Depeche Mode in Oslo or I feel you!

" What a strange idea ", I thought on Friday morning as I looked to the weather forecast : 

snow and freezing rain in Oslo.

What in August seemed a romantic idea to me as I booked the concert turned now in an idiotic idea.

I hate coldness!

But I started my trip with the train to Frankfurt and flew with yellow-blue airline to Oslo.

The Oslo airport is a small well organized airport, I needed a few minutes for changing money and buying a ticket for the train to Oslo city.

The train guided me through a snowy mountained landscape, beautiful.

Arrived in Oslo city I hurried up to check into my hotel because only a few hours left until the sun goes down.

My hotel Citybox was located in a redlight district, but it was in a wonderful old building with stylish clean rooms. There was no reception, you had to check in with a machine and got your keycard. A little bit anonymous, but it worked.

I went by tram to the Vigeland park with 212 stone and bronze sculptures of the norwegian sculptor

Gustav Vigeland.

On a heightening stand a so called monolith which reflect the circuit of life from embryo to death.

The monolith is surrounded of many sculptures which show the human being in many different interactions with other human beings.

It was very impressive and the snowy ambiance supported the effect of the artwork.

I have no other words to describe it, it is one of the places in the world you must see, believe me!!!

As I came out of the park, it was three o'clock in the afternoon and the sun went down.

That's cruel. And the explanation for the character of Norwegians. They are not unfriendly but really reserved and not outgoing.

I went back to my hotel with a view stops at Aker Brygge,  pleasure-mile at the Oslo fjord, at the red cityhall and  in Gronland, a quarter of mostly Pakistani immigrants.

I drank two beers in my hotel room. Oslo is the most expensive town I ever was, to expensive to drink outside.

Than concert time, I went by bus to the Telenor Arena out of town.

But how surprise, the Telenor Arena is a football stadium with a mobile roof, which was closed this evening!

The heating system of this arena worked very well ( many greetings to Lille ) !

The beer cost converted 10 Euros. And the facilities was outside the arena.

I came to the conclusion to drink less and it was one of a few concerts I saw it from the start to the end.

I enjoined this concert more than many others because I was alone, I was totally concentrated to the band.

The band was in a relaxed mood, you could notice that it's going to the end for this year.

The crowd , maybe 20000 or more, sang from the beginning, it was a high spirits concert. A bright spot in the darkness of the norwegian winter.

I danced from the first minute, sometimes with tears in my eyes, it's a goodbye for me.

It is only a break of four weeks until the tour will go on, but two-thirds of my concerts are gone now!

Enjoy the silence was the absolutely highlight, Martin made a very crazy dance at his solopart and at the end, as Dave was on the catwalk, he came on the catwalk, too and they ended the song together on the catwalk. Great!!!

And I allowed myself to sing to " But not tonight", sang by Martin Gore.

I'm not the biggest Mr. Gore fan and it's a running gag between my friends and me when I go out when Martin sings.

But I was alone and enjoined the singing with Mr. Gore in Oslo.

The concert was wild the longer it took, because the people drank lots of beer, wow.

The security of Depeche Mode, usually only in the background, went through the crowd and pulled many rampaging fans off the mass. Sometimes with many discussions and yelling.

Didn't know what these people had done, but they all had to leave the arena.

Then after " Halo" Dave turned away from the audience, he put his earplugs off and cleaned his ears with a handkerchief ( he did this very often since he's wearing the earplugs) and was very absent for a moment.

Just in this moment a huge guy climbed the catwalk and started to run onto stage.

Depeche Mode freezed and the audience, too. All except Dave which was busy with his earplugs.

Michael, chief of security, reacted directly and sprinted to the guy and he threw himself on him.

Two other securities came to help him and put the guy of the stage, wow!

Then Dave turned back to the audience and smiled.

Many people laughed including the rest of the band and he was astonished by that because he didn't notice the activity before. Funny, maybe he was the only one of 20000 people which didn't see the guy.

With the last song " Never let me down" ended a wonderful concert tour for me this year.

