Concert Review: Emmendingen, Germany - July 26, 2004
Claudia Gerike:
Hi friends, well, am I really the first one to write about Emmendingen? Well, first to answer Melanies question about Altursried, yes, it was Hubie played the guitar with Chris and not only there but also in Emmendingen yesterday night :-)) They did a beatles song named "black bird", that is one of the most difficult songs to play, as Willi told me. He turned up again, but let me tell from the beginning. We (Willi and I) did not go to Altursried but came to Freiburg yesterday in the afternoon. We had a very nice hotel, and after I went swimming with Claudia (S.) and Ilka, we 4 went to the Schlossplatz in Emmendingen at about 6 p.m.. We had VIP tickets, so that included free drinks and a free meal, what we enjoyed very much :-) Very soon we met other list members, and had some nice talks before the show started. We have been surprised to find out, that it began at 8,30 p.m. and not 8 p.m. as we thought... anyway, that gave us time for another glass of whine :-))) The stage was very high, about 1,50 m, and there have been stairs in the middle for Chris to go down. We had seats in row one, just in front of these stairs... Chris began, and even I had a feeling that he had some problems with his voice during the first part, he seemed to be in a good mood. The weather also stayed with us, so what would you expect more????? For me it was a lovely surprise to hear "Always on my mind" instead of "It's me, and I'm ready to go", and also Chris was so nice to play "In a country churchyard" - our wedding song from 2 years ago :-)) but I missed "Rose of England". When Chris did his "Britney" thing, he came down the steps right in front of Willi, and I could make few photographs. hope they will turn out well. As I have a very low vision, I am alway not 100 % sure what I got in fromt of ma camera :-) Everyone was standing and clapping while Chris ran arround, and it was a really good atmosphere! Shortly after that, Chris said, that this was now the last concert for this tour in Germany, but he will be here again in November in Dortmund, surely there have been some people shouting and clapping when he said this. Any idea who that was??? :-)))))) Hihihi. I think it was also this part of the concert, when he introduced Hubie, his 16 year old son, to us. He said they wanted to play a song together, and then came what I have wrote above. Chris said, they have not practiced it a lot, but it sounded really professional!! This young man is a brilliant (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) guitar player!!! After "Lady in red" the "big run" to the stage began. At first I feared that some silly or crazy people would try to climb up the steps onto the stage, but no one did! Willi and I got to the very front, but as I am so small, I could hardly look over the stage :-) We danced during the last part of the show, and had a really good time. After the second encore, "Snows of New York" Chris shaked hands with us in front of the stage and even came down the steps once more to say good by to the fans standing there. I thought, ok, that's it now, but as we all carried on shouting and clapping, Chris came out again to sing some of his favorits like "American Pie" and some beatles things. Then he finnished with "pretty woman", and it was during this song, when Hubie came out once more to play with Chris! It was a brilliant show, and I am sure, everyone who has been there will not forget it! After the concert, we went back to the VIP section for a few drinks and talks with the other list friends. We also sang a few songs together and very soon it was after 12 o'clock, and we where asked to be so kind and leave now :-)) After saying good by to Stefan and Annette, Chris W., Steward, Dany, Andrea, Ela, Jutta... and... sorry, if I forgot someone now, was bit late yesterday night :-)) we (Claudia, Ilka, Willi and myself) went back to Freiburg and to our hotel by taxi. Willi and I went back home today, but we still think of this great evening we had yesterday, and as I unfortunatly won't be able to make it to one of the England shows, I can't wait until Dortmund!! Love Claudia :-)