Now the morning breaks in showers and I’m left with the North wind breathing down my neck…on the last good day of the year.

After the usual “shall I stay or shall I go routine” I arrived pretty late at the “Sommergarten” yesterday afternoon… but - and that was a real premiere - with an extraordinary amount of  luck I managed to secure myself a place right in the front row (Magne-side… small wonder). But what did I forget to bring along? Ear-plugs! I know it sounds kind of inappropriate to bring ear-plugs to a concert, but two and a half hours of standing inf ront of a I-don’t-know-how-many-thousand-watt speaker system really is asking a bit too much of my tender ears. *lol*  So if it wasn’t for that glorious security guy that took pittin us unprepared fangirls and supplied us with ear-protection I might have walked away deaf as a block. Anyway, the concert:it may not exactly live up to Trondheim proportions in my memory… but it was excellent nevertheless: the sound, the mood, the crowd…. the weather (yes!) - one word: beautiful.The setlist didn’t bring any new surprises: “East Of The Sun”, “How Sweet It Was” and  “Lamb To The  Slaughter” remained as the “odd” tracks. IMHO “East Of The Sun” felt more intense than it did at Trondheim, while and  “Lamb To The  Slaughter” was a little less thrilling. During “Hunting High And Low” there seemed to be some technical problems on stage, which didn’t derogate the mood of the song in any way though. I don’t know if it was just my own impression but during the first few songs Morten seemed to have (more than ususally) a quite hard time at warming up his voice…. he kept on “testing” his vocals in between songs repeatedly… looking not entirely satisfied.  By the time the had reached “Summer Moved On” there was nothing to be heard of that anymore: I’m still in awe everytime I hear him singing that notorious “And there’s just one thing left to aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaask. Staaaay, don’t just walk way” live. His lungs truely have to be made of steel. *gg*

Well, I suppose it’s back to real-life now: my plane for Nuremburg is leaving  Berlin Tegel at 12:20… after that there will be no more short-trips, concerts and shows for this year… and heaven knows how long after. Pitty! I could have gotten used to that “routine”. *gg*

The first day in berlin has been cold, grey and windy. But I’m moderately thankful that it has been quite dry so far: apart from a lit bit of drizzle yesterday afternoon there has been no rainfall. I’m still not feeling extremely enthusiatic about the a-ha concert due for this evening. But there you go: isn’t it always just the same with me?! By this time tomorrow I’m most likely “singing” a hymn of praise for the Mssrs Furuholmen, Harket and Waaktaar-Savoy. If only the temps where a little less “arctic” outside than they were yesterday night. I sitll don’t know if I’m really going to acutally start queuing for the concert already by three in the afternoon to be rewarded with a place in front-row. I might as well be content with a place in “midfield” and a few hours less of “sitting target, sitting waiting, anticipating: nothing.“

So, Lerkendal 2006 what can I say? My last words to Hwhen I left work a week before where: “I don’t really feel like going there.” I’m such a fool even on Friday afternoon I still had moments when I thought, “Why not skip it all? You’ve had Oslo. You’ve had Trondheim. Why do you need a-ha?!” Well, I know I was being absolutely unreasonable: for at least one third of my fangirl “career” I had been dreaming of that opportunity… and then I actually had the nerve to jeopardize it all! Well, I did manage to get myself going in the end and did attend the gig. *gg*
I arrived at about 6 pm… got myself a very decent place in about 5th row, Furuholmen side - of course - and waited for the things to come: there were two supporting acts
1. Minor Majority a band from Oslo that I’d like to recommend warmly to anybody with a weak spot for that ever so slight tinge of “Scandinavian melancholy”. One word: beautiful.
and
2. Anne Brun a singer, songwriter from Norway (now living in Sweden, or so I’ve heard)… that - I’m really sorry - didn’t do much for me. I know a lot of people attending the gig were quite familiar with her work and very well appreciated her quite “bare-bone” performance but I know it’s quite mean: no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t connect to neither her vocals nor her lyrics… I just wished her set would be over soon. [hides her head i shame]

At about 9:15 pm entered the stage… and from that on it was 2 hours of full madness. The crowd was much more enthusiastic and stadium was rocking from minute one.
Setlist:
01. I’ve Been Losing You
02. Stay On These Roads
03. Celice
04. Weight Of The Wind
05. How Sweet It Was
06. Scoundrel Days
07. East Of The Sun
08. Minor Earth Major Sky
09. You’ll Never Get Over Me
10. Keeper Of The Flame
11. Cosy Prisons
12. Lamb To The Slaughter
13. Hunting High And Low
14. Take On Me
15. Crying In The Rain (duet with Ane Brun)
16. Summer Moved On
17. The Living Daylights
18. Analogue
19. The Sun Always Shines On TV
20. Dark is The Night

Quite praiseworthy there were a number of tracks on the setlist, that did seem quite out of the ordinary: How Sweet It Was, East Of The Sun and Lamb To The Slaughter… to name the most obvious. You can probably imagine the huge smile on my face when they played “East Of The Sun”: MY song - well, before there was “Cosy Prisons, that is… but never mind the petty details.
All in all I walked away from this show a much happier girl than I did after the London gig: I know I’m not much of an expert (I wish I had so many more shows to compare) and I’m very well aware of the fact that the show was not sold out… but - to me - the moment seemed just right: I guess it’ll remain a night to remember.
Shame, I have -again - not been able to take any noteworthy pix of the event… after only two pre-main-act pix the camera driver of my beloved mobile phone went belly up. Just my luck! However lots of beautiful and very professional photos of the event are to be found right HERE!

