Concert report: DÄ in Friedrichshafen
Nov. 1st, 2012 02:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gothikmausI finally have some time to write about the DÄ concert in Friedrichshafen. The short version is: it was AMAZING and I'm very happy I went, I was grinning like an idiot all through Sunday. For the long version, please click on the cut.
The trip
I left from Milan on Saturday morning. I was hoping to travel on a Swiss train, but when I arrived at the station I saw an Italian one. I should have known that was a bad omen. My special offer included a reserved seat, too bad my seat wasn't there. I asked the train inspector about it and he told me they had to use a different train, so they moved all the reserved seats to another car. The compartment I was in was empty, so I didn't bother moving. After we crossed the border a Swiss inspector checked my ticket and told me I would never be able to catch my connection in Zurich, even if we had left on time for once and I had 25 minutes between my trains, because we would arrive with a 40 minutes delay. He looked up a new connection for me and told me to go to the ticket office and get a new ticket. When I arrived in Zurich it was already snowing and it was freezing. I got my new ticket and took the train to Schaffhausen. There I had to wait for almost an hour, so I took a walk in the town centre. At least I saw something I never would've seen otherwise. And I even saw a falcon from the train! I got to Friedrichshafen without problem, got to the hostel and then went to the venue.
Fountains in Schaffhausen.
The concert
They had already handed out the bracelets for the front area when I arrived, so I stood just behind the middle barrier. I was a little disappointed at first, but I could see quite well and was sure they would open the front area later. They did as soon as the concert started, but I stayed where I was, I wasn't in the mood for fighting my way to the front. Which was just as well, because I had to sit down at one point just before the end of the first set. When I felt better, I went to the front area and there, totally by chance, I met![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
killer_ameise! She dragged me to a better spot, closer to the stage but not too crowded, and it was just perfect. And after the concert I met achtanablah too! I guess I should have told them I was going, but I didn't think they would come so far south.
Anyway, a few highlights of the show:
- It was Farin's birthday and Bela sang "Happy birthday" to him. He even wore a little paper hat. <3
- Bela and Rod making airhearts at Farin.
- At the start of "Ein Sommer nur für mich":
Farin "Endlich kommt der Sommer wieder... Moment, war jemand von euch heute schon draußen?"
Bela "Ja, Farin, die mussten alle draußen warten!"
- There was a father with a 10-year-old daughter in the front row who, according to Farin, sang "Geschwisterliebe" word for word. With a passion. The father, not the child.
- A guy in a wheelchair went crowdsurf. With the wheelchair and all! As Farin said: "Respekt."
- During "Unrockbar", when the audience was squatting down a few people from the now deceased fanclub lit some firework sticks and stuck them into a cake to celebrate Farin's birthday. Farin's comment was something like "Die sind Profis".
- The setlist was amazing, with a lot of old songs ("Die Frisur", "No Future (Ohne neue Haarfrisur)", an "Erna P." + Sweet Sweet Gwendoline" medley, "Quark"). I was surprised they didn't play "Zu spät" at the end though.
During "Sweet Sweet Gwendoline". The stage looks farther away than it really was.
Closer to the stage.
The day after
I had a walk along the lake and ate a slice of Käsekuchen at the station. I had to wait almost 2 hours between trains in Singen, so I went for a short walk and got some soup to warm up a bit. The only thing that got on my nerves was the Italian ticket inspector that only showed up when we were 5 minutes from Milan and insisten on speaking Italian to two Middle-Eastern women (who had got on the train in Switzerland full of bags from various designer shops) even when it was clear they didn't speak Italian. So I translated what he was saying: basically they were seated in the wrong place (they had second class tickets) and the inspector insisted they should move, because the seats were booked. Which would have made sense if he had checked before, because at that point it was clear no one would sit there. He just kept talking and talking to them and didn't check the rest of the train, totally missing the two men who were clearly travelling without ticket and were hiding somewhere at the end of the compartment. He also kept talking about those two women with random passengers. Congratulations. I was really tempted to tell him that his little scene had allowed two men to travel without ticket, but I didn't bother in the end, I didn't want to ruin my weekend by talking to an idiot.
What I saw from my window on Sunday morning.
The symbol of Friedrichshafen: the Zeppelin.
And that's it. I'm home with a cold today (thank God it's a holiday so I didn't have to go to work) and plan on doing nothing for the whole afternoon.
