Martin and James – Nörgelbuff, Göttingen; February 11th, 2012
After a three day break and rerunning the past six gigs in my mind on a daily basis, I was really looking forward to going out and seeing the guys again. I was also hoping they’d have gotten some rest on their day off because they looked awfully tired in the pictures from Thursday night’s show in Saarbrücken.
My trip to Göttingen started at noon and went smoothly. Met up with K. at the train station, checked into our hotel, took a little walk downtown and bumped into B. and N. in search for their hotel. We went to get some food and walked by the venue again seeing Jim arrive.
At 6:30 we met up with N. and B. again and got in line. We got to wait in a hallway, but it was still rather cold. For he first half hour only a few of Jim’s fans kept us company. Once inside, only them and us filled the entire front row. The stage was low and the venue very small so I decided to not take any pictures and just enjoy the gig. It was a bit weird that everyone but us got chairs and sat down. Sitting? At a concert? I only do that if I have to.
It was such a beautiful and funny night. Everyone was in a talkative mood and we had many reasons to laugh. They also tried speaking a lot of German, which led to even more laughter. All good-natured of course. 😉
Jim complained about everyone always bringing them whisky as presents, because it led to drinking too much and hangovers. “Stop bringing us whiskey, give us money instead”. N., who had brought whisky wondered if she should take it back home with her. 😀
Jim once again told the story of meeting Martin and James at a techno club in Berlin, then spoke about how much fun they were having on tour and the wonderful philosophical (and other) discussions they were having in their van and how nice everyone in the band and crew was. His setlist was the same it had been since Darmstadt. I enjoyed singing along and had much fun when he announced the Jailer as “Der Gefängniswärt” – he was surprised when we all laughed until we explained to him that the word was “Gefängniswärter”. There were many more reasons to laugh, but I cannot recall them all now.
Setlist
If I’m born too late
The Great Doomsday Story
Faling Apart
Memoires from the Afterlife
Ulysses
The Jailer
Guess that’s what the Gods said
Loser Street
Birthrights
Canary in the Coalmine
The stage was so small that Martin and James hardly had room on there, especially once Lucas joined them on the double bass. The ceiling was quite low as well, so Lucas’ bass and especially Martin’s head got a few bumps. 🙁 They took it lightly and joked about it though.
It was an really intimate gig with the audience so close to stage that we could have been up there with one step. It was nice to be so close and be able to talk to them during the concert. They also looked at us a lot for a change. After the day break they seemed very relaxed and not as tired any more.
There wasn’t