Athens show one (part one)….

So here it is, the first of the final three shows in Athens and the ones to be filmed!

Kami and i picked our tickets up at the box office (it was a small temporary cabin!)  as did James who was with us and we headed into the venue. Phil bought a couple of tickets outside as he had tickets for the 2nd and 3rd show but not tonight. The venue was at one of the many arenas in the Olympic village in Athens that were built for the Olympic games in 2004. Its like most Olympic villages, its on the outskirts of the city, easily accessible by the metro but there's no bars, restaurants or anything else out where it is.

It was a typical venue but not quite as deep as a lot of the venues that have been played at, we entered the venue on the lower tier but decided we’d all prefer standing on the floor so made our way down to meet up with Matt, Phil and Laila who were right at the front to the left of the stage. The first thing i noticed was how much space there was on the floor, it wasn't packed at all, it was only 8:00 and the show didn't start till 9:30 tonight but even so there was so much room to move about on the floor. Once we found out where everyone was i took Kami backstage to the hospitality area. Normally the hospitality room is very well signposted but tonight there wasn't a single sign along the corridors or anywhere to be seen! I asked a security guy to direct us to Hospitality and after looking a touch concerned he led us down a couple of corridors, then spoke with and handed us over to another security guy who took us along a smaller corridor and into a small room off to the side. it was then that the other guys concern registered, they had taken us to the HOSPITAL room!! as we turned to walk in the room there was a gurney and a team of medical staff in there!! i then explained to them that it was band hospitality that we were looking for and once they realised they took us back out and into the actual room we were looking for!! I had a quick chat with Robbie and Dave and left kami there while i went back out onto the floor to see James, Phil and Liala.

The second thing that was evident was the camera throughout the venue, i counted 8 in total spread around the venue

1. Boom mounted at the sound desk

2. Stage left rolling on rails elevated off the floor, rolling from half way back to level with the front of the stage.

3. Stage right, again elevated off the floor rolling on rails from half way back to level with the front of the stage

4. Stage right, a fixed camera about half way back front row of the lower level

5. Front of stage  in front of the crowd spanning the full length of the stage on rails.

6. Stage left, camera on a boom going  behind and in front of the stage over the top of the wall

7.Static camera on a vertical riser just up and down behind Grahams drum kit

8. Roaming camera on the arena floor.

Pictures of some of the cameras i took at the 2nd show.

What was also evident was the lighting that was up on the front of the second tier, about 25 single small spots either side of the venue, plus a group of 6 each side of the venue pointed down towards the front section of the floor. There was also a lack of surround speakers, there was no surround at all for tonight(and the next two nights) shows. I remember in 2000 and the Portland show that they filmed and how the arena had to be lit most of the time due to filming,this looked like it was going to be the same too.

Everyone on the floor was holding a paper face mask similar to the ones given out at the Berlin show, these had been handed out to everyone who came in through the floor entrance, as James, Kami and i had come in through the lower level one we didn't have any, well until i went back to the entrance and snagged us a few:) There were no instructions on the back like I've seen before, how would the crowd know when to wear them i wondered ? As i was walking back from the rear of the venue i could tell there were no cameras at all in the venue either, there was no one taking pictures, no small LCD screens anywhere, no little red lights blinking, nothing at all! As we all stepped off the train there were people with megaphones telling everyone that cameras and mobiles would not be allowed in the venue and as we all walked closer to the arena there were people handing out leaflets to everyone just to make doubly sure everyone was getting the message. James, Phil Kami and i hadn't brought ours at all, we had left our phones and cameras at the hotel but even if we hadn't there were small  booths where people could leave them and get a ticket in return to pick them up after the show.

The wall itself was just the same, as was the stage setup, i had heard rumours that the venue would be decked out with banners hanging from the ceiling like at the original show in 1980/81 these were obviously just rumours or they had decided against this for some reason. Kami came back from the “hospital”  with about 10 minutes before show time and we all took our places right on the front rail right in front of Dave and Snowy.

