Curse Of The Dog Tour

In a couple of hours Kasim goes on stage in Hamburg.

Unfortunately I'm sitting here at home.

I got up at 2.00am ready for my 4.45am sailing but my lodger was VERY sick. He was in absolute agony and had a raging temperature. I couldn't really leave him like that and trundle off to Dover so I drove him to the hospital and they operated on him within an hour. It turns out that one of the cancer drugs had caused a stomach ulcer which had perforated. The doctor said that if he had got to hospital an hour later they doubt that he would have made it. He's in Intensive Care and they say he's not out of the woods yet.

A friend lives near Crystal Palace where ColdPlay are playing a massive open air gig tonight so she's invited me over to have a barbeque and sit in the garden and listen to a free concert! It won't be the same as seeing Kasim but it beats working.

I think this tour is cursed for me.....

The Mainz Citadel

My alarm was set for 9.00am but I woke at 8.00am so I had a shower and the included breakfast. Obviously all the hungry people had already eaten as there was hardly anything left! I had the last roll. I went back to my room and did some work for an hour or so as it's only a couple of hours drive to Mainz.

I checked out at 11.00am and just pottered along the autobahn as I had loads of time. I pulled into a parking area and sat reading in the sun for a couple of hours looking over fields which was lovely (see photo).

I got to Mainz at about 4.30pm. It's a lovely German city with loads of trees. I couldn't find the Zitadelle at first but I assumed that it was Citadel in English and they are usually built on a hill so I headed upwards and saw the entrance.

By this time it was lashing down with rain so I sat in the car as I don't like being right at the front of a concert anyway. I ventured out at about 5.30pm (the gates opened at 6.00pm) and there was just a mass of people around the entrance (as my Europeans friends say, it's only the English that queue!).

They opened the gates at about 6.00pm and I was about 400th in but I just wandered towards the front and managed to get in the third "row" on Kasim's side quite easily. Again there was no pushing and there was a lovely atmosphere of people just there to enjoy themselves. One woman near me had two young children with her and several people at various times in the concert put them on their shoulders so they could see better. (Unfortunately I got kicked in the head once by the little girl!)

The first opening act was the same girl who opened in Bonn (I think she's called Valentino). Next there was a guy from Manchester called Mark Gillespie who was really funny. He had a running gag about his CD being for sale and he played an acoustic guitar. He didn't have much of a Manchurian accent and a German later said that he spoke German with no accent.

I'll add a full review at http://www.KasimInfo.com/2005/06/25.html but this was a great concert. It looked like all the band and Meat Loaf were having fun on stage. The concert was also the longest of the tour so far as it lasted 98 minutes. Kasim was wearing a really lovely lilac coloured shirt that set off his colouring so well!

I stayed around and chatted to some people after the concert and left at about 10.30pm. In the centre of Mainz there was a large fairground and place where there were loads of stalls that were even open at that time of the evening! I really wish I was staying in Mainz so that I could have explored the city more.

I then found the autobahn and started my drive home. As I was thirsty I stopped for a drink at the first garage I found. As I was getting out of my car I heard someone calling out about "damn foreigners" - thankfully it was someone I knew!

It was supposed to be about five and a half hours to Calais but at one point we were turfed off the A4 as they were doing roadworks overnight. Sometimes I find driving quite easy but today it was an effort (not helped by the fact it's the 8th anniversary of John's death today) so I stopped a few times for catnaps.

I got to Calais at 5.55am and caught the 6.40am sailing. It wasn't too crowded but was bitterly cold on board (they hadn't turned the air conditioning down and the rain had cold the temperatures). Of course when we docked at Dover it was cloudy...as usual!

I got home by 9.00am so I managed some sleep before I started work at noon although it was tough working through until 11.30pm tonight!.

Mileage today: 574 miles
Tour total (in my car) –4, 073 miles

Hot in Rastatt

I woke at 9.00am and had a shower and mug of tea before I checked out at 11.00am. I went slightly the long way round to get out of Munich so I left the city at about noon. It was supposed to be less than a 3 hour drive to Karlshruhe where I was staying but I didn't reach the city until 5.00pm as there was a massive traffic jam outside Stuttgart! There were roadworks plus within about 2 miles two more autobahns merged with ours so it was a nightmare. Often I switched the engine off and there were loads of cars overheating. It took me over 2 hours to get through that! It was also stifling hot as it was about 90 degrees and we were sat in metal cars in the sun with no breeze.

At 5.00pm I received a text from someone to say that she was already in the front row (on Kasim's side of the stage). I didn't think the gates opened until 6.00pm and by this time I was still looking for my hotel in Karlshruhe and planning to have a much needed mug or two of tea. Instead I opted to drive straight to Rastatt and find my hotel after the gig. I didn't realise that the two towns were so far apart as there was about 15 miles between them along a two track road.

