SARAH BLACKWOOD

A wonderful weekend that nearly didn't happen, due to me misreading the itinerary and going to Paddington station, to catch the Heathrow Express, instead of the Stanstead Express from Liverpool St....Duh!!!IIt's either my dopiness or the curse of Fri 13th, the jury is still out....

And so our journey to Hamburg began with an incredible amount of stress for all concerned as I raced across London to try to make the 3.40 train for the 5pm flight to Lubeck.Never has 22 minutes seemed so neverending.Thanks to all the people who let me push to the front of the security check queue.I think they must have taken pity on my flustered, bright red, sweaty, teary face.I so couldn't bear the thought of missing a gig, let alone missing it because of my own stupidity.

Ryan Air brought persecution to new levels as they weighed bags and forced them into a metal frame to measure dimensions....and turned customers away if they couldn't afford to pay the excess charge.....no matter how small the excess weight or dimension.Their greed policy shows no mercy and I expect them to manufacture their own standard issue suitcase soon, as another ridiculous profit generating exercise....priority boarding?need a wheelchair?standing room only?The mind boggles.....I'm probably on some sort of hate list now in line for extra cruel and unusual punishments as a penance for ranting about them....

The plane was delayed due to their over zealous boarding procedure and we landed with only two hrs to spare before the gig and at least an hour drive ahead of us......to an out of season holiday camp near the Baltic Sea(It has to be up there in our improbable gig location top 5....)
Cosmetics were frantically applied, in the dark, in the back of the car (too much pink blusher anybody??)....and thankfully not too much time for nerves, infact it was a blessed relief after all the panic and stress, to get on stage and the audience were so up for it in party mode and that made it all worthwhile!

Late night drive back to Hamburg and early Saturday morning start for Kate and Bernard, our sound man extraordinaire, and for Corinna, their chauffer to the airport.Once again Ryan Air surpassed themselves with their meanness...by not allowing them onto the flight with 5 whole minutes to spare before before the alloted gate closure time.The journey delay caused, this time, not by my doziness but by unforseen road closures.So yet another stressful journey to Hamburg....to the welcoming, expensive arms of British Airways, a delayed flight home but at least free cup of tea.

Woke too early Sat by nerves and adrenaline....and coffee!!courtesy of Corinna's swanky bean to cup coffee machine.....she is a coffee conisseur/addict, depending on your viewpoint, but it does turn her into wonder woman!!!After sorting the Ryan Air problem (new BA flights paid for by previous nights' gig thanks VERY much Ryain Air) she drove us to the location to Saturday nights' festivities, on the Reeperbarn situated between a nude Rodeo bar....with bucking bronko (I dread to think) and a live sex show, we spent the next few hrs setting up gear,watching Dirk our sound engineer, who drove through the night from Dresden to offer his services for free!!!patiently positioning microphones, and rehersing with Martin and Christophe, the Cello and Violin players, who are exceptionally talented musicians and did a brilliant job interpreting "Ghosts" and "Home" adding other haunting dimensions.

After dinner at an amazing chinese restaurant, where I was gutted at having to restrain myself from eating too much it was so delicious, we were picked up by two stretch limos with 'Client' emblazoned on the side.Had to pretend I was J-Lo and unleash my inner bling rather than Sarah in a thermal vest and puffa coat.It attracted a lot of attention as we drove round Hamburg and the disappointment on peoples' faces when they failed to recognise us as 'Puff Daddy' or some other ostentatious rap star was hilarious.

From the limo to the loo to change then to perform. My knees were knocking for the first two songs, Here and Now and Price of Love, then I really started to shake with nerves as we did Pornography and Drive.Radio was a real moment when everyone was singing along and the pogoing boys made me smile so much. Then the string boys joined us for Ghosts and Home. I was terrified of doing Home. I didn't want to mess it up in front of all the Depeche fans (I did, but their singing along got me back on track so thank you!!) I was only aware of its beauty and thankfully not its complexity when I picked it to perform
but I think Mush and Ross were cursing me and I was feeling I had bitten off more than I could chew at rehersal.I really hope I did it justice!

It was lovely to see so many familiar and friendly faces, some had travelled such a long way to see us and that made it all the more special.I just want to personally thank Corinna for organising it all and to her and Biff for their hospitality and for taking care of us, for Dirk for his sound skills, to Martin and Christoph, Mush and Ross for their time and their talent and to all who attended and made it special.