What a year, unbelievable.

I ran out the arena to pick up one of the first shuttle busses to the city and was only 20 minutes later in my hotel, where I drank a last beer and thought about the evening and the tour.

I loved this tour, great songs, great show, great band....

Mr. Gahan is the best entertainer of the world for me. I love it when he enter the stage and work so hard until the whole audience is dancing and singing.

It is a special ability he has to inspire so many people. And if you ever talked with him you would be amazed how friendly and reserved this man is.

I'm full with admiration for him. I feel you.

Slept very well until 8 o'clock in the morning and was very surprised about the darkness as I looked through the window. And it snowed unremittingly.

The sun rose at nine o'clock (a.m.). Unbelievable. Only six hours daylight, depressive.

I didn't have lot of time until I had to go to the airport, so I visited only the new opera house of Oslo, which is a wonderful new building at the Oslo fjord. It looks like a swimming iceberg and you can ascend the roof. Wonderful view over the fjord, the mountains and the Barcode project, a new block of buildings near the station.

It was so typical for me to go on the roof when snow lay on it.

It was easy to climb on the roof but to scale down wasn't easy because it was slippery  and slick and I fell two times into the snow with my travelbag. Nobody saw me because I was the only maniac on the roof in this snowy morning.

Wet all over, even inside my boots, I might drive to the airport.

But it lasted one hour longer until our plane started. All planes had to get deiced. 

I missed my connecting train in Frankfurt and after a short conflict with some ladies from the yellow-blue airline I got a voucher for every train and not for a special train two hours later.

Back home today my christmas time began. With candles and baking cookies.

This is my last blog entry of 2013.

Hope  I may welcome you back in January, when the tour will start again.

In the moment I'm disconnected with facebook, so leave a message here if you like.

I thank you all for reading this blog, it was real fun to write it.

Merry christmas and a happy new year!!

The monolith in the vigeland park

Some of the sculptures surround the monolith

The Oslo fjord

The red city hall

The Nobel prize Center

Together on the catwalk

The opera house

On the roof of the opera house

View from the rooftop

The Barcode project

" my own Personal Jesus"

Depeche Mode in Amsterdam or " Never let me down again!"

At Saturday our travel group of six friends took the train to Amsterdam.
Normally the train to Amsterdam needs two hours from Cologne to Amsterdam, no changing.

Now, specially for us, the train needs more than 4 hours and you have to change. Construction works, grrr!

But we made the best of the situation and reached Amsterdam at noon in a very good mood.
First we had lunch in the Jamie Oliver restaurant " Fifteen's".
It is close to the main station in a new area of very modern buildings in the Eastern Docklands.
The idea behind the restaurant is to give 15 youngsters between 17 and 25 years a new chance by being educated to become a host/hostess or chef. The trainees will be intensively accompanied.
For this reason the menu is small and will be changed every two months.
We had a great lunch, so tasty and not to expensive for this high quality.

Then we checked into our hotel, which was very close to the main station. Very comfortable and we had a great view over the docklands. " Doubletree by Hilton ". If you book very early it's a snip!!

We needed a rest, I was still ill ( a cold) and we met later to drive with the Metro to the Ziggo dome, a
brand-new arena next to the stadium of Ajax Amsterdam.
The arena is very modern ( a little bit to modern. First you have to buy tokens which you can get the drink. And a little to much huts with eating).

We had seats this evening. You can say we sat "backstage", so far behind the stage.
But I liked this view, we was in row one, and we saw the band in a totally different perspective.

The concert was completely sold out, wow.
But there was many people which ate at the concert and many people sat the whole concert and tried to force the people in front of them to sit down, too.
It's a difficult discussion. I think Depeche Mode is pop music, sometimes rock, very danceable and I'm sure, Depeche Mode want that the audience is rocking. Difficult.
We had fun, we made us fun like every time . I think we are in such a privileged situation, I don't want to beef!! Suffer well, if you know what I mean.

