as promised I'm here with a late review for both the Hamburg and Berlin show we had last week.
It has been a while without reviews here so I hope this will be kinda enjoyable. If anyone else attending the shows in Germany wants to add details, please go ahead 'cause it's sure I forgot a bunch of stuff in these days :)
Before starting let me digress for a while: my focus on the Hamburg gig was really weak and you'll get few details, sorry about that...I was not really in the right mood and physical condition to pay much attention.
Just a little introduction to explain why: my trip to Germany has been awful...as usual...still I have to find out what's wrong between me, flights and GBS events. Anyway, to sum (allow me to act like a victim, ok? I still need to vent about it...but you might enjoy the commedy of it all) my flying company decided to annouce its bankrupt right while I was on my flight from Milano to Bruxelles (actually the fact they were serving sandwiches instead of the old, traditional, sick flight meals should have been a warning something was not working properly...but then they offered chocolate too and all seemed good again!....it was all a trick!). So, I found myself alone in Bruxelles, without speaking French or German, in a complete messed up airport with strikes and tv everywhere (and trust me, the last thing I wanted was my parents to see me, pissed and lost in Bruxelles, on tv during the last daily news!). No information available, no connecting flights, lost luggages everywhere, no chance to go back home or fly to Berlin that or the next day 'cause all was fully booked. In a word: chaos! And I'm the most far-away-from-being organized person on this planet except when there's a trip urgency :)
There was no way I could have decided to stuck in Bruxelles for two days, wasting time and money, so I turned to the only affordable solution: a train...*sigh*...I hate trains from the deep of my heart. The only chance was an overnight train leaving Bruxelles at 11.30pm to reach Berlin the morning after at 8.20am. Did I have other or better chances? No...Was I bound to give up? No way...so here we go with me waiting for 6 long, boring and deadly cold hours at the station...I was starting to feel like a real loser, somehow enjoying my kinda tragically romantic condition of lost traveller (I'm sick, I know...thank you very much :))
when a man entered the waiting hall. He got my attention 'cause he was perfectly dressed in a black, elegant, antique suit. He sat close to me and started getting ready adding more details and make up to his look. He was slow, attentive and extremely carefuI to every single movement he was doing. I was there wondering and thinking: "well, mom says I don't have to look at strangers!"...lol...I was definitly looking :) He saw me staring at him and smiled back...somehow he made my day. That was the warmest feeling of the whole night, suddenly I started seeing things under a better light. Anyway, he ended up dressed like Charlot and provided me a little personal dance before going away without saying a word. I so much enjoyed it! Now, if you have the luck to get stucked at night at the Bruxelles Midi train station, please look for this guy :)
While waiting for the train I met a lady, a lyrical singer and writer, a very interesting and caring person. When noticing I was bound to enter a vagon full of turkish men to spend the night there, she was brave enough to look for a bed for me in her vagon. THANKS! No need to say I didn't sleep much, didn't eat, washed just a bit to survive...and...to end up prefectly, got attacked by multiple leg cramps for the cold and stress. How nice, eh? I was laughing not to cry! Have you ever experienced leg cramps on a high top train small bed, with no space if not 40 cm to the ceiling? And having to climb down a strair to move?...mission impossible! So I kept my cramps with the result the morning after I was a zombie. Seriously! But I must admitt watching the german dawn from the train window, with all those woods and morning deers was a pleasure.
I finally reached Berlin and Cindy was there waiting for me. THANKS! Was I feeling good? Of course! Was I physically good? Not at all...I was dead and unable to move my legs...but happy to be there! Almost safe :)
We left for Hamburg with a 3 hours car ride and reached our hotel...do I need to mention we were just in the heart of the Red Light Area of the town? Between peep shows and cherry girls? And what if I say that was the ONLY area in Hamburg where we saw GBS concert advertisements around?...there must have been some sort of connection between the two things, as the guys mentioned during the show. LOL
The digression is getting long, eh? We had a rest and decided to move to the gig...I was almost bound to give it up for the legs pain but then I decided to give it a try...just nobody had to ask me to dance or simply show any sort of physical reaction to the music...or I would have broken...really. Well, ok, smiles and some singing still were something I was able to put in act.
