So here we are, a lovely bright sunny Friday… I mean Thursday – the long weekend has me confused already! What have I got planned? An exciting weekend really but more on that later.
I’m on the bus quite a lot these days and I get very bored… er reflective and recently I’ve been thinking about all the exciting things I’ve ever done at Easter… well apart from three friends who have their birthday’s with two days of each other that sometimes coincide with Easter, there is only one really fun Easter I’ve ever had…
A week/ end of a lot of firsts! Including my first Zutons/ Rufus Wainwright and Keane gigs and indeed a band featuring my mate Nathan Persad which has changed slightly into the Fruit Machine Blues (I think).
Other firsts included: Thai food, the Reeperbahn, Hamburg, German McDonalds strawberry milkshake (tasted of real fruit!), a classic fan moment.
This Keane weekend really sticks out in my mind because I had an amazing time! I went down a few days before the Easter weekend to stay with my friend Helen. She had got us on the guest list to see the Zutons – they were brilliant and we had a great time.
The next day we were fairly slow in getting up; I think we played a trick on our friend Bruce when we spoke on an online messenger. We then took a trip into London with Helen showing me the theatre where Carl Wayne (http://www.carlwayne.co.uk) appeared as the Narrator in Blood Brothers and the Virgin Store where she had recently seen and met Rufus Wainwright. We then met up for a drink with her brother and I remember how warm it was as we sat on a river boat bar.
Next we headed off to Lewisham (amazing how I remember such trivial stuff) to meet up with Nathan Persad (http://www.nathanpersad.com) and see his band. They were great and we really enjoyed ourselves. I can still remember Todd mid-song with his arm held out looking for his pint which he had left in front of us.
The next day we were off to Cologne in the afternoon. We watched Helen’s Travis DVD (they’re ace!), ordered in pizza and then set off for Gatwick. While we were killing time, we spotted in Smiths they were doing Cadbury’s Cream Eggs – 3 for £1! So we bought 6; one for each of Keane, 1 for Rufus and 1 each for us just as a nice Easter token. We jetted (ha!) off to Cologne, arriving fairly late but still able to check into our Thai hotel and then remove ourselves downstairs for Thai dinner! Yummy!
The next day we did a short river cruise of the Rhine – basically up to the chocolate museum and back down to the cross river gondolas. We then thought it would be cool to visit the chocolate museum but we stepped inside and it was so hot! We were surprised there wasn’t a river of chocolate running out of the building!
We then went and ate Schnitzel at a lovely restaurant before returning to the hotel via the impressive cathedral. We had arranged to meet a few fans at the hotel and we did so. One fan in particular was great; we got on with her really well – a fellow Backstreet Boy fan! We started to make our way to the venue as we had no idea where it was nor what the queue might be like and for my first Keane gig (and because I’m too short for these crowds) I really wanted to be near the front.
We only got lost once and soon found the venue; a huge warehouse in the middle of a warehouse district, but hey. We heard Rufus and his band doing their sound check and when we were finally allowed in, we were front row – score!
Rufus was amazing! I will never forget the bastard performing ‘Vibrate’ – just him and a piano and he plays some pretty complicated piano… does he looks at the keyboard? Does he, hell! He has his eyes clothes, he looks round the room and doesn’t miss a single note! That’s why I love him.
Keane were amazing as well; their first album (which must have been out for a year or so at that point) really translated well to stage. I wrote a review/ notes somewhere; I must dig them out.
After the show, we waited to try and meet the guys. We were sadly stuck with a couple of fans who we’d found quite rude and odd earlier but they were pretty harmless. When the guys came out, everyone rushed to them and we were able to meet them – they’re great guys. We had some lovely chats with them and they seemed to appreciate their Cream eggs – especially Tom…I will remember this moment for the rest of my life as well; some fans had given Tom a huge extravagant basket of Easter goodies. He was looking through saying, ‘oh… thanks… wow.’ And then we gave him a Cadbury’s Cream Egg ‘Oh wow! My first one this year! Hey guys, guys look what I’ve got!’ *waves Cream Egg like a trophy* Tim and Richard wave theirs back ‘We’ve already got ours’. Oh it was a good moment.
After meeting the guys and getting (terrible – me not them) photos with them, we headed to a pizzeria on our street before turning in. Helen and I had an early start to catch a train to Hamburg and the clocks went forward that night!
The next morning dawned far too early however we made the train, I purchased a pretzel – German pretzels rule. A mixture of dozing and chatting got us through the 3 or 4 hour journey. That and laughing at the bright pink girl with the neon yellow stain on her trousers!
I remember before we left on the trip, my mum said to me ‘when you’re in Hamburg don’t go near the Reeperbahn’ so I said of course not, little knowing that the latest venue for the Keane gig (it had been changed twice already) was now on the Reeperbahn and we were staying in a hotel bang on it. Oh well.
We checked in and the hotel was fine (not the brothel we’d been expecting); it was just what we wanted and a great price (and I think it included breakfast) and about 5 – 10 minutes walk from the venue. We found this out when we did our recce of the area and bumped into a couple of lovely fans who we shared fajitas with (as I said to K last night; there aren’t enough fajitas in the world but that’s probably because people keep eating them!).
The gig was fantastic fun and we even sacrificed our near front positions to meet Rufus as well – which maybe wasn’t worth it cause there was table between us and him and it caused an obvious physical barrier. But on the positive, we were up next to Rob Sinclair at the lighting and seeing the entire show from the back where the sound tends to be more balanced was worth it.
After the show, we were able to meet the guys again and we got them to sign our European tour posters created by David Lupton and purchased for a bargain price of 5 Euros! We had a few more chats with the guys before leaving and realising we were hungry so we popped into the only open place we could see; a McDonalds. I usually avoid these but there were no other options and I ordered something with a strawberry milkshake and my god; the milkshake tasted of real fruit! A first.
The next day we walked round St Paulis taking in the sites before we got the bus to the airport and the arrived back in London. After a train and bus ride, I was home and the fun over, but it was a fantastic time.
So after that incredibly long ramble, what was the point of this blog? Well partly because I did actually want to write all that down, but it does lead me into another quick (promise!) pre-chat about this weekend.
After a long month and a half, I am finally having a wee break. Starting tonight! Although when I say ‘break’, it’s a break from paid employment largely. Tonight I have a chance to catch up on all the household tasks I am behind with; cleaning, ironing, washing… *yawn* anyway if I catch up with them tonight, I can relax tomorrow yay!
On Saturday, after a quick detour to Edinburgh, I am off with my friend K to Darlington to meet up with J and C (the M!). We’re off to see a show… They’re all coming back to my place which will be nice on the Saturday night so that we can start afresh on Sunday. On Sunday we’re off to a show in Edinburgh. On Monday we’ll probably head to Edinburgh yet again to say good bye to everyone till the next time. So the holiday yeah…? Time flies far too quickly but it’s worth it.
Finally, hello to all my friends reading this who I haven’t chatted to for ages! I shall be online tomorrow (Good Friday) (outside in the sun hopefully) and possibly bits of Easter Monday to catch up with you if you’re online. If not; have a lovely break and I shall be in touch soon. xxx