The trip
I left from Milan on Saturday morning. I was hoping to travel on a Swiss train, but when I arrived at the station I saw an Italian one. I should have known that was a bad omen. My special offer included a reserved seat, too bad my seat wasn't there. I asked the train inspector about it and he told me they had to use a different train, so they moved all the reserved seats to another car. The compartment I was in was empty, so I didn't bother moving. After we crossed the border a Swiss inspector checked my ticket and told me I would never be able to catch my connection in Zurich, even if we had left on time for once and I had 25 minutes between my trains, because we would arrive with a 40 minutes delay. He looked up a new connection for me and told me to go to the ticket office and get a new ticket. When I arrived in Zurich it was already snowing and it was freezing. I got my new ticket and took the train to Schaffhausen. There I had to wait for almost an hour, so I took a walk in the town centre. At least I saw something I never would've seen otherwise. And I even saw a falcon from the train! I got to Friedrichshafen without problem, got to the hostel and then went to the venue.
Fountains in Schaffhausen.
The concert
They had already handed out the bracelets for the front area when I arrived, so I stood just behind the middle barrier. I was a little disappointed at first, but I could see quite well and was sure they would open the front area later. They did as soon as the concert started, but I stayed where I was, I wasn't in the mood for fighting my way to the front. Which was just as well, because I had to sit down at one point just before the end of the first set. When I felt better, I went to the front area and there, totally by chance, I met
killer_ameise! She dragged me to a better spot, closer to the stage but not too crowded, and it was just perfect. And after the concert I met achtanablah too! I guess I should have told them I was going, but I didn't think they would come so far south.Anyway, a few highlights of the show:
- It was Farin's birthday and Bela sang "Happy birthday" to him. He even wore a little paper hat. <3
- Bela and Rod making airhearts at Farin.
- At the start of "Ein Sommer nur für mich":
Farin "Endlich kommt der Sommer wieder... Moment, war jemand von euch heute schon draußen?"
Bela "Ja, Farin, die mussten alle draußen warten!"
- There was a father with a 10-year-old daughter in the front row who, according to Farin, sang "Geschwisterliebe" word for word. With a passion. The father, not the child.
- A guy in a wheelchair went crowdsurf. With the wheelchair and all! As Farin said: "Respekt."
- During "Unrockbar", when the audience was squatting down a few people from the now deceased fanclub lit some firework sticks and stuck them into a cake to celebrate Farin's birthday. Farin's comment was something like "Die sind Profis".
- The setlist was amazing, with a lot of old songs ("Die Frisur", "No Future (Ohne neue Haarfrisur)", an "Erna P." + Sweet Sweet Gwendoline" medley, "Quark"). I was surprised they didn't play "Zu spät" at the end though.
During "Sweet Sweet Gwendoline". The stage looks farther away than it really was.
Closer to the stage.
The day after
I had a walk along the lake and ate a slice of Käsekuchen at the station. I had to wait almost 2 hours between trains in Singen, so I went for a short walk and got some soup to warm up a bit. The only thing that got on my nerves was the Italian ticket inspector that only showed up when we were 5 minutes from Milan and insisten on speaking Italian to two Middle-Eastern women (who had got on the train in Switzerland full of bags from various designer shops) even when it was clear they didn't speak Italian. So I translated what he was saying: basically they were seated in the wrong place (they had second class tickets) and the inspector insisted they should move, because the seats were booked. Which would have made sense if he had checked before, because at that point it was clear no one would sit there. He just kept talking and talking to them and didn't check the rest of the train, totally missing the two men who were clearly travelling without ticket and were hiding somewhere at the end of the compartment. He also kept talking about those two women with random passengers. Congratulations. I was really tempted to tell him that his little scene had allowed two men to travel without ticket, but I didn't bother in the end, I didn't want to ruin my weekend by talking to an idiot.
What I saw from my window on Sunday morning.
The symbol of Friedrichshafen: the Zeppelin.
And that's it. I'm home with a cold today (thank God it's a holiday so I didn't have to go to work) and plan on doing nothing for the whole afternoon.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-11-02 11:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-02 01:57 pm (UTC)They didn't play "Westerland" either and the audience shouted "Westerland! Westerland!" at the end. Farin said "You know what? You can sing that without us" and started clapping, he sang the first verse and stopped when everyone started singing along. And after the final greetings he went back to his mike and said "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt you" and clapped and sang the chorus before leaving the stage.
I love this band. <3