|
Who's
Got The Last Laugh Now Tour - Bremen & Hamburg - March 2006 |
|
| I finished work Friday lunchtime for an early evening flight to Bremen from Luton, this time I flew with EasyJet. The flight was delayed about 50 minutes - a lot of flights were, and the airport was very crowded. Luton airport seemed smaller to me since the work that has been carried out was finished. I arrived at the hotel in Bremen just after 22:00 - the resturant & bar were closed so I was unable to get anything to eat or drink - so I went to bed to read and then to sleep. Christiane arrived at my hotel about 07:00 on Saturday morning after travelling all night. I had breakfast and Chris decided to get a couple of hours sleep as she had been up all night. I went for a walk to see where the hall was - it was less than 10 minutes walk from the hotel, by the water. It was raining heavily, but fortunately not quite so cold as the previous week. I then walked for an hour or two, during this time I did not see any shops we were quite a long way out from the centre of Bremen. I was hoping to be able to buy water and something to eat outside the hall. I went back to the hotel and met with Chris at 12:00, we also met a French fan, Posse24 from the forum. Quite a lot of fans were staying at the same hotel - the four nice fans from Wedel were also at the same hotel, and another big group checked in while we were drinking coffee before going to the hall.
|
|
 Pier 2 Bremen |
|
| Christiane, Posse24 and I went to the hall at about 12:30 - Madlen (who I had met in Hannover and Berlin) was there already with her friend. Madlen and her friend both had "panties" to throw onto the stage during Panties Wanted. Madlen had decorated hers herself - they were very good. During the soundcheck - whole building seemed to vibrate - we could feel the glass doors and the walls moving. There was a metal fire-escape staircase near us that vibrated a lot and made a lot of noise - it sounded as if the building was not strong enough for Scooter music and was about to fall down!! |
|
 |
 |
I got to the front row with Madlen and her friend, Christoph and Markus, I also saw Tess from the forum in the front row about 5 places away from me. The barrier here was made of wood, and the first 2 rows of the audience were standing on the wooden base of the barrier - this was like a trampoline :) When some one jumped we all bounced - and Markus enjoyed making us all bounce by jumping up and down a lot. Because of this "bouncing" it was not easy to take photographs at this concert most of the time. |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
| WGTLLN
intro + Lights Out
|
|
 |
 |
The concert was great. H.P. came into the crowd where I was standing at one point in the concert and Madlen and I had our arms around him. Mantas was very good again - the more I saw him the more I liked him - he was a very good addition to the concert. Also each time I hear Trance-Atlantic I love it more - I think maybe its now one of my favourite tracks. MYA last track was the last track at this concert. The security here were quite good - quick to see problems. It was very hot in the hall - a door at the back of the hall must have been opened a few times for a while because we felt a lovely cool breeze a few times.
|
|
 |
 |
|
After the concert outside I met a Belgium fan who recognised me and was also staying at the same hotel as we were. Outside we saw H.P. leave. A few minutes later Rick and Jay came out - they saw a group of fans waiting and came over to talk. Rick told us the concert the next day in Hamburg would be recorded for a new DVD. A fan called Mirko (who had his hair shaved into a Scooter logo on the back of his head ) drove us back to the hotel - again it was not possible to get anything to eat at the hotel when we got back, so I had a drink with Posse24 and Christiane at reception before going to bed. |
|
|
|
|
|
I went to bed at about 00:30, but as it was the start of Summer-time that night that became 01:30. I had to get up at 06:30 to have breakfast, a shower and check-out of the hotel ready for my train journey to Hamburg. I really could have done without loosing an hour this particular weekend! After breakfast Christiane went to Hamburg with her Mirko in his car - they wanted me to go with them but I already had a train ticket, and I like travelling by train so I went on the train. .Christiane got a bit angry with me because I did not go with them, but the train journey was good.