After the track “People Get Ready” the normal routine of the two guards bringing pink out on stage didn't happen, what we saw was the lights going down and a video of Roger appeared on the big round screen and on each side of the wall. He proceeded to talk (or try to talk) in Greek, failing at first and saying “ oh fucking hell” and “ ahh it doesn't matter they will cut all this crap out anyway wont they?” they obviously didn't and the crowd laughed as Roger messed up a few times. He looked real happy and was having fun saying whatever he was saying, we asked the people next to use what he was saying and they were telling how he was explaining that the shows were to be filmed and that everyone was to put on their masks at the beginning of Empty Spaces (this was obviously why there were no instructions on the back of the masks!)

The whole crowd let out a huge cheer at the end of Rogers talk and we then heard the Spartacus shouts and saw the guards bring pink on the stage. It started off as any other show did however the lights that i  spoke about earlier were very evident during the show and if you looked round behind you could see all the crowd were lit a lot more than normal and the place wasn't dark at all. The lights changed colour during each track, blue, orange, white etc the cluster of 6 spotlights came on and lit the front section of the audience at the end of each track too, this wasn't as off-putting as i expected and after 3 or 4 tracks you didn't notice them at all, what you did notice though even though we were on the front row was there wasn't a single flash of a camera in the building! not a single red light shining towards the stage either. The crowd were loud from the very start, they started singing the words to Another Brick within seconds and i was very surprised that Roger stuck to playing the new ending  that he’s been playing at the last dozen or so shows, i was sure he would want the original version on the DVD, obviously not!

Dave's guitar wasn't to be heard during the first 15 seconds of Goodbye Blue Sky, and there was a feedback tone that had the crew looking at each other in confusion! it was obviously sorted out quickly and things were back to normal audio wise but it took a good 30 seconds

As the  animation started for the Fucking Flowers on screen i looked behind and saw people starting to put their masks on, i put mine on as did Kami, James, Phil and Matt. I looked around 30 seconds later and the sight was incredible, EVERY single person on the floor was wearing their mask! i couldn't see one person that didn't have one on, it literally was a “sea of faces” and all the same ones! Even the crew were all smiles looking at everyone in the audience wearing the masks.

To be continued………

I met Rose last night…

 

and Kami met pink!

 

Boots!

 

crowd

Thank you, no thank YOU..........

I just wanted to thank everyone for their donations, raised enough money for Kevin's flight AND hotel room, gonna sort out the bookings today and im sure he'll have  a few words of thanks to say to everyone soon. Thanks again, means a lot

A plee....

Im sure there are a lot of blog readers that know of and have even met Kevin who has been doing the whole tour.

Its his 60th birthday on Tuesday and would be his 60th show here in Athens and the last show of he tour.

Unfortunately he's stuck in Germany with little money and can't get to Athens.

He's helped a LOT of people out over the last 12 weeks and Im doing all I can to help hime out and get him a flight to Athens from Germany and wanted to ask that anyone that can make a donation on the paypal button at the top right of this page it would be hugely appreciated. Every dollar and cent and pound shilling and pence would he'll.

Cheers
Si
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Athens last night, few quick notes….

Will do a review soon but a few quick notes i put on facebook last night and earlier on:

Athens show tonight, unreal, best show of the tour by far! crowd were amazing, facemasks given to everyone on the floor to wear during Empty Spaces, every single person clapping during run like hell, unbelievable and not a single camera flash all night from the audience!!

I just watched the Run Like Hell YouTube clip and gave me goosebumps, wish the guy had turned around though, really was unreal to see the whole place clapping. There was a great video shown at the beginning of the show of Roger trying to talk Greek telling everyone when to wear their masks, was funny as he said they would cut bits out of him swearing etc but they didn't! i have to say that having no cameras in the venue worked ever so well, we were all on the rail on the floor right in front of Dave and it was great for us without the cameras so i can only imagine how good it must have been for everyone in front of us who didn't have hands in the air in front of them holding cameras and phone etc!

Run Like Hell in Athens

Crowd did the Ole, Ole, Ole thing at the end of Outside The Wall and stopped Roger speaking for at least a couple of minutes The show itself was identical, no changes, they played the new ending to Another Brick, the audience were lit up ...a lot more than at normal shows obviously for the filming, lights running along the front of the top level shining onto into the whole venue and changed colour frequently and for each track and gave it a great different type of atmosphere, changing to while at the end of every track to enable the crowd to be seen on the filming. 