Anyway, more or less, that's why I wasn't much focused on the first gig. I had my reasons :)
So, here we go to the venue and my first feeling was: it's SO small! I didn't expect it to be so tiny, I didn't expect to line up for 5 minutes and have the second row (Bob stage of course :) even if it was full of people. The guys came out from a stair at our right 15 minutes before the show and had to cross the stage to get behind the backstage curtain. Bob came out another time and turned back with a magazine in his hands passing from the bar. Weird thing :)
Now there's something I have to say and hopefully it won't cause any bad reaction to anyone. It's just a personal point and it's possible my physical condition contributed to let me see things this way. Except for few people in the first rows, the crowd didn't seem much lively or enthusiastic, especially from the beginning until more or less the first half of the show. I had the feeling the guys came out on stage already tired for the previous shows (especially Darrell) and got a strong perception the crowd wouldn't have helped them a lot to bring it on. Double work for them in a moment when they probably needed some lively contribution.
Once again, it's just a personal feeling, but I thought they were working to make it all finish as fast as possible.
At a point both Alan and Bob pushed with energy and Sean followed them. It all moved better and the crowd got warm enough.
Nonetheless I'm sorry to say, it was probably the worst gig I've been to. Something I can't define was lacking. But it's ok, I mean it's clear it can't always work great and I was the first one not to bring an active contribute to the show, so... It's always a pleasure to seem them anyway :)
As for the set list I guess more or less was:
Donkey R.
Billy Peddle
When I'm up
Goin' up
Clearest indication (and I have to say this is getting my favourite, seems to be so deeply felt, I just can't wait to have it on the next cd)
Paddy M.
Sea of no cares
Everything shines
Old Black Rum (and here people started to get warm and singing with an open pleasure for Bob who almost sang a whole verse to direct people, allowing us to enjoy his voice :)
General Taylor (and once again all got trapped by Sean's voice though it was definitly one of the most plain versions ever)
Lukey (and the dance started)
Feel it turn (and Sean recaptured the crowd, this version was truly sweet and felt)
Consequence free
I'm a rover
Boston and St.John's
Jack Hinks
Mari Mac
Ordinary Day
Excursion around the bay
Tunes with I'se the B'y (and I can't say how happy I was to have it after years 'cause it's one of my fav)
End of the world
At the end of the show the crowd was still asking for more and it was a pleasure to see it.
There has been few jokes on the stage included Alan admitting how nice had been having a tour of Hamburg because of windows (the red light area there has windows where you can see prostitues through) and how that was the best way to look at windows staying inside. Sean replied that yes it had been a really interesting cultural tour, 'cause the area was full of museums and libraries...
Alan mentioned something about learning German and how confusing that may be 'cause a simple sentence that usually would sound like greeting somebody, with a slight mistake can turn into something like "hello, you have a big ass" .
Then made an extremely funny digression about time...and Sean agreed but I bet he didn't have the whole thing clear as well... more or less the confused meaning was: today it's Wednesday, tomorrow we'll have our last show, so today is like a Friday, 'cause tomorrow will be like a Saturday. Sean took the chance to add: ok if today it's Friday we can do what people do in St.John's on Fridays: drink...drink...drink...and drink...maybe have a dance...maybe go and see the Backstreet Boys's show...(laugh from up and down the stage)...yeah they always play in St.John's...always...
Now, seriously, I'd pay to see Alan having a duet with anyone of the Backstreet Boys, just to see how long he'd resist before cracking up :).
Well, more or less this is all I can recall about the show. After the gig, Alan came out and after the usaul greetings we had a pretty long talk. Between more or less private stuff talks (included him being quiet worried at the thought we had to walk back alone to the hotel!), he passed some information of common interest. As I mentioned before he confirmed the new cd seems ready and is supposed to be out for February 26 by the time of the Winter Olympic Games where it's possible they'll perform (when I asked if he was kidding or it was for real he added that yes it's possible they'll be there just to play hockey ;o). He seemed very enthusiastic about the new cd confirming it'll be their best ever. Seemed also a lot less enthusiastic for the promo stuff, interviews, and video in Mexico they still have to do. Added also they have definitly decided to slow down their performing schedules for times to come. So the steps after the cd release seem to be: some USA dates, somewhere with a focus on the USA West Coast, 6 weeks of Canadian tour covering both East and West (and he seemed to consider it a lot important and hard to face), few summer festivals in Europe, the rest of the summer dedicated to USA festivals.
