Fanart, Fanfiction and Fangirling

I don't know if I ever mentioned it here, but I used to be a huge fan of an Italian band called Pooh when I was 13-14: I listened to their songs all the time, went to 3 of their concerts (my very first concert was one of their shows actually), I even joined their fanclub. I recently realised that they were my first fandom, even if I had no idea what fandom was at the time: I even drew a fanart of them and sent it to the fanclub!

Anyway, I stopped listening to them after my first year of high school, mainly because they are kind of "old school", known for their ballads and romantic songs, and I didn't want to be percieved as an even bigger loser than I already was.

Fast-forward to last month. I was at my parents' place and saw them on TV promoting their new tour. They had officially split up in 2016, after being around for 50 (FIFTY!) years, and in the meantime their drummer had died, so I was a bit taken aback. But at the same time, I thought "Why the hell not" and got myself a ticket for one of the Milan dates.

I mostly did it for old times' sake and to get some "closure", but I must admit it was an excellent decision. They played for 3 hours (what is it with me and bands that play marathon-concerts?!) and it was an overall amazing show. Their music genre has been described as symphonic pop/rock and a lot of the songs they played were prog-influenced, I wasn't expecting that.

I also cried at one point, but not during one of my favourite songs (which I wasn't expecting to hear and hadn't even recognised at first, as it was a completely different version from the regular one). I may have gone just to make my inner 13-year-old happy, but it was definitely worth it. Even if it was on a Thursday night (the Friday date was already sold out when I found out about the tour) and the next morning I wanted to die. XD

I saw The Cure live last Friday and it was an AMAZING concert. Two and a half hours of spectacular music, with some new songs as well (will the new album ever see that light of day?) I was in the fifth row between Simon and Roger, and the area wasn't too crowded, so I could enjoy the show without having to fight for my life.

A few highlights from the night:

- As I was waiting for the concert to start, I looked to my left... and saw I was standing next to the singer from Easy Cure! It's such a small world.
- A group of fans chanting "Eden! Eden! Eden!" as Eden (Simon's son and his bass tech) was tuning the basses before the concert. He looked over at them and shook his head, smiling.
- Perry is back! I had seen pictures, so it wasn't a total surprise, but it still felt so good seeing him on stage with the others.
- Perry's glittery guitar. I had completely forgotten about it, but as soon as I saw it, I went "Of course, he has a glittery guitar!" I'm such a nerd.
- Robert and Simon playing shoulder to shoulder and Robert's smile as he glanced over at Simon. I love standing relatively close to the stage because I can get a glimpse of the musicians' expressions. And from what I could see, they were having a great time.
- Simon never standing still. He kept hopping around, stepping on the amp, walking to the other side of the stage. It's like he's still twenty-something.
- Simon and Roger hugging during one of the encores.
- Robert saying "I know you won't believe this, but I used to be fluent in Italian." Yeah, Robert, whatever you say. XD
- Three encores (or was it four?). This band never disappoints.
- Robert saying "My favourite so far!" at the end of the concert. I don't know if that was actually true, but he didn't want to leave, he walked from one side of the stage to the other, staring at the audience, as if he was trying to memorise each face. He also said we'll see each other again, and I really, really hope so.
- After the concert I saw some more people I know and that I hadn't seen since before the pandemic (we used to go to the same clubs) and, when I met my friends outside (they had sitting tickets, pff, amateurs), they were standing next to Andy from Bluvertigo! The world really is small, isn't it?

So that was a brilliant way to start off my autumn holidays. And on Friday... David Tennant in London! Man, this November is gonna be amazing.

Well, this has been a weird birthday. I was supposed to go to a concert last night (to see The Sisters of Mercy) and had a big dinner with my cousins planned for tomorrow, but of course everything has been cancelled. But I still had cake, so I'm not complaining too much.

And, thanks to schwimmerin, I found out Die Ärzte have a new song! Just in time for my birthday!



I love these idiots. ♥

It happened. It really happened. The short version is: OMFG IT WAS F***ING AMAZING!!!

The long rambling version is: WOW. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed them. I checked and the last DÄ concert I'd seen was in October 2012. Too, too long ago. The concert itself was brilliant, they're still as silly as ever and they look like they haven't aged a single day (OMG Bela is still so damn hot!) Farin even spoke a little Italian during the night. The venue was a bit bigger compared to some other venues they played during this tour and it was PACKED. 3,000 people, of which maybe 10 Italians? XD

Almut and I walked a bit around the city centre in the morning (she'd never been to Milan before) and we arrived at the venue around 3:30 PM. Cara was already there and so were about 30 or 40 people, lining up probably since the morning. We thought we might not get good places, but we ended up in the second row right in front of Bela's drumkit aaand... the girls in front of us were quite short, so it was like standing in the front row, but without being crushed against the barrier. We also got the special T-shirts for the Milan show, which you needed to buy before the concert, as they sell out very quickly. Success! A friend of mine was also there (we discovered DÄ together totally by change during a trip to Berlin years ago) and she was very impressed both by the band and the audience.

Oh, before I start rambling about the show: Almut and I were in piazza Duomo around 2:30 PM and were about to head to the venue, when I said "What, let's go to the toilet at La Rinascente!" That's a very fancy shop (think of Harrods in London) and I always use their toilets when I'm out and about in Milan, because they're free and clean. So we went and as we were walking out ROD WALKED IN AND WALKED PAST US!!! I blurted out "OH MY GOD!" and I'm quite sure he heard me, but I just couldn't help it. He was so close I could see the white hairs in his sideburns. XD He was wearing sunglasses and was actually taller than I thought. That was the most random and awesome thing.