Rastatt was mainly built around the main street so I easily found the “grassy knoll” where it was held. There were a few car parks around so I opted for "Park Kasperren" which advertised that it had "frei" spaces. After I'd driven down the slope and got my ticket I realised why there were so few cars there - it closed at 8.00pm! I drove straight over to the exit and put in my ticket. It came up 1 Euro so I fed a one euro coin into the slot and it got stuck! There was a sign for a credit card so I put that in but nothing happened. I pushed the telephone bell and it rang loudly but nobody answered. The lady in the car behind me took me across the car park and showed me the cash machine. Apparently I should have paid before I put my ticket in but my ticket was in the machine and it wasn't releasing it!

I tried the telephone bell on the cash machine too but didn't get a reply. In desperation I rang a friend who was already in the festival and he came out to help me but there wasn't too much that we could do as nobody was answering the phone! We eventually realised that the exit barrier only covered half of the road and my car would probably squeeze around it ! With my friend directing me away from the sensors we managed to break my car out (I'm probably now a wanted person in Rastatt!) and find a street to park it on!

We got to the festival at about 7.15pm and heard the rest of Steve Harley's set. As I was so thirsty I had a drink as soon as I got there but that hardly touched my sides so I queued up again to get another drink. After half an hour my glass was still empty so I left the festival and found a cafe and had a coke and a tea (I was so thirsty) before I went back in.

As I said in my review at http://www.KasimInfo.com/2005/06/24.html it was a great set and it was wonderful to be able to stand where I wanted and not be pushed and watch Kasim get hotter and hotter for 90 minutes!

I took a few photos at this gig (only during AFL as I was too busy enjoying myself tonight!) and they all came out quite well.

I said hello to a couple of German fans that I know before I left (one of them had just got back from Turkey and said it was hotter in Germany than it was there!). I drove back to Karlshruhe and managed to find my hotel quite easily. It's part of a restaurant, beer garden and theatre! Unfortunately there was no lift and I had to carry my heavy suitcase up 2 flights of stairs. I have a lovely room with it's own AC machine. There is wireless Internet at the hotel but I didn't ask for an adaptor as it's nice to be off-line for a few days.

I was still so thirsty that I had 4 mugs of tea before I went to bed at 2.00am.

Mileage today: 233 miles
Tour total (in my car) –3,499 miles

Todd in Munich

I woke up at about 8.00am and did some work in the morning. I had a lovely lunch at a Chinese restaurant near the hotel - thankfully they had a menu in English too. I then wandered around the area where I am (it's mainly a residential area but has a pretty church - churches in Germany have spires that look almost like something out of the Middle East to me) before I came back to my room to do some more work. I needed some shampoo and conditioner so I went to a nearby chemist (pharmacy). The shampoo was easy to find as that word was written on the bottles but to get the conditioner we decided that I meant "after shampoo"!

I left my hotel at about 6.45pm and managed to find Circus Kone okay. It was only about 5 miles away but there were 20 instructions in my MapQuest directions. The hardest part was trying to read German road names while driving (on the wrong side of the road) and reading directions.

Circus Kone is a circus for most of the year but they have concerts in the summer. Ethel (the string quartet) were on first and were better than I expected.

After Ethel, Joe Jackson played his set. Although I only recognised a couple of his songs, he pronounces his words very clearly so it was easy to understand what he was singing. There was then about a 20 minute interval before Todd played his set. I've seen Todd about 50 times live but this was the first time I've seen him without a band and he was a lot better than I'd been warned to expect. I knew all but about one of the songs he sung and he even sung The Afterlife from Liars. There were a few jokes on stage about this being in a circus.

Next both Ethel and Joe Jackson joined him on stage and they sang about another 6 songs including While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Soul Brother.

The concert finished at just gone 11.00pm and I was amazed that it was dark outside as the time had flown. It's more or less a tradition with the guy I went to this gig with that we have to have a burger after a gig! He asked a couple nearby but they said there was no "fast food" (I understood that German!) nearby so he drove more into the centre of Munich and we found a Burger King. I had "crispy chicken" which was written on the menu in English because "it sounds more cool"!

After a long chat about important things like music he drove me back to my car and I set off for my hotel. After a few minutes I realised that I'd left my jacket in the Burger King so I had to find that again first! It was nearly impossible to reverse the driving directions and read the road names in the dark to get to my hotel so I opted for finding the motorway and retracing my steps of the night before from the exit. It only took me about 45 minutes to get back to my hotel and I got to sleep at 2.00am.

Mileage today: 723 miles
Tour total (in my car) –3,266 miles

Munich....or not!