We kept on talking for a while, he confirmed their time schedule for the next day was kinda stressing 'cause after the Berlin gig they were supposed to pack all the stuff, have a 3 hours night ride back to Hamburg to get a flight back home at 6.30am from there. Do they ever sleep? :o) After a promise to teach him some Italian sooner or later, we had to go with a "see ya soon tomorrow". He was kind, friendly and relaxing as usual :)
No other guys came out. Of course we were thrilled the same :)
The second gig in Berlin was bizarre. I was definitly feeling much better and full of energy this time ;o)
Once again there was no need to line up, we entered the venue at about 8.00 pm and nobody was still there so we decided to move upstairs to a pub...while climbing the stair we were lucky enough to hear a part of the soundcheck and it was Bob with some fiddle tunes...a pleasure! Gotta say the acustics from the stair was definitly much better than into the venue :)
Now, about the venue, it was even smaller than the previous one. But I like small places so it didn't seem a problem until we got closer and closer to the scheduled performing time and there was no crowd. And I mean no crowd for real. Or at least seemed so 'cause nobody was getting close to the stage (weird how you feel shy when few people are there!), few people were sitting a bit away, few others were at the bar drinking, few Runrig and Canadian folks were along the first row. Then just random people in the dancing ground. It was 10 minutes before the gig and I don't think there were more than 100 people there. I started feeling bad for the guys...don't ask me why, I'm just too much empathic maybe but I just tried to figure out how it was for them having to start anew here...then it all started.
Guess the guys had been warned about the small crowd, they seemed ready and full of energy to face it. They also seemed extremely challenged by that fact. All of them but I had a special eye for Bob (just 'cause of my stage location) and he looked the more involved to me. The band got the people involved from the beginning. The crowd was small but ready to get warmer and warmer. The show turned out to be one of the most intimate, felt and enjoyable one I've been to...with my extreme joy :) The also got a new fan in Cindy's brother who was seeing the guys for the very first time and of course got trapped. We never had doubts about it ;o)
They even slightly changed schedule starting for the first time in ages with Process Man and cutting off Donkey Riding. Then for the rest they performed the same set list as the night before with two changes: they did Fast as I can (though Boston and St.John's was on the list) and Fella from Fortune.
A bunch of jokes that night.
First, Alan climbed the stage doing a pretty much heavy metal sign with his hand......we had the funniest explaination somebody had just shown them a 1.30 hours videotape of Motley Crue and it was pretty exciting to watch before going on stage...he also pointed out: "try to figure the difference between going on stage after having see Motley Crue or after having watched a 2 hours tape with Yanni".......I was cracking......seriously.......
Secondly, seemed the guys instruments were definitly not working: Alan and Sean broke their guitars strings something like 10 times, Danny had a lot to work...so much that at a point they confirmed us Danny had quitted his job ;o)
At a point they started joking more about it: Alan, after his tour in Hamburg, decided to declare he kept on breaking his G string...with extreme pleasure for Sean :) and the crowd.
But Alan had a doubt about people understanding what he was joking about so he started raving about how scared he is when joking with people who's first language is not English. He decided to provide and example: seems that while they were in Poland, he went on stage declaring "we'll be king of Poland".....and the crowd reacted like "oh Jesus, really?"...he had to comfort them all saying "No way we're just folk misicians, relax"...from there his worries.......LOL
At a point Alan started promoting the new cd saying it'll reach the top of the world charts...people giggling....guys giggling...and he went on: yes, top of the charts, and we'll have big screens at our backs, dancers, a personal coreography, face microphones....and Sean added: "fake singers"...like?.......the Backstreet Boys......of course ......LOL
And we were just at Paddy Murphy...everybody seemed happy :)
So, here we go with Sean starting all serious with Paddy Murphy...and Alan moves to Bob and starts talking to him....Sean realizes it, stops, turns to the guys and says: "am I going by myself?".......Alan giggles and gets back to his place...they start again and Sean breaks his string again.....everybody laughs.....Sean is kinda cracking too...they start again and Sean changes lyrics in " Alan Doyle got loaded drunk...".......Alan seems to enjoy it all :))
And we get to Sea of No Cares....Alan introduces the song, how it was born for during a staying in Nfld their friend felt all the time consequence free and in need to throw all his fears into the local sea...then Sean awakes and starts: "oh, was it really that the meaning? How nice, I didn't know!"...and Alan: "of course you were drunk all the time for too much drinking all that red wine!"..Sean "Really? I can't remember"......Alan: "yes, all the best lyrics are yours!".....Sean: "Really? Did I contribute to that song? I didn't know!"...Alan "yes, you were unconscious all the time but you did! The best unconscious lyrics ever!"....eheheh
After all this we had an attempt from the guys to sell all thier stuff, instruments, the van (no matter if it was rented), even their used clothes.....and at that point somebody from the crowd yelled "used underpants too?".....Alan sent a weird glance but they didn't reply.......of course we all know they don't use underpants ;o)
Then Alan started raving again about German traditions and mentioned a problem he had in local washrooms: the sign on the doors: women was clear but men was not.....so he obviosly had troubles detecting where he needed to go (and I swear I so much understood him 'cause right that day on the highway I had the same problem!)...anyway, once inside he had big deals with a lady going to him while he was washing his hands to ask for money.....seems he didn't expect that and found weird to find an old lady into the men washroom :))...local Europen traditions...lol
Last (for what I can recall) they introduced I'm a Rover announcing it was about guys knocking at ladies' windows...and Sean added: "yes, nothing more than to ask for a sandwich"...eheheheh....his face was just too funny to look at....
