How could this happen? Hadn't we just started in Munich? Wasn't it only yesterday that there were three full adventurous weeks ahead of us?
Time flies when you're having fun. Sad but true.
Somehow we dreaded to leave for Frankfurt. It was a bit like: as long as we're not there yet, it hasn't begun and the end is still far away.
But there comes the time when there's no procrastinating anymore and you have to leave. You don't want to miss that last show after all, right?
Made it down to Frankfurt in only a bit more than 2.5 hours. And finally we had a hotel that was so close to the venue again, that we didn't have to deal with driving or paying for a taxi. In fact the hotel was almost "next door". It was the Best Western Scala, which is actually a quite nice hotel (ok, the room could have been a tad bit larger but it was ok in the end), but it doesn't have its own parking garage. Yes, here we are again with a slight parking problem. It's been a while that we had to bitch about that.
So hotel guests who arrive by car, can pull up to the main entry to unload their luggage, but have to use a public garage a few hundred meters away, to park the car. Or you're very lucky and find street parking nearby. I suppose, winning the lottery jackpot might be easier though.
[Note from Stefie: Here we are again with our beloved term "nearby".]
The hotel is located very close to the main and huge shopping street Zeil and other places of interest. And they serve a pretty decent breakfast.
But this ain't a hotel blog, right? Let's get back to the main business why we're here.
We arrived early enough to have some downtime, but not early enough to spend that downtime doing extensive sightseeing or shopping. All we did was walking over to the Zeil (Frankfurt's huge shopping mile) to see if we could have a
Back in the room there was still some time to relax... or start writing the blog für Münster. Theoretically. Practically... I couldn't. Don't know why. Guess I wasn't in the mood to wrap my mind around "creative writing".
So while Stefie at least did some photo editing, I was just trying to not think all too hard about the fact that this was the last time to get ready for a show.
This is not our first big tour. But it was definitely the longest, most intense one we've ever been on. And last days suck. No matter what.
We left the hotel rather early. Just didn't have the nerve anymore to hang around in that damn room. We checked out where the sankt peter CAFE was, and while we knew it couln't be that far away, we were still surprised to see how close it was. Lee was soundchecking when we arrived. But it was still too early to hang around there. So what to do now? Right. Getting something to eat. We were both not in the mood for fancy restaurants and stuff, so we went to a nearby Döner Kebab place again.
About 30 minutes before door opening time, which was 7pm, we went back to the venue but we were alone up until 5 minutes to 7. Inside the place looked interesting with some very comfortable chairs... even a little couch... and they were all taken rather quickly.
A little later it looked like this
.... and by 8pm showtime it was so crowded it must have been close to selling out. Most people who arrived later, were standing, others were sitting on the ground.
Knowing the tour was coming to an end, we wanted to delay Lee's final performance as long as possible so we were really happy to learn that Paper Aeorplanes played first again.
Clear from the start was the following: there may have been more people in attendance than in Münster, but they were all.... quiet. So very quiet. And I don't mean bored-quiet or not-having-fun-quiet. No, they were listening. Between two songs, when Sarah was strumming her guitar, you could hear a pin drop. But after each song the applause was LOUD and enthusiastic! It was exactly the same later with Lee.
Always good for a laugh is when Sarah tells the story that she, Rich and Lee share a hotel room on that tour to save money, and that Lee sleeps in the Besucherritze. Which is a German word she has learned and it sounds very cute when she pronounces it (and it's not an easy word to pronounce for a non-German).
For our English speaking readers: there's no English word for Besucherritze. It's basically the space or gap between matresses in a twin bed.
Oh and... of course it's a joke. Just in case you were wondering. (Or is it? ;-D)
Other essential words she knows now are Flaschenöffner (bottle opener), Leitungswasser (tap water), Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) and encoffeiniert (decaf) and the German translation of her bandname which is Papierflugzeuge. She's all set now to live here! :-)
I'm not 100% sure but I think it was the first gig where people wanted an encore after their set. There were encores with the three of them at the end of both sets, but it must have been the first one at the end of their own set. Basically what happened to Lee in Hannover. It was well deserved.
But now it wouldn't be long until it was time for Lee to open his very last set of the tour. On one hand we were of course excited, just like before every performance. On the other hand ... well... yeah. You guess it.
