[Heeplist] German gigs (longish post)

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No one leaves sorry 

MADMAN 

p.s. URIAH HEEP forever 
----- Original Message -----

From: "Richard Gill" <richard at dari.id.au> 
To: "heeplist" <heeplist at travellersintime.com> 
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2014 3:49:59 PM 
Subject: Re: [Heeplist] German gigs (longish post) 

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On 28 November 2014 at 06:09, Pete Wharton <heeplistpete at ntlworld.com> 
wrote: 

> 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 
> 
> 
> 
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