Kiwi in Berlin

I'm just one of the 250 (registered) New Zealanders living in Berlin. Here I try to answer pressing questions such as: What are the Germans like? What happens in Berlin on a day-to-day basis? Why is NZ so far away? What does "playing the offended sausage" mean?

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

London Called

Two days in London wasn’t much, but we’re going back for New Year anyway, and this trip was just to see Muse. I’d seen Muse earlier this year in NZ at the Big Day Out, and while they were very impressive, seeing a band for 45 minutes wedged in between other big bands outside in the middle of the day just can’t compare with seeing them for almost two hours, at night in Earl’s Court in London, which holds 18,000 and was the biggest indoor venue I’d ever seen.

The concert had sold out within days to pre-sales, and I’d scored tickets only by clicking frantically and hoping it would work at some point, because the site had slowed right down. At first I was disappointed that I could only get seats, because Muse isn’t a band you sit down to. But it turned out our seats were great – near the stage and I could see everything without having to peer around a 7-foot rugbyhead, which is what normally happens.

Anyway, doors opened at 6pm but Muse didn’t show for another three hours. There were two average supporting acts who I didn’t know, and a hard-core mosh-pit had formed at the front as soon as doors opened. They weren’t budging. In fact, security had to start passing them water before Muse even came on stage, because it got so squishy and hot.

I always get excited about concerts, but this one was especially big, partly because Muse is a huge live act, and partly because travelling to a whole other country just to see a band adds to the general hype and build-up.

It more than met my expectations. It’s hard to describe exactly how amazing it was. The noise of the crowd was overwhelming – everyone knew the words, everyone was jumping up and how (including the seated people – as I said, you just can’t sit for Muse). It was like a two-hour musical orgasm. HUGE. Even if you’re not a big Muse fan; if you have any interest in live rock music whatsoever, you have to see them. Frontman Matt Bellamy is incredible. He belts out tunes with the power of 20 voices, whips up a frenzy on his guitar, and streams his fingers up and down the piano. Really, if I were single I would hunt him down and marry him.

So, after two encores and then finding my way outside into the cold with 18,000 other sweaty people, I was totally euphoric. It may sound a bit übertrieben (overdone), but it’s not often in life you see something like that. It’s like when you read an incredible book or see an amazing film – and that only really happens a handful of times. It beat out my previous favourite concerts - Smashing Pumpkins in Wellington in 1996 (front row), and seeing Shihad for the first time aged 16.

If I was a kid seeing a concert like that for the first time, I would race home, buy a drum-kit or guitar, and start working my way to playing in front of an audience that rapturous. Actually there was a kid behind us who was clearly a musician, because his air-guitar and air drums were spot on. He knew all the words and was moving around as though the music had completely possessed him, as though he was on the stage himself playing.

Otherwise the weekend was spent seeing people and having pub lunches. There are some things about London I miss (I lived there until September 10, 2001, meaning yes, that I was in a plane on 9/11, not the safest place to be), but they’re mostly small things, like pies, big sandwiches from Pret a Manger, good tea, Camden Markets. I don’t miss how crowded and hectic it is, people rushing everywhere no matter what day or time it is, how dirty it can be, how expensive. But when you visit you can concentrate on the fun things and visit friends.

We got back to Berlin late last night and saw that snow had fallen over the weekend and everything was covered in white. It’s sunny and melting today, though, and Xmas is predicted to be rainy, rather than white. Oh well. Another year perhaps.

PS Due to popular demand (well, one person), I’ll take some flat photos and upload them in the next few days.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home