My story of meeting Ron and Izzy in Oslo - oh, and hello!

[Mikkel]

Hey guys,

I've just signed up here, but I've been lurking around these boards for ages and HTGTH is about the only GNR site I bother visiting, 'cause Jarmo is so damn cool. Y'all might have noticed my Roskilde pictures in the tour gallery!

Anyways, I thought I'd do a first proper post in this forum by telling you about meeting Ron and Izzy! I hope that will suffice as an alright "Hi, I'm new here" kind of post...

Alright, so I was in Oslo to see GNR for the third time on this tour and ever, having also seen them in Paris and at Roskilde. Oslo was the best gig of them all... It was so epic - everyone were in great moods, security was great and friendly, and me and my sister could walk right into the exclusive area in front of the stage, although we got there after doors opened. (After spending 11 hours waiting for GNR in Paris, I decided to try a different method this time.)

Anyway, you've all heard about how fantastic the gig was and it happened over a month ago, so I'm not gonna bore you with old news, like.

So, the next day me and my sister were just cruising around Oslo, and we'd been walking up to see the castle, and then on our way back, down what I imagine to be the Rodeo Drive of Oslo, we passed Grand Hotel, and out the corner of my eye, not paying any attention, I thought I saw a familiar face. And sure enough! It was Ron, standing with his guitar bag outside the quite big band bus.

I went up to him and said hi, and he was super friendly from the get-go. I complimented him on a fantastic show the night before, and we just talked back and forth a bit, and he told me about how frustrating it was when the shows were running late, 'cause he felt the same way as the audience - he just wanted the show to start! He didn't blame Axl for anything, but talked about how it just takes one person in an entourage of 16 to be late to make everyone late. He also told about their night out in Helsinki and hanging out with Raikkonen, with whom Axl and Frank had been racing some cars, which was why Axl had referred to Frank as his "partner in crime" at the show the night before. He also showed me his guitar and was in every possible way the coolest person to meet ever! My sister took a picture of us... Ron is the cool looking one...



I asked for the other guys, but they were already in the bus - which was like right next to us - and Ron said that by the time they got there, they preferred to left alone. Fair enough, but man, it would have been awesome to meet them! I did see Richard pop his face out at one point, though. Axl had already taken off that morning.

So then while we were chatting away, suddenly Izzy came out of the hotel! And I was a bit star struck, 'cause Izzy is hella cool, like! He was a bit all over the place, but I did get to say hi and such, and I also got a picture with him... I truly treasure this one!



He was clearly in a hurry, and a cab pulled up to pick him up, but before that he had a peek inside the bus, to "see how the big guys are traveling", as he put it, which I thought was funny. Ron was about to go on the bus, so we said our goodbyes with him. He said that Dizzy and Frank were on their way out, so we waited a while for them, but they didn't come out, so we took off and got our stuff and took off for the airport.

We were going back to Denmark, and we'd made quite good time at the airport, so we were just walking around, trying to figure out what to spend out last Norwegian kroner on... We went to a little kiosk-type place and looked at some magazines. There was this rock n' roll looking guy in front of us, and I had this feeling it was gonna be a familiar face when he turned around... And it was! It was Tommy! There were all sorts of people around us, though, so I didn't actually say anything - which I do regret a bit, but I'm sure Tommy appreciated it.

Anyhow, we saw where he was going - and he was heading into gate 47, and we were at gate 48! I looked inside there, and there GNR was! I couldn't believe that! Tommy, Richard, Robin, and Ron were all there, but they were boarding at that point, so I had no chance to go in there. So instead, I started taking pictures, all paparazzi style, which I didn't particularly liked doing, but I had to capture 'em somehow! And then while I was busy shooting, my sister told me, "hey, Ron's recognized us!" - which he had! So he started posing for the camera, even with his boarding pass, and again being way cooler than one could have hoped for! Here's the best shot I took:



We watched them board their plane to Greece, and then we went to our own gate and flew back to Denmark...

It was so awesome! An excellent finale to my little three-date GNR tour around Europe! And thank you tons, Ron, if you happen to be reading this! I hope you'll be in GNR forever!

That was that... Quite a long first post... I'll try to be less wordy in future posts!?

Peace out, power to the people, and blame Canada,
Mikkel

[Bandita]

What a great post and story!  Love the pic of you and Izzy!  Man, I wish I could be this lucky!

[gmGnR]

Hey guys,

I've just signed up here, but I've been lurking around these boards for ages and HTGTH is about the only GNR site I bother visiting, 'cause Jarmo is so damn cool. Y'all might have noticed my Roskilde pictures in the tour gallery!

Anyways, I thought I'd do a first proper post in this forum by telling you about meeting Ron and Izzy! I hope that will suffice as an alright "Hi, I'm new here" kind of post...

Alright, so I was in Oslo to see GNR for the third time on this tour and ever, having also seen them in Paris and at Roskilde. Oslo was the best gig of them all... It was so epic - everyone were in great moods, security was great and friendly, and me and my sister could walk right into the exclusive area in front of the stage, although we got there after doors opened. (After spending 11 hours waiting for GNR in Paris, I decided to try a different method this time.)

Anyway, you've all heard about how fantastic the gig was and it happened over a month ago, so I'm not gonna bore you with old news, like.

