Concert Review: Gotha, Germany - September 2, 2010
Chris Williams:
Hi all, well after what should have been a short drive from Kassel, we arrived at Gotha about 2 hours later. We got stuck behind tractor after tractor and then lorry after lorry Once we found our hotel which was very near the venue, we booked in and then went straight out to explore the town as we had never been there before The town was very pretty with lots of fascinating houses and a beautiful water feature than ran down the hill into town, but was on seperate levels, so each level was different with lots of flowers and water features, it was very pretty indeed Once in town we did a little shopping and then had a nice relaxing drink in a cafe on the town square. Then it was back to the hotel for a nice rest before getting ready for our evening meal and then the short walk to the venue. By the way the weather had been dry all day ane even sunny at some points So finally we arrived at the venue and the first thing that struck me was that there were not that many rows of seat at all. We later found out that there were only about 1,000 tickets sold. After saying hello to Jason, we went and found our seats on the very end of the third row, as people who booked seats for this venue knew that the first two rows were never avaialble to book for fans but we still had anice view although the rows of seats were very long and pushed very close to each other with little room to move at all Chris came on stage and was dressed in a blue shirt, black jumper and black jacket etc. During the first 2 songs his voice did not sound soo good and we were all worried for him as we knew he had a really bad throat. We really wondered at that point if he would be able to continue, and I htink all my frinds around me wanted to go and give him a big hug to make him feel better. We were all so proud of him at that point After the second song his voice really improved and I doubt that most of the people there would even have known that he was unwell, as Chris is soo proffessional he just got on with the show and we heard no more signs that he had a bad throat. Soon after this is started to rain, but we were so tightly packed in our seats it was imposible to put rain jackets on.....but thankfully it was only a brief shower so we did not get too wet, but as it first started, it was falling through the stage roof right onto Chris himself The audience was quite responsive but no where near as good as Kassel and Dresden for example. Security was dreadful throughout the show as when people tried to take gifts upto the stage they were stopped, although some people did get through and Chris was given some very expensive looking flowers. Soon it was time for the short break and we chatted with friends as it started to rain again........but thankfully like the first shower it was only brief. It was really funny during the intro into Moonlight And Vodka, when Chris drinks whatever is in the glass and always pulls the funny face and then throws the glass into the air and catches it, well he dropped it this time and we could hear it break as it hit the stage floor After this song Chris introduced People of The World and as usual at the appropiate part a few fans in the audience stood up as we have done each night. Now on a lot of the nights many people in the audience have followed this, but last night there were only a handful of us that stood. Maybe the rest of the audience did not really understand all about what the worlds meant, but as we stood a security man came straight over to Clauida whow was on the end seat, and told her we had to sit down, and then another man came and pulled him away...and we were allowed to remain standing, but at the end of the song that first security man came back and had a real shout at Clauida and told here that we should not have stood u and that we must sit back down.......but we were already sat down again anyway, so that was stupid. Claudia tried to explain that it was all about freedom but the securoty man would not listen and kept shouting back at us. Finally he left but it was not nice at all, as all we were trying to do was show support for freedom,which is what the song was about. When it came to the LIR bit, another group of fans rushed straight for the stage even thought Chris had only just left the stage for his walkabout bit, so we of course joined then, and finally it was nice to be able to actually move and dance to get ourselves warmed up. There were two rather large security men standing one either side of the steps up to the stage and they were rather irriating as they kept shouting to each other, and stopping some people taking photos, despite the fact that we had been told that it was OK to take them. BUT at one point we had a really good laugh at their expense as ot the point where Al Vosper does a solo bit on his guitar and he comes to the front of the stage, he got right close to the security gaurd on that side of the stage and then pretended to touch his head with the guitar.....of course we all laughed like mad, although the guy had no idea why we were laughing.......it was soo funny Only too soon, it was time for SONY and Footsteps and the end of the show. Chirs had managed to pull off another brilliant show despite not being well, and I for one wish him a nice peaceful day off on Friday with plenty of rest amd honey etc to help his poor throat. Failing that, he better remember that I am a nurse if he needs one After the finish we went to say our goodbye's to Jason as he is now off to do his charity walk in the Saraha Desert. Of course he got lots of cuddles from us all. Then we walked the short walk back to our hotel and had a nice drink in the hotel bar and then a relatively early night..well early for being on holiday type of night normally I'd be in bed long before 01:00 hrs Now as I write this we will soon have breakfast and then its off onto get another autobahn Take care all, Chris(W)thebluehealer and roaming CdeB reporter When it came to the request part, I of course shouted out 'Sealed With A Kiss' and Chris called over and said 'what was that, 'Sealed With A Fish?' ...it was really funny, but of course he did not sing any lines from it, instead he sang Spaceman