[Heeplist] German gigs (longish post)

[Pete Wharton]

Just so Bob W doesn't feel left out :)

 

Mike had left the Isle of Wight about 8 am and arrived at my house around
10:30. He'd seen on the way up that there were some delays on the London
orbital motorway ,the M25, around the junctions we needed to get to, so we
decided to head off for our flight a bit earlier and take the back roads to
the airport. After Mike had time for a quick drink and freshen up, we set
off in my car as that was the one I'd booked into the car park, Mike being a
car salesman wasn't sure which one he'd use to get to me. As it happens, the
expected delays didn't materialise and so we got to Stansted airport in
plenty of time. We got some food at the airport as we didn't know when we'd
be eating next. Surprisingly our flight was on time and when we arrived in
Nuremberg, there was the wonderful Mr Wagner to greet us and drive us
around. As we had time before the gig, we decided to head into Nuremberg
city itself for a little wander. A beautiful place, just a shame we were too
early for the Christmas market there which is a highly recommended visit.
There were a few market type stalls around though and as we went past one, I
saw they were selling Nuremberg Bratwurst, which are smaller than others and
more tasty they say. We each had a roll with three Bratwurst in and then I
spied a stall selling Gluehwein which Mike insisted we have :) It was very
nice to sit outside eating and drinking and catching up, even if it was with
coats on and under a blanket. Having finished those we strolled back to
Rich's car and off to the gig venue. The venue in honesty was not great. A
longish walk uphill in what used to be the zoo gardens I think.
Semi-circular and concrete everywhere. For some reason the bar was at the
far side of the hall, so we made our way over there and got a beer. The
support band were  Rock Antenne  and the sound was loud and mushy. At this
point we were found by 2 of the German Heepsters, Nina and Angie, so we
decided to adjourn to the other room where the merch was and we could hear
ourselves talk. When Heep came on we decided to stay at the back of the
venue and at least get the best of the sound even if the view wasn't great.
Credit to Daniel the sound man for doing a great job under the conditions,
though Davey's bass did get turned up to about 12 briefly during Speed of
Sound. The set is the same as previously posted for Vienna, you don't expect
Heep to change a set during a tour :( There was a good reception for the new
tracks. They played all of Magician's birthday, Bob, pretty much as on the
CD. Though I don't like the way they do the altercation between the good and
bad magician, where Bernie takes the role of bad magician and Phil the good
magician until the end where Bernie does the bit about the impenetrable
fortress of love as well, like they did at MBP with John Lawton. It's just
wrong. Either Bernie does it all or Phil has to be bad magician, otherwise
it just doesn't make sense. Magician's Birthday is introduced as old style
prog how Heep used to do it in the 70's and then they do What Kind of God as
an example of how Heep are still writing epic proggy type songs.

After the show we got to go backstage and meet up with the guys and have a
bit of a chat for a while before leaving for Rich's place just outside
Nuremberg where we were staying. Rich insisted we pick up some beer on the
way back to have a drink at his place. This we did and sat having a good
chat with beer for me and Mike and whiskey for Rich. Not quite sure how I
managed to get through 4 bottles, but it was about 3 am before I got to bed.
For some reason I couldn't get to sleep for ages. Oh yes, that's right it
was my roommate Mike's snoring keeping me awake :)  He sensibly had taken a
sleeping pill and worn ear plugs! I think I finally drifted off about 5 am
for a few hours before being woken up. 

After a hearty breakfast kindly provided by Rich and his lovely partner
Ulli, we set off on the long drive to Essenbach for the next gig. It
wouldn't have been quite so long if Rich's sat nav system hadn't decided
country roads were quicker than motorways :) By the time we got to Essenbach
the light was fading and the chill and mist was staring to settle in. We
found the venue, and could hear the band soundchecking, but could see no way
in. We decided to drive round to the other side of the venue and there we
saw Peter Weber the merch man and Vic the van driver. We went in and caught
the end of the soundcheck. This venue was completely different to the
previous night's in that it was a large sports hall with raised seating to
one side. They did seem to be having a little trouble with the sound from
Davey's bass, but they got it sorted in the end. 

We then headed off for our hotel. A nice little place, a guesthouse come
restaurant come social gathering place. After settling in we headed to the
guests' restaurant. Lovely pumpkin soup they served. Mike and Rich had the
day's special of ghoulash and noodles I had my favourite of Schnitzel. I
only mention this because apparently the Germans call anything like fusilli
pasta, noodles whereas noodles to us Brits is more like your Chinese egg
noodles, long and thin. Regrettably I had to let Mr Wagner get away with
this ridiculous concept :) Only because he did advise me I was putting sugar
on my schnitzel not salt!

After our meal we headed back the short distance to the venue, it was very
busy for parking as there seemed to be a coincident event on at the music
school opposite the venue. We picked up our guest passes and made our way
into the venue. The support band was the same as the previous night, but at
least this time the sound was good, so we stayed and watched. They were a
covers band. Musically quite good, but I didn't rate the male vocalist and
he was completely outshone by the female singer. Still, it boded well for
Heep's sound. Around 9:30, Heep came on. The numbers in the venue weren't
that fantastic, though it looked worse as the venue was bigger. I'd say 600
tops. The sound was excellent tonight, so we took advantage and made our way
to the front. The infill speakers really helped. The set list was the same
as expected and they were performed well. Only annoying bit (apart from the
MB interplay being wrong again) was some young drunken idiot who decided to
push his way in-between the people at the front and very nearly caused a
fight by us until he was finally dragged away by his friend. 

