Berlin and show 1…

So Kevin and i arrived into Berlin around 10pm the day before the first show. We’d been on the train for nearly 12 hours today from Herning, Denmark.

Checked into our Holiday Inn hotel in East Berlin and crashed for the night.

Didn't even wake up until 10am the next day, Kevin wanted to do some washing but decided to wash a couple of T shirts in the sink and hang them out to dry.Whilst the weather when we arrived last night was pretty cool i looked online and it was going to get up to 26’ today and 28’ tomorrow. Kevin washed the T shirts and opened the window of our 14th floor hotel room and proceeded to try and dry his T shirt, first hanging and waving it out of the window, then over to the ironing board to give it the once over, then back to the window and so on and so forth. Nearly 2 hour later and it was dry!

There were 2 shows in Berlin, one tonight and one tomorrow. There were a few friends coming in for the shows too, Kit and Emil, Thomas and Dennis, Anneli from Sweden,Anders from Sweden, Guntmar,  Ralph, Chris from the UK,  Henk from Holland, Jackie from the UK and James from the USA, So there would a be a great bunch of us for the shows.

We took the tram to the 2 arena around 3:30pm, met up at the Arena with Kit and Emil and headed over to take a look at what's left standing and being preserved of the Berlin wall.

Tonight's venue, O2 world, Berlin                    Kit, Emil and Kevin

      

It was 2002 for Rogers In The Flesh tour the last time i was in Berlin, Kevin and Jens were with me and Kevin took Jens and i to see the Berlin wall. It was a bit worse for wear then and its been renovated and things have been re painted and the whole area has been cleaned up and made into a tourist attraction type area.

                                                                East side of the Berlin wall                        East meets west

   

There's a great mural on one part of the wall which is a picture of The centre of The Wall album, I'm not sure who painted it but in 2002 it was showing signs of wear with paint pealing off and it looking a bit worse for wear. It looked a lot different today though.

Kevin and Jens in 2002                                Kevin in 20011

     

   

We made our way along the wall and ended up at a nice little bar by the river. Kit pointed out that she used to live in the loft apartment of the building opposite and that the area had changed a lot since she was here.

Behind the wall (the west side view)    Kits old apartment, top left loft             Emil, Kit and Kevin

We had arranged a meet up at a bar across the river, Kevin, Chris, Dirk and i headed over there to meet up with Anders, Guntmar and Jackie.

   

The bar was ok but after one drink we headed back to the riverside bar when we stayed until heading over to the venue. Jackie had come over from the UK alone as Dave wasn't feeling too good and she was with a couple of friends who lived in Germany whom she was staying with.

My writing on the wall                                                                               Jackie's writing on the wall

   

Panorama view from the riverside bar.

We all headed over to the venue around 7 o clock, Jackie was on the floor tonight as were Kevin and I and Kevin's friend Esther. Everyone else was spread all over the venue, however Roger was watching us all all the time!

A few people came up to me inside the arena whom had been reading the blog and wanted to say hi, plus some people whom i just got talking to as i was sat in my seat. Rick had come over to see the shows from Boulder, Colorado. He had seen the Denver show and also seen one of the shows in Anaheim. Jon had seen the shows in Florida and had been reading my blog ever since.

Jon and Rick                       Thomas from Vienna          Anneli from Sweden           Anders from Denmark

 

Kevin was about 17th row centre, Jackie was 15th row centre and i was on the aisle 15th row in the middle block.

The show started around 8:15 and i instantly knew the sound was gonna be great tonight, the opening notes were crystal clear and it stayed that way all night. The crowd were a little more lively a times than some of the other German shows too but still not lively. I had my camera with me tonight but decided i just wanted to enjoy the show so didn't take any pictures at all tonight. I did take a couple of videos though and these are on an earlier post

I was sat with Roger step daughter Amy, Harrys wife and a couple of their friends  tonight. I've sat with the girls before and they really do get into the show, unlike most of the VIP guests that are just there because its free and a night out!

There were a couple of mistakes in the first set but nothing huge, apart from that it was a great first set.

During the 2nd In The Flesh when Roger picked up the machine gun a guy stood up in the 5th or 6th row just to Rogers right, Roger picked him right out, “loaded” his machine gun and shot straight at him, the guy got into it and proceeded to move backwards and forwards as though he had been shot.

To be honest i cant remember much else about the show, it went along without “incident” What i do remember though is how quiet the crowd were when Roger was talking to them before other about doing the Berlin Wall show. They were totally silent with the odd cheer and shout which really surprised me.

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