I got to sleep last night at about 11.30pm and then my body obviously had decided that this was just a catnap as I woke at 11.45pm quite refreshed! Thankfully I managed to get off to sleep again and my alarm woke me at 2.00am. I left at 3.00am and it was a beautiful night with a spectacular full moon.

After about 20 miles, just as I was overtaking a lorry on the motorway, my car cut out! I indicated to pull in but the lorry driver must have thought that I meant to pull in front of him so it was a bit hairy until he pulled away as I had visions of being stuck in the middle lane of the motorway! I pulled on to the hard shoulder but my car just wouldn't start. Luckily I was only a 10th of a mile from an emergency telephone but just as I got there another motorist stopped and offered to look at my car. He tried exactly what I had (the HT leads) but couldn't get it to start so I rang the emergency service. It goes through to the police and they arranged for a tow truck to come out to me.

Thankfully he took less than half an hour (by which time it was already light). Unfortunately he said that it was the distributor cap and the rotor arm so would have to tow me home. Thankfully he said that it would only be about an hours labour and would cost about £65,

We dropped the car off at the garage that I use and he took me home so I got in at about 5.30am. I went back to bed but I didn't sleep too well. I rang the garage at 8.15am and he said he would fix it as soon as possible. As it's a 9 hour drive once I get across the channel, I'm not holding out much hope of seeing Kasim tonight now.

The garage rang at 10.00am to say it was fixed but that it was the module (whatever that is). I called a taxi and collected the car - it came to £158.03!!! As I was in a hurry I paid it but when I checked later he'd charged me 3 hours labour so I'm going to dispute that as he had it for only two hours and he wasn't working on it when I first rang.

I drove back down to Dover but just missed one sailing so I caught the 1.15pm boat which left late at 1.30pm...is everything against me today?!! Thankfully it was a lovely sunny day so was a smooth crossing and I sat out on deck in the sun for most of it.

We docked at 3.00pm = 4.00pm European time. As Kasim is due on stage at about 8.00pm (there's a support act tonight) I don't hold out any hope of doing this 9 hour, 602 mile journey in time.

I didn't!

I didn't actually reach Munich until about 3.00am as there was some heavy traffic around Brussels. I drove through France, into Belgium, I was in Holland for 20 minutes and I didn't even reach Germany until 7.50pm. Munich is located in south east Germany (I entered it in the north west section). Thankfully it was light until about 10.30pm so I didn't find the journey too arduous and I only had to pull over once for a 10 minute catnap at about midnight (I stopped another couple of times for petrol and a bottle of drink). I kept at about 80mph (remember there's no speed limit in most of Germany) as I don't want to thrash my old car too much.

The loos on German autobahns have changed since 1996. Back then there used to be little old ladies manning them with a saucer beside them on the way out for people to tip. Some of the loos had their own personal touches like pot plants and flowers in there. Now all the loos I've stopped at so far in Germany on this tour are maintained by a company called Sanifair. It cost 50 cents to enter through a turnstile and then everything is automated. There are sensors to flush the loo, sensors to turn on the taps (faucets) and sensors for paper towel and hot air dryers. There is this amazing loo seat cleaning thing that comes out of the side when you flush that rotates the seats and cleans it (unfortunately it doesn't always dry it too well!). After you've paid your 50 cents you get a receipt and you can use that against a purchase in the garage shop so I guess the loos are free in a way (expect you're more tempted to buy something).

A friend rang me after the concert to say that it was a good concert but was very hot in there. He then went on to describe how hot and sweaty Kasim got (he actually said that he looked quite sexy!) but he also said that Kasim was wearing a leotard!!! I think he used the wrong word but I'll certainly be checking photos of that gig!!

I managed to find my hotel quite easily which was just as well as I had been up for 24 hours by then. I was a bit dubious about this one as it only cost me £28 ($35) a night but thankfully it turns out to be an Expedia late booking special bargain as it's a lovely hotel! It's a chain called NH and has a sauna and fitness room in the basement. My room has it's own front door bell and has a long corridor which leads to the bathroom, the kitchenette and the bedroom is at the end. When I asked about where to put my car he showed me where the garage was and said that there was a "duplex system". What it was is that each space can take two cars with one lifting up above the other - I'll certainly play with that tomorrow!

I just cleaned my teeth and fell into bed at 3.30am!
Mileage today: 723 miles
Tour total (in my car) –3,243 miles

Dublin

I woke at 7.00am and we had a gorgeous full English breakfast (or rather full Northern Ireland breakfast) which was included in the price of the hotel so it was actually better value than the Travelodge!

We caught a taxi to the station and then caught the 10.30am train to Dublin (£23 single). It stopped about 5 times and the funniest thing was watching one of our group trying to have a cigarette off the train at each stop and still ensuring that she got back on in time!

