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Down The Years // |
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The “Auswärtsspiel” tour diary 2002 written by FaustDr. Faust has busily been writing his tour diary during the Auswärtsspiel tour. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
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“Is this still punk...?”June 19, 2002 Düsseldorf -> Tampere/ Finland
Break-down with the bus
On the plane to Finland, I was immediately thrown back into the dreary everyday life on tour, because we were served dry bread only. But I noticed that I've grown accustomed to my fear of flying and am managing quite well. We stored the back-line in our bus and set off for Tampere. The restaurant where we stopped on the way was no good, I recognised that immediately, one look at the wilting sandwiches sufficed. Back on board, I lit a cigarette, and the bus driver sent someone up to me to inform me that "Smoking was not allowed!" This reminded me of our trip to Lithuania, where we toured in 1988 and we always had to stop when someone wanted a smoke. The bus driver used the stops to fill a bucket full of water into the motor. I was only just thinking about this incidence when we were stranded on the side of the road, because the generator of our Finnish bus had got stuck. We arrived at the hotel hours later. With just twelve people, we were a very meagre festival crew: the band, Kiki, Noppa, Gerd, Horst, Kathleen, Steve, and myself. June 20, 2002 Tampere/ Finland -> Himos/ Finland The crew had to leave for the festival grounds at 11 a.m., while the band and I followed at 3 p.m. The festival grounds were wonderfully situated, with several lakes nearby. I was longing to grab my fishing tackle and be off! This time round, the backstage area was inside a block house. It had a veranda, where we had freshly grilled trout. It was two days before midsummer night, so it stayed light throughout the night, a bit like six o'clock in the morning back home. The Finnish audience was absolutely sloshed with booze and they spent their time with a strange sport that I hadn't known until then: they climbed up a hill on all fours, straightened up and then went down, backwards. When it comes to the concert itself, I fondly remember the pub rock band that played before the Hosen. It was quite funny to watch them because simply everything went wrong that can go wrong. For example, the lead vocalist climbed onto the guitarist and while doing so unluckily pulled out the guitarist's cable. It was like those TV shows when people get filmed with mishaps. And I saw the most incredible piercing ever at the Himos Festival: there was a Finnish guy who had "Slayer" written on his back with metal studs! Poor guy, he will definitely never be able to lie on his back again. June 21, 2002 Helsinki/ Finland -> Stralsund The quarter finals of the Football World Championship kind of inhibited our travel itinerary. Campino was obsessed with seeing the match between his English team and the Brazilians from the very beginning. But with the flight we had originally booked, he would have missed out the first twenty minutes. So he took the first flight he could get from Helsinki to Frankfurt. I told him to fly to Berlin with us because there would be no goals in the first twenty minutes, anyway, but he wouldn't listen. As it turned out, he missed the entire first half in Frankfurt while we were sitting in the airport restaurant in Berlin, watching the match on giant screens.
Campino's birthday cake
The last 50 kilometres on the way to Stralsund were country roads. I saw the first half of Germany against USA in a roadside restaurant, eating Königsberger Klopse (minced meat with sardines and capers in white sauce), the second half I watched in our tour bus, where we had installed a satellite receiver on the roof. Unfortunately, the Brauereihoffest was open air, and I got soaking wet again. The Hosen went on stage - Die Happy and Such A Surge had played before them - and of course, my "mini bar" backstage didn't have a roof. There was no umbrella to be found and I think I must have had ten litres of water running down my butt. It was a great evening and I was in a brilliant mood!!! But Jens had organized a birthday cake somewhere, because Campino would turn 40 at midnight. Originally we had planned to throw it in his face, following old slapstick traditions, but that didn't work out because it was a bombe glacée. You'd have needed a screw driver to make the candles stick in that cake, and Campino did wonder loudly on stage "They are giving me a wooden cake!" The audience sang "Happy Birthday" for him and I suspect he had watery eyes. Or was it the rain? England lost, Germany won, turned 40, soaking wet on stage, and then a cake made of wood. It wasn't the day of days for our lead vocalist, either. June 22, 2002 Stralsund -> Berlin We set off with our bus directly after the show in Stralsund, so I woke up in a hotel in Berlin. And there was quite a noise out in the streets. At first I thought they were sweeping the roads. But it was the Christopher Street Day Parade. I watched the parade for the next five hours from my hotel room window and was amused how accurately the promoters had adapted their advertisements for the occasion: they were giving away little packs of "Nivea cream for men". And I saw a second cool parade that day, while we were on our way to a restaurant in Kreuzberg: the Turks were celebrating with a car convoy, because they had entered the semi-finals of the Football World Championship. You could really say that a special atmosphere reigned in our capital city that day! June 23, 2002 Berlin -> Coburg