Dave seemed to like the challenge, he pirouetted again and again, made many small dancing steps on his " high heels " and invited the crowd to sing along. And it worked. Slowly, but it worked.
Amsterdam sang along, and really good!!!
Martin sang " Slow" again. Later he danced very jolly to " Enjoy the silence", Dave went down on his knees before him!

Mr. Anton Corbjin was the whole concert on stage or beside the stage, he made pictures wis a small digital camera and he had many friends with him. It was great to watch him. At " Never let me down again" he climbed on a loudspeaker box and made pictures of the crowd as they swung their arms.
I loved this moment because the crowd looked like the raps field in his video ( one of his best ) with the swinging arms and Dave ( on the catwalk) stood in the field.
Then Mr. Corbjin sang along:
"I'm taking a ride with my best friend.
 I hope he never let me down....!"
I was so fascinated and impressed. Wonderful moment.

Only one drop of bitterness: after the common bow of the band, all hugged each other, but nobody hugged Andy. Even Martin ignored him.
That's not professional. There was no statement of the band to a critical incident, so they cannot bully him publicly. Equal what happened behind the scenes, they must behave normal in the public.

We met many friends after the show, even a friend from the USA.
I like this big melting point called Depeche Mode concert.

Last drink in the Sky bar in our hotel with a wonderful view over Amsterdam.

Sunday we roamed through the city with the small skew houses, short bridges over the many canals.
We enjoined the peaceful atmosphere of love, peace (!) and amusement!

Thank you Amsterdam for two great days.
Small present for my kids from Amsterdam was Fla. It's a kind of blancmange. Very tasty!!

Now I'm back home and only one concert left this year for me. Friday I will fly to Oslo, but already now I get the feeling of "Never let me down again". It's pathetic!!

Depeche Mode in Oberhausen or Slow

Thursday night in Oberhausen.

Only 45 miles from Cologne but we needed a long time on the autobahn because the traffic jam.

The weather wasn't fine, a storm was promised.

But we reached the Königs Pils Arena at time and managed it to change our seating places in standing places. We met so many friends in the front of stage area and the concert was a party all the time.

The time ran so fast, funny, although I saw so many concerts on this tour, the time flies by always again. Again and again!

Carrot of the evening: Martin sang " Slow" !

Ok, they changed the set, but I wanted to hear this song sung by Dave, sorry Martin but the sex in Dave's Voice is essential for this song!!

Andy was a little bit more agile than the evenings before, I liked it!!

" Enjoy the silence" was the best song for me this time, how wonder, I love this song so much!

At the end of the concert Dave didn't say " See you next time" like every concert in his career.

In the moment many rumours circulate.

I heard that Dave will leave the band after the tour. Ups!?

We went to the aftershow party in the Turbinenhalle with our friend DJ Elvis.

The party was not well attended, I think the people are afraid because of the storm warning.

But we danced a few hours to good music.

At 4 o'clock in the morning I felt into my bed.

Great evening but not very healthy for my cold, cough!

Tomorrow we'll go by train to Amsterdam!! Yeah!

Eten heerlijke frietjes!!

Depeche Mode in Bremen or he touched my heart

Tuesday in Bremen:

Depeche Mode played in the OVB Arena.

I went to Bremen with two girlfriends via car because it's not so far away from home.

It was a "normal" concert with the same setlist as every time.

I asked myself what is the secret of a good concert?

I think it is an interaction between the band, the crowd and your own person. Sometimes the crowd isn't in a good mood and I don't like the concert.

But sometimes you self are in an unbelievable good mood and you rock the concert just for yourself.

Me and my both girlfriends we were in this good mood in Bremen.

We got amazing places in the first row at the mezzanine and had a wonderful view to the catwalk.

We had so much fun together. Martin sang " Shake the disease" as encore and I sat down and thought about my life with Depeche Mode and specially with Martin Gore.

Long long time ago I had a chance encounter with him and he did me a big favor and so he was a real moment in my life. The next song was " Halo", Dave went back on stage and I remembered at the wonderful days in Berlin last week with my friends.

 I come to the conclusion:  those moments together are my secret of Depeche Mode.

