gothikmaus | Entries tagged with abwärts

So, I survived the 1st May. I said I would go directly to Potsdam in the afternoon to visit the city, but I ended up going to Kreuzberg first 'cause I was curious (and was craving a burrito). The Oranienstraße was full of people, with little stands selling grilled food and lots of stages with all sort of music, from punk rock to reggae to techno. I went away short before 6 PM and people just kept coming. Too bad there were problems later and a policeman got wounded. But I was already in Potsdam when that happened. I only saw the Park and Schloß Sanssouci, but, man, they're amazing. I'll definitely bring my parents there when they come to visit. That is, in less than 3 weeks! :O

The Abwärts concert was fun as usual, I love the music, but it was pretty much identical to the one in Berlin last year. I met Eline and Steffi totally by chance at the S-Bahn station and we went to the venue together. The club was almost empty and the first row consisted of... well, children, I think the average age was 14-15? Anyway, they seemed to have the time of their life, jumping and pogoing and generally having a lot of fun. No screaming Rod fangirls, thank God. After the concert I even caught a glance of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, aka Gary. It think half of the audience was on the guestlist, by the way. :P Anyway, all in all, it was a good concert.

Here a moment from the gig: Rod needed a bit of privacy.

Zitat Rod: "Ich liebe Vorhänge." XD

On Sunday I went to Spandau, wandered a bit around the Altstadt (it's like being in a totally different town) and then visited the Zitadelle. I had already been there in 2004 (WTF 6 YEARS AGO!?) for the Zauberfestival, but yesterday it was totally empty and I could take dozens of pictures. At the entrance an old man asked me if I wanted to go on top of the tower and as I told him that I didn't really have much time, I thought "He reminds me of someone..." And then it clicked: he looked just like Herr Wagner in Richy Guitar! Even the voice sounded the same. But it couldn't be him, the film was shot 25 years ago, even if he is still alive, he must have changed a bit. Right? ¬_¬

And the 30 days music meme. Man, I'm already skipping days...

30 days music meme

Day 01. Your favourite song
"Heroes", David Bowie

Day 02. Your least favourite song
"Ad ogni costo", Vasco Rossi.

Day 03: A song that makes you happy

"Friday I'm in love", The Cure. The video is so absurd, I can't help but grin like an idiot whenever I watch it; and the song always brings back a lot of happy memories. :)

Day 04: A song that makes you sad

"Beautiful", Christina Aguilera. This song and a few others used to make me terribly sad, but not anymore. I can't think of any song that makes me sad at the moment, so I'll just use this one.

( The other days )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Berlin

My roomate and I were talking about the 1st May demonstrations and she said "Dein Bela B ist auch dabei." HAHA, yeah, "my" Bela. :P But apparently someone on the radio said he's in Berlin supporting one of the demonstrations today, but of course they didn't say where. It's not like I'd want to go anyway, from what I've heard 1th May demos are pretty wild here. And apropos Bela: I totally forgot the Krömer episode with him as guest was going to be broadcast on the 29th April and missed it, I'll just have to wail till someone uploads it on YouTube. D'oh.

Abwärts gig tonight! I read a pretty bad review the other day, I hope the concert won't be so bad today. Oh, well, at least I didn't need to buy a ticket (it's good to have connections who can put you on the guest list ^_^). I think I'll go to Potsdam in the afternoon and spend a few hours there, I still haven't visited the city, damnit.

And, before I call my parents (it's their wedding anniversary today):

30 days music meme

Day 01. Your favourite song
"Heroes", David Bowie

Day 02. Your least favourite song

"Ad ogni costo" by Vasco Rossi. It's a cover version of "Creep" by Radiohead, which is such a great song, but this version is just insipid. The music is identical to the original (too lazy to think of an alternative arrangement?) and the lyrics are plain and boring. And the video is insipid too. Here's a link to it (I can't watch it on YouTube from Germany because of copyright reasons, bah):

http://www.coolstreaming.us/blog/ad-ogni-costo-nuovo-video-vasco-rossi/

The good thing about it, though, is that there's a cover version of the cover version, and it's brilliant! It's by Gem Boy, a duo that always makes hilarious cover versions of songs. This will only be funny for the Italian-speaking folks though, I'm afraid:

( The other days )

Current Mood: awake

Back in Berlin. My flight had a 1 1/2 hours delay, I arrived home a little before midnight. The city is full of snow and I've heard it's going to snow again this week.

