The nearly complete staff of ElvisNews.com headed for Randers, Denmark on Friday to arrive in the early evening. After a quick diner in a local Chinese restaurant we went to the place of the happening to find out that everything was ready for the party. After a warm welcome by our friends of Elvis Unlimited and Ed Bonja, we were just in time to join the after diner coffee with the guests for the event, Jerry Scheff, Glenn D. Hardin, James Burton and Mondo Carne. Back in the hotel it looked like James Burton plays better guitar than pool, but at the end he showed what "legends" are made off and beat Jason Bloomer (singer of Mondo Carne). All in all it became a very pleasant evening, chatting with Glenn, Jerry and some other guests in the hotel.
On Saturday morning we went up pretty early to be able to see the preview of the upcoming DVD by Ed Bonja before the crowd entered the building. We can assure you that this will be a very tasty product for most fans. Interesting interviews with Ed (but there is some space behind him that could be filled easily with some nice shots) and some astounding footage from February 1971. We saw suits we didn't even know to exist. The producers recognised that most fans don't want to go through the interviews over and over again to see the footage, so they took the wise decision to put all used footage completely at the end of the DVD again.
Because of the early hour we were able to enjoy the sound-check by all performers too. After the doors opened, the place filled with an enjoyable crowd that headed for the shops immediately. We were told that Ed Bonja had a painful arm of signing his charity posters the whole day.
The show started with a Dutch singer, Maarten, who performed some Elvis songs in his own way. The songs he took where not the easiest vocally and the crowd got wild for his outbursts in "Hurt". When people found out he will be back next year, they were very excited. After this warming up a rockabilly band showed up. They played loud, way too loud. Still the atmosphere was great and everybody was waiting for the moment supreme. When the TCB-guys entered the stage together with Mondo Carne the crowd got really wild. Even standing there was enough for them, but gladly the band decided to play too, and it was a hell of a show. Last week it was described in our reviews of the Belgian and Dutch conventions, and we got it in Denmark too… and more. As a special they did "A Fire Down Below", Jerry Scheff's work (we have to admit that we pushed them a bit on Friday night) and it was marvelous, as was the version of "Promised Land" that rocked the building too. After the show it took more than an hour before everybody had their autographs and pictures with the band. It looked like everybody had the most satisfying orgasm in years. The after party was great too, although we have to admit that we never spent so much money on beer without getting drunk. But we can't blame Elvis Unlimited for the Danish taxes.
ElvisNews.com likes to thanks Elvis Unlimited and Henrik Knudsen for their hospitality and we hope to see you guys next time.