But then, here he was, dapper as always, in black pants, dress shirt and tie and dark grey jacket, and for the last time he was singing to us that great, ex-girlfriend-inspired song ;-)
I think it was before London In The Summer, when Lee usually asks if someone in the audience has been to London before, when Bob introduced himself to Lee (and I apologize if it wasn't before that song but another). We others had 'met' him before when he was engaged in a little conversation with Sarah during her set. Now Lee had the pleasure. Bob was an Englishman too, and as soon as he had told Lee from where exactly he came, the two exchanged some pleasantries in an accent that made it impossible for me to understand so I'm sorry I can't repeat their short conversation here.
We'd be hearing more from Bob later. (Or better... Sarah, Rich and Lee would hear from Bob later.)
No changes to the set, but it seemed like Lee's voice was finally back to its full force! How unfair was it, that he was sick for a long stretch of that tour and only got better when it was over? I'm sure though, that those who saw a show and didn't know he was sick, never really noticed any voice "problems".
Apart from that, there was nothing new in Frankfurt. Nothing that hasn't been said about his amazing musical talent, outstanding voice, qualities as entertainer, storyteller and audience charmer. Always funny and engaging, exchanging witty banter with the crowd, you can't help but having that genuine feeling that both artist and audience have euqally as much fun.
Which is the secret of every good show.
Last song, as always, was Smile. But instead of smiling I couldn't help but tear up a bit. I dread last songs of last shows on last tour days so much ... sigh.
Okay... of course it wasn't the very last song. There were still the two with Paper Aeroplanes. This time they performed Newport Beach again unplugged in the middle of the room.AMAZING!
And that was it.
As I said in the blog title... this might have been everyone's favorite show of the tour. Very nice venue that was packed, wonderful audience, flawless performances, great atmosphere... couldn't have been any more perfect and a better ending of a wonderful, and I'm sure very successful, tour.
Many people stayed after it was over. Lee's line at the merchandise table was once again very long, so many wanted not only CDs or bracelets but also a photo with him... same goes for Sarah & Rich. They also received lovely presents from some of their biggest fans who had been following for a handful of shows.
I had bought a CD and wanted to get it signed from them, but then there was Bob who had come over to chat them up. And he kept going and going and going and going. Bob had obviously a lot to say, totally ignoring the fact that there were people lining up to have their stuff signed. Sarah & Rich were friendly and polite... but at some point Rich made a sublte sign that there were people wating for them. Otherwise Bob would still be standing there talking I guess. But there was still Lee, right? So he went over to him to see if he could have a little talk with him. :-/.
The nerve of some people.
Anyway... our little group (Petra, Christine & Melanie from the PA camp, Heidi & Stefie from the LMD camp) stayed until the
[Note from Stefie: thanks to the lady from the entrance, who gave spare posters to everyone who wanted them for free.]
And then it was time to leave the venue... but no one really wanted to leave, so we all decided to have a drink somewhere and drive over to BarCelona, crammed into Petra's little car (hello Fridolin!). Arrived there about 15 minutes before kitchen-closing-time but were still allowed to order something. Must've been close to 1am when Andrea Bocelli's Time To Say Goodbye blasted out of the speakers. At first we didn't think much of it, but then we were given paper cups for the still unfinished drinks and boxes for those who hadn't finished their meal yet. They were practically kicking us out LOL. Which was alright though. We had showed up a tad bit late and it was actually nice of them to still cook 5 meals for us.
Paula & Christine drove us back to our hotel before they started their two-hour-drive back home. A grand ol' time was had by all... I think the little get-together has saved everyone from being all too sad that the tour had now come to an end.
Back at the hotel it was a bit of a weird feeling, knowing that tomorrow we could sleep in. (Sort of... breakfast was only 'til 10am LOL)... that there was no need to plan the next day... or to be at the next destination on time... no need to think about the blog just now, would certainly do it from home...
Okay. So this was the last blog post about an actual show. But this is not the last blog post in general. There will be one more, where we will be posting some more photos, videos of performances and storytelling, a little résumé, some statistics... whatever qualifies for a "last post".
Pics from Frankfurt:
Look at what he wrote on our posters. How sweet is that? Brought more than one tear to our eyes. Thanks so very much, Lee!!! You're very welcome. Supporting you is a great pleasure :-).
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