Warning: This is more of a nerdy fan-story than an actual review. Please enjoy anyway! :D

On the 23rd and 24th of july I was in Malmo and Copenhagen to watch my favorite band, Bad Religion, to nights in a row - I was stoked.

The show in Malmo was great, the best I had seen with them - a small venue and so much energy! After the show Hetson came out, but I didn't wanna bother him, so I just walked up, shook his hand and said "That was an incredible show, thank you so much!" and he replied "Thanks a lot, thanks for coming out". The day after I spent in Copenhagen, strolling the streets. Before the show I went to the venue and as I saw the band's tour bus I figured I'd hang around if one of the band members would come out.

After just a short while Hetson and Brooks came out and I just froze. My heart raced and I just got too scared to walk up to them. I cursed to myself, thinking I'd missed my chance, what if that was it? 30-40 minutes later I had more or less lost my hope and was just about to leave when Brian came out. So I gathered my courage, took a deep breath, thought to myself "this is it!" and walked up to him. He was really cool and relaxed, I told him how much I enjoyed yesterdays show and he replied "Oh, you were there? Good, cause we changed the setlist for tonight, as we thought some people would see both shows". After that he told me that they had just completed soundcheck and everything seemed really good, but that he had to do the mandatory call to his wife.

So I sat down, a lot happier, sort of realizing "wow, I just spoke to Brian Baker, the legend..." In a much better mood I decided to keep hanging around, and after not too long Jay came out and I walked up to him, more relaxed this time. Because of all the interviews I'd seen with him and since he was so nice and easygoing it almost felt like we knew each other when we spoke. We talked for a bit about last night's show, touring and such when he saw my camera and asked if I was allowed to bring the camera inside the venue. I replied that I probably had to leave it in the wardrobe and Jay said "if you want to, I can give you a photo pass, and you won't have to leave your camera with someone else."

So I got to follow him through the back door, see the band and crew work and get my photo pass. We spoke a little more until Jay had to continue preparing for the show so before leaving I asked if I could take his picture, which turned out great I think, he gave me a very sincere look. After that we said goodbye and Jay said "I'll see you tonight!". Not until I had walked around the corner did I realize what had just happened. I was gonna shoot Bad Religion. Bad Religion. My favorite band of all times - no band could ever mean as much to me. I still couldn't believe it so I spent the following hours before the show in a nearby park, trying to calm down and gather my thoughts.

The show was great, even better than the one during the previous night and the band played a varied and interesting set. While photographing I got hit in the head by a half full plastic glass of beer, which ran down my hair and back. I didn't care though - I was photographing Bad Religion! After three songs I had to leave the camera in the wardrobe anyway, but that didn't really bother me, so I ran back up to the show, and as the weasel I am I was soon at the front row, nice! What struck me was that the audience seemed more stoked (and more drunk?) than the Swedish audience, which seemed to make the band more stoked as well and there was a lot of energy that night.

After the show I waited, hoping to get to thank Jay for the photo pass. Instead I found Hetson and Brooks. I said hi to Brooks, told him how much I enjoyed the show and asked if I could take his picture. After that Brooks went into the bus so I walked up to Hetson and spoke a little to him, thinking that Jay had already gone into the bus I asked Hetson to thank him from me, to which Hetson replied "oh, he hasn't come out yet, you can hang out here and wait with us if you'd like."

So I got to hang out with Greg Hetson and two girls in my age, who turned out to be from Sweden and who had hung out with Hetson the night before and received VIP passes from him. Hetson brought out some beers from the bus (there are few occasions when I would actually drink a Budwiser, one is if Greg Hetson gives it to me) and we spoke about this and that. I told him how I enjoyed the songs he had written for Black President and then I asked about the latest "Keith Morris leaving Circle Jerks"-story. After that I felt I shouldn't bother him with more nerdy fan-questions, so we just spoke about regular stuff and I realized how down to earth (and sometimes childishly funny) Hetson is! Some other Swedes and some drunk Danes joined us and we all had a good time.

Before the bus left, Jay came out and walked by us so I yelled "Hey Jay, thanks for the photo pass!" and he replied "Yeah, I saw you at the front!" and laughed his characteristic laugh. We took farewell of Hetson and said "see you next time!". The rest of the night I spent roaming the city with the two Swedish girls.

It was probably the best weekend of my life so far.