JEFF PIKE - ABBA MANIA - FALL 2021 TOUR BLOG - Day 1

​Check out the TOUR page for all venue and ticket information for upcoming dates. ​

I have heard it said that when something has a rocky start, be it a relationship, tour, etc., what have you, it can be taken as a sign that better days and success lie ahead. Well, if that is the case, then by the end of this tour, we should all be millionaires and have mansions in Bel Air.
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Being on the road is never easy, even at its best, and there will always be unexpected hiccups that are out of your control. To quote R.E.O. Speedwagon, you need to be able to 'roll with the changes.'

​We have all been looking forward to getting back on the road, so Chris, Wayne, and I were excited as we boarded our plane in Atlanta and headed for our rendezvous point with the rest of ABBA MANIA and the tour bus waiting for us in Chicago. Well, our excitement did not get off to a good start due to 'adults' with zero parenting skills letting their crying and screaming kids do whatever they wanted on the plane. Naturally, not wanting to offend anyone, the flight attendants did nothing. So by the time we landed, we were more than ready to get on the warm bus, greet our friends and head off to the hotel.

If you ever saw the movie 'Spinal Tap,' then imagine the scene where the band is trying to hopelessly find the stage and replace it with them trying to locate a shuttle to take them to the correct bus line, which will, in turn, take them somewhere else so they can hook up with their tour bus. (In case you are wondering, we flew into Ohare Airport in Chicago.) What should have been a few minutes seemed like it took forever to find the right bus line and even longer to reach our tour bus.

After a short welcome home meet-up with the band, we are informed by our driver, Dave, that the very nice bus is broken and will not be going anywhere - seriously.

So, if that were not enough, we are also told that our boots and wigs were held up at customs and would not make it over from London in time, so Alison and Hana took off shopping in Chicago late at night to see if they could salvage the operation. Super Troopers they are! As it turns out, they did a damn fine job and were very successful with their shopping spree.

Anyway, back to the bus, thinking this could not really be happening, we wait for a few hours until we finally are told by Andrew, our tour manager, to get an Uber to take us to the hotel, which is about 45 minutes away. Due to the size of the Uber cars available, we had to take more than one car. Oh well, at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Climbing into our Uber out of the cold rain, we were looking forward to a nice, quiet ride to the hotel. Beep! Thank you for playing - not to be. Our driver played loud, extraordinarily vulgar dance club music while singing from the airport to our hotel at an uncomfortable volume. So how do I unwind when I get into my hotel room? A bag full of trail mix, a bottle of water, and American Horror Story on Netflix, which I feel l had just lived through. Eventually, I turn out the lights, just knowing that tomorrow will be better. I should have known better. :-)

Jeff
​10-28-21