Stockholm, Sweden, March 29th 2003

This entry is dedicated to the amazing little boys of Sweden with all my love (Olle, Erik, and specially that other one who's always in the pictures with me)

Jesus Christ. I just came back a couple hours ago from Stockholm and still I'm unable to believe it. I actually got backstage this time. My mother always said something like "where there's a will, there's a way". I guess that's how it really is.

Before I try to think how to make sense, I got another set list, I guess I can say now that I have a collection. There it is:
A song that I don't know and that Anthony and Flea dedicated again to two Polish girls (Flea tried to explain who they were and Anthony just cut him off saying "they know who they are")

And long long Jam which hey played along with all the Mars Volta. This was so cool they played all together and Chad let the other drummer play his RHCP drum while Anthony sat on the speaker to listen to it.

This gig was amazing. I was on the side of the stage and Anthony and the band walked right next to me, a meter away, when they jumped onto the stage.
It was unbelievable to be so close.

Me on stage, and Anthony getting ready to jump on it.

A few times Anthony laid down just 1.5 meters from where I was, in a pre-prepared "bed" (towels) to take the oxygen mask . But I wouldn't worry, the oxygen was there even before the concert started, it's just probably just something that he does to breath better.

Anthony leaving the stage

I met all of them except for Chad, although I saw him from a distance but I didn't talk to him.
After the concert I just went down the hall and John passed by very quickly with a dish of pasta I think, or something he was eating. Then, the whole hallway started clearing up and when it was more quiet, I approached John, but he didn't look as if he really wanted to talk, so I just said: I know you're tired but can we have a picture together, so he said yes, but I have to say he didn't seem too happy about it. But he did it anyways.

John looking funny and I

Next was Flea. OH MY GOD. What a fantastic human being. I approached him with this Swedish guys he had invited to the show and that me and my friend started chatting up. And I said, Hi, my name is Barbara, nice to meet you, and he shook my hand. Then he talked a bit to his guests (which was funny because he had just met them @ some place while he was shopping something 4 his girlfriend) and then he asked me where was I from, so I said Mexico and he asked me : "whereabouts" and I said Guadalajara, and he started speaking Spanish and he said that he had been there last time they played and it was a pretty place. I couldn’t contain my happiness. He said (in perfect Spanish) that he loves Mexico, and that he was flying to Costa Rica tomorrow. I told him that he should come to Mexico instead, and he said that Costa Rica is more quiet (which is right I guess)Then he asked what were we doing now (last night, that is), but I think he was more asking to his guests . Flea's guests were pretty cool guys and they told me and my friend that we should join. I talked a lot to Flea, well.. I guess in this case a lot is a bit more than 5 minutes. I told him that the show was great and he said thank you. I am so in love with the warmth of that man, I couldn't believe he was talking to me just like if I was anyone, because I felt like I was nobody there.

I love Flea, he's got the most intense blue eyes and he looks straight in the eyes when he talks to you and doesn't look away for a second. Am I dreaming? Then I also asked him for a photo, and he said, o.k. but I guess they don't like it much. But I have my picture with Flea too!

His Fleaness

And then his guests told us to join them to this club, and my friend wanted to go but I told him that I couldn't go without meeting... the man.

After meeting John and Flea, I had to wait for hours, or so seemed to me, to see him, because everyone was walking around, but not him. John became best buddies with the Mars Volta dude, his name is Omar, and they're like inseparable now, everywhere they seemed to be together. So I spoke a bit with the Mars Volta guys. They seemed to lighten up when I told them I was from Mexico and spoke with Omar in Spanish, he was so cute! Cedric can hide his beautiful blue eyes behind his afro style hair do but he can’t hide the fact that they are beautiful.

Anyways..... the hall was almost empty because they were kicking everybody out, saying there was nothing else to see, but the Tour Manager, whom I feel forever grateful to, came to talk to me and turns out he's Mexican, so we started speaking Spanish for a while. Everyone in the crew is fucking awesome, they're just like a big family, and they're all so kind... Anyways... I asked him if I could meet Anthony and he told me to come along. I walked next to a dark room which smelled like incense, but I had to pass by it and wait outside. I was just thinking, what am I going to tell him, shivering, unable to believe I was actually there, and I was talking to my friend when he said "he's right behind you", so I turned around and......................... There he was. So tiny and beautiful and holding three little carrots in his hand, he was biting one. I can't describe the power of his eyes...I just asked him if I could hug him, he said yes, so we hugged, and while we were hugging I kissed him in his cheek. I just couldn't help it, and when we let go, of a thousand things that I could have told him, with the most disgraceful kind of speech I could have ever pronounced, and with a breaking voice I asked him if he could have a picture taken with me and he said :" I have no time for everyone's pictures, but I enjoyed sharing this moment with you", and the manager said, that's true (in the nicest possible way). This is all so blurry. I need to wake up.

I also got one of John's plectrums that he uses to play, and on the back it has the rhcp star which Dave Lee, his tech, gave to me :

Just checking it out before the show

Next day at the Stockholm airport the surreal film I was on kept on playing. All the Peppers tech crew were in the same check-in queue I was at. And indeed we all boarded the same plane back to London. I got to speak some more with Dave and he’s a truly amazing guy. They got off in London to take their connecting flight to the US and I am now in London.

This must be a dream.