We arrived 10 minutes late at 12.40pm and I caught a taxi to my hotel. It was out by the airport (which still isn't too far from the centre of Dublin) and was an Expedia late booking special and turned out to be a lovely hotel with a really ornate staircase in the middle! I just had time for a cup of tea before I had to catch another taxi back to Parnell Square in the centre of Dublin. I met up with my friends again and they had unfortunately booked a real dive of a hotel and now realised why they had wanted payment up front! At least it's only for one night.

We had been told that there was no parking at the castle and that we had to catch buses out there. They left every 20 minutes and were supposed to take about half an hour to get there as it was about 10 miles away....ours took an hour and forty minutes!!!

We had caught the second bus and obviously our driver was used to driving in the city as he kept at 40mph even on the 120km (70mph) motorway! He also at least six times drifted over to the hard shoulder and once began to drift into the right hand lane and then jerked the bus back which was quite concerning! He took the "Concert traffic" turn-off off the motorway okay but when he got to the roundabout at the top, instead of following the bright yellow "Concert traffic" sign to the right, he went straight across the roundabout and went back on the motorway! We then went past the next 3 exits and he only stopped when he reached a toll booth. The people on the right side of the bus then saw the lady in the booth write down directions for him! He took the next exit and turned around so we were heading back towards Dublin but at the next exit there was a bright yellow sign that said "No Access to Concert" and he took the exit!!

We then had to drive through a few small villages where the roads were obviously not suitable for a double-decker bus before he found a policeman who gave him more directions! The security staff at the venue couldn't believe it when people were telling them about him!

We then had a fair walk up to where the venue was. It was a massive area (we'd seen it from the train earlier) with a flat area of about the size of a football pitch in front of the stage and then the area where people sat going up the hill. We got there just as the first act (a blues act) was starting so we sat and watched them. It began to get busy for Melanie C so we stood for her and for Status Quo. They put on an excellent performance again and everybody was jumping around to their songs!

As I wrote a few days ago (and in my review at http://www.KasimInfo.com/2005/06/18.html) I didn't enjoy the concert due to having to spend most of the time trying to stay upright. To make it worse, Kasim stood right near the back of the stage so I could hardly see him most of the time anyway! One of our group (a fan of Meat Loaf for over 25 years who has been to over 100 Meat Loaf concerts) soon gave up staying in the crowd and another girl I was with elbowed one particularly pushy guy every time he pushed forwards!

It wasn't much fun making our way back to where the coaches were as we had to constantly avoid drunks swaying along. There were lots of people singing on the way too which was good to hear, although the song they were all singing was Two Outta Three which isn't in the set list!

We were very impressed with the number of buses that were laid on. We didn't get there with the first load of people but there were still loads of room. Before we boarded we checked that it was a different driver! However it didn't matter as this one got lost too!! You would have thought that knowing where they are going would be a prerequisite of the job! He also scraped the bus along a wall as he tried to turn around.

We went past my hotel so I dashed to the front and got the driver to let me off. As I was walking back to the hotel, a taxi pulled up and a girl in a Meat Loaf T-shirt got out and was violently sick! That rather summed up the whole evening for me!

As I hadn't eaten, I order room service of some lovely turkey sandwiches and had a relaxing bath.

I got to bed at 1.00am and set my alarm for 6.00am but I was woken at 5.00am with the fire alarm going off for about 3 seconds 4 separate times!

I caught a taxi to the airport and it was surprisingly busy for 7.00am on a Sunday morning. I caught the 8.15am Ryanair flight to London Gatwick which landed on time. Unfortunately there were engineering works on the railway so I had to catch a bus part of the way home which meant that I didn't get in until past noon. That left me just enough time to unpack before I started work at 2.00pm!

Belfast recap - Friday 17th June

Getting up at 3.30am was a lot easier than I thought it would be! We left at 4.30am and Tony drove me to Heathrow. I used one of those self check-in machines and then just handed in my suitcase - easy!

I had a nice surprise as I thought I was flying Easyjet (one of the "free for all" / no pre-reserved seats airlines) but it appears that I booked BMI so I could choose a window seat and we had an included breakfast.

My flight left promptly at 7.05am and we landed a few minutes early at 8.00am. When we reached Belfast City Airport there was a grand total of 3 other airplanes at the airport!

It was drizzling when we landed!

I caught an airport bus into the centre of Belfast (past the Odyssey Arena!) to City Hall and then walked for about 5 minutes to my hotel. I had booked into the same Travelodge as I stayed on the CHSIB Tour and reached there at about 9.00am. I asked if I could check-in early but as I expected she said I couldn't. What I didn't expect was that she said that I couldn't check-in until 3.00pm, if I wanted to leave my luggage then I should leave it in an unlocked room and that they didn't have anywhere that I could plug-in my laptop (so I could do some work) but I could ask at the restaurant next door!

