Saturday, July 4, 2009
Leipzig Revisited (Part One)
by Amanda
This was the only gig that I managed to actually post about after it happened, which you can read here. I write long and detailed blogs because that's how I roll. This post will focus on my pre-show experience. A second post later will cover the show and my thoughts on the setlist. :)After grabbing the requisite beverages and sandwiches at Le Crobag, we arrived in line at about 8:15am. There were already several people there, but we were pretty sure we'd get a great position. Exciting! As the day progressed, more and more people continued to arrive. There were shirts of all kind - classic, fan-made, bootleg.. DM, solo projects and other bands alike. The unifying theme: black. Which of course I anticipated, but still was amused by considering how long we were due to be in line in the sun. Some people were even dressed up as Martin or Dave, complete with haircuts and tattoos in all the right places. Wow, hardcore... Collectively, it was a Black Swarm, indeed.
As the vendors established themselves, we were thrilled to see that the special Depeche Mode beverage cups only sold at German gigs made a triumphant return. This tour had three collectible designs. Also, we took a good look at the official merchandise booth after only seeing some of the products on the online store. The program booklet is gorgeous and smelled like fresh paper and ink (graphic design geek moment). I decided I must buy two because some of the photos were so wonderful I wanted to frame them. The merch will be cheaper for me online and at the North American gigs, so I didn't purchase any.
As I mentioned before, we got to listen to the soundcheck. This was pretty cool for me, not only because it was great to hear Dave and the guys back again, but because I've never caught a full-band soundcheck before and it's something I always thought would be cool. It was, and I'll never forget that feeling. I filmed us in line, listening to the soundcheck, which you can watch here:
Unfortunately around 3:30pm, the venue security thought it would be smart to bring out all their door staff for a briefing, which sent the crowd in line into a freak rush toward the gates. We nearly got ran over as we were sitting near the front. We ended up packed pretty tightly together; everyone was antsy and nervous so there was a good degree of shoving going on. Mob mentality is a bit frightening. I experienced it at Martin's DJ gig in Santa Barbara in 2007, too. Then come to find out, they closed the middle gate that happened to be the one we were right in line with - awesome. We had to try to shove our way into a gate next to us, which resulted in our being sandwiched and sweating against each other for about an hour, as the staff wasn't ready to let us in yet. Mind you we're facing the east at the peak of the afternoon, so the sun was beaming right on us. I got a bit light headed and thought I might pass out from the heat and lack of fresh air, but then the time came.
As they started letting us in, the pushing got worse and my purse got stuck between the rail and someone behind me, which required a good deal of pulling to free. Once I escaped, my stub was ripped, my baggage checked and I was off for the fastest run of my life. A downhill sprint through a tunnel under the stadium seats, up a few stairs, but I dropped my jacket just before the stairs and had to stop to grab it. Then we ran up the length of the floor area and around the catwalk to get to the spot in front of Dave's mic, just one row of people between us and the rail. It had to be hundreds of meters.. phew! Unfortunately there were some odd fluffs of feathers and dust floating about in the tunnel that I somehow managed to inhale, on top of the asthmatic trouble I had.
I've never, ever regretted not having my inhaler, as I usually don't need to pack it around with me. I'm only very acute asthmatic and only take it for chest flutters when I get up in the morning. However, after this run I certainly could have used it. I had a major coughing fit and was almost throwing up because I couldn't breathe (the people around us who lit up their cigarettes right after the run didn't help). Then I went to sit down and burned my hands on the hot metal of the barrier base, which had been sitting in the sun for hours by this point. After purchasing an expensive water (and cool cup!) I sat in our spot for a while. I caught my breath and was ready and eager for the show.
To be continued... Dave is back (and beautiful)! Songs I never thought I'd hear live! Awesome photos! The show was worth the effort. :D Return to the Blog of the Universe Homepage
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