Martin and James – Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg; May 18th 2011

I feel tired enough to sleep for a week and it would probably better if I did just that instead of going to more concerts, but I would not trade the events and memories of these past ten days for the world. Not only did I have the great pleasure to tour with one of the best bands I know, but I also found some like-minded people on the way.

I had a concert break the day before, wishing I could somehow transport myself to Stuttgart and thinking about it all day. Well, at least I got to hear Martin and James on the radio at a show they did for “motorfm – Ohrspiel”. Very cool stuff.

So May 18th was the usual: Work, long train ride, hotel, off to the club, waiting. I had talked A. into coming with me (she didn’t need much convincing), so I didn’t have to go here alone. Met some other nice people, chatted, finally got in, wanted to fall asleep right there, but remained upright somehow.

The club showed some concert preview on a video screen until 8:15 p.m. and the concert started a bit late. The new support act Chloe were OK, but nothing to write home about and nowhere near as good as Oh Napoleon. Time passed slowly and I for one was glad when they announced their last song.

At 9:15 p.m. it was time for Martin and James finally. I started smiling the moment they walked on stage and I think I might have continued even in my sleep much later. Good music always makes me happy and to hear it live is pretty much the best thing that can happen to me. Never mind that Aschaffenburg was not a concert I had originally planned to attend – on Sunday morning I had decided that a break until the coming Friday was just way too long and spontaneously booked a ticket.

‘She’s light guiding’ was the first song, then ‘Turn it up’ and ‘Lay it down’ followed, getting everyone in the mood for a great concert. The audience was good, enjoying it, going along. The band came out for ‘Wrong Directions’, the crowd loved it and the guys enjoyed it too. ‘Wheels’ and ‘Waiting’ followed and this time Martin did not mix them up. ‘Beautiful’ lead to ‘Bad Dream’ and ‘I was blind’. I loved every song and I was getting better at singing along too. ‘Tides’ was announced as the upcoming single, ‘Live Wires’ seems to get better every night and ‘Crashing into Love’ brought the full band set to a close with a lot of audience participation and fun.

The second acoustic set once again mixed slower songs with faster and more upbeat ones. To move from the sad ‘Broken Sword’ to the almost funny ‘I have to fall’ really works well. The song has so much positive energy, nobody can stand still when hearing it.

The band came out again for ‘Maybe it’s time’. I was happy that they kept the new song ‘With you’ on the setlist. It was noted down as “waltz”, which it is. So very beautiful. Too bad it’s not available on the album or one of the EPs. ‘You’re alive’ ended everything and it felt as if it had just started. I never notice how time goes by when the guys are on stage. It is just so amazing.

After the gig, A. and I waited our turn to talk to Martin and James. They kindly obliged and I even got to chat with them about the songs on the ‘motorfm’ radio show a bit. I just had to tell them how they share my taste in music. A lovely end to a lovely night.

Setlist

She’s light guiding
Turn it up
Lay this down
—
(full band:)
Wrong directions
Wheels
Waiting
Beautiful
Bad Dream
I was blind
Tides
Live Wires
Crashing into Love
—
(acoustic:)
Broken Sword
I have to fall
Little bits of Light
All over the news

Encore (full band):
Maybe it’s time
With you
Somebody
You’re alive