended up cutting our set short by three songs to stay on schedule. All in all, a successful if somewhat rocky start to our Euro jaunt.

On stage at the Isle Of Wight. Surrounding mud pit not pictured.

We traveled overnight to Paris, and played a great show in spite of the general cloud of jetlag hanging over us. In the chaos of leaving the Isle of Wight, we also later realized we had somehow left behind a flight case containing the crew’s radio packs (which incidentally, five days later, still has not been located). Oops. I was mostly looking forward to our next show in Helsinki, where I would get to catch up with some close family and friends. Helsinki is not my hometown per se, but I was still really excited to play in Finland and see my relatives. The day did not disappoint! The show was great, I stuffed my face with all my favorite foods, and generally made the most of our short time there.

Casino Nouveau – Happy band, post-show in Paris.

A short flight and a couple of bus rides later took us to our day off Oslo, Norway. Oslo is a fun if debilitating expensive town, and our day off was accordingly great. Everyone visited Frogner Park, which houses an incredible outdoor collection of beautiful and slightly weird sculptures. Like true tourists, we also booked ourselves an appointment at the Ice Bar, which is exactly what it sounds like—a bar made entirely of ice, where you sit on ice bar stools, and drink out of ice goblets. Clearly, no self-respecting local would ever be caught dead in such a tourist trap, but we had a great time sipping cocktails in our fur-lined cloaks. Ha!

We are due to play the Holmenkollen Festival later today. It has been raining all day and the stage appears to be a little bit flooded. It remains to be seen if we make it through the show without getting electrocuted. Stay tuned.
Jx