Anyway, back to the actual concert. Random memories from the show, in no particular order:

- Farin asking the audience in Italian if there was anyone who didn't speak German (I waved my hand just to see what would happen) and then adding something like "Well, too bad for you, but we're going to be a pain in the arse, no one speaks Italian here anyway". He actually said "Rompiamo le balle", which is not only a very Italian thing to say, but quite specifically from Milan, I just about died.

- Rod snarling "Ihre Papiere sind nicht korrekt!" as they were throwing around stereotypical Italian and German phrases. XD

- Faring talking in Italian about the dinner they had the previous night, in a restaurant where Italian music was playing, and of course they know Italian musicians, he said something like "We like that singer, what's his name, and that other rapper is quite good too, and then there's this couple..." And I KNEW what he was about to say, so I started shouting "No! NOOO!" (Both Cara and I filmed that bit and you can clearly hear me, it's HILARIOUS, it's in our Instagram stories.) Of course he was talking about Albano and Romina Power and said there's a reason why they're idols and before they started playing punk, they only listened to Albano and Romina. They then proceeded to play their own deranged version of "Felicità". XD

- Bela mentioning the middle finger statue in front of Milan Stock Exchange. The next day I showed it to Cara and Ben and of course there were other DÄ fans there. XD

- Farin licking the beck of his guitar and making a disgusted face afterwards.

- Farin saying something like "Bela, ich muss dich drücken" and hugging him. Aww.

- Farin dividing the audience into four sectors and asking each part to clap one after the other.

- Farin singing a bit from "La donna è mobile"! He actually got all the text right, I was very impressed.

- Bela singing random bits of songs during the "Abschied" piano intro, I can remember "Gold" and "Woman in red", then Farin singing "Volare" and "L'italiano". XD

- This didn't happen during the concert, but look at what Rod wrote in the band's Tourtagebuch:

( Milano mi amore )

As if I needed another reason to love this band. ♥

We also ended up in a few photos on the Alcatraz Facebook page and in one of them I have such a manic grin, it could rival Farin's. XD Well, that's exactly how I've felt ever since Thursday. I'm so glad I decided to go to Brussels too. It would've been great also "just" seeing the Milan show, I mean, I've had this dream of seeing them here for years, but didn't really think it would actually happened, so it was basically a dream come true. But Brussels is the last show of the tour, I'm sure they're going to be even sillier than usual.

What did I say about "fate throwing as many concerts as possible my way and daring me to see them all"?



I didn't want to go at first because I'm not a big fan of stadium concerts and tickets were quite expensive, but then I thought " F*** it, let's do this!" Standing tickets, of course, because I might as well go all out.

2019 is gonna be the year I die. First the announcement that Die Ärzte are playing in Milan (tickets go on sale tomorrow, wish me luck), then I find out The Cure are playing in Florence!

Someone wants me dead. But at least I'll die happy.

I celebrated my birthday with my friends last night. It was actually a double party, as one of my best friends' birthday is in a couple of days, so we did a "combined celebration" at a Mexican restaurant.

The food was delicious and I got A TON of presents. Also, my friends know me SO well. XD

( ♥♥♥ )

Last weekend was amazing. On Saturday night I saw Easy Cure (The Cure cover band) and Mode Inside (Depeche Mode cover band). I've seen Easy Cure many many times, so I knew they'd put up a great show, but I didn't know Mode Inside. Well, they're brilliant. The singer's got a beautiful, deep voice and he's quite easy on the eye. ;)

And on Sunday night I went to a Duran Duran concert! Again, I didn't quite know what to expect: of course I know most of their hits, but I'd never seen them live before. Well, it was the best concert I've seen in a while. They even played Space Oddity by David Bowie! It was a Planet Earth / Space Oddity medley, followed by Ordinary World. I was actually close to tears, as both Space Oddity and Ordinary World are two of my all time favourite songs. T_T

And I suddenly remembered that my natural habitat is right in front of a stage. XD

First of all: thanks for the Christmas card, schwimmerin! Remembering our adventures around Northern Italy from last year put a big grin on my face.

I was a bit late sending out cards this year, I'm afraid some of you won't get it before the 25th. Hopefully before the 31st? Sorry. :(

Other than that, I've been quite busy visiting the annual arts & crafts fair earlier this month (where a veeery cute German vendor started talking to me in German when he saw my St Pauli jacket) and the O Bej O Bej market in Milan (a traditional market held around St. Ambrose's Day).

Last night I went to see Madame Sadowsky. Man, had I missed a good night out. I had to go on my own because none of my friends could come with me, but I decided to go anyway and I'm very glad I did. I hadn't danced so much in ages. Also, I thought of schwimmerin because there was a Farin look-alike! I did a double take, at a first glance I really thought it was him! (Just younger. XD)

And tonight I'm seeing Bluvertigo! It's going to be a stroll down memory lane, they were my favourite band in the late '90s.

And on Sunday I'll be a zombie. I'm getting too old for this kind of weekend... XD

I went to see a Bluvertigo concert last night and thought I would be a zombie today, but it wasn't too bad in the end, considering I only slept 4 hours.

Bluvertigo are one of my favourite Italian bands, I was pretty much obsessed with them in the late '90s. They stopped making music together years ago, as the members were busy with different projects (the lead singer/bassist even became one of the judges in the Italian edition of X-Factor - DOH!) They played a reunion concert a few years ago, I went to see them also back then and every time I see them live I have a great time.

Here, have a picture of them. If I remember correctly, polarforscherin will appreciate someone in it. ;)