Time to recount our awesome night last night. I woulde've written about it when we returned, but we didn't get back to Berlin until almost 5 a.m. local time, and then I slept until 2 p.m. or so, so now that I'm awake, let me tell you about the day.
It seemed like we had almost every possible complication we could get along the way. We had trouble getting to the car rental place, we had trouble driving there, we had trouble finding the actual venue, and we got there late and Fury had already started their show, which was a bit of a bummer. It was raining a decent amount already and the show was outdoors. But Avri and I also had backstage passes.
The band was great, in fine form, and incredible live. About half way into the show, Thorsten, the lead songwriter, stepped to the microphone and said a bit in German and then said "Is Cliff Hicks here?" I did my best to make myself known and rushed as close to the stage as i could get until I hit a wall of fans who would not move. Thorsten told the audience how far I had come for the show. Then he switched to English to tell me "It doesn't always rain here in Germany. You're invited to last show and hopefully you'll take the rain away and come back to nice sunny Germany for it." Then Thorston played the song I requested in my email to them, "Haunted Head and Heart." At that moment, I felt twelve miles tall. I was so ecstatic, I couldn't even tell you.
After the show, Avri and I got backstage, despite the fact that my backstage pass had slid off in the rain (I flashed my passport and then they let me in without question) and went backstage to chat with the band. There were probably fifty or so people in the hangout after the show room, and I chatted with everyone in the band except Christian, the bassist, whom I couldn't find, and got them to autograph my cover of "Brilliant Thieves." (Thorsten said it was entirely possible Christian simply left early since his girlfriend was pregnant.)
Each of the band members were quite different in person, but I enjoyed my time talking to all of them. Thorsten told me about their plans and where the individual members were going from here. Gero told me a wonderful story about why he suspects he's not allowed back in the U.S. (and I offered to vouch for him as a resident). Rainer was mostly spending time with his kids, but his wife wanted to hear the entire story of my journey, so I told it to her. (At one point she asked me "And you are having regular mental examinations?") Kai was friendly, but mostly pretty quiet, which surprised me a little bit. Christof had three ladies, two beers and a hand-rolled cigarette to keep him busy, so after our hellos and brief introductions, I tried not to bother him too much.
Being backstage is both a great and a strange feeling in the fact that I know that I'm invited, but I know I'm not part of the world in question. The guys from Fury were great, though, so I spent about an hour chatting with them in total and then Avri and I headed out to meet up with Mary and Carlos, the people whom we're staying with in Berlin, and our rides back to Berlin. I did, however, tell Thorsten I would be flying back from England for the last show on the 30th and would do my best to hang around a lot later after that show. He told me the afterparty for that show would be pretty insane, but to make sure I at least said hi. I also go Avri to take a picture with me and Thorsten, and the minute Kai saw that, he had to join in for a second one. I'm sure I'll post those pictures later.
As we started to make our way oujt of Hannover, Avri and I both needed to get something to eat, so we talked our rides into letting us stop at a pizza stand, and on our way back to the car, three guys were walking past us and then said "hey! You! Fury in the Slaughterhouse!" So I sort of turned with this big grin on my face. "how did you like the concert?" they asked me, and I told them it was awesome on so many levels I couldn't describe. It was sort of a weird moment of recognitiion, but aweseome nonetheless.
So I think pretty soon we're going to grab a late lunch and then maybe do a bit of wandering through the city, this time with my real camera and not Sean's tiny one, but we'll see. Mary and Carlos are off returning the car, and I still need to hop through a shower and become fully conscious. I simply wanted to get all of this down while it was still fresh in my mind. I need to make sure to get a t-shirt at the show on the 30th and find out if the show last night was recorded and sold on USB sticks and if so how I can get one... I've never had a song personally dedicated to me by a band on stage before, and I'd kinda like to have that moment on recording forever... Thank you again so much Fury In the Slaughterhouse, for making a fan's year a whole lot brighter. On the morning of the 30th, I fly out of London Heathrow and back to Hannover for the final show, meet up with Nils (my contact for Fury CDs from Germany back before there was Amazon.de), go to the show, go to the afterparty, go directly back to the airport, fly back to London Heathrow, kill a few hours, then fly back to the states the afternoon of the 31st, and promptly pass out on that plane (I hope).