First of: I am a foolish girl… So do not tell me you haven t been prepared: I m sitting here at Trondheim Airport… And guess whom I ve just met (shook hands with, took pictures of and got an autograph from)? Magne - I ve got the most dazzling blue eyes - Furuholmen! *Drops down dead*
Pix of the “remarkable” event are to be found HERE.

With those two gigs of two of my favourite bands ever (Depeche and a-ha) within one week, I’ve been pondering a little over the past few days… I mean: what is it that made these two events so special and yet so entirely different?!
I’ve come to the following theory: Seeing Depeche Mode play live - to me - is a completely surreal affair. Whereas seeing a-ha play live is a very down-to-earth experience. My three beloved Norwegians on stage seem so “real”, just like you could reach out and “touch” any of those guys… and actually know the person that is behind the music (which of course is an illusion in itself, but that’s a different story). The general feeling is a more intimate one, which is a bit of a mixed blessing… but if the spark really does hit the flame, there’s no stopping the party.
Depeche on stage feel completely outaspace… so far off from what is real life, you could as well watch a set of mythical creatures. There’s no connection to real life, no clue as to how it would be to encounter the everday-life Gahan and/or Gore (Fletch is a bit of a stumbling block to my theory, but never mind about that). The estatic dancing, the grip on the crotch, the roaring, Gore’s slightly ambiguous outfits, etc.: The whole thing is just one big show. The thrilling thing is that so much is left open for interpretation.
So which of the two “options” is the one closest to my heart? I can’t really tell. It depends on the day and my current mood. Today I'm in a bit of a "Storm and Stress" phase, so I suppose I'm leaning a bit towards the dark side... ask me again tomorrow and I'll tell you the complete opposite.

Oh well, I knew the photos wouldn’t be close to perfect… but I had hoped for a little more than that:


Whatever… at least in my own memory all pix are crisp and clear.

Good question Mr. Furuholmen! I haven’t got the slightest idea as to degrees Celcius… but it certainly did feel like the tarmac on the streets wasn’t too far from melting… and I’m not talking fangirlish
heat waves here
Now, Dock Rock and the infamous a-ha gig! What am I to say? In terms of song selection, this one could have been my own personal “Wunschkonzert”.They played Analogue, Celice, Cosy Prisons, Crying in the rain, Dark is the night, Hunting High and low, I’ve been losing you, Keeper of the flame, Manhattan Skyline, Scoundrel Days, Summer moved on, Stay on these road, Take on me, The Living Daylights andThe sun always shines on TV (did I forget one? Feels just like it…). In terms of sound quality the show was simply amazing. The performance itself IMHO was pretty good not to say brilliant (not counting too heavy on the fact that Mr. H. and the audience not always were necessarily in tune… never mind the petty details ) …especially Mr Waaktaar-Savoy’s apparent enthusiasmn deserves an honourable mention - never in my wildest dreams did I dare to dream about witnessing something the likes! The audience was really lively but not as numerous as I had hoped it to be. And Gee! It felt so good to just be among these people, singing and clapping along to all these songs that have been dear to me for up to 18 years… and yet - please don’t blame me - I beg to differ: the last final spark that sends shivers down your spine and a rush of happiness to your heart that lingers on for days afterwards - for me - has been missing. But don’t get me wrong: it was a beautiful night and certainly worth the effort traveling 900 kilometers… and I’d rather do it again tomorrow than the day after… Afterall, not every gig can be _that_ close to being a religious experience, right? Point is: Mr. H (man he is still gorgeous) is maybe the most gifted voice in pop music of his generation… but he’s probably not the most gifted entertainer/performer. A little bit more “action” on stage from his side… and the night would have been perfect.
Oh, and before I forget about it: I really did take myself a heart and brought along my digi-cam… The results however are quite meager: there might be one or two halfway decent furry F pix… but that’s about it.

Right now I’m sitting here by the River Thames (right in front of the Tower of London for that matter), nursing a few nasty blistters, enjoying the afternoon sun and a light breeze as well as my last few hours here in good ol’ England. Tomorrow morning it is time for me to go home again…for another month that is Some people already call me “Nimmersatt”…

…. ahem, I mean Berlin. *gg* This time tomorrow I’ll be wallowing in
fathomless Depeche reverie.
Then two more hell packed days at the cubicle farm and I’ll be off again… to London this time: Dock Rocks, hopefully a day by the sea and a run in Hyde Park. [hums to herself: Hey. Talk to the man in the park. He’ll tell you he’s lost the spark. Talk to the man in the dark.] I have always dreamed about running in Hyde Park… and so far I had never mananged to do so. This time I have booked a hotel room almost next to Hyde Park… so there’s no excuse to skip that opportunity.

Yesterday I got notice from Seetickets.co.uk that they are not able to
ship the a-ha tickets in time. Instead I will have to pick them up at
the box-office on the day of the performance.
That’s what I all the time had feared would happen. :-X Hmpf, I know
I’m such a fuss-pott…=20