Again we were lucky enough to get backstage and have a chat with the band.
It took a while as they had to deal with the VIP guests first and Bernie was
still sitting round in his underwear until told to get a move on by Scampi
and Martin Darvell, who was also there for tonight and tomorrow. We had a
couple of beers with them before they left and then when they had gone had
another one with the crew who could finally relax. Fortunately it wasn't far
back to our hotel, so there was a vague chance I could get some sleep
tonight. 

Arising early, well it felt early, we again had a hearty breakfast before
setting off on the really long journey to Mannheim for today's gig. Rich
checked the map before we left so that he didn't have to rely on the sat nav
and I had it with me to check the route. It was a pretty uneventful long
motorway journey in the main, listening to all sorts of differing music. We
got to a motorway junction and despite my protestations that it wasn't the
planned one, Rich decided to listen to his sat nav and follow this route,
convinced it was the right planned road. Again I was shouted down in his
best Teutonic fashion :) Eventually we decided to stop for refreshments and
Rich wanted to check the road atlas to see what I had been on about,
convinced I was wrong about the road we were on. I wasn't and in shame the
German had to concede navigational defeat to the Englishman :) 

Anyway we decided to go and check into our hotel and grab some rest instead
of going to the sound check. We'd arranged to meet Nina again at our hotel
at 6:30 and get some food. I didn't sleep, the room was a bit cold and when
I tried to up the temp, the climate display just kept saying error. So I
went to reception to mention this, only to be told that that control was for
the air con and only worked in summer, there was a radiator by the window to
use in winter. Feeling somewhat abashed I went back to my room and  found
the said radiator hidden behind a curtain so I wasn't surprised I didn't see
it. As I came out of my room to meet the rest, I got some satisfaction when
Mike asked me if my room was cold as he couldn't get the heating temperature
adjusted in his. Kindly I told him of his error and how I had discovered it.
We mentioned this to Rich who laughed and asked if we had not read the label
by the climate control. He didn't believe there wasn't one there to read
until we went back to my room and showed him. Back of the net, Germany 1,
England 2 :) 

We then went and met Nina and her friend Katrine and had some food in the
hotel. Service was a bit slow, so by the time we'd finished and all piled
into Nina's car for the short drive to the venue, the first support band had
already started. As we had been warned, this again was not a great venue. A
plain rectangular box shape with metal support girders the length of the
venue, down the middle and then the sponsors had put some beach sails in the
arena which also blocked the view. First support(21 Octayne I think)  were
pretty good and then there was Voodoo Circle whose guitarists had also been
involved on the Rock meets Classic tour with Mick And Bernie. Again, very
listenable. The sound wasn't fantastic and being a small venue it was quite
crowded at the front, though not as much as the stage shot makes it appear.
Again we decided to stay at the back and get the best of the sound. Set was
as before, very well executed and the crowd were very responsive especially
to One Minute.

The crew weren't hanging around long tonight as they had to set off on a
long drive and had to change drivers en-route. We did eventually get
backstage as again the band were dealing with VIPs first. Nearly didn't
though. We were sitting waiting in a side room with one of the crew when
Katrine came back from being outside with Nina and told us we were going.
The crew man thought she meant the band were ready to see us and went one
way followed by Rich. Katrine went another way followed by Mike and me (she
was quite pretty after all). Unfortunately Nina had decided in a huff to
give up waiting and was going to leave. Well as we couldn't really leave
without Rich, fortunately we all went back in and found the crew man who
directed us to the band area. Bernie was outside with some guests and asked
how the show was, whereupon I said I wished he and Phil would sort out the
MB interchange. Ooops, didn't get understood properly as Bernie thought I
meant they weren't doing it well. Anyway we went inside the band's room
where Mick immediately thrust a beer in my hand :)  Of course the others
then ask how we thought it went at which point Bernie pipes up about my
comments on Mag's Birthday and I am then duly harangued by all :( The band
were very chatty although I did seem to end up chatting to the
aforementioned guests who had been left outside the room. So we had a few
beers with them before they left. Kindly Mick gave me a bottle of beer to
take home for the road as they left.

Nina dropped us off at our hotel and the bar was still open though it took
ages to find the barman. So we had a beer and a whisky and I did have Mick's
bottle to finish too, so again it was about 3 AM before we went to bed. 

The next morning was still an early rise as we had the longish drive back to
Nuremberg for Mike and I to get our flight. It did mean though that we would
get a chance to visit briefly the Technical museum at Sinsheim on the way
back. This is a truly fascinating place if you have any interest in old
cars, bikes, artillery, tanks, trains and planes. Lots of US cars on
display. You get to go inside a lot of the planes which are up on the roof
including an old Air France Concorde an the Russian equivalent the Tupelev.
There's even a Douglas DC3 where you can take a slide down a few levels from
the plane's exit door. So of course Mike & I did :) A great place to visit
if you ever get a chance.

 

Regrettably we then had to leave for the airport. A great weekend was over.
Heep were great, the new stuff went over well I think. Not everyone's ideal
set list, but it is what it is. Always great to meet up with Heepsters as
well and Rich Wagner is a very great host and travelling companion, even if
he doesn't know what road he's on :)

 

I did remember to ask Mick this time about the Koko DVD. February he told
me. It's done and in the hands of the label. Why they decided not to hit the
Christmas market with a November release he didn't know.

 

Cheers,

 

Pete