I counted eight cameras, one on a large boom from the mixing desk, one on a large boom behind the wall to the left of the stage that kept coming out and over the wall (knocking a couple of bricks off the wall at one point) one on a dolly stage front, one onstage on a riser behind Graham, one on dolly's either side of the stage,one hand held in the audience, one fixed on the right side of the stage.(There will be 3 more "closed set" shows for filming the close up, stage and cut away shots!)

Pre show meet up at the Hard Rock,

Athens, view from the hotel rooftop bar and pool…

Manchester….

The last time i was here i brought my dad to the show, Kami was with me and we had a great time. Tonight wasnt much different with the exception that i drove over from Huddersfield alone for the show.

I got into Manchester about 4pm, US Matt had messaged me 20 minutes before to say he was at Henry J Beans where we were all meeting up, Kevin and Matt from Guildford were on the train from Birmingham and Jason and his dad had just arrived are were outside at the box office.

Nick, whom Kevin and i had last seen in Prague arrived at the bar around 5pm, it was his last wall show in Europe and he was another one who had had a good run of shows and tonight would be his 10th from memory. US Matt had arrived before the show in Birmingham yesterday, seen the show, travelled to Manchester, would be seeing the show and then flying back to Boston the morning after, again this would be his last show of the European tour.

Matt and Barry didn't have tickets for tonight, i had told them not to worry and either myself or Kevin would look after them. Ive yet to go to a single show and there not be either tickets for sale outside the venue or whats more common is that there's tickets for sale at the box office before the show. Id asked at the box office as i passed on my way to the bar, they had tickets but they were the first block at the side and not the best seats in the house so i said no and would check back later on.

It was nice to sit with Barry, Nick, US Matt, Kevin and Guildford Matt in a bit more of a relaxed meet up tonight, we had a few drinks a good chat and i headed down to the venue again an hour or so later to check at the box office. I managed to pick up 3 2nd row centre tickets for just over face value,the whole ticket industry is ever so “bent” and the way i acquired these tickets just re affirmed this. US Matt and Barry were happy though and i would be sat next to the tow of them for tonight's show and sat right on the isle in front of Roger 2nd row.

I headed into the venue as i was due to meet up with my friend Helen, we had face booked and emailed but never met, she was friends with Dave K and had done a drawing of him that she had brought to give to Dave tonight. She messaged me to say she was in the venue and they were at their seats. I headed down to see her and her husband and had a chat for 20 minutes and had a look at the pictures she had drawn. Helen, it was great to finally meet you and your husband.

Helen and I                               Helen and Dave K at an earlier Manchester show        Helens drawing of Dave K

   

I went to take my seat and Matt and Barry arrived along with Kevin and Matt, this was the final UK show and even though i knew i was going to the last three shows in Athens i was a touch emotional it being the last show and possible the last time I'd see Roger in the UK! The last couple of shows here last month had a great audience, party due to Manchester being only 25 miles or so from Liverpool and a lot of the fans from Liverpool had come over to see the shows (something Roger commented on the last time he was here)

Barry and US Matt                                             Nick, Matt from Guildford and Kevin

 

As the show start time drew near the seat right on the aisle next to Barry, Matt and i had still not been taken, Kevin took the seat and stayed there for the whole night without a single person coming to claim it! Matt did the same  in a single seat in front of us in the front row however he politely moved to his own seats when two people arrived 35 minutes into the1st set!!

The crowd were very vocal tonight and sang along to a lot of the songs, the kids didn't have their new T shirts and did the normal routine of coming onstage, dancing around and then heading over to point at the teacher, no letters on the back of the shirts tonight.

I know the kids part is one of Guildford Matt's favourite parts of the show, and every time I've seen him when the kids are onstage I've wanted to catch him on video clapping along with the kids, however I've never had my camera or haven't been sat close enough, i was tonight though and as you can see below, he just loves getting involved with the kids

Matt and the kids during Another Brick

Roger has continued with his new ending to Another Brick and the more i hear it the more i do like it, im just not sure it fits in the show but i still enjoy it and its getting more refined as the shows go on. Im guessing he will revert back to the “normal” ending for the shows that are filmed in Athens with maybe just performing the new part at one of the three shows, we’ll see.