So, the next day me and my sister were just cruising around Oslo, and we'd been walking up to see the castle, and then on our way back, down what I imagine to be the Rodeo Drive of Oslo, we passed Grand Hotel, and out the corner of my eye, not paying any attention, I thought I saw a familiar face. And sure enough! It was Ron, standing with his guitar bag outside the quite big band bus.

I went up to him and said hi, and he was super friendly from the get-go. I complimented him on a fantastic show the night before, and we just talked back and forth a bit, and he told me about how frustrating it was when the shows were running late, 'cause he felt the same way as the audience - he just wanted the show to start! He didn't blame Axl for anything, but talked about how it just takes one person in an entourage of 16 to be late to make everyone late. He also told about their night out in Helsinki and hanging out with Raikkonen, with whom Axl and Frank had been racing some cars, which was why Axl had referred to Frank as his "partner in crime" at the show the night before. He also showed me his guitar and was in every possible way the coolest person to meet ever! My sister took a picture of us... Ron is the cool looking one...



I asked for the other guys, but they were already in the bus - which was like right next to us - and Ron said that by the time they got there, they preferred to left alone. Fair enough, but man, it would have been awesome to meet them! I did see Richard pop his face out at one point, though. Axl had already taken off that morning.

So then while we were chatting away, suddenly Izzy came out of the hotel! And I was a bit star struck, 'cause Izzy is hella cool, like! He was a bit all over the place, but I did get to say hi and such, and I also got a picture with him... I truly treasure this one!



He was clearly in a hurry, and a cab pulled up to pick him up, but before that he had a peek inside the bus, to "see how the big guys are traveling", as he put it, which I thought was funny. Ron was about to go on the bus, so we said our goodbyes with him. He said that Dizzy and Frank were on their way out, so we waited a while for them, but they didn't come out, so we took off and got our stuff and took off for the airport.

We were going back to Denmark, and we'd made quite good time at the airport, so we were just walking around, trying to figure out what to spend out last Norwegian kroner on... We went to a little kiosk-type place and looked at some magazines. There was this rock n' roll looking guy in front of us, and I had this feeling it was gonna be a familiar face when he turned around... And it was! It was Tommy! There were all sorts of people around us, though, so I didn't actually say anything - which I do regret a bit, but I'm sure Tommy appreciated it.

Anyhow, we saw where he was going - and he was heading into gate 47, and we were at gate 48! I looked inside there, and there GNR was! I couldn't believe that! Tommy, Richard, Robin, and Ron were all there, but they were boarding at that point, so I had no chance to go in there. So instead, I started taking pictures, all paparazzi style, which I didn't particularly liked doing, but I had to capture 'em somehow! And then while I was busy shooting, my sister told me, "hey, Ron's recognized us!" - which he had! So he started posing for the camera, even with his boarding pass, and again being way cooler than one could have hoped for! Here's the best shot I took:



We watched them board their plane to Greece, and then we went to our own gate and flew back to Denmark...

It was so awesome! An excellent finale to my little three-date GNR tour around Europe! And thank you tons, Ron, if you happen to be reading this! I hope you'll be in GNR forever!

That was that... Quite a long first post... I'll try to be less wordy in future posts!?

Peace out, power to the people, and blame Canada,
Mikkel

Awesome! 

[cotis]

great pics and great story! glad to hear it!

[killingvector]

Izzy is quite a dapper guy. He looks great.   

bumble needs a stylist but he is a damn nice guy and terrific player.

[EFISH]

awesome dude! seriously ron is the coolest guy with fans ever. i love how down to earth he is

[jarmo]

Welcome to the board, and thanks for posting that nice Oslo story.

It was a great show! 





/jarmo

[mega_music]

Great story man!!! I hope you can stick around and communicate with all of us. Welcome to Hell. 

[TrueRock&Roll]

That pic of Ron with his plane ticket is so funny.  Great pic. 

[Grouse]

Awesome story........i've only got to meet steven and slash?

[Mandy.]

Absofuckinglutely AWESOME! Great post. Haven't seen one of these in a while.
One lucky dude. ?

[gnrvrrule]

That's a great story.  You were real fortunate and lucky to have met those guys and run into them accidentally TWICE and see the shows that you saw.  This band sounds real down to earth and it's cool how nice they are to everyday fans.

[fishyguy]

Awesome story man!

Ron is so amazing.

I havent heard one bad thing about the guy.

He's just way too awesome!

[Mandy.]

I havent heard one bad thing about the guy.

How can you not remember the endless discussions we've had with other members??

Of course, you probably mean people who actually met him personally, not people who listened to a shitty quality 10 second audio clip and hate him for that.

[Jim Bob]

one of the best first posts ever!  welcome    I hope I have some similar stories to tell from Vegas 

[Ellroy]

Great story man, thanks for sharing it with us. Love the pictures as well. Bumblefoot looks like a cool, fun guy as usual and Izzy is pretty stylin'.

[fishyguy]

I havent heard one bad thing about the guy.

How can you not remember the endless discussions we've had with other members? 

Of course, you probably mean people who actually met him personally, not people who listened to a shitty quality 10 second audio clip and hate him for that.

Yeah I was talking about people who've met him and know what he's about.

[Robman?]

Cool story, I'm new here too

[oneway23]

Fantastic stuff, my man!

[Chief]

wow you are a lucky bastard! thanks for sharing the story and pics though, that rules! i hope i can meet some of them some time!!!!