Berlin

[whitesoxx]

I just flew back from Berlin (to Holland, not that far haha) where I saw FM last night. It was an amazing show, mainly because a dream finally came true for me: I was in the front row (no seats on the floor, just standing!), right in front of Stevie! I could touch her mic stand if I stood on my toes (which is how I snatched the setlist afterwards ;-) ) The only drawback was that the sound wasn't so good up front, Stevie's voice was barely audible the first few songs.

And also she didn't look at the first few rows at all, maybe as a result of what happened in Reno??? The crowd was very well behaved and seemed pretty much into the music, clapping and singing along.

I saw the band in May in Atlantic City and found the band (as well as the audience!!!) pretty reserved- especially Stevie. But no more! Lindsey was behaving like a madman and Stevie put in a LOT of effort! She and Lindsey even pretended they were in a boxing ring during Tusk walking around in circles, pretending they were going to knock each other down...

And I continue to be amazed at how great Stevie and Lindsey sound together, which was most apparent during their harmonies on Say Goodbye.

Stevie wore her horrible Reeboks (with socks and then stockings over those... huh? ;-) ), apart from the encore which is when the Boots were back :-)

It really was an amazing show, in spite of the fact that only half the arena was filled. They closed the second tier off with black curtains so the band wouldnt see the empty seats there. I guess it has to do with bad promotion (i.e. none at all) for the album in Europe and the fact that at over 60 euros (about 70 $), tickets were very expensive, especially for a city like Berlin.

This does mean, however, that this will probably be their last-ever European tour. With the Nuremberg show cancelled and other shows in Germany not selling out, I doubt if there would have been any European dates at all had the UK shows not done so well as far as ticket sales are concerned. Stevie had tears in her eyes during Goodbye Baby, maybe because she realised this was going to be the final time she was going to be in Berlin?

Still, I had the time of my life, can't wait to see them again on Thursday and then again at Wembley (Edit: oops! earl's Court!) :-)

Rick