Sinister: ich bin das Ampelmannchen

[Dirty Vicar]

Ahoy there mateys!

so, eh, yeah, I went to Berlin, the formerly divided city on the Spree,
where the DDR had its capital and the Bundesrepublik did not. I was kind of
there for the laugh, really, but B&S were playing so I thought I'd go along.
I might some B&S fans from the internet, some of whom may have links to this
parish, but in the main I think they were *left-footers*.

B&S were playing in some place called the Columbiahalle, which is near the
Tempelhof airport into which the friendly Americans flew in loads of nosh
during the Berlin airlift. These days food is in more plentiful supply in
Berlin - you could even buy it in the venue. Winner.

Did any of you read that Onion article a while back about how some guy
spoiled a gig for everyone by enjoying himself? There were elements of that
kind of things at this concert. The Berlin crowd were in general somewhat
unappreciative and possessed of a worrying territoriality - I think people
there do not go to the bar for drinks and then return to where they were
standing, for instance, and going to the toilet and trying to push back up
the front is seen as distinctly uncool. Fortunately I played my foreign
idiot card and barged past people muttering "Lass mich passieren, ich bin
das Schmutzpfarrer!" (German for "Out of my way, nadface").

The band themselves seemed a bit slow to start, maybe because of the overly
polite nature of the crowd, but they soon picked up. So did the crowd, who
gradually became a bit more up for it. My own boisterousness attracted a few
fellow enjoyers to my vicinity, and we bopped away like nobody's business.
At one stage some of these fellows even started moshing (to 'Get Me Away
>From Here, I'm Dying', I think); that was maybe going a bit too far.

A lot of tunes from DCW were aired, reminding me again of how great it is.
Near the end of the night they delighted me by going from 'Roy Walker'
straight to 'Stay Loose', playing a storming version of this great tune,
surely the 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' of our times. The more
advanced elements of the crowd were suitably impressed. Rockist B&S fans,
meanwhile, were catered for by a number of older tunes.

Despite pleas, nothing by Die Puhdys or David Hasselhoff was aired, but they
did cover David Bowie's 'Sound & Vision' as their nod to local culture. And
they had a local waitress onstage to act out 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress'.

If you are interested in that kind of thing, my notes say they played these
songs:

An Ennio Morricone-esque intro
Expectations
Step Into My Office Baby
Wrapped Up In Books
The Model
I Fought In A War
Beautiful
The Loneliness Of A Middle Distance Runner
You Don't Send Me
Sound & Vision 
Simple Things
The Boy With The Arab Strap
Asleep On A Sunbeam
Lord Anthony
Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Dirty Dream # 2
The State I Am In
The Wrong Girl
Roy Walker
Stay Loose
Sleep The Clock Around
Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying
Me & The Major

& possibly one more that I forgot to record.

That's about all I've got time for now. Maybe another short note from me
will discuss my recent trip to Camber Sands for the All Tomorrows Parties
festival.

bless you all,

DV

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