BALL DER STERNE, CONGRESS CENTER, ROSENGARTEN, MANNHEIM, GERMANY - SAT 14TH OCT 2006
Radio Regenbogen - 'Midnight special Event'
Ticket
Booklet
Newspaper
Myself, Heather, Susan, Diane, and our make up roadie Andy all stayed at my house friday night. After lots of catching up, eating and drinking we finally got an early night, would of been earlier but Andy wouldn't stop talking and let me and Heather go to sleep (ok I can exaggerate the truth can't I, so it was me lol.
We all set off from mine to Stanstead in the wee hrs of Saturday morning to catch the early plane to Frankfurt Hanne (Which happens to be in the middle of know where lol) We stopped enroute to pick Anne up from her hotel near Stanstead (Yes A Dutchie came all the way over from Holland just to fly back with us to Germany lmao) Due to the new restrictions on liquids in hand luggage poor Andy got to carry a huge suitcase full of toiletries for 5 women and himself lol. Hence his new name our make up roadie!
After a dodgy start with fog we finally got to Frankfurt where we ate while Anne tried to catch up on some sleep (something she did for most of the trip, but we'll forgive her as she was feeling ill) We had a long wait till the bus for Mannheim came then we had a two hr ride, on which we all played eye spy or tried to sleep!
After a long walk to find our hotel all 6 of us piled into the one room to get ready for the Gala. Don't believe the stories from Andy on who took longest ;-) After much laughing we finally met up with them lovely Germans, R, MMP aka Michael and his very lovely wife Susa. The along came them other very lovely Germans Eva and Tamara. looking lovely in their evening wear I might add.
After a small hiccup in ticket purchases on MMP's part, we finally got to go to the Ball! But not before having some pics taken. See below...
On the way to the gala, who should we find, but the very lovely Kasim. Who stopped for a chat and some pics :-) I'm still wondering why we had to dress up and he didn't though!
Me & Kas
Susan & Kas / Diane & Kas
After a dodgy walk up the red carpet (T where were you ;-) ) we had some pictures taken by a photographer there.
Andy, Deb, Anne, Diane, Heather & Susan
Then it was time to drink some of that free champagne! The tickets for this show were very expensive. But we did have free food and drink included in that which was pretty cool. Most of us drank champagne all night and the food was gorgeous.
In case you don't know who the people in the pics below are... from left to right we have..
Our very own MLUKFC Webmaster R (Rainer) with Diane.
Next pic we have Tamara hiding for a change :-) With Daniel (Daniel it really was great to meet you and I hope to see you on the tour next yr!) With Eva in the background there.
Then we have AnneV and Heather
Then Susan with Yvonne in the backgorund
Then Yvonne and her Mum :-)
Finally time for the show. Meat played in a large room in the building. The Hollies were on before him so we managed to walk up to the front during their set ready for Meat.
Before they came on, John came out and I managed to get a couple of pix...
Set List
All Revved Up
Life Is A Lemon
Out Of The Frying Pan
Took The Words
Anything For Love
The Monster Is Loose
If It Ain't Broke Break It
It's All Coming Back To Me Now (featuring Marion Raven)
Bat Out Of Hell
Dave Luther the new Sax and Keyboard player. Click picture for a small video
Me & Heather / Me & Andy leaving the ball (Thanx to Heather for the pics)
Andy at Stanstead airport thinking he still has to push my car this tour ;-)
Not many pics from me from this show as my stupid battery died! More to come
from the rest soon...
Thankfully Heathers didn't die, so here's some of Her pics. Thanx Heather :-)
Anne, Susan, Diane, Heather, Andy & R
Daniel, Eva & Michael
Me and Andy!
My darling Eva and me :-)
R and me dancing to 'We are family' after too many glasses of champagne!
Shamelessly stolen from AndyK's blog on MLUKFC
Cast your mind back a few weeks,
almost a month now in fact. Meat and the band were to play a gig in Mannheim if
you remember. Not just any gig, it was at a posh ball, with dinner suits, ball
gowns, champagne, canapes and stuff!
A group of us decided we ought to go and see what all the fuss was about. So we
did. A very early morning start from the home for wayward loafers saw us heading
off in the fog to Stansted airport. One wrong turn later we were there, and
checked in. ALmost as soon as we were on the plane I fell asleep - hardly
surprising considering what time we'd got up that morning! An hour later I woke
up and looking out of the window I could see tarmac, "Great" I thought, "We're
in Germany already". Not quite true. I'd fallen asleep as we sat on the apron
waiting to take off, and woke up and hour later in exactly the same place at fog
bound Stansted! Eventually we made it to Germany and then had to endure a two
hour bus ride to Mannheim. The time was passed on the journey playing Eye-Spy,
asking if we were there yet and watching a mobile hairdresser practise her art!
Now, I should mention at this point that I was travelling with 5 women, who
shall remain nameless. Anyway Deb, Heather, Susan, Diane and Anne and I had
packed our posh clothes into our carry on luggage, leaving toiletries packed in
a suitcase for checking into the hold of the aircraft. The recent security
alerts meaning that no liquids could be carried in the cabin of the plane of
course. Now, personally speaking I travel very light, some aftershave, a razor,
shower gel and deodorant. So, quite how the suitcase weighed 17 Kgs I'm still
not entirely sure!! Of course yours truly was nominated makeup roadie for the
day so had to lug the thing about. Which was fine until I reached into the
luggage compartment of the bus in Mannheim to retrieve our bag, only to come
back out of the compartment with only a suitcase handle! Made the rest of the
journey a little more strenuous that's for sure!!
We'd booked a hotel room near the venue to get changed in. Which was an
entertainment in itself, 6 people, one double room, one bathroom that quickly
resembled a sauna and five women fighting over one mirror! Think the first
person started getting ready about 4pm, with the last person arriving in the
hotel lobby at 7pm ... bizarrely that was one and the same person!
Enough has been written about the evening and the concert itself elsewhere, so
I'll not add more now. Suffice it to say we had a great time, there's something
very decadent about resting your champagne glass on the front of the stage while
watching Meat and the band perform!!
After the show it was a mad dash back to the hotel to get changed into
travelling clothes, and then our good friend MMp drove us to the bus stop in
R.'s brand new car. This would have been alot easier if the driver could have
got the boot open so that I could have put the make up bag into it, as it was I
ended up sat in the passenger seat with the thing on my lap! (Sorry R. there was
no damage, honest!).
The bus ride passed in a dozing state as did the flight back, and then we were
home ready for the next stage of the adventure ... London.