The audience in Coburg
In Fürth we left the motorway and then passed Frankish villages on country roads until we got to Coburg. There we were welcomed by the most comfortable backstage quarters in the band's history, I should say: Rococo from top to bottom. They really had crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and oil paintings on the wall! I immediately ordered the crew to pack one of those chandeliers in the bus for me. But they wouldn't obey, the dogs! To make sure that me and my mini bar wouldn't be unprotected again this night, I started to reorganise things a little bit. It took me an hour, but it was worth it. Because, just when the concert began, the heavens opened up again and it rained. But the Hosen rocked the Schlossplatz open air nevertheless, after the Donots had once again proved their excellent live qualities as opener for the show. Of course the Hosen insisted on playing their version of "Singing In The Rain". As for me, I have decided to bring my impermeable angler's outfit with me next time. I hate water that comes from above! June 27, 2002 Wanne-Eickel -> Berlin I went to Berlin a day early, with a friend of mine from Wanne-Eickel. We spent the evening with Heino in his bar "Enzian", where the service is really noteworthy. I think Heino is always a little afraid when I move around in his pub, drunk. So, the first thing I say when I wake up the next morning is always: "Heino, did I misbehave yesterday?" June 28, 2002 Berlin (Wuhlheide)
Faust and his mini bar
Wulheide is quite far out of town, on the eastern outskirts of Berlin. It was sold-out again. The venue consists of several concrete blocks, a construction reminding of the good old GDR, and it's a little like an amphitheatre. But the most important factor is that stage and mixing post have a roof. I knew our support band, Unwritten Law from the USA, from the Vans Warped tour, but in the meantime they've widened their repertoire from typical punk rock to include crossover. There was a lot going on backstage: Ben Becker (actor), Alfred Biolek (TV host), Rod from Die Ärzte, and Heino all showed up. You might think I'm just dropping names, but these are guys we really do hang around with whenever we are in Berlin. Bio (who invites guests to cook in his TV show) tried the catering by our Rote Gourmet Fraktion and thought it was "first rate". After the show, we all went to Ben Becker's bar "Trompete" and after that to the legendary "Milchbar"... June 29, 2002 Berlin (Wuhlheide) Gluecifer, the band scheduled to play the second show in Berlin and then Erfurt, didn't come because they had got stuck at the airport in Sweden. I'm sure they had too much overweight luggage! So our friends from Terrorgruppe helped us out and played support. I had met their lead vocalist Archie in the "Milchbar", and he wasn't drinking milk! Another member of the band was ordered to Wulheide via a short-notice email. He couldn't be reached by phone. I guess it goes without saying, but still: the rain poured down on this day, too. But the people stayed and watched the concert. It's something I've been wondering about for years. But maybe it's just because they had already paid for their tickets... June 30, 2002 Berlin -> Erfurt The day of the Football World Championship final we spent in Erfurt, where the Hosen wanted to make up for the concert cancelled in April. There was a huge TV screen in the catering area where everyone could watch the match. I didn't doubt for a moment that Brazil would win. I don't like Oliver Kahn (German goalie) anyway. I think he's a swot. That kind of guy would have had a hard time at our school back in Wanne-Eickel! I watched the game with René in the band's dressing room because I can't stand all those pseudo-professional comments. In my pub, everyone would want to have his say, and in the end, all I had to comment was: "I said so!"
In Erfurt, the Peace Brothers adequately jumped in for Gluecifer. I thought
it was great that our former brother Chaos, who was our tour guide for many
years, could thus give his "farewell concert". But of course the audience was
waiting for the Hosen, and "Nur zu Besuch" made a very special impact, because
Campino dedicated it to the victims of the guy who had run amok in a local school.
But this doesn't mean it was a sad show, on the contrary, the people really
rocked. After the concert we directly drove home overnight. So it is time for
me to end my tour report. Since the English are much more used to rain, Vom
will take over and report about the festival season 2002:
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