Concert Review: Stuttgart, Germany - October 5, 2002
Andrea Lucas:
At half past five we took Christine's car to the railway station and drove to Stuttgart by train. Lots of mainly young people were on their way as well. Not to the Schleyerhalle, but to the "Cannstatter Wasen" a big fairground similar to the Oktoberfest in Munich, but not as big. It had started to rain and we were quite wet as we reached the Schleyerhalle where the concert took place. At the entrance we met Bettina who is also on the mailing list. She contacted me after she read the Dortmund review and it was very nice meeting her. For a short moment we saw Al Vosper and David Levy probably coming from the fairground which was just across the street. We also run into Irene and Dagmar, a former co-worker of mine. Christine and I had front row seats directly in the middle of the stage - finally good places! The others were sitting a bit more far away. We talked until after 8 o'clock and then the concert started. I was so excited that I missed as the bandmembers and Chris entered the stage and then suddenly realized that they were standing at their places shortly before the light went on. The first three songs were "Guilty secret", Missing you" and "Living in the world". At the beginning of "Missing you" I went to the front of the stage to give Chris a small bottle of wine. I hope it tasted good. Lots of photographers were around , but they weren't in the way. After these songs Chris greeted the audience. I'm not sure if it was that early or later as he asked why we were here instead of being at the funfair. He also knew the name "Wasen". Well, there was no place where I rather would have been on Saturday evening than in the Schleyerhalle. As always Chris told us that he wants to sing songs from his new album as well as some oldies and I thought there was more applause as he mentioned the new songs as usual, but I'm not sure. There were also jokes about the German words he knows like "Herr Ober noch ein Pils" (another beer please) or "Wo ist die Damentoilette" (Where is the ladies' bathroom) and he teaches those phrases to the boys in the band. The next songs were "Ship to shore", "Oh my brave hearts", "The same sun" and "St. Peters Gate". Chris first told that one day he would look down from heaven to see the band members down at hell, then said it might be the other way round. Before singing "Lebanese nights" he told us about his visits to the Lebanon and of the beautiful young ladies and men living there. Of course he would only look for the girls, not for the men, except for a waiter with a nice bottom (pointing at his own). But he also told about how terrible it is especially for children to grow up and live in war zones like in the Lebanon, Israel, Northern Ireland or where ever they are. The next song was "The best that love can be". Again he took the microphone and sat down at the edge of the stage. Claudia brought a sparkling candle which he held. One of the photographers tried to make a picture, but the candle went out before. Alone seeing and hearing this song is worth going to a concert (you might notice this is one of my favorites). It was followed by "If beds could talk", "Lady in red" and at the beginning of "Revolution" we ran to the stage. I was standing in the first row almost in the middle between Irene and Christine. Again Tony imitated the knocking on the door with the drums. As Chris introduced the band members he told us that it's Tim's birthday and we all sang "Happy birthday" for him. Unfortunately the loudspeakers almost blocked my sight during the session part with "Sailor", "Another rainbow" and "Save me". I wasn't able to see Tim and Tony at all and just a part of Chris' head while standing on my toes. The solo part was Borderline (all I could see was Chris rising his left (?) hand as we applauded for "I never know how men can see the wisdom in a war") and "Natasha dance". We had hoped for "Snow is falling". Then he played a part of a composition of the German composer Schubert (not sure about that). Chris played that a second time, then stood up from the piano - and the music went on. It was playback! As Chris took his guitar someone yelled "Patricia", but he played "Carry me" again which I asked for. During the concert people called "Patricia" again from time to time, but he didn't play it this evening. Chris told us that he has a special relationship to Stuttgart, because it was here where he played his first concert as a headliner, so he'd like to play an old song which was "Perfect day". That was quite funny for me, because it's one of my favorites and I listened to it in the morning while doing the dishes and thought "too bad he doesn't play that song live". It was followed by "Spanish Train" and "A spaceman came travelling". The band returned for "Room in this heart tonight", "Bal Masqué", "Nothing ever happens round here", "Timing is everything" and "Don't pay the ferryman". I don't know how the atmosphere was at the seats back, but in front of the stage it was absolutely terrific! We were dancing, singing, holding hands on the slower songs, it was great. The first encore was "Say goodbye to it all" and "High on emotion". They all came back for "The snows of New York" and Chris said that he thinks he has lots of friends in Stuttgart (oh yes, you have - like in so many other town as well) and that he wants to sing SONY, which is a song about friendship, for us. Then the band played the melody again and Chris shook many, many hands of the people standing in the front rows. There was no "Hey Jude". I'm one of the very few who don't miss that song, but I really miss "Where peaceful waters flow". During some earlier part of the show Chris invited the children in the audience to come on the stage and stay there at the side. A really nice gesture and the kids were dancing all the time. Some fans had a banner saying "Nice to see you", that was right, it was very nice to see him again. Well, as always the almost three hours went by much too fast. We had a fantastic evening and I hope Chris did so too. By the way, he was wearing a light grey shirt again. As they left the stage Chris took all the flowers he got and made a gesture as if to drink the bottle wine right away. I hope he liked it, it should have been a good one. Before leaving we gathered for a drink and walked back to the train station. It rained, but it didn't matter to us. Lots of young people who came drunken from the "Wasen" were in the train as well, but they were just loud, not violent. We were also singing very loud in Christine's car as we drove back to my apartment. Since none of us was tired we had some drinks and snacks (thanks for the ham and cheese croissants, Mom) and listened to TIE. We went to bed some time after 2 a.m. The next morning we had breakfast together and in the late morning my guests started their way back home. We'll see each other soon at other concerts in Wuerzburg, Frankfurt and/or London. Have a nice evening, Andrea