Depeche Mode in Vienna or Vienna is calling

 Within one year I came the third time to Vienna , now.

We took the bus from Bratislava to Vienna and checked in to the "Pension Kaffeemühle", the third time, too.

The days in Bratislava were great, I made a little bit sightseeing at the day-off  (you can see the pictures at the Bratislava entry).

I need a shower and a sleep, because my bad cold.

Third time again I had a great meal in a vegetarian chinese restaurant beside the hotel. Yummy!

I didn't have a concert ticket this time and after a while I bought one from a english guy in front of the "Wiener  Stadthalle" .

I went into the hall, they looked into my bag, but nobody wanted to see my ticket, strange. Then I had to go through the standing entrance north. There they exsected my ticket and as I went in I met my friends which went through the entrance south, I did not understand it.

The concert was sold out but we had a good place.

It was a good concert, I enjoyed it, because my voice came back for a while, but I hold me back, because I was still ill.

They played " Should be higher" and I was happy.

Martin sang " Blue dress" again.

Nothing special happened but I took pleasure in every moment.

I wanted to forget nothing from this tour.

Now, only ten concerts left, the countdown started.

Today I will meet a friend here in Vienna and later I will fly back to Cologne, two days at home before I go to Dresden on Wednesday!.

Bye bye Bratislava

Wiener Stadthalle

Depeche Mode in Bratislava or "Mr. Dave Gahan"!

I woke up yesterday morning with a bad cold.

No one needs it, but I stand up at 4 a.m. and drove to the airport and flew to Vienna, then into the bus to Bratislava. 

At 9.30 a.m we was in our hotel and of course not the early bird catches the worm: no check in before 12 p.m.!

So we was forced to wait in a bar beside the hotel.

The beer cost only 1,10€ and you can imagine what came out of it.

A few hours later well filled with three liters of beer we finally checked in.

A fast meal in a greek restaurant and a short break in our hotel room, we was ready to go to the concert at the Slovnaft Arena in Bratislava.

First time for me to see an indoor concert here, I saw Depeche Mode here three times in the stadium in summer.

It was a small arena, maybe 13000 people, and filled up to the roof!!!

But thank god, we had front of the stage tickets. It was a small area, but it had a bar, so there was all we need.

The crowd acclaimed the band with an awesome applause, wow, goose bumps.

But I had a big problem. Because my cold and the lot of beer i drank, I lost my voice, , totally voiceless, horrible for me!!

I like it to sing & chant with the other fans, to cheer for Mr. Gahan with screaming so loud as possible and it was very strange not to be able to do my normal program.

I became evil mood as Depeche Mode changed " Should be higher" for " In your room"!

I couldn't understand why they did it?

" Should be higher"was the last forty-five of DM, can not be true, right?

Apart from that it was the normal setlist.

Later at " Enjoy the silence" I shed some tears, I could not help!!!

But there was a nice guy next to me he comforted me! Thank you, Jo!!!

Highlight of the concert was as Dave came back on stage after Martin sang " Shake the disease".

Like every time Dave thanked Martin and Peter Gordeno for their performance.

At this moment, many fans in front of the stage started with shouting" Andy, Fletcher, Andy Fletcher...."!

Andy waved to them and then Dave said:" and of course Mr. Andy Fletcher and Mr. Christian Eigner!"

And then finally, I've waited so long, Martin Gore said:" and Mr. Dave Gahan!"

Yeah, yeah, yeah, after thirty four f***cking years he finally did!

It sucked that I was voiceless, I would have broken down the hall with my sreaming, believe me!!!

" Just can't get enough" was wonderful, Dave danced like a devil on the loudspeaker boxes.

From there he saw the crew behind the bar, they danced like the audience and he pointed to them and laughed!!! He is the best, the best, the best!

I have already mentioned?

Thank you Bratislava for this wonderful evening. Met so many friendly people here, this is one of my favourite concert places in the world. In German there is the expression :"  you are a  bank", don't know if there is it in English, too.

Today I feel very damaged, my cold is getting not better.

" Slow" will be the slogan of the day!!!!

Depeche Mode in Mannheim or eins,zwei, drei, vier

This time I will post a lot of pictures of the concert, basically of Dave.
I'm so tired, I cannot write a long report about the Mannheim concert.