I texted a friend who had also come over for the concert but arrived yesterday and she checked at her hotel. They had a room for tonight for the same price as mine and I could check-in straightaway! I caught a taxi across and arrived just as she and another friend were having breakfast so I got my room and then joined them for a cup of tea while they ate. By coincidence we're two rooms apart too!

I spent the rest of the morning working (I have to pay for this tour somehow!) and then in the afternoon we chin-wagged! (I went out for a lovely Chinese meal for lunch.)

Our hotel was about a 30 minute walk from the venue but as we would be standing for hours we caught a taxi and got there by the time the gates opened at 5.30pm. We had standing tickets and when my friend had booked hers, she had specifically asked TicketMaster if we would be standing in front of the stage and they assured her that we could. Of course when we get there, they have about 200 seats and we had to stand around the outside!

Hardly right in front of the stage:
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Thank goodness for a zoom lense!
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As there was the entrance to the seated area on Kasim's side (and it would have been hard to see him with the stack of speakers) we stood on Paul's side of the stage. Thankfully we managed to get in the second row too. Unfortunately this did mean that we rarely saw Mark, CC and John during the concert.

I'll post a full review at http://www.kasiminfo.com/2005/06/17.html but it was a good concert. Meat Loaf's voice was good again (after having almost a week off) and the crowd obviously enjoyed it. At one point someone tried to push in and the people around him called security over so he was removed - we joked that if that happened in UK, the people would just tut at him loudly!

As we stood on that side of the stage we could see some of the band watching the other acts. John Micelli watched Melanie C for quite a while and then sat in the seated area for a while too. Kasim watched Melanie C too and then Paul Crook and Meat Loaf watched Status Quo. Some fans of Status Quo obviously had a Meet and Greet with them before their set so I wondered why Meat Loaf hadn't arranged one there.

I actually took a load of photos at this gig too which is unusual for me! Most didn't come out too well as I was a long way away but I got a few good shots of Kasim.

After the concert I bought some programmes for some US fans who asked for one and then we walked (slowly!) back to the hotel as our feet ached!

I got to sleep at about 1.00am after a 21 hour day!

Back to Germany on Wednesday!

There's a design fault with Germany - Munich is 9 hours away from Calais!

As I'm an hour and a quarter from Dover, plus there's check-in of half an hour and then the sea crossing of 90 minutes, it means that I'll be travelling for 11 hours to the concert on Wednesday! I thought it was only about 7 hours total too!

My worst ever concert

Well, somehow I managed to survive my Ireland weekend but I doubt very much that I'll ever go to a gig in that country again. I'll write more details tomorrow but basically the Belfast gig was great but the Dublin one was the worst concert I've ever experienced.

Technically Dublin was probably better than Belfast (certainly the looks on the faces of both Meat Loaf and Kasim seemed to show that they loved the crowd's reaction) but from just before Meat Loaf came on stage until the end of their set, where I was standing people were pushing almost constantly. The trouble was that we stood towards the side of the stage so people who arrived late thought that they could get close that way. Security waded in twice and I saw at least two fights (scuffles) break out!

I go to a lot of gigs (not just Meat Loaf) so it's not like I'm not used to rowdy crowds but it was a hot day, people had been there for several hours and obviously had drunk a lot and were adamant that they were getting to the front. I've been almost swept off my feet by a crowd before (most memorably in Dublin back in 1996) but I've never struggled to keep my balance for the whole 90 minutes of a concert and this is how it was. I was actually glad when the concert finished.

Anyone want to buy a ticket for the County Kerry concert?

Another early start!

Note to self: stop keep booking such early sailings and flights! Just once it would be nice to go to a concert after not being up for 17 hours before Kasim walks on stage!

Tonight I won't get home until about 11.00pm and I have to get up at 3.30am for my 7.00am flight! I'll then get to the hotel probably way too early to check in so I'll end up just sitting in reception all morning on my laptop working! (All this just to get a cheap flight!)

And we've got Mel C at both concerts again this weekend! Oh joy...

The good news I that it's supposed to be about 86 degrees and sunny (it's only 70 and raining today)!

Problem with Kasim's solo gig

Each year the directors of the company I work for hold a big meeting at the start of our financial year (1/7) with all the staff to announce their plans for the forthcoming year. As I'm the company accountant it's even more vital that I attend. So what date have the directors chosen this year? 9.30am on Monday 4th July! The morning of Kasim's solo gig!

