Wednesday, 23rd

The road back to the hotel was via two U-Bahn lines and one S-Bahn line. The U-Bahn reminds me a lot of the shittier lines of Moscow Metro built in the 70s - cheap tiles as decoration and general feel of slight gloom.

At the end of the concert Alison waved to someone in the front row, and I was so blinded by the lights, I'm not sure who she looked at. Probably that German dude who proudly showed me a photo with her from 2010, or perhaps Giancarlo - the Italian mega-fan, or perhaps me??

I don't know why, but any (real or imaginary) recognition by band members scares me. I don't want to be perceived as a crazy obsessed fan - I'm there for the music, for the amazing live experience which is one of the few moments in my life when I can let go and just enjoy the moment  without any usual overthinking. I have my strict boundaries: I do not wait for the band after the gigs, I never got any photos with any of them, I never even spoke to Alison. I don't want to be lumped together with creepy fans who obsess over Alison's 'loins' or guys who follow her every footstep, etc.

Perhaps this is the best example of me overthinking things too much??

Speaking of the drummer, why do I like skinny hipsters so much? I mean, my 'ex' is one as well.

Well, out of the three concerts so far - this one is my least favourite. Some small technical glitches, quiet sound, and worst of all - barely any sight of the drummer, hidden away by the combination of long stage and copious amount of smoke.

Am I getting too picky??

O2 Germany is so shit. Barely any 3G coverage.

The stage is much smaller than on the two previous concert. Last night I thought the band members were too far away from each other - today it might be just right!

Hoping for an intimate gig :)

Two women just tried to barge in in front of the queue ten minutes before the doors opened and absolutely refused to leave. Ridiculous!

Luckily they got blocked by security.

I think they might have been German migrants from Russia - this type of fuckery is a very Russian trait, and they looked a bit Russian-y. Sigh.

Drank two cups of coffee in the cafe in the venue :)

Then went to pee, and heard Ooh La La while urinating. How fitting.

Then I got out of the loo and was treated to the rehearsal of Yellow Halo :-) Pure bliss! This song is quickly becoming my favourite of this tour - I wonder if it was recorded early during Tales of Us sessions and then released on The Singles because the songs didn't fit the concept of the album?

So the train got to Berlin with 1 hour delay; then my hotel check-in took forever (because the card did not work and I ran three times from the reception to the room while they were trying to fix the reservation); then the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn were slooooow; yet I somehow still was first in the (nonexistent) queue. Phew...

Germany, the country of terrible ringtones.

Continuous lack of sleep is catching up with me - I look rather ill.

The second train is crawling - already 40 minute delay and I suspect it will be even worse!

And not even a single 'sorry' from the driver. If that's how my Friday trains will perform, I will be stuck in Mannheim and probably miss the Paris show altogether :(

Deutsche Bahn's 1st class is pathetic - no free drinks or meals (all paid and bloody expensive!), no free Wi-Fi. It is literally just a bigger seat and extra legroom (a very hard seat at that).

And the folding shelf is dirty... Yuck!

Oops, some delays on the track between Cologne and Berlin... Hopefully not too bad.

Fairly uneventful departure from the hotel, and the train was on time for once. Can't wait for Germany and bretzels!

Friday, 25th

Well, I'm so tired that all I did after the gig is a purchase of a giant bottle of Evian. Now I'm going to munch the rest of my super-mega-fibre-rich diet bars and sleep for the whole 4 hours until the departure home.

Who needs sex when you have Goldfrapp gigs??!?

And again the drummer was in the smoke most of the time. Argh!

Speaking of the mist - they also had three additional musicians in there: two violins and a cello, I think (not sure 100%, thanks to the smoke).

And again Alison waived to someone in the front row - I think it's Giancarlo again, lucky sod!

Wow, fantastic concert as usual - I tried to savour it more than usual as this is my last standing Goldfrapp gig for a while (as Hammersmith show is seating, annoyingly). I love love love Yellow Halo and Thea.

The only tiny downside is large amount of chatting in the audience - but it was easy to block out.

Ok, my things are on the floor and I feel a bit better!

The organisation is a bit crap - there are no barriers, but we are not allowed to stand right next to the stage; so there is a random sized empty zone in front of the stage. Don't like it - I'm too tired and was hoping to be able to lean on something. Plus it's so hot...

Erm, a fellow fan just cannot stop talking about my tiny fraud - shush! What if someone from the staff will hear!!

Phew! After dreadful 30 minutes if waiting until the doors opened - nobody even checked the type of my tickets and I just ran to the usual spot... A bit of a fraud, bit considering that my ticket was more expensive than the standing ones, I don't feel very guilty...

Need to relax now...

I don't see any touts around, and the concert has sold out so no tickets left... I guess all I can do is to try to get downstairs regardless...

Shiiiiit! My lack of French caught up with me - I mistakenly bought the ticket for seats upstairs! Fuck, piss, shit, what do I do???

French are particularly bad at queueing. Had to take some organisation in my hands - why some people are so helpless?

Went to buy some water, and saw French iTunes gift cards by chance - bought €75 of them :-)

Next week I'm going to purchase a lot of French music!

My queueing food is way too messy today - diet corn bars, which are way too low-cal, so I had to eat 8 instead of the usual too. Probably not a pretty sight for other people in the queue - seeing me munching the bars every 30 minutes.

More people queue in Paris than elsewhere on this tour - this is reassuring (as long as they don't try to get in front of me!).

I'm not the first one in the queue, thank fuck! There is one other person crazier than me :-)

He's French, young, and cute - I'm smitten.

I don't think I ever was cleaner when queuing for a concert - straight from the shower to the venue.

My hotel is tiny - the lift is so small that I can could barely fit my bag into it. The room is nice though - top floor, as I like and nice view of the boulevard. And the balcony too!

Hopefully I will get it on here tonight ;) (and catch up on sleep tomorrow).

Paris is such a dump... Dirty, cramped, decaying - yes, it has unique character; but so do favelas.

The second part of the train journey was fairly uneventful.

I did it!

'Mannheim run' indeed, but at least I got on the train. DB was 12 minutes late.

Today I'm playing a game of 'catch the train'. 14 minutes to change between trains in Mannheim - and if the second train is already gone, the next one is in 4 hours!

So Deutsche Bahn can be late 8 minutes at the most! (and I'm rather sceptical of their ability to do that). Can't wait to do the 'Mannheim run' as my parents call it - when you run as hell with all your bags from platform to platform because you just have to make it! They experience this 3-4 times a year at least.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof is a bit weird at 3am - enormous, empty, and dark.

So no sleep for me tonight then.