New Another Brick ending

It was great to be sat next to US Matt, Barry and Kevin for the show. At the beginning of Mother, Barry shouted out “ Roger i love you”, Roger returned the banter and said “love you too” and then  “there's a man down here who loves me”  after a few laughs in the audience and some great smiles and eye contact between Roger and Barry, Roger then said  “um where was i” before returning to what he was going to say.Fortunately someone who must have been sat pretty close to us caught this on video, if you watch the clip below and scroll to 2:00 minutes you’ll be able to see and hear it.

Barry and Roger in Love!

The second half of this show seemed to fly by so quickly and even Kevin turned to me and said “ it just goes quicker and quicker”

Roger had his podium again and the crowd rose to their feet and stayed there from Comfy Numb onwards.

before the band started to play outside The Wall Roger announced that they were coming towards the end of the European tour and only had a few shows left and this was their last UK show. Normally as the band are introduced by Roger they leave the stage and head back through the dark curtain towards the back of the stage however tonight when graham Broad left the stage he had other ideas only known to a few! he actually made his way round the back of the stage and came back on at the other side behind Dave K (who is usually the last one to be introduced) it took Dave K a while to notice him before busting out laughing and much to the amusement of Roger then introducing him again!! I've tried to find a clip of this on YouTube with no joy but I'm sure it around somewhere.

Birmingham….

So its been a while since i saw the show! 10 or more days and 5 or 6 shows. I moved into my new apartment last week, 250 miles north of where i was and had to miss the last couple of shows in Europe.

I was driving down to Birmingham so left the house around noon and arrived “Brum” around 2pm, past an horrific site on the way. Traffic was going real slow for about 1/4 mile and it soon became evident why. A BMW X5 was on fire on the other side of the motorway and just as i passed it started to get engulfed with flames! all the traffic stopped on my side of the road and i saw the 3 people who’s car it must have been sat on the side of the road unable to do anything but watch their car go up in smoke! i couldn't believe how quickly the car went up in flames, within 20 seconds of me watching it it was a total fireball!

 

I parked the car up in Birmingham city centre around 2:30 and headed down towards the venue to find the pub where everyone was meeting up from 3 o clock onwards. Matt and Kevin were due into New Street station around 3pm, Matt from USA Brain Damage podcast site and the other Matt from the  Brain Damage UK site were due later on in the afternoon too.

When i left Huddersfield to drive down the weather was hot and sunny, it was starting to rain and humid here so i found the bar and headed in to get a drink and sit out of the rain. It was only a shower so i made my way out to a balcony which overlooked one of the canals in Birmingham and chilled out.

Birmingham has Hollywood style stars on the pavement!

   

As i sat out on the balcony i spotted Mark from Liverpool, he was going for a walk around the venue with his wife and son Eric and would come back shortly for a drink. Matt from Guildford arrived along with Neil whom id last seen at the New York show late last year.

Kevin called to say he had just checked in the hotel and Matt from the US arrived shortly afterwards with his friend Barry. My friend Jason and his dad whom we had seen at the last Manchester shows arrived, and by the time everyone was there we had a good 12 or 15 people hanging out outside the bar. The bar was buzzing with single females, groups of them! i wasn't aware till Neil told me that Take That were playing at Aston Villas ground tonight and then the penny dropped, that’s who they were there to see! A couple of people had mentioned they had been caught up in traffic on the way to the venue due to some of the 60,000 people that were due at that show!

Matt from the UK brain damage sited arrived and both Matt's were introduced. two Matt's, two Brain Damage sites, two countries and two great guys.

Matt Johns and Matt Leonard

I went in the venue around 7pm, had a chat with Robbie for 10 minutes and then went to find my seat for the night, i was front row centre for tonight, it wasn't like i had to look and find out where it was but i just wanted to have a sit in the venue and soak in a little of the atmosphere. Kevin’s family were coming to the show tonight and i was looking forward to meeting them, he had gone off to meet them, everyone else slowly made their way into the venue and as i sat chilling out,  a guy came up to me and asked if i was Simon, i was and i told him so. it was a friend called Wes who I'd exchanged a few emails with but never met. We chatted for a good 20 minutes and i tried my very best to persuade him to come to Manchester the next night. He’d seen 12 of the shows if i remember rightly so he’d seen more than most but tonight would be his last (for this year!)

