Saarbrücken, June 18th 2009

I met with Rainer and we had a drink before we stood in first row, bearing "Fatal Smile" for the third time. The show was in a smaller venue than Stuttgart, Parker figured around 900. QR's setlist was different last night, we got Neue Regel, London, At 30.000 Feet, the Empire Suite was the same. The Setlist read "Take hold of the flame" as the last song, but they never played it - I guess due to the venues policy to stop the music at 11pm.

This time, Geoff also did not sing to me during Jet City Woman, like he had done in the previous nights, so I felt it just wasn't my night. I also missed my Romanian friends, it is just more fun in a group. Eddie winked at me and threw me a pic, which Rainer snatched. And then, at the end of the show, after the last song, when the band took their bow - Geoff spotted me, looked in astonishment and actually called to me from the stage

"Have you been there all night???"

and I shouted "Yeah, sure". Hahaha, from that point on, I was in a good mood again. He had not seen me throughout the whole show, cause the lights were blinding him (as he later told me).

The M&G was lots of fun, cause I had met with some ppl I knew from a social community. Whip came out and was like "Hey, it's Aefa"...I had no idea he even knew my name. Got a big hug from Scott and when I talked to him about the upcoming shows and travel plans, and when they heard Greek Empire, they were like "oh, Costas and Dimitris".

I also asked Whip and Parker to play "Remember me" next week. They said the audience would always look bored, but I told them we were simply mesmerized cause it's such a beautiful song.

Parker talked about the Berlin show - said it was the second worst stage they ever had (after New Orleans). They were sharing the parking lot with Limp Biscuit who had been playing in a venue next door. Ticket sales in Berlin were quite slow, so it was a small crowd, but they were partying. So I guess the Stuttgart show was the best one so far.

I left the venue after midnight, walked around the corner to my car and passed the tour bus with Parker and Whip in front of it. When I told them "bye guys", they asked where I was heading to, and when I told them "on my way to my car" they both asked me to come along and hang out with them. Wooooooho, an invite from both guitar players? ;-)

Jason also joined them and we went to a beer garden next door. All kinds of people from the local management were waiting there. I couldn't drink and drive and talked to a fan from Poland who had found their way in. Since everyone tried to get the band's attention, I decided to call it a night after some 20 minutes - still had to drive back home for another 100 minutes.

I hope I will get to writing down the interview this weekend and sort through the pics. Other than that, I will try to chill, sleep and energize for next week :-)

Äfa