Rita is still feeling sick, so I was going to have to go
solo to tonight’s show. I searched facebook for tickets because they’d been
sold out for a couple weeks. I sent
messages to people, and posted a request for tickets on the concert’s page, but
had no luck. Dimi was giving me shit for staying inside on such a nice day, so
I gave up my search and headed out for some basketball with his friends.
Yes, I played basketball again. Buddy would be proud. Again, my skills were lacking, but there was another guy at a similar level. The group was my flat mates Dimi and Adri, Carlos and Roberto from Spain, and two other German guys. It was fun to get out and play. I’m glad I decided to go instead of staying inside searching for tickets. The game got rough, a few fouls, good jokes, some awesome fake-outs, and we all shook hands in the end. Dimi, Carlos, and Roberto are pretty good players and I could tell they play often.
With no luck on the Facebook front, after basketball I cleaned up, made a college version of pizza on bread, and headed into town. My plan was to cruise up and down the line of people waiting to get into the show and ask for a ticket. Problem: how do I ask politely for a ticket in German? I had to use the translate function on my phone to make sure I don’t sound like a dumbass. “Haben Sie ein extra Ticket?” “Ich möchte ein Ticket zu kaufen. “
Ducking Punches: minus the whole band. This guy opened the show and rocked it like a champ.
It turns out I didn’t need to learn those lines. I arrived
at the venue only to see a few people hanging out at a table just out front. I
deserted my plan of using German, and simple used English. Mark, a German from
Frankfurt, was there along with El, an Italian student on exchange in Manheim
by way of university in the UK. Mark teaches high school English and told me he
didn't have an extra ticket. El had seen Frank Turner play the previous night
and had met Dan who is the solo artist opening up the show. Dan came out and El
went up to talk with him. They chatted for a bit as he had recognized her from
the previous night, and she must have said something nice because Dan came over
and punched my name into his phone. Booya! I was now on the guest list and
didn't have to find a ticket to buy.
Time for Frank Turner
Ele had met another guy from Finland who is following the
band for about a week. Aki is a big fan and turned his vacation time into a
chance to follow Frank Turner and see some 5 shows in a row. He’s been taking
the train from show to show and staying in hotels. He has a tattoo of Frank
Turner’s band logo, a major fan indeed. The four of us hung out and talked
while we waited for the doors to open. With over an hour to kill, we talked
music, travel, languages, school.
A quick thank-you handshake and a photo.
We moved inside as the opening time came closer, as Eel was
super excited and desperately wanted to be front and center. She’s a super
small 21 year old Italian, so anything but front and center would put the band
out of view. It was funny to see here get so fired up when the ticket checker
pulled her aside and scrutinized her ticket. She was so excited to see the
doors open, that any hold up now was like taking Christmas away. Even with the
hold up, we all managed to get right up front and get perfect spots to see the
show. Aki is pretty tall, so I tucked in right behind Ele so I could see over
her head yet still get a hold on the barrier for when the crowd smashes me
forward.
The opening bands were awesome, unusual, and the set up time
between them was a lot faster than I’d seen at other smaller shows. We rocked
out until maybe midnight, then waited for the crowd to clear so we could get
some signatures. I didn’t get anything signed, but I wanted to simply shake the
guys’ hands and say thank you for playing good music and having fun. I feel
that signatures are cool, but a face to face “thank you” is sufficient for me.
I made it home a bit after 2 am. I’m stoked at how the night ended up. It could
have gone a totally different direction with me at home doing nothing. Instead
I had met some really nice people and had a great time rocking out. Thank you
El, Aki, and Mark.
No comments:
Post a Comment