Live

[Corrado Cigna]

Annoyingly I have an international airport 15 minutes from my house, but no one wants to fly to Scandinavia from here. Just cheap Spanish holidays.

That is why I can not remember the last time I flew from Glasgow Airport Anyway I booked a hotel quite close to the station and walking distant from the venue. I can not wait to visit Bengans again!!

[.namnlös]

Nothing like a focus on interesting cultural destinations........ such as Magaluf

[DanielOlin]

When I went to Scotland I took the bus, starting in Gothenburg.
Took a week, though.
Haha. True story.

[stjärnor]

Hej Daniel! Where did you visit in Scotland? And did you like it? I hope it was worth it after a week on a bus!
There used to be a ferry from the north of England (Newcastle area maybe???) to Gothenburg, but it no longer goes either.

For Corrado- there was a little 2nd hand cd shop in the main train station in Gothenburg a few years ago. Not sure if it's still there or does vinyl either (which I know you like), but thought it was worth mentioning.

[DanielOlin]

It was in the summer of 2005 or 2006. It was the hottest summer in the UK for many, many years I believe, and I caught the worst cold ever from the airconditioning in the bus.
We went by bus to London, via the ferry between Dover-Calais, and from London we participated in a guided bus tour (mainly consisting of senior citizens, for some reason) that took us on a one week's journey through Scotland. My favourite places where Inverness, Isle of Skye and Edinburgh. We never stopped in Glasgow though, only drove through. I will definately visit again!

The record store at the train station that you mention sadly closed last year and is no more. Very sad, it was a great store. They always had a couple of kent-singles.

[.namnlös]

Glasgow is pretty cool. I got a party vibe the second I arrived and I was not disappointed in that aspect and the people I met were lovely. Edinburgh is hard to beat though.

[Reina]

The record store at the train station that you mention sadly closed last year and is no more. Very sad, it was a great store. They always had a couple of kent-singles.

Oh no I always visited that store when I came to Göteborg Wonder if there will be any record stores left in about ten years...

[Corrado Cigna]

Oh no I always visited that store when I came to Göteborg Wonder if there will be any record stores left in about ten years...

Noooo i loved that shop! I bought a couple of kent singles + a few other interesting stuff last time I was there (2010)

[DanielOlin]

I didn't visit the Centralstation for some weeks and got no forewarning about the closing, so when I went there one afternoon the store was suddenly gone - the room was entirely empty and only a lone, elderly janitor was sweeping the floor. Very cinematic ending though.

If anybody liked Rockhouse (formerly Cd-Specialisten), which was a favourite of mine, they also closed last year. They still exist online though and for the last years they focused mainly on merchandise.

But there are still a number of good stores left. You must visit Andra Långgatan (tons of vinyls and often rare singles) if you haven't been there. Andra Långgatan is the pub street (famous from Swedish pop icon Håkan Hellström's lyrics world) below the mountain where the original Bengans-store is located (there has opened one more Bengans-store in central town with quite a lot of cd's). There is another vinyl store at the same street, but smaller and not always open.
Plus a couple of small ones close to the Avenue.

[stjärnor]

... in a guided bus tour (mainly consisting of senior citizens, for some reason) that took us on a one week's journey through Scotland. My favourite places where Inverness, Isle of Skye and Edinburgh. We never stopped in Glasgow though, only drove through. I will definately visit again!.

For reasons unknown to me, bus tours in the UK seem to attract only pensioners! Personally, I haven't seen much of Scotland mainly because I don't drive, trains are expensive and the thought of a coach full of pensioners for a week...

Glasgow is pretty cool. I got a party vibe the second I arrived and I was not disappointed in that aspect and the people I met were lovely. Edinburgh is hard to beat though.

Thanks .namnlös! I do really like Edinburgh myself, it's very pretty for a wander around with the castle and Princes St Gardens and all the wee old windy streets.

Oh no I always visited that store when I came to Göteborg Wonder if there will be any record stores left in about ten years...

It's such a shame, isn't it? The area where I live probably had 5 or 6 independent record stores 10 years ago, and now there's only 1 left, and that's Fopp, which was on the brink of closing until HMV bought it, and then HMV themselves nearly closed down too.

If anyone's heading to Stockholm for the first time- apart from Bengans on Drottninggatan, there's also one on Södermalm (Östgötagatan), and there's a few 2nd hand stores up at the Skt. Eriksgatan area. Pet Sounds on Södermalm too has a good selection of cds and vinyls. This link to a blog with a list of the 2nd hand stores might come in handy.

[.namnlös]

Yeah, and anyone heading to Edinburgh needs to head up Arthur's Seat too. Incredible view.

Record Hunter was fun when I went there. A proper record shop in that sense. Went in a vinyl shop on Södermalm also (I think) but I have no idea what it was....

[firth]

Just wanna say thank you Daniel for the tips of record stores in Gothenburg. Am just planning my stay there...
Also I would recommend Record Hunter too. Got 2000 single there and there are several record stores nearby that are definitely worth a look.

[stjärnor]

...The 97 db limit is demanded when there are children present in the venue and since most bands/artist believe the live experience is wasted or useless at that sound level the venues have agreed upon the 13 years age limit instead.

Edit: For regular concerts (adult audience) I think the maximum db allowed is 115 with a mean value of 100. Otherwise you get a rather expensive fine....

Just came across a story on the bbc about a UB40 concert being so loud it hurt people's ears. It had this info at the end of the story about sound levels...

Health and safety law at the venue states that the continuous sound level should not exceed 107 dB, with the peak sound pressure level not exceeding 140 dB.

140 dB peak is seriously loud. Ouch!

I didn't visit the Centralstation for some weeks and got no forewarning about the closing, so when I went there one afternoon the store was suddenly gone - the room was entirely empty and only a lone, elderly janitor was sweeping the floor. Very cinematic ending though....

Was the shop in Centralstation called Rocks by any chance? I was looking at my CDs and my copy of HH is from a shop called Rocks and it cost me 110kr! I can't remember if I bought this when I was in Gothenburg or Stockholm, but the name isn't familiar to me. I like to keep the price sticker on my CDs when I've bought them on holiday. Just to remind me!

[DanielOlin]

Rocks are chain stores, with shops in several cities. Not many left now though. There used to be four or five Rocks in Gothenburg back when HH was released. There were Rocks stores on the biggest shopping streets downtown - Kungsgatan, Fredsgatan, Nordstan...
The only remaining Rocks today in Gothenburg is located in Nordstan (the big shopping mall next to the Centralstation) but they mainly sell t-shirts and DVD's nowadays, with only a small selection of CDs. Don't think they have a shop in Stockholm.
The shop in the Centralstation was called CD-Centralen.

[stjärnor]

Thanks Daniel. I was only in Gothenburg for 3 days (in 2007), and remember being in the Nordstan shopping centre, so I must've bought it in there (although I don't actually rememeber )! I did buy a couple of CDs at CD-Centralen too.