It's unlikely that they'll agree to me missing it so I'll have to drive back from Leeds overnight (about 300 miles), attend the 90 minute meeting in London and drive back up to Liverpool (about 200 miles). Then after a brilliant gig, I'll have to drive home again ready for work the next morning!

I haven't worked out where I'm going to fit sleep into all of this!!!

Munich / Karlsruhe accommodation

I booked my accommodation for my trip to Germany next week.

I managed to get a good deal (only £30 a night) on a hotel with my own kitchette in Munich. I'm staying there two nights (as I'm seeing Todd in a circus tent the next night!) so I wanted a decent place but this seems to good to be true!

I booked a hotel in Karlsruhe for the next night too. The following night I'm driving straight home after the gig.

Holland - the full story

I finished work at 10.00pm on Friday night but when I got home one of my corporate website clients had sent me a load of work to do so I downloaded that all onto my Psion and got to bed by 11.30pm.

My alarm went off at 4.00am (*only* 8 hours before Kasim says he got up!!) and I left by 5.00am. I caught the 7.05am sailing from Dover to Calais which actually left 10 minutes early. I bought some Euros on board and the exchange rate has improved as last week it was 1.41 and this week it's 1.43.

We docked at about 8.30am = 9.30am Europe time and I drove through France and Belgium to Holland. I stopped once in Belgium for a 10 minute catnap and actually managed NOT to get lost in the ring-road around Antwerp! I was a bit disappointed that I only saw two proper old fashioned windmills in Holland (plus loads of the wind power ones).

The MapQuest directions were very good and put me right outside the venue. I say "venue" but it was a series of fields in the middle of the Dutch countryside! As I got there later than a lot of people I was in the car park where the grass was literally knee-deep....I tried not to think about grass snakes!

I then sat in my car working while listening to the bands playing in the next field! It was like listening to a very loud album!

At about 8.00pm I went into the festival (only in Holland would a rock festival have a parking area for bicycles!) and saw (from a very long distance!) Crosby, Still and Nash. Of course it started to rain (hard!) during their set but most people were already wet so stayed there. The festival was very well organised as each act went on stage at exactly the hour and played for an hour.

Seeing concerts on a tour is so much easier in 2005 than it was in 1996! I can book tickets on the Internet and find friends in a 20,000 crowd via mobile text messages! It was a case of "where are you?", "I'm by the table at the back on the left", "So am I now but I can't see you!" before we met up!

As soon as C,S&N finished their set, we moved up towards the front of the stage as most people moved to see Dream Theater on the other stage and we ended up about 5 rows back on Kasim's side (honestly that was the side with less people!).

As I said in my review at http://www.KasimInfo.com/2005ML.html it was a good gig, a bit short but Meat Loaf's voice was probably better than it was during the whole of the CHSIB tour IMHO!

The problem with holding this concert out in the middle of nowhere is that there was one single-track road to and from it! Consequently we stayed and chatted for about an hour to let the crowds get out of the fields! We (I saw the concert with two Germans and one Dutch guy) also met up with some more German and Dutch fans that we knew so it was very social! Apparently the Dutch people kiss three times on the cheeks when they leave so saying goodbye took quite a while!

It wasn't much fun walking through the fields back to my car (in the knee-high grass) especially as I had to climb over one fence and climb under some wire at one point!

I left the field at 12.30am and just drove straight out which was great. MapQuest again did me proud but it seemed a lot further back to Calais than it did coming out! I stopped once for a 20 minute catnap but other than that managed to keep going (I had a good CD I was listening to!). Unfortunately I just missed one boat so I had to wait another hour for the next.

I docked in Dover at 7.15am (UK time) and drove home to get in at 8.30am (27.5 hours after I left home!). I uploaded the work I'd done, quickly updated KI.com and the looked at Kasim's photos of the gig! I fell into bed at 9.30am but could only sleep until 11.00am as I started work at noon.

Roll on Belfast on Friday....!

Mileage today: 698 miles
Tour total –2,520 miles

Holland précis

That was a long 27.5 hours, 698 miles round trip to Holland! A great gig, had the inevitable rain, met lots of friends but had to do some work while I was there so I didn't see as many acts as I would have liked.

More tomorrow but I've not been indoors long so I need to get to bed as I start work in 2.5 hours!

Change of US Plans

It looks like I may have to change my plans for US. The Hollywood, FL (near Miami) gig isn't listed on the tour T-shirt and now they've added another gig on 17th September in Kansas City. My plan was to fly to Biloxi, drive to Robinsonville, stay with a friend in Clearwater (and travel to Miami together) and then drove back to Biloxi and fly home. Thankfully I've not booked my flights yet and I have another friend I can stay with in Kansas City but I'm not sure about the practicalities of where Biloxi is compared to Kansas City.