And more or less this was all about the show. They all came out from the backstage after it. And we were all pretty much moved by the fact that more than once they thanked people for having been there. Silly but I found it pretty moving, really, I mean it doesn't happen any day to have Bob and Sean thanking people for that right? They all looked extremely sweet and relaxed. In the end all worked extremely good.
Posted by Vivi
It was quite interesting to read your review, Alex. I also was in Hamburg (a pity we didn’t meet). The worst gig you’ve been? I’m sorry. I have to say I really enjoyed the gig and so did my friends as far as I know.
The only thing I disliked: the too small venue, the stuffy air in the room, Fast as I can (one of my fav) didn’t get played! and the end of the gig came too soon ;-)
I can’t compare it with other GBS gigs because it was my first GBS gig - apart from the 3 times earlier this year I saw them as support act for Runrig. I had the feeling that the audience seemed to have a lot of fun, they were in a good mood and so were the guys. There has been some jokes. You mentioned a few, Alex: the “nice” windows, the signs on the doors of the washroom, the ‘Backstreet Boys’, the play on words ‘today is Friday, tomorrow Saturday’,…
They seemed to be pleased about playing to a full house although it was a late Wednesday evening. And I think they were even surprised that we sang along to all the chorus or all the lyrics even.
If I recall rightly they said they wanted to play all the songs they knew… hmm…???
Alan told us, tomorrow after the Berlin gig they had to go back to Hamburg to get their flight back home. Hope they catched their flight, because it snowed overnight in Hamburg.
Whilst announcing Sea of no cares, Alan asked us to sing along to the chorus. ‘The chorus goes…’ and he started to sing… a German line (unfortunately can’t remember the words), lol, another one of Alan jokes ;-) Alan went on and teached us to sing the real chorus. He mentioned about learning German and it seemed he really enjoyed it to give us some samples of his German several times during the concert *g
My friends and I stood 3., 4. and 5. row, still pretty close to the stage because of the small venue. The people were much involved, no matter whether it was singing, dancing, humming to a Beethoven tune ;-), clapping, screaming, raising our arms,… I even tried to do these movements with my hands at “When I’m up”… hmm… I think I need more practice!
I think you were right with the set list, Alex. I think they even played Process man, didn’t they?
The gig ended all too soon. Although we clapped and shouted for more encores, the equipments on stage were taken down. What a pity! But quite frankly I was a bit relieved to be able to ‘escape’ the stuffy air in the room.
I wanted to say thank you to GBS. What a great and funny evening it was! I look forward to the new CD and hope to see them live in concert soon again.
Posted by bee
I read the other reviews and felt the need to mention that they did a wonderful new song "Clearest Indication" I haven't been in here for two or three week, so someone might have already told the lyrics:
Chorus:
Where do we stand
What am I supposed to do
I need the clearest indication
I'm not alone with you
reach out your hand
in a world I thought I knew
I need the clearest indication
from you
...and all of that in breathtaking harmonies by all four :-D
Had some weird incident after the show as well. When I waited around backstage, Darrel came out and spoke to some fans that where standing at the other side of the room. He suddenly pointed at me and said "SHE has been at alot of concerts". I was quite gobsmacked he recognized me :-D
If you are interested in the setlist, here's as far as I remember:
Donkey Riding, Lukey, Old Black Rum, Going Up, Boston & St. John's, When I'm up I can't get down, I'm a Rover, Jack Hinks, General Taylor, Mairi-Mac, Sea of no cares, Everything shines, Feel it turn, A boat like Gedeon (sp?) Brown, End of the World...
Let me just say I am really looking forward to the new cd!!!
