Concert Review: Alsfeld, Germany - September 26, 2011
Michaela K.:
Alsfeld is a nice half-timbered but pretty small town which is situated at the motorway that connects the area where I grew up (and where my family still lives) with the area where I live now. I have seen the venue "Hessenhalle" a thousand times from the motorway but I have actually never been there. When it turned up in the list of new confirmed concerts I knew immeadiatly that this ist the perfect place to take my mother-in-law to her third CdeB-concert, which was promised anyhow. Now it really seems that I booked my ticket before anyone else was even able to find Alsfeld on the map..... However, I managed to get a firstrow-middleaisle-ticket which is a good condition for a perfect concert ;o) So yesterday I drove up north, passed Alsfeld and soon picked up my mother-in-law. Then we drove back to Alsfeld where we arrived in the early afternoon. Soon we met some other fans and had an ice-coffe at the historic market place. Which was very enjoyable, because this late-summer day was sunny as it could be. In the afternoon I was wearing my T-Shirt with the "Storygirl" design on it. It has a silhoutte of a lady and a globe on it and the word "Storygirl". I have this shirt already since a while and actually I choose it just for the afternoon, because I had chosen a much nicer (so I thought) shirt for the concert. After a lazy hour at the cafe we looked around the town and the shops, which was not too time-consuming, because it was so small. We met another of my fan-friends and walked around without any plans while my mother-in-law was looking into every coffee-shop and bakery searching for the perfect afternoon pastry.... While we stood another time in front of another bakery and were waiting for her, my friend suddenly said "there is Chris". I turned round, slightly perplexed, and actually it was Chris coming down the (pedestrian-)road, together with two other guys of his team. We said "Hi" to him and I think I would not have dared to stop him or say something else to him if he had walked further his way. And for a moment it seemed that he will walk further with nothing else than also a "Hi". But then he saw my shirt and stopped. "Oh, you are a Storygirl? I am the Storyman." Completly contrary to what was written on the shirt, I totally lost my words......arrrrgghh! I think all I did was stammering "yes...". And he continued "I have seen this before" (yes, I had worn it in front of the stage before, but did not suppose that he actually had realized it) and then "I have to sign it...". And then he took a pen and started to sign the globe on the shirt. Iīm not sure how close exactly I was to a heart-attack.... When he had written the half of his name on the shirt, he said "I hope you donīt mind me doing this..." Well, I think this was a bit too late to ask.... But of course he could be sure that I wouldnīt mind. Well, admittingly, I may have dreamed to meet Chris just by chance somewhere on the street one day. And I was aware, that if the unlikely actually would come true, I may not dare to talk to him or to ask him for an autograph. But never ever even I my strangest dreams I would have thought that HE would ask me to give me an autograph.... While my friend also got an autograph and I still stood there with my mouth wide open (not really, but a least I felt like I had the mouth wide open...) my mother-in-law returned from the bakery and also had her mouth wide open (also not really...). Of course she regretted that she spent all the time in the bakery...and guess what...even for nothing, because she still didnīt find a suitable pastry..... We spent the rest of the afternoon on a bench in the sun, recovering from the huge surprise. And as you may suppose, I didnīt change the shirt for the evening, suddenly I was extremely proud of my Storygirl shirt. Finally the evening came and the concert begun. The venue was not the most ideal, very simple, no good sight and sound for the people on the very side and the many flies made it quite obvious that this multi-purpose-hall is also used for agricultural purposes.... Ah, well, thatīs the area where I grew up and we donīt mind a bit of farming flair in a concert hall.... However, I really enjoyed the concert, which was my first one of the autumn tour. So nice to hear the first songs of Moonfleet again! And soon followed the first new songs for me, the new covers S.O.S and Seven Bridges. I love both of them. S.O.S. as a live version even more than in the video clip, because the arrangement sounded really "handmade" which somehow supported the passion with which Chris sang about the tragic feelings of which the song is about. The only thing I really missed were the sails-styled screens. And I felt sorry for my mother-in-law, because she never got to see them. Now there was just a usual screen and the films also slightly changed. At least it was much better now to get photos of Chris with the images in the background. I have to admit that Iīm not a big fan of the ivy-wall to "My Heartīs Surrender". But I really liked the image of the wall with the window and the candle in which Chrisī face was shown. But this time his face was not shown anymore. There was still a wall, a window and a candle, but now the wall was also overgrown with ivy!!! Arrrghh, seems it grows like mad, can anyone stop it please? At some point Chris told us, that he spent the night at Schloss Romrod. (My mum was pleased to hear that when I told her later, because she grew up nearby). And he said that he heard the castle ghost and made some noises like a ghost. But then, he told us, he found out that this was just Dave, who was searching for his room and moaning, because he had forgotten his room number.... Everybody was laughing and even if the story may not be true, at least I know that Schloss Romrod actually is a hotel. Another time, I think it was after Borderline, he told about songwriting and about singing high notes and he got "confused in translation" when he mixed up tight Hoden...ehem...Hosen. Of course he got a lot of flowers and presents from ladies of the audience. At one point a very young boy (perhaps aged around 12 years) came to the stage and asked for an autograph. He got one. Iīve never seen before Chris giving autographs on stage. Probably this was because that fan was so young. Or he simply was in a brilliant signing mood since he met me. ;o) My highlights were still the same as at the spring tour and I think they will stay the same. The Leader Trilogy and Why Mona Lisa smiled, to name two of them. But of course I enjoyed the whole concert and every single song. No "Country Churchyard" though, that was a pity. And no "Spirit", which he obviously sung at one or two concerts before and I would really have loved to hear (well, I still have two more chances...). During the solo part he sang "Those Were The Days" and he held a really stunning never ending note and got lots of applause for it. The last song of the solo part was "Where Peaceful Waters Flow" (I still love it, no matter how often I hear it....). And as usually he sung some lines of other songs while the audience sung the la-la-la-la-la. And when he came to the line "Lady in Red" suddenly people started to run to the front. Probably they were told that the rush to the stage starts when Chris sings Lady in Red and they thought that this already must be the moment??? Did not matter, because soon the actual song begun and Chris did his walkaround. Unfortunaltely we couldnīt see it anymore, because it was not shown at the screen anymore. When he finally turned up close enough that I really could see him, he took away somebodys cowboy-hat and put it on his own head. The dancing part was lots of fun as always. Oh, and Snows of New York is back! After Chris ended the Moonfleet Finale with shaking some hands, he came down into the audience again. This time he didnīt use the stairs, the stage was low enough to climb down directly. I manged to get close to him and give him a hug and he said to me: "It was nice to meet you". Oooohhhhh......... Probably this was a bit too charming, because I didnīt even really talk to him during this meeting. But be sure, it really made me very happy. Oh yes, I remember, it is his job to make people happy. He did a real good job yesterday. And for the next thousand times that I will pass Alsfeld at the motorway, I will have a big smile on my face.