It was another birthday journey, a friend of mine got 38 years old yesterday and we started the trip with
sparkling wine in the train to Mannheim and we didn't stop with drinking until 3.00 a.m

Everything worked, we got our wristlet at 6.00 p.m. at the SAP arena, then we went back to the city for partying in our hotel room and came back right to the beginning of the concert. We stood in the third row and had such a lot of fun, because it was a frenetic evening.

Dave excelled himself and that's the reason why I took almost only pictures of Dave.
He said " good evening Mannheim" with a broad smile, because 4 years ago he welcomed Mannheim with " Good evening Stuttgart", ups, awkward.

But yesterday he knew he was in Mannheim and later he said two times, "next time again we'll see us again in Stuttgart". Haha, funny.

I loved every song, Martin sang again " Blue dress", great and relaxed show.
Dave went many many times on the catwalk, don't know why but he was so laid-back, wow.
Maybe  because after Mannheim only 15 shows left.
The mountain is climbed!!!!

At the end of "Just can't get enough" he leaned forward on the catwalk and whispered " shhhhh" and the hall got quiet and then he whispered in his microphone: "Eins, zwei, drei, vier":

Yes, he spoke German, unbelievable and for me the highlight of the show.

It was a an evening with many happiness emotions and good friends and after the show we went to the "Disco 2" where the aftershowparty was with DJ Elvis and DJ Viol, both friends of mine. Thanx guys for the great party!!

We danced and drank until I was so tired.

Must be enough for this time, I have to sleep now, because tomorrow morning I have to catch a very early flight to Vienna to go to Bratislava and  my concert number 45.

Good night, my friends!

Depeche Mode in Strasbourg or what a lazy evening

I mean no harm: it was a lazy evening in Strasbourg, seriously, in a comfortable way.

I arrived in the early afternoon in Strasbourg. I met in the TGV from Karlsruhe to Strasbourg friends by chance. I knew via Facebook, that they would go to Strasbourg and here we were....

Sometimes all roads lead to Depeche Mode! And we discovered, we booked the same hotel. Ha ha.

After I checked in I met two friends for sightseeing. Enjoy the pictures!! After Paris, Strasbourg was a very different city. Wonderful! Lazy by comparison with Paris.

We visited the Minster of our Lady, one of the biggest buildings of sandstone in the world.

Between 1647 and 1874 it was the highest building! Very imposant. It is like the Cologne Cathedral, both are gothic and both stand in cities, where the River Rhine is flowing. But the Strasbourg Minster was light colored, the sandstone of the Cologne Cathedral is now black, but I love this!

Then we needed a refreshment and we stopped for a bite to eat in a small restaurant near the Minster to eat the Tarte Flambee, a kind of " French pizza" from Alsace made from a very thin layer of pastry topped with sour cream, chopped onions and bacon.

I got the vegetarian sort with a typical cheese from Alsace called Minster like the church. Very strong cheese but delicious.

Now it was time to drive to the Zenith of Strasbourg, a new  modern concert hall outside the city.

The concert was sold out, maybe 12000 people. It was a middle-class concert with the standard set list and a good humored Mr. Gahan. I say it again: I need the word lazy to describe the concert.

The audience danced not to much, all were in a good mood, nobody drank a lot.

Depeche Mode started a half hour earlier ( after a cruel supporting band called " Soft Moon") and after the concert it remained dark in the auditorium for a while. I'm sure because Depeche Mode needed the time to leave the concert hall before the fans came to the car park. I don't know where they went, maybe Frankfurt, but they didn't stay in Strasbourg overnight.

" Just can't get enough" and " Never let me down" were the highlights, no surprise because the audience were in the same age like the band.

A big plus factor was the fantastic loud sound, maybe the best and clearest sound of the tour. I heard some nuances I've never heard before. Wow!!!

After the concert we spent a while at the after show party, but the party was very lazy and now I mean what I say. It was to lazy and the friends of mine dropped me off at my hotel.

This morning I took an early train to Cologne and met my friends from the outward journey.

I'm happy to be at home for an evening, tomorrow I will go to Mannheim.

Au revoir France! Merci beaucoup pour certains grands spectacles!!!