The car died on me last night after we'd been out for dinner and I really thought that I wouldn't be able to make Holland this weekend! We tried putting petrol in (as the petrol gauge isn't too accurate and I knew I was low) but that didn't work. When we opened the bonnet, a HT lead had come loose so we fixed that and it started fine! Phew!!!

I'm catching the 7.00am sailing tomorrow (so I don't have to get up until 4.00am!!) and then it's supposed to be about a 4.5 hour drive to the festival. I'll drive home straight afterwards (Kasim is on last) as I have to be in work by noon on Sunday. It's a really good line-up for the festival so I'm really looking forward to it.

Ireland weekend all booked!

I booked my trip to Ireland tonight! I'm flying into Belfast and out of Ireland but unfortunately I had to get flights that flew from Heathrow and into Gatwick which isn't ideal but I can catch public transport to and from home. The only problem I may have is getting to Heathrow early enough on Friday 17th as I booked a very early flight to get a cheap one! Tony's having chemotherapy at the moment but providing he's not in hospital, he'll give me a lift...or I'll find some way to get there!

In Belfast I'm staying at the same hotel as I did for the CHSIB Tour - I think it's quite near the venue too. For Dublin, I'm staying on the city outskirts but at least the city is no where near as large as London!

Apparently Todd Rundgren is playing in Munich the night after Kasim (but at a different venue)! It's worked out great as that's the one night that there's no Meat Loaf concert too.

Back to reality

I woke at 6.30am and didn’t feel too bad after only an hours sleep! That was an hour more than I was expecting anyway.

I worked 9.00am to 2.00pm at my job in London and from 4.00pm to 10.00pm at my local job. Usually when I’m tired, I’ve cold all day but thankfully I didn’t feel too bad today (or maybe it was just warmer!). I was grateful then when I got to bed at 1.00am!

Roll on Holland on Saturday……!

Bonn concert

I woke at 8.00am but dosed until 10.00am as I’ll be up for over 24 hours today. I spent all morning and until 3.00pm writing my reviews and doing some work on my laptop.

I left at 3.30pm and drove into Bonn and easily found the venue and somewhere to park. I joined the queue by about 4.15pm and already there were about 100 fans there – some had started queuing at noon! I found some friends and joined them there while we listened to the soundcheck, mainly Kasim’s bass and John’s drumming with no vocals.

The gates opened at 6.00pm by which time the middle of my back was really aching and my feet were sore but amazingly I forgot all about that during the concert itself! My friends had opted to stand over on the right hand side of the stage (as Meat Loaf spends more time over there on this tour) so we separated and I stood in the second row to the left of Randy….perfect! As I got there some guy was talking in a very broad Northern English accent so I started chatting to him and his wife (she had won tickets on a radio show). It turns out that he was brought up about 2 miles from where I now live! A Dutch girl I know also came and stood near me so I had someone else to chat to too.

I’ll add a full review at http://www.KasimInfo.com/2005/06/06.html but it was another good concert (but my favourite was still Skive). I spoke to some fans after the concert and several of them were disappointed that it only lasted just the hour and a half and no longer. Lots of them were expecting “a full Meaty concert” as they called it but all they got was the same setlist as at the venues – I think we just have to accept that that is the setlist for the tour now.

I only took a couple of photos at this concert. I’m not a natural photographer as I like to just enjoy the concert, whereas one friend of mine is only happy when she can take photos at the concert. I just got my camera out for Mercury Blues and snapped a couple of shots – I got one good one of Kasim! Kasim looked really good again tonight – he’s wearing some great clothes on this tour!

I left almost straight after the concert and bought a tour programme on the way out. There are 14 photos of Kasim in it, mainly taken from the CHSIB tour.

I set off by 10.00pm and easily found my way out of Bonn onto the autobahn. I kept at about 85mph (remember there is no speed limit on the autobahns) and drove from Germany into Holland into Belgium and into France. I had a quick 10 minute catnap at a motorway service station in Belgium but felt okay other than that.

I reached Calais by about 3.00am and there was a boat leaving at 3.15am so I was allowed on it which was handy! There were a few coaches on it so the boat was busy but not too crowded. Unfortunately there was only one lounge on the boat so that got busy and very noisy so I couldn’t dose.

We docked at 4.45am = 3.45am UK time but there was some problem with docking so we didn’t unload until 4.10am. There was nobody at customs again so I sailed through. Thankfully it was already light by now so it was easy to drive home. I got home at 5.20am and was in bed by 5.30am!

Mileage today: 364 miles
Tour total –1,822 miles

The long drag to Bonn

I set my alarm for 9.00am and had the included continental breakfast before I checked out at 10.30am (585 kroners = £50). It’s probably really pretty here but on another overcast day, there wasn’t much to look at!