Hope all is well back in the states and that no one's wreaking too much havoc without me.
It seemed like we had almost every possible complication we could get along the way. We had trouble getting to the car rental place, we had trouble driving there, we had trouble finding the actual venue, and we got there late and Fury had already started their show, which was a bit of a bummer. It was raining a decent amount already and the show was outdoors. But Avri and I also had backstage passes.
The band was great, in fine form, and incredible live. About half way into the show, Thorsten, the lead songwriter, stepped to the microphone and said a bit in German and then said "Is Cliff Hicks here?" I did my best to make myself known and rushed as close to the stage as i could get until I hit a wall of fans who would not move. Thorsten told the audience how far I had come for the show. Then he switched to English to tell me "It doesn't always rain here in Germany. You're invited to last show and hopefully you'll take the rain away and come back to nice sunny Germany for it." Then Thorston played the song I requested in my email to them, "Haunted Head and Heart." At that moment, I felt twelve miles tall. I was so ecstatic, I couldn't even tell you.
After the show, Avri and I got backstage, despite the fact that my backstage pass had slid off in the rain (I flashed my passport and then they let me in without question) and went backstage to chat with the band. There were probably fifty or so people in the hangout after the show room, and I chatted with everyone in the band except Christian, the bassist, whom I couldn't find, and got them to autograph my cover of "Brilliant Thieves." (Thorsten said it was entirely possible Christian simply left early since his girlfriend was pregnant.)
Each of the band members were quite different in person, but I enjoyed my time talking to all of them. Thorsten told me about their plans and where the individual members were going from here. Gero told me a wonderful story about why he suspects he's not allowed back in the U.S. (and I offered to vouch for him as a resident). Rainer was mostly spending time with his kids, but his wife wanted to hear the entire story of my journey, so I told it to her. (At one point she asked me "And you are having regular mental examinations?") Kai was friendly, but mostly pretty quiet, which surprised me a little bit. Christof had three ladies, two beers and a hand-rolled cigarette to keep him busy, so after our hellos and brief introductions, I tried not to bother him too much.
Being backstage is both a great and a strange feeling in the fact that I know that I'm invited, but I know I'm not part of the world in question. The guys from Fury were great, though, so I spent about an hour chatting with them in total and then Avri and I headed out to meet up with Mary and Carlos, the people whom we're staying with in Berlin, and our rides back to Berlin. I did, however, tell Thorsten I would be flying back from England for the last show on the 30th and would do my best to hang around a lot later after that show. He told me the afterparty for that show would be pretty insane, but to make sure I at least said hi. I also go Avri to take a picture with me and Thorsten, and the minute Kai saw that, he had to join in for a second one. I'm sure I'll post those pictures later.
As we started to make our way oujt of Hannover, Avri and I both needed to get something to eat, so we talked our rides into letting us stop at a pizza stand, and on our way back to the car, three guys were walking past us and then said "hey! You! Fury in the Slaughterhouse!" So I sort of turned with this big grin on my face. "how did you like the concert?" they asked me, and I told them it was awesome on so many levels I couldn't describe. It was sort of a weird moment of recognitiion, but aweseome nonetheless.
So I think pretty soon we're going to grab a late lunch and then maybe do a bit of wandering through the city, this time with my real camera and not Sean's tiny one, but we'll see. Mary and Carlos are off returning the car, and I still need to hop through a shower and become fully conscious. I simply wanted to get all of this down while it was still fresh in my mind. I need to make sure to get a t-shirt at the show on the 30th and find out if the show last night was recorded and sold on USB sticks and if so how I can get one... I've never had a song personally dedicated to me by a band on stage before, and I'd kinda like to have that moment on recording forever... Thank you again so much Fury In the Slaughterhouse, for making a fan's year a whole lot brighter. On the morning of the 30th, I fly out of London Heathrow and back to Hannover for the final show, meet up with Nils (my contact for Fury CDs from Germany back before there was Amazon.de), go to the show, go to the afterparty, go directly back to the airport, fly back to London Heathrow, kill a few hours, then fly back to the states the afternoon of the 31st, and promptly pass out on that plane (I hope).
Hope all is well back in the states and that no one's wreaking too much havoc without me.
Labels: concert, Fury In The Slaughterhouse, Germany/England trip
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