Martin and James – Das Bett, Frankfurt; October 25th, 2013
The last show of their headline tour was a relaxed and fun evening for Martin and James as well as the fans. One more time they showed us how well they can play and one more time we showed them just how much we love them. It was a perfect last concert of the tour and a pretty nice venue too. Fans had traveled from all over Germany to be there so it felt like being among family.
After arriving in Frankfurt I spent quite some time looking for the venue together with A. somehow the street numbering didn’t follow any logic and we ended up calling N. to ask where the heck the venue was. Only familiar people were around when we arrived and not many of them. A. got us some pizza to share and we hung out waiting. The guys had promised me an interview and not bothered telling me it was not going to happen. I had guessed as much, but still was a little bit miffed about it.
Oh well, everything else went smoothly though and we got a good spot in front of the rather large stage. L. and C. from the Official Martin and James Support passed out signs reading “You Rock” to be held up during ‘See no land’ – everyone stashed them away until then. Of course, Jim Kroft was the first to play that night.
He chatted, he engaged the audience and he sang amazing songs. Even without Ben on second guitar he was brilliant. He recruited Max on drums for a few songs, but did perfectly fine on his own. ‘Diamond in the rough’ was back on the setlist, as beautiful as ever. Jim looked like he was loving every second of this concert and his cold seemed to be gone to. He brought a lot of passion to the stage that night. I was smiling throughout, loved the songs and his enthusiasm. It all ended with ‘The Jailer’, but everyone would have loved to hear more. 🙂
Setlist
Like a human heart
Tell me
Blue sky
Diamond in the rough
I hope you know
Cracked Polaroid
I will wait
Typical day
The Jailer
Just like Jim, Martin and James seemed to be determined to make this last concert a memorable one. The audience helped them by enthusiastically singing and clapping along to the more powerful songs and listening to the quiet ones. 🙂 It was one of those concerts where everything was right from the beginning. The guys seemed to feel comfortable on stage and that reflected back on the audience. There were just lots of good vibes in the room. 🙂
The sound was pretty good too. No technical problems unlike so many other times – it was much more enjoyable that way. Even the light was pretty good and not always red. I loved absolutely every song, but especially the acoustic set. After so many concerts with a band I still prefer Martin and James solo. The others songs were fun too though. For ‘I have to fall’ they had the whole band and the audience clap and sing along with them, not to mention the powerful ‘Crashing into Love’ that is always a highlight.
In-between songs they tried some of their German and made us all laugh. They also joked and told little stories, just as they always do when the mood is right. ‘See no land’ came and for the chorus we all held up our signs. The smiles on Martin and James’ faces told us all we needed to know. They loved it and told us that we rocked too. It looked pretty great! At the end of the song there is always a break and always some people will clap. This time there was a reason though, because Martin told us he thought “that was amazing!” James counted “eins, zwei drei” and on they went. Yeah! Later on, Marc even stole a sign and showed us what he thought of us. 😀
The concert was far from over though and there were many more songs for us to listen or party too. The place was packed and everyone was into it. Great mood all around, exactly what I needed that night and what I had hoped for at that last concert. For the encores, Jim was filming the guys and then joined them for ‘You’ll be gone, I’ll be here’ – it was lovely to have him on stage with the guys one more time. 😀 ‘Life’s a show’ was the ultimate song, we did not get an additional encore. It all ended on a high note though and I was happy to have made the track to Frankfurt.
There was even time for a brief chat after the gig before I went to my hotel and tried to get some sleep. Thank you for the tour guys, I’ll see you next year!
Setlist
Bloom
Where I belong
Cold heart
My dog don’t like the rain
My last prayer
Tides
Cynical Skin
Crashing into love
I know a girl
Maybe it’s time
You’re a window
Bad dream
I have to fall
See no land
Wrong directions
The Rope
Matilda
All over the news
Little bits of light
You’ll be gone, I’ll be here
Life’s a show