I then set off the long drag back down to Bonn (past Hannover). This was a very long drive in a very uncomfortable car! It rained almost all the way, there was one pile-up which slowed me up and often the autobahn would go from 3 lanes to 2 which always created a hold-up! I tried to stick at 85mph most of the way but a lot of the time I couldn’t (there is no speed limit on Autobahns in Germany and loads of cars do over 100mph!). I did see one great road sign in Denmark – “fart kontrol”!

I stopped every couple of hours to ease my right foot and to get some fresh air. I was staying tonight with a friend near Bonn but his directions told me to leave the A1 on the 565 but I couldn’t see it anywhere! Eventually I guessed that he meant the 553 but I had passed that so I turned around and took that exit but from that direction I had to turn right at the exit and couldn’t find my way onto the right road. I asked for directions twice and then gave up and rang my friend and he came and picked me up from a MacDonald’s car park! I got to his house at 10.00pm after driving for eleven and a half hours so I was shattered!

We sat and chatted for quite a while and then I got to bed at 12.30am.

Mileage today: 643 miles
Tour total –1,458 miles

Skive, Denmark

I set my alarm for 8.00am and had the included continental breakfast over at the restaurant near the motel. I left at 9.30am and drove up through the rest of Germany into Denmark. There was no border control so I just drove across but I did remember from my last visit here in 1996 that you have to drive with your headlights on all the time in Denmark.

I was going fine until the RAC directions said that I had to follow the 23 “direction Juelsminde”. I turned off onto that single track road and drove for about 25 miles when I reached Juelsminde and the road led into a pedestrian only area! I got out my map and by following that I should have followed the 23 in the opposite direction towards Viborg!! So that added another 50 miles onto my journey.

It rained hard nearly all the way so, as I wrote in my review at http://www.KasimInfo.com/2005/06/04.html, after watching the end of Mel C’s set I came back to my car and did some work for a couple of hours. I then wandered back to the festival and had a perfect view of Kasim throughout the whole set – brilliant!!

I left straight after the festival and found my way to the hotel I’d booked on the edge of a fjord. I had to ask a couple of times for directions but I got there by 1.30am. I have a lovely room so I had a quick cup of tea and got to bed by 2.00am exhausted again!

Tour total – 815 miles (not including ferries)

The tour begins!!!

I was lucky that my boss let me leave work early at 8.30pm as I still didn’t get to bed until 10.30pm and to sleep until 11.30pm. Thankfully I had loads of adrenaline when my alarm went off at 2.00am as a new tour starts today!!!

I packed and left the house at 3.00am and got to Dover by 4.20am to board the 4.45am sailing on the Pride Of Dover to Calais. Thankfully the boat was quite empty so I had breakfast on board and changed up some money. The tours are so much easier with most of Europe using Euros and not their own currencies. Back in 1996 I had to decide ahead where I would be likely to buy petrol and get enough French francs and German Marks accordingly! The Euro / Sterling rate wasn’t quite as good as it has been as I got about 414 euros for £300 (which equals about $450).

We docked at 6.15am UK time = 7.15am French time and there was nobody at French passport control so I just drive right through. I then started the long journey to Hannover. When I left home the mileage on my car was 2,311 and when I reached Hannover it was 2,703 so it was 392 miles. I stopped a couple of times for breaks but my car is VERY uncomfortable to drive on long distances! As it’s a right hand dive, it’s not too easy to overtake as I can’t see as well but that wasn’t really a problem on the Autobahns. (I drove from France into Belgium, into Holland and then into Germany!) I did have a quick 10 minute catnap at one point but it was very hot and my car got stuffy! I’ve managed to catch the sun on my right elbow where I had it out of the window too!

I got to Hannover by 4.00pm and the festival was very well sign posted! It was in the Messe area of Hannover (all German cities have these Messe areas where they hold exhibitions). I parked along the side of the road and within two minutes walk I was in there! They looked in my bag but were more concerned with people not taking bottles in than cameras.

I’ve added a very thorough review of the concert at http://www.KasimInfo.com/2005/06/03.html but for most of the afternoon and evening some friends and I just sat and chatted until we made our way into the crowd. I then had a perfect view of Kasim so I was happy!

After the concert we met up with some more friends and then I set off at about 12.10pm. As I was really tired, my plan was to stop as soon as I found a hotel outside of Hannover but I had to drive for about an hour before I did! I was really lucky as I took the last room there (79 euros) ! It was at a motorway stop place but had three beds. Unfortunately there was no tea making facilities there but luckily I’d brought my kettle along so I had a much needed cuppa before I fell into bed at 2.00am!

Tour total – 492 miles