Wes at his last show of the tour

I went over to meet Kevin's family and i could instantly tell they were all related, how ? well just look how many beers they are all holding in their hands!

Adam (Kevin’s son), son in law, sister, Kevin and his other son Nick

 

I was sat on my own tonight front row centre, the two Matt's were sat with Barry on the right side about 12 rows back, Kevin and his family were in the 2nd block back on the left on the 2nd row, he joked that if i saw 5 seats free next to each other let him know.

I had a 5 minute chat with Shane, my friend on the crew who does the pyros and he said Roger had added something to the 2nd set tonight, he wouldn't tell me what it was but told me when to watch and to see if i noticed, Shane, if Roger’s watch was an hour ahead there would be more than just me noticed!

The show started more or less dead on 8pm tonight, the crowd roared as Roger came onstage and from then on i knew the crowd were gonna be “ok”.

First couple of tracks came and went  and when the kids came out onstage during Another Brick, half way through their 2routine” they all turned around with their backs to the audience and had single white letters on the backs of their T shirts that spelt out the words “FEAR BUILDS WALLS” this was the first(and last so far) time that they had had this and it looked kind of cool and Roger looked real happy as he lanced over at them.

During the first half I'd been sat on my own with a spare seat next to me the whole time, i also noticed 7 empty seats all in a row on the 5th row directly behind me, i couldn't believe it, what were the chances of that after Kevin saying what he did! Matt from Guildford came down to join me in the Empty front seat and Kevin brought his family to the 5th Row for the 2nd half.

I was on the lookout from the start of the 2md half for something different and it wasn't until the end of Comfy Numb that i noticed a new “structure” being loaded onto the stage in front of me. Roger had outdone him self this time and now had his own little podium with the crossed hammers signs on to stand on during the 2nd In The Flesh

     

It looked fantastic and Roger was even more elevated above the crowd now and he just looked so right standing there behind it playing the fascist character.

The crowd were still standing on their feet after Dave fantastic Comfy Numb performance and continued to clap and cheer the whole way through Run Like Hell. Rogers video director Sean came out to take pictures of Roger in his new podium early on Run Like Hell, Roger spotted him below in front of the stage taking pictures he held on to one of the bars of the podium and while grinning from ear to ear gave him the middle finger for 5 seconds, much to Sean's amusement and ours. I had told Marks son Eric before the show about a guy at one of the Berlin shows that stood up when Roger took his machine gun, Roger saw him and proceeded to gun him down! Eric was sat right on the isle about 2 rows back from me, i looked back at Ericand as Roger picked up his machine gun Eric stood up with his arms outstretched and waited for Roger to see him, he did and proceeded to shoot at Eric with the gun who in turn proceeded to move back and forth as though the was being shot!,it was fantastic and  Erics face was a picture, i dont think he could believe the interaction that he had just had with Roger, it was pure elation

As has become the norm now  a few of the crowd head down from their seats to the rail in front of the stage after the wall has come down and before the band come back on for Outside The Wall.This part is one of my favourite parts of the show, after seeing the band for the last 2 hours in their uniforms, with dark sunglasses, most of the time behind the wall and other times in darkness its great to see them all in the spotlight as they stand there onstage taking in the applause.

As i was driving home after the show i didn't want to get caught up in the Take That traffic that i would have to drive past on my way home, the second Roger left the stage i headed out the door, ran back to the car and gunned it down the motorway. There wasn't a car in site as i passed Aston Villas ground, the floodlights were still on at 10:55 so I'm guessing the show hadn't finished and i made it home for 12:30am

Another great UK show with some great friends,  a great crowd and an excellent performance by Roger and the band.

Says it all really..

Fly to Athens tomorrow morning and i cant wait. Have a few posts to put up on here soon for Birmingham and Manchester.

A picture says a thousand words!

Will catch up over the next couple of days...

Just been getting sorted from moving house, fly out to Athens on Thursday! cant wait