After a few days of absence due to another couple of concerts I can finally continue my diary. My “home matches” in Düsseldorf are over now and what can I say?

I have seen two completely different shows! It all started with another long day of queueing for the first show. Arrived at the stadium at 9.30 with 6.5 hrs of queueing ahead. A big THANK YOU to the security company who was in charge of the Düsseldorf shows. The first day was the easiest and most unexcited entry procedure I’ve ever experienced especially in a venue of that size (about 50,000 people in attendance!). Got a spot in front row right between Phil & Tony. After a couple of light showers while waiting outside it was a treat to finally see an indoor show without any chance of rain.

The show itself was very good as usual. The most impressive thing was the light show and videos which I could finally watch in full glory for the first time on the tour. The only but unfortunately quite noticeable downside was the extremely lame audience. Reminded me a bit of the scandinavian shows. After seeing 2 very good Phil Collins solo shows (one of which the was best I’ve ever seen!) at the same venue in November 2005 I have highly disappointed that the audience couldn’t pick up the same energy as 1 1/2 years ago. However, all the people I talked to after the show who hadn’t seen a concert yet were still pretty impressed.

The second night - “The Cinema Show” - was to become way better!

After merely 6 hrs of sleep we started queueing again at 9.45am. Slightly different entry procedure but still no problem to get to the front. I was hoping that this show would be different from last night (in a positive way of course) especially with the cinema broadcasting to Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain and Sweden. To cut a long story short, the show shouldn’t let me down! I stood pretty much at the same spot as the day before. I can’t really tell what it was but the whole show was way more powerful, the audience really delivered and still there were no major mistakes. The video screens failed during most of In The Cage but the song itself has never been that powerful on this tour before! Afterglow is one of my all-time favourite songs and I had waited for a goosebumps moment during that song on every show I had seen so far. Last night it finally came! As I said before it’s hard to answer why it happened but the whole performance had so much energy - almost magic! Everything went smooth, no lyric problems. Phil was interacting more than ever before. And it was nice to see that he even included the cinema viewers on the Domino principle! I already heard that I was on the cinema screens quite a few times throughout the show and that it was obvious that I was enjoying myself. I’m glad it did cos that’s just the way it was! Along with the great show it was nice to meet so many nice people, a lot of which I had never met before.

I think the band was impressed by the show and the audience as well. Cos they showed their appreciation more than on any other show I’ve seen so far. At times they looked really impressed!

Oh, how I hope someone recorded the cinema broadcasting signal…

Somehow I’m glad I skip Stuttgart now and have 2 days off because at the moment it feels like it doesn’t get much better. On Friday I take the evening flight to Paris and hopefully see a show on Saturday that can compete with the 2nd night in Düsseldorf.

Pictures:
DÜSSELDORF 1 (June 26th)
DÜSSELDORF 2 (June 27th)

Ulli

… where butterflies sing …

Two nights in Düsseldorf. Differing experiences from (almost) the same show

Many a thing or indeed everything has been said about the sound, the lights and the screenshow. Having sat in the Sparkassen area the first night and having stood in the front area the second night, I can confirm that the sound in the standing area is a lot better than on the grandstands. More powerfull and without echoes – though it could have been a tad louder. The lights and the screenshow were as innovative again – as almost ever with Genesis. I hardly dare think about what would happen if the ideas of the trio were bundled with Peter Gabriel’s. It would probably lead to a sensory overload in the highest degree.
While they seemed to just want to get the show done on the first night the band added life and energy to it on the second night. It certainly appeared to be “a special day” for Phil Collins in particular because of the live broadcast to cinemas in the United Kingdom, Spain and Sweden. I think it was noticable in the whole band. They had more fun playing and they had more interaction with the audience. It would have bugged the band that not everything went absolutely right (a screen failure during In The Cage as well as Follow You Follow Me going completely off the track) – but is not that the special attraction of the concert that makes the musicians appear all the more human?
Everybody in the audience will have experienced and enjoyed the show in their own special way. On both days I only had contented and enthusiastic people of all ages around me. Some of them bravely endured Hold On My Heart while others remained loyal during Afterglow and Ripples. Sharp tongues claim, though, that more people needed first aid during the first songs… Pre-show and post-show meetings with folks from the fanclub were a pleasant addition to the whole thing.
What remains, though, is the desire for more. Perhaps the well-aged gentlemen see it the same way. Perhaps then there will be another old man who sings the songs from a land in which butterflies and birds sing and where a girl plays crocquet, who tells us the story of the five rivers or takes us into the world of poisonous large weeds. And if it all becomes most wonderful he may even tell us the story of a lamb lost in the city.
After all, dear Phil Collins, the carpet crawlers are very, very special to us, too…

(by udo)