I got into the umpteenth argument with my mother on Saturday, which pretty much ruined my last two days at home. We sort of made up at the airport, but it's probably a good thing we're not going to see each other for the next three weeks. Let's see what happens when I go back for two weeks at the end of the month.

I put on almost 2 Kg in less than 2 weeks, but I was expecting that, I ate pretty much twice as much as I usually do in Berlin - skipping dinner is not an option with my mum around.

This will be the first time I'm working on the 6th of January (that's a holiday in Italy, we also have a nice dialect phrase for that, I'll have to make another dialect post about it), so, since my holidays are officially over, I took down the Christmas header picture and uploaded a new one. Courtesy of the DÄOF Adventskalender.

Btw, could anyone send me the last part of the Abwärts Adventskalender? Pretty please?

Current Mood: hungry

I caught a cold. What the f*** did I get a vaccination for, I should be as fit as a fiddle! *grumbles*

I'd better be in top form by the end of next week, I've got 4 concerts to attend, dammit!

I'd better not stare at the screen too much, I usually start crying like a fountain when I catch a cold (my poor eyes...)

But before I go... Abwärts live pics! Guess who took the first ones, from a1.jpg to a9.jpg! MWHAHAHA!

And here there are some amazing pics as well: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=66022561&albumId=2378267

I miss taking pictures at concerts. I mean, proper pictures, with my proper camera. Do you know of any bands who need a photographer? :P

Current Mood: sick

The Abwärts concert last night was great! The SO36 is such a great location (ah, the memories, I saw my first Ärzte gig there.)

It was my second Abwärts gig and it was just like I remembered: loud and rocking. I got there around 8 PM (it takes me less than 20 minutes to get there :P) and as I was waiting to get in I heard people talking in Italian and trying to understand what Abwärts was ("Is it, like, a band or something?" lol) I turned around and told them that, yes, that's an "electro-punk band" and I think I convinced at least one of them, because I saw him in the audience later. XD

The opening act, Amplify, wasn't bad, but man, they were so... young. When I saw them I thought "They are... children!" *feels old*

Before the concert I met

black_plec and another girl I know from MySpace, then

achtanablah arrived and, during the Amplify show,

killer_ameise and Melina. I meet more people here than in Milan. XD

Rod was fucking HOT as usual and really seemed to have a damn good time. Want proof of that?

<333 ♥♥♥

More pictures here. They don't look very good, I didn't put much effort in them, I just wanted to enjoy the show. :P

Personal highlights of the night: Rod singing "Kentucky Fried Chicken in a Pizza Hut, Mc Donald's, Mc Donald's" (as seen in this short video, around 00:19 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0IZFtXCgvw ) and then singing... Körperzellenrock! XD My God, that's such a running gag between

flaschengeist and me, I had to write her an SMS after the concert to tell her. I couldn't catch the moment, but I have this short video as evidence:

Also, there's something so damn sexy about Rod singing "A-ha... Oh, yeah..." It's the way he draws out the "yeaaah"... *dies a little inside*

Almut slept over at my place and took the train back this morning, it'll take her almost 7 hours to get home, poor thing...

And next Friday... BELA B! Yeah, I gave in and got a ticket to Dresden. I couldn't possibly wait until the 6th December, I'm so weak. :P

PS Also, lo and behold my brand new icon. The Hand of God indeed...

EDIT: Just remembered a detail: the guy wearing the fez you can see in one of the pictures brought shots to everyone and when Rod knocked down his, he almost bent in two backwards. I had to think of that scene in the Schattenreich DVD when they're practicing martial arts. All right, it wasn't so extreme, but it was fun to watch nonetheless. Still pretty flexible for a middle-aged man. :P

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Abwärts (can't remember the song title)

Ugh. Is it possible to be hangover without having drunk a single drop of alcohol? I felt awful this morning and only got slightly better after lunch. It may just be sleep-deprivation, but if this is what hangovers feel like, I'm glad I've never had one.

Anyway, pictures time! Behold Rod in all his mighty glory:

Clic to enlarge

Gallery >> Abwärts live, 18.10.2008, Gaswerk, Winterthur

And now the usual rambling report.

