No one came...

This should be an event - thoroughly planned, kept in secret until last Friday to surprise my girlfriend and last not least as a birthday-gift to this just-turned-40 over-weighted fan.

So we made our way on a snow filled trafficed highway to the Nuremberg airport and got to London Heathrow via Frankfurt. Thanks to the Sept.11-idiots it is impossible to get to London directly now and our Lufthansa was also quick to raise the airport taxes up to 88 Euro each.

We were happy to reach a small and not-so-expensive hotel (by London standards), late on Friday night and fell into bed with some red wine brought over from Europe...

Of course there was no problem to do the time during Saturday until the event, so we went to Notting Hill Gate to see the Portobello market and got a fine meal at an Indian restaurant down in Soho. Well fed and eager to see the show I suggested to get to the Appollo Hammersmith box office first to purchase the ordered tickets and try to catch a nap in the hotel then before we would set out to see the band - NOT.

We arrived at the Appollo and while I was wondering almost the whole day about the bad promotion of the show throughout London city (no posters at all) I heard a discussion of people in front of the box office that the show was being cancelled. As I attended to the box office myself and got to talk to the friendly and understanding staff (!!!) I was faced with the bad news. Some people around just lost their nerves and started discussions with the box office people who could do nothing about it...

If it wasn't London we probably would have been a bit sad too. But in that city you can start doing something else in that case if you want to... I was only sad, because, hmm, you never know: Artistically in my humble opinion they have been at their peak for a couple of years now, but you never know if somebody inside the band-wagon feels like calling it a day these days. Will I ever see them again? Hmmhmmhmm... Will they really have the time to record an new album? Hmmhmmhmm...

So, what to do? We hit Soho again, went to Camden market during heavy rain the next day and set off back home on Sunday evening. What a celebration of the 40th birthday - "I know, we will never forget..."

Svent Gustav

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