Martin and James – KITO, Bremen; March 1st, 2014

Bremen was the second stop on my long weekend with Martin and James. The concert took place at a cozy venue with friendly staff and was an unusually relaxed event with a setlist that got shaken up a little. It was packed, but not overcrowded, and the audience was the most responsive I had seen in a while. The fact that there was no support act that night and the good atmosphere were the final ingredients that turned a good concert into a great one. The guys had just as much fun as we did. 🙂

I arrived in the afternoon and met up with B. and K. at our hotel. The concert was in Bremen-Vegesack so not exactly city center. We went for a late lunch with A. and afterwards on to the venue where the others were already waiting for us. It was drizzling a little, but we had a roof above our heads and some fun while we waited. The guys from the venue came out for a chat too and were quite nice and relaxed about everything. When the rain got stronger, they even let us wait inside.

Finally we were allowed to go upstairs and enter the place where the concert was going to be. It was a beautiful room under the roof with wooden beams everywhere. I instantly liked it. 🙂 There were seats too, something I have rarely seen at Martin and James concerts. We occupied the first row, got drinks and relaxed. Some of us checked the setlist and  N. added ‘What I’m searching for’ to it.

As soon as they started playing I realized how good the sound was. It was loud and clear and made it all very enjoyable. The light was nice too, so much better than the near darkness the previous day. I loved every song that night, their playing and the singing. Finally I felt fully at home with them again. Sometimes, when I don’t hear the bands I love for a while, I forget why I love them so much and need to be reminded. This concert was a good reminder – I would not have wanted to be anywhere else that night.

The guys were unusually talkative and said a few things about the songs. About halfway into the concert they decided to not follow the setlist any more and take a few requests instead. That brought us ‘Wheels’, ‘Dream’ and ‘Broken Sword’, but not ‘What I’m searching for’. I’m not complaining though – everything about this concert was lovely and everyone in the audience seemed to think so too. They paid full attention to the show and participated nicely. Clearly, Martin and James enjoyed this and responded with making the show a bit extraordinary.

For many reasons I found the songs even much more enjoyable than I had in Rostock. The guys sounded better and they sang better too. Being in a good mood helped. I had the feeling they were much more concentrated on playing and singing that night. ‘The Rope’ and ‘My last prayer’ seemed especially beautiful that night, but every song had a little extra, a little more power. <3 Once again it became clear to me that the guys are much better on their own without a band that takes away so much of their flexibility. I have always loved them for being able to spontaneously change the setlist and much of that had been taken away by the concerts with bands. Sure, they did not fully turn into a jukebox or played everything we wanted, but just straying off the beaten setlist path a little bit was all I needed.

The encore was the usual one of ‘Matilda’ and ‘Life’s a show’ and I thought it was over then, fully happy with what they had given me. However, they decided to come back and play ‘Somebody’ for us as the very last song. It made the already perfect concert even better. <3

We said goodbye to the guys and went to the bar just across from the venue for cocktails – a good way to end the night. 🙂

Setlist (out of order)

She’s light guiding
Maybe it’s time
Tides
Cold Heart
My Dog don’t like the rain
Hard to cry
Cynical Skin
The Rope
Wrong Directions
Bad Dream
You’re a window
Little bits of light
Crashing into Love
My last prayer
Dream
Wheels
Broken Sword
You’ll be gone and I’ll be here

Encore:
Matilda
Life’s a show

Somebody