When I got to Hamburg Chris and Mirko were waiting for me at the station, and they took me to my hotel, which was just opposite the station. We had a bit of an arguement - I did not want to go to the hall too early, I wanted a shower and food first - but Chris got angry so I went and we arrived at the hall at just after 11:00. There were about 4 fans waiting at this time and I had no food and nothing to drink while I was waiting so I decided it was much too early for even me - and I got a train back to the centre of Hamburg. When I got back to the centre of Hamburg I met Bjarke and his friends from Denmark - we went for lunch and bought some water to take to the hall with us to drink while we waited. I went back to the hall at about 13:45 with the Danish guys in a taxi - there were still only about 6 people waiting outside at this time. Natalie was waiting with Christiane when I arrived back. Natalie is a fan that I had been looking forward to meeting very much over the past few months. We should have met last July in Austria, but unfortunatly I did not go to that concert at the last minute. It was very nice to spend time in the queue talking to Natalie, and to enjoy the concert with her - I really hope we can do it again sometime! It was a warmer day than the past few had been, it was certainly the warmest of the all the concerts I had been to - some time the sun was shining, although there was as few showers. Markus and Christoph arrived in the early afternoon - Christoph had a frog hat on for this concert. At one pint a camera team came out to interview some of the waiting fans for the new DVD - they interviewed Chris and Bjarke and 2 or 3 others. |
|
 The Hall |
|
 |
 Final "Panties" for the tour |
|
|
 |
|
I was in the front row with Natalie, Markus, Christoph, Mirko, Christiane and another German guy called Stephan. James, an English fan, was a couple of rows behind me with his girlfriend - we had exchanged emails about the concert a few times in the last couple of weeks. Its always nice to meet someone in person. I was tired before this concert started - I think it was having less than 5 hours sleep and the travelling from Bremen, aslo not having much to eat on Friday evening or Saturday, standing for over 12 hours on Saturday without sitting at all and the hour change. When Frankie was on stage it felt difficult to move my legs - not because they ached, but because they felt just felt sooo very tired. Although I enjoyed Frankie as a warm-up, I have to admit that seeing him for the 6th time here I was not sorry it was the last. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
| I decided to take a final pair of "Mind The Gap" panties for this last concert to throw during "Panties Wanted". There were quite a few panties and bras thrown to the stage at this concert - one bra spent most of the concert on Rick's keyboard. This concert was filmed for the new DVD - there were a lot more pryo than the concerts I have been to on this tour - it was great!. There were quite a few cameramen filming the concert, and also an overhead camera. One camera man was filming the audience throughout the whole show. The hall was very hot - it also got a bit rough in the hall a couple of times in the second part of the concert - I was glad that I was with other fans I know - its a lot easier to stand your ground if there are a few of you than if you are alone. I did not take many pictures at this concert - just a few during the first couple of tracks - then I decided that as it was the last concert I didn't want to be bothered with my camera - besides - hopefully soon we will all be able to see the whole concert on DVD. H.P. came down to the audience - I touched his hand when he went past where I was standing. Near to the end H.P. asked the crowd what track they wanted (so I'm told - he asked in German) and a lot of people called out Hyper Hyper - so they played Hyper Hyper before MYA. I have a feeling this was not planned. It was a great show - H.P. was at his best, in fact everything was - Rick and Jay were great, and the dancers - I think it was the best concert I have seen!
|
|
|
|
 |
 Note The "Bra" on Rick's Keyboard :) (Nothing to do with me! - but it was there most of the concert after Panties Wanted) |
 |
 |
|
I would like to say thank-you to Rick, Jay and H.P. for a great tour, and the great music they make! Also to all the others who put in so much work on a tour like this - Kai, Stefan, the dancers, and all of the crew, especially Marcus and Neil - its been a great tour! I also got to meet Sebastian in Hamburg, our Forumadmin on Scootertechno.com - he was at the concert. It was good to finally meet with him and talk to him for a short time.
|
|
We left the hall just before midnight - the next day was my birthday I was very tired, hungry and dehydrated when the concert was over - I had had very little to eat or drink for over 12 hours, maybe not the best combination to go out partying - but the tour was over, we had just been to a great concert, I was with friends that I don't know when I will see them again and it was my my birthday - so we partied - I was out until very late in Hamburg. Chris was not staying at the same hotel this time - she was staying with a friend - but she came to my hotel room just after 09:00 to collect her bag that she had left there the previous day.- I have to say it was not easy to wake up at that time of the morning after a very late night! I left hotel at 11:00, it was a a lovely warm sunny day. I walked around the city for a couple of hours until it was time to get the bus to Lubeck airport. Just before I got the bus to Lubeck at 14:30 there was a thunderstorm. I was very tired all day - I finally arrived home at 21:00 (UK time); opened my birthday cards and presents; had something to eat - then went to bed. Unfortunately I had to go to work the next day - I think I could have done with a day in bed to recover from my busy weekend. I thought this would be the easiest of my three trips - but I think maybe it was the hardest - I was certainly more tired after this trip than the others, maybe I should have had a day to rest before I went to work. March 2006 - what a month! March 2006 has been a month different to any other I have experienced - I have travelled a lot, met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun. Its been tiring, and there have been bad moments as well as good - I certainly would not have even considered doing this 2 years ago, and I wasn't sure I would make all 3 trips when I started at the beginning of the month; in Hannover I certainly had my doubts - but I am glad I did! I guess as they say "Find out what you cannot do - and then go and do it!" I have been to 6 concerts in 3 weeks - with many hours outside hall in the freezing cold in each case - and managed to get to the front row each time, and stay there. I have had 6 flights - been through 8 different airports, flown with 4 different airlines, and stayed in 6 hotels. The best airline for me was Air Berlin (and their partner Niki) and the best reasonably priced hotel chain was Ibis - I would recommend them to anyone. I also had 3 train journeys, including one over-night (plus a few short tain journeys) and a couple of bus journeys. Could I do it again? - certainly not now, but ask me again in a few weeks.........
|
|
