…home is where I come from….
Monday, July 9th, 2007
London:
A ctiy like an anthill. Scared by the failed attacks, excited by the preparations for the start of this year’s “Tour d’Epo”, lots of police everywhere - but still: Business as usual. It takes more than this to discomfit Londoners. Summer weather, luckily for smokers. Smoking is strictly forbidden in all public rooms since July 01. Smokers have to got outside and those who want to kill themselves with alcohol only may remain in the “Breath of fresh air” pubs.
Beautiful as ever…
Twickenham:
A suburb in a state of emergency. Half an hour’s train ride takes you to a whole different world with foxes by the wayside (really!) and where it is green and quiet. Little terraced houses, front gardens - this could be Miss Marple’s place today. And yet something is wrong. The trains spew out masses of of people, pubs have switched to plastic pints and they play music by GENESIS everywhere. Some have a wise selection of songs, some otherwise. So what. They are prepared and calmly expecting the evening’s gig.
Met Tom, as arranged in the forum, in a pub at a canal. His mix partner Dave and his brother (who laughs like Mr Bean) were there, as were many English hardcore fans. It was all very nice and everybody had lots of drinks. Dave’s brother in particular had chosen a particularly fine ale. His expectations for the setlist became more peculiar with every pint, Supper’s Ready in its entirety not being the end of it at all.
Then the migration of the masses from the pubs to the stadium began. All the way through the small quiet streets. In Germany people would probably have put up fences and barricadoes. In Twickenham, they have more experience with events. There were booths in every front garden offering a plethora of things: fruit salad, home-made bagels, an adventurous selection of drinks and a semi-professional BBQ - everything from the neighbours’ This is what the big festivals in the 70s must have been like!
Inside the stadium I had a very good seat. The whole inner areas was seating only. This made it easy and orderly. No need for wristbands in ten different colours and the stewards had an easy day. Everyone could move around freely and there was no shoving anywhere. I could get used to that!
At a quarter to eight: Newman; the last piece of music before the show. Roughly a third of the audience were not even near their seats. They really began earlier. The guy next to me explained that they had to have finished by 10:30p.m. or electricity to the building would be cut off…
Our heroes take the stage and all the tension fell off the audience. They all shouted and cheered even before the first chords. Yes, they are back – our boys are back again. And folks celebrated, cheered and went out of their minds. On average they were a lot older than audiences in Germany.
Off they went – the three (five) seemed quite at home, and they went to work with lots of verve and energy. Phil Collins made some jokes right away and the audience went along with it. And then they played those songs that were the “alten Stukke” in Germany – the old songs. It was as if everybody had just waited to be able to sing along to In The Cage again. Ripples, sung, not shouted, at the top of everybody’s voices. Shivers and more shivers. Finally we could sing along – so great.
The Brits voted, too, with their feet, and our heroes should pay attention to that. Hold On My Heart triggered a flight (and the rain). One could have thought people wanted to leave. In the words of my seat neighbour: “typical Barsong….go to the bar to pick up a pint …” So there!
The introduction to Home By The Sea proved that they had played many concerts in Germany. Telling his story about a scary house Phil also mentioned “Gespenster” [German for “ghosts”], paused briefly, and said “wenn deutsche Fans hier sind” [if German fans are present]. A voice from my left said “Just for you…”. What else?
The drum duet was extended, particularly the bit where they play on the barstools.
A great audience participation for the domino principle and lots of enjoyment in the band as well as a great sound made this evening a real experience.
When Carpet Crawlers were played, many lost a tear and they were just happy to have been here. The return trip was peaceful and calm, just the way the British are…
If they every have a four-piece or a five-piece reunion and if the gentlemen can make up their minds to play in smaller venues and „a lot more old songs”, then all those who were here tonight, will come back. Me too.
And we will shake the house with our delight…
>> See the first photos from the show here.
(originally by Udo)
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