I left from Milan on Saturday morning with the 11:18 AM train, figuring it would be useless to take the 8:20 one, as you don't need to be at the club ridiculously early and fight your way to the front for Abwärts gigs. Three and a half hours later I was in Zürich and about 30 minutes later I was at the hostel. You should've seen my face when I saw I had to walk up a hill to get there; my first thought was "I'm never gonna make it when I'm back from the concert tonight." XD

I got to the club in Winterthur around 6:00 PM and, WOW, there was no one there, only a teenage couple snogging. Someone was doing soundcheck and I decided to take a walk around. I came back about 20 minutes later just in time to see the band walk out of the back door and barely managed not to squee when I saw Rod. My God, he should always wear jeans. As I still had a lot of time, I walked back to the station to eat something and when I got back around 8:00 PM the snogging teenage couple had been replaced by three teenage girls, obviously Rod fans, who got all excited when Abwärts arrived, promptly went to greet Rod and, as soon as the band was inside, started screaming in such high-pitched voices I feared all the glasses would shatter.

The concert started around 9:00 PM with two support bands, Snotty Cheekbones and Slartybartfast. I really enjoyed the latter, a pop-punk-rockabilly group, and after their gig I made myself comfortable in the first row in front of Rod. Obviously the Rod fangirls - who were standing right next to me - went wild when he walked on stage, screaming things like "Du bist süüüß!", but luckily after a few songs they calmed down a little. I have to admit I felt like they did about Rod, he's so much prettier in person than in photos, and I was standing so close to him, but hey, I'm an adult, I can restrain myself - even if just barely. :P

The band's performance was amazing, the acoustics was very good and I had all the room I needed to move around, which meant a perfect concert. I liked how, when Frank introduced "Unfall" saying it was a song against traffic, Rod commented "Wir haben Lieder gegen alles." Yeah, I'm easily amused.

After the concert a guy randomly walked up to me and asked me if I was an Abwärts fan. I said I was and he asked me if I wanted the setlist (he had taped it on the front of his T-shirt.) I said "Uhm... Well... If you don't want it..." And he just gave it to me. o_O I wanted to wait for the band, but after a while I got bored and thought "If they don't show up by 2:00 AM, I'm going away," because I still had to catch the train back to Zürich and the night bus to the hostel. Shortly before 2:00 AM the drummer showed up, only to disappear backstage after 5 minutes, and I decided to stay a bit longer. Only a few girls stayed around and we moved outside, but at one point it was only another girl and I there and I felt too much like a crazy stalker, so I just said goodbye and made my way back to the station. I wasn't even disappointed about not meeting Rod after the concert, well, not too much, because it was such a great gig, it was definitely worth travelling to Winterthur to see it.

By the time I arrived at the hostel it was 4:30 AM, I was dead and smelled like smoke from head to toe, but I was too tired to take a shower, so I just climbed onto my bunk bed and passed out. The next morning I was tired and slightly depressed and cursed myself for booking the 5:09 PM train instead of the 3:09 PM one, as I really wasn't in the mood for visiting the city. I was feeling pretty much like I did after the Prague concert, only this time there was no Stefano to cheer me up. But it was a nice sunny day, and I decided to ignore my bad mood: I wandered around, took a walk along the lake and visited the city centre. Since I was pretty tired I got back to the station early, read a couple of Farin's interviews in a kiosk (sorry, I'm not gonna spend 18 euros to buy two magazines) and was quite happy when I finally sat down in the train. Too bad a random African guy started chatting with me and saying he didn't believe I was Italian because of my English, my looks etc etc, when all I wanted to do was pass out in my seat. Luckily we had to change wagon because we were in the wrong one (there were no numbers anywhere) and my seat was far from his, so I could finally rest a bit.

As usual, this entry was rather long and pointless, and only a very small part of it was about the concert. Sorry for boring you all to tears, hopefully you enjoyed the photos. :P

PS During the long, boring journey back I had an idea for a silly little ficlet, I'll write it down as soon as I'm feeling less drained.

Current Mood: drained

This ZVV campaign is the coolest thing ever.

Clic to enlarge

I still can't believe there are trains connecting Winterthur to Zürich all night long. Man, Milan is so behind.

Also, I love this song. I would seriously start dancing around if I wasn't at work.

EDIT: Another negative reply. I don't care, I'm seeing Rod tomorrow.

Current Mood: predatory
Current Music: "Spürst du nicht den Trieb", Abwärts