Germany 4 - Hannover, The Aliens Have Landed

All photos in this post are (c) Christine Moeller.  Thanks again Chris for letting me use them.

August 12th pm.

We treated ourselves to a taxi to get to the stadium, it actually turned out to be cheaper than if we had gone on the train and it was so much easier.

We waited where we thought the band would enter the stadium once more.  Again they arrived with a police escort, this time with sirens blasting!  I counted the luxury car convoy and got 14, but I'm sure I missed a few as I was also trying to see through the blacked out windows.  So no meetings again, during the 360 Tour U2 have definitely been
more distant which is a shame, but then again a meeting is a bonus, they don't have to meet and greet fans.


We had good seats 11 rows up the lower tier on Edge's side (we always seem to end up on his side).  We got talking to a girl who was sitting beside us, she had come by herself from Berlin and this was her first U2 concert. 

They opened the same way with Stingray and Bono doing a circuit of the catwalk doing his funny, clumsy "dance".  I just love it, such fun!  Still don't know what Bono shouts out every now and then, but he did finish with, "Achtung baby!" though. 

The show followed the same set as Frankfurt, but the atmosphere was very up, Bono was in one of his jokey, fun moods.  At one point he started talking in an alien-like voice saying that they come from a "Little green planet called Ireland".  Then went on saying they had crash landed their space ship and needed to be re-built by German doctors and nurses.  He kept laughing and saying sorry but he couldn't stop himself, still speaking in alien tones he told us one of the nurses was at the concert and it was her who stamped made in Germany on his arse.  He introduced Edge as R2D2, Adam as Princess Leia and Larry as Darth Vader.  I've never seen Larry laugh so much as when he heard that!  Bono introduced himself as "The big hairy one". 

It was just so funny, I've never laughed so much at a U2 concert.  Some of the general concert goers there must have thought what a strange accent he has!  Maybe he's on too many painkillers?? 

Glastonbury seemed more defined and it was easier to hear the lyrics as the sound was clear than at Frankfurt.  The ending to me sounded rather Vertigo-like.  "It's getting better," Bono said, "You don't mind us experimenting on you?" By now he'd dropped the alien accent .  The song didn't get as good a reception here as it had in Frankfurt.

The original video to The Unforgettable Fire was there again I was pleased to see, it just works so well.  What an amazing song that is and the band were just very young men when they created it.  Bono said something in German before the song, and even to me it sounded terrible - my German friends confirmed that Bono's German is lousy and they found it very hard to understand.

At the end of City of Blinding Lights Bono got a girl out of the audience and they walked, arms around each other, along the catwalk.   He took so long about it that he was late getting ready for Vertigo!  The band kept repeating the opening music and eventually Bono got in place saying, "Sorry, I was just giving her Spanish lessons  -  uno, dos, tres, catorce!"  This is the first 360 show that I have been at wher he hs got someone out of the audience.  I'd missed that because for me and most fans it is part of a U2 show, when Bono gets someone on stage we all feel like we are up there.

Crazy was more "evil" in Hannover, I think that was what I was missing in Frankfurt, the menace and rawness and that was there tonight.  Loved him yelling out "RRRRRRRiot!"

We had bought cheap binoculars at the stadium and they were great.  Now I can't remember the song but there's a point where Bono is on the bridge on our side and turns to walk back to the stage, well in complete unison Debbi and I raised our binoculars to view a tasty back view of Bono.  We looked at each other and laughed out loud!  Great minds.

Streets was a uplifting as ever it's always mind-blowing to look round the crowd when this song is being performed, so many people singing, clapping, dancing in unison, it's certainly a special tune.  At the end of the song when they were preparing to leave the stage before the encore, Edge playfully threw a punch at Bono, who jumped back and laughed.

After the encore Bono mentioned that Paul McGuinness was born in Hannover "About 125 years ago."  He then went on to lead the audience in a rendition of Happy Birthday  for the band's "Friend and mentor" Wim Wenders who was going to turn 55 in a couple of days.

Then Bono continued, "I would like to...to" we could tell that he was distracted by something, he continued, "Just fix that speaker."  He then gave the speaker three hefty kicks before saying, "There it is!" with some satisfaction.

He then went on to dedicate Moment of Surrender to Robert Enke, a Hannover footballer who committed suicide last year.  The lights went onto Larry, he stood up and was wearing the local football team's jersey, this really seemed to strike a chord with the crowd and I actually found the song very moving that night. 

So that marked the end of 360 2010 for my friends and me. The girl from Berlin was radiant, smiling from ear to ear, she'd loved the concert.  I thought I'd be feeling sad that it was all over, but it had been such a fun, uplifting concert that we all left feeling animated and happy!

Frankfurt and Hannover had exactly the same set lists yet the shows felt very different.  The crowd were more receptive and enthusiastic in Frankfurt.  Bono was more ebullient and downright funny in Hannover and his mood transferred onto the crowd it was a real party gig. 

During the Frankfurt gig I kept thinking Bono's even smaller than usual and couldn't work out why he looked different.  Then at Hannover I noticed that he had relatively normal shoes on, quite high heels, but fairly normal soles.  Maybe he had to wear those very thick soled shoes for his back problems rather than vanity.

Bono seemed back to his old self fitness wise, though Deb and I both noticed that once he winced and froze for a second when he was taking a big step up.  He also didn't run at all or get his leg over the bridge as he used to do.  He must have worked very hard to get well enough to do the tour, bless him.

 

We got the train back to the centre of Hannover and once back at our hotel opened the wine and nibbles and chatted about the gig.  We had our now traditional after the last show U2 quiz, it was close but Julie won.  It took us ages to come back down too earth after the gig!

Now we are already tentatively planning our next leg of  U2 360, 2011 in Canada.  I think that we will see a very different show next year (but I hope Bono keep wearing those trousers ).  

Germany 3 - Hannover, Lakes and History

August 11th

We chose our beds over breakfast this morning - we'd stayed up until 3am celebrating seeing our first U2 gig of 2010 in our now traditional way - with champagne, wine and nibbles.  So next morning Debbi and I were feeling worse for wear, though Julie as usual was fine, she must have hollow legs!

We checked out and got a taxi to the main station where we would get our train to our next destination - Hannover.  Frankfurt had surprised me, I really like the place.  I don't know why, but I didn't expect it to be so green, have skyscrapers and lovely river walks.

We had treated ourselves to first class tickets for the trip so were able to use the Deutsches Bahn lounge, a good strong German coffee helped Deb and I feel human again.  Our train left on time, it was one of the older trains so the first class wasn't that special, but it had been cheap so we didn't mind, at least I got my coffee in a proper mug rather than a cardboard one!  

Our hotel was smack in the centre of the city, an ideal base.  After settling in we headed to the AWD Arena where the gig was being held the next day.  It turned out to be another lovely location for a stadium, lots of greenery and beside the Maschsee, a large lake.  We laughed at the amount of posters advertising the gig, hundreds and hundreds adorning almost everything standing!  A few hardy fans again were staked out by the entry gates, I didn't envy them.

We walked the short distance to the Maschsee and found an area at the head of the lake full of restaurants, cafes, bars, stalls, musicians.  Boats glided on the lake and huge fish snapped at the surface of the water hoping to find a tasty morsel.

Writing of tasty morsels we were peckish by now and thought it would be nice to eat here.  So we went into nearby Julian's Bar, sat in the outside eating area (it's such a treat eating outside for the English as we can rarely do that mback home) and had a lovely meal there.  It was a warm evening and we relaxed and chilled out as we looked out over the lake and watched the people passing by, a great way to end our first day in Hannover.


August 12th - Morning

I woke up to the sound of church bells, something I love about being in countries like Germany.  This was our only chance to see a bit of Hannover so we walked the short distance to the old town.  It was a lovely area where I felt as if I'd stepped back in time.  Timbered buildings, cobbled roads, fountains, ornate stonework. 

We went into the Marktkirche (market church) which was quite plain in design, but there was an amazing triptych behind the altar.  In one corner it showed how the church had been pre-war, more ornate with decorated ceilings.  Only the shell and some of the thick supporting columns were all that was left after the war.  During the restoration they incorporated parts of the old building into the new walls. 

Review - City Hotel, Limburgstrasse, Hannover

Name and Address
City Hotel, Limburgstrasse, Hannover, Germany

Location
This hotel is located in the city centre, within minutes walking distance from S and U-Bahns,  and the main railway station.  There is a taxi rank two  minutes down the road.  Shops, restaurants and bars are all close by.  The hotel is also five minutes walk from the lovely Old Town area of Hannover.

Amenities
The hotel has a small reception area with a few seats, there are machines where you can buy coffee, tea, soft drinks, beer.  There is also a large dining room that is only open for breakfast.

Rooms
Again we had single rooms, they were larger than at the previous hotel, each of our three rooms was different in size.  They were clean and had everything we needed.

General
You can get a ticket that entitles you to free public transport from the hotel.  We were not told about this when we checked in and only found this out two days into our stay.  Also at check in Debbi asked if the room she had was a smoking one (as we had booked) but she was told it was not.  We noticed a seating area on our floor that had an ashtray so we asked if that was a smoking area  and it was.  I think the young lady who checked us in needs to give guests more information!