by Henrik Tuxen
Lulu Høi Tuxen and Eddie Vedder. Forum Arena, Copenhagen – July 10, 2012. Photo: Susan Nielsen.
Today Pearl Jam were scheduled to play the Royal Arena in my hometown, Copenhagen. I’ve seen PJ in Denmark three times. Being on stage during the Roskilde Festival tragedy in 2000, basically changed my life, I’ll get back to this tomorrow. For now, I’ll focus on the last DK show, on an amazing night in July 2012.
To be honest, this is far from the best PJ show I’ve seen, mainly due to the (typically) poor sound at the venue Forum. (Royal Arena has been built since and would be perfect for PJ.) But still this night is one of the PJ-experiences I’ve treasured the most. My daughter Lulu and I had seen the band a few days earlier in Berlin. The indoor show was mind-blowingly good, and the sound was excellent.
That was not the case in Copenhagen, but everything else pretty much was. I don’t know why, but Stone had allowed me to bring 10 guests, with VIP passes, to the sold-out show. As soon as the concert was over, we went backstage, and the first person we met was Stone Gossard with a bottle in his hand, inviting all my friends for champagne. Mike is there, he’s in a great mood, hanging out and taking pictures with my friends. Mikkel Sylvester (19 at the time) challenged Mike for a guitar battle. Challenge accepted.
I see Eddie in the distance, and casually walk in that direction after some time. He meets me with a huge ‘Henrik’ wide open arms and big hug. After some time, we start talking about how our daughters are doing, and I point in the direction of Lulu who is elsewhere in the big open room. (The first time I met Eddie, Lulu was 14 days old, and I remember him being really touched by the infant baby-photo I showed him. She’s turning 24 in November.) Lulu joins us, and soon most of my friends do as well. I step in the back. Ed says, ‘Great to see you, I got five minutes, just let me know what you wanna do’ (I think this meeting lasted for at least half an hour). There’s a lot of great memories from this night, which you can read about in The More You Need – The Less You Get (Chapter 9).
The friends and family (including some hard-core fans) I brought as guests this night were all super happy and excited about the experience. Personally, I’d been going through a pretty negative period of my life, for quite a while, but felt that the dark clouds were gradually easing.
When I rode my bike home that summer night, I felt that a distinct change had occurred. Like the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. Depression was over. I sensed a new light; it was time to live full-hearted again. This feeling has pretty much lasted ever since, now close to eight years later. This night was the turning point. And this was not because the show had been amazing at all, but the fact that my friendship with the band, and their generosity towards me, had allowed me to give so many people unique experiences and memories all over the World, absolutely for free. (I must have had at least 100 people accompanying me as VIP PJ guests over the years.)
You receive a loving vibe, and pass it on, all based on the love of the music and spirit of this band. Peacefully bike-riding, listening to the birds singing on this chill late night/early morning on now July 11th 2012, I felt deeply grateful for what Stone Gossard, Eddie Vedder, PJ and crew, had contributed to my life, and allowed me to pass on to others.