The music, the friends, the cities, the fun, the loose contacts, all together made the fascination of a tour.

And best song for me at this evening: " Just can't get enough".

At the end of the song Dave danced over the catwalk and he saw me dancing and he copied my dance, he smiled to me, he pointed at me and he beated at his heart.

Yes, sounds unbelievable but it's the truth, I gave my best at the moment I noticed he saw me.

At the end of the song he thanked the crowd in German, he said " Danke schön!"

It is another piece in the big puzzle Depeche Mode!!

So now only a few picture and a link to a video of " Just can't get enough".

At the end ( 2:42 min) you can see his reaction on me.

Thank you Sylvia and Melanie for this great night and thank you, Paul alias Carsten for the beer and funny conversation at the bar!

http://youtu.be/PA-fT4jjelM

Depeche Mode in Berlin or they soothed my soul!

Monday morning my friends and I had a breakfast and some coffees in a small cafe in the face of the city hall of Burgdorf at the " Marktstraße" means Market street.

This is the main street of Burgdorf and as child I went along the street many times with my loved grandma.

But I couldn't sing "Home" in this moment, it didn't feel like home.

It was very important to me to realize Burgdorf was the small town where I lived a few years as a child but my home isn't there.

My home is Cologne and it isn't necessary to visit Burgdorf to remember my grandma, she is always in my heart.

But the days with Mirko, Lars and Sven were funny. Thank you guys!

We drove to Berlin and there I stayed at another good friend in Berlin Kreuzberg.

A little relaxing and than I met my friends Arkadi, Ulrich and Sylvia from Cologne and we spent a wonderful night at the first Berlin concert and the Aftershow Party at Postbahnhof.

The concert was filmed by Anton Corbjin for the upcoming Tour DVD.

I'm happy that Anton do this job, he's the best, I like his view of the band.

The set didn't change, but Dave was always striking attitudes, he is really professional!

Good concert, but the audience was a little bit quiet!

I came in the early morning back home and the next day I met some friends of me and went early into my bed.

Wednesday me and my Cologne friends had a special day, we spent the whole day with Depeche Mode" or the spirit of them. We walked in their shoes as we visited the Hansa Studios where they recorded " Construction time again, Some great reward and Black Celebration"!

Many other artists like David Bowie, Iggy Pop and U2 recorded a few albums there and the tour guide detailed many interesting stories.

Than we toured through the city to take some pictures inspired by the videoscreening from "Halo" of this tour.

Anton Corbjin screened it in Berlin at the Reichstag, at the Alexanderplatz and at other places and we take some pictures in " Anton" style.

We had so many fun and went in a very good mood to the O2 arena.

This show was filmed too, they installed a spider cam over the audience, wow and Anton was the whole show on the stage for screening.

He looks so great and sympathic, after the show he walked through the arena and spoke with fans.

The set didn't change until Heaven and I was moody, because the audience was so lame.

I couldn't believe because the band was so energetic this evening.

But after "Heaven" followed " Soothe my soul" and the athmosphere became better but I forgot the people around me, I had my own party with my own "Personal Jesus", unbelievable show !!

Highlight of the concert was an unexpended end.

They took a bow after the last song " Never let me down" as every evening and the band walked off the stage , only Dave stayed on stage and he took back his microphone and said " Do you want another one?"

I couldn't believe, first time I experienced this, they all came back on stage and performed 

" Goodbye", the last song of their new album and with a wonderful videoscreening by Mr. Corbjin in the back.

This was a big moment of happiness and I was forced to went home directly after the concert.

My friends wanted to go to the aftershow party again, but I need silence to conserve this wonderful sound for a while in my head!!!

Today I will go back home, my real home!

So, Goodbye Berlin!!!

But there is one thing I have to speak about it.

Again Dave ignored Andy Fletcher in an unacceptable kind.

I believe it could be a great fan mission if we uphold banners in one of the upcoming shows with the inscription " Mr. Andy FletchFletcher" at " Just can't get enough!"

Think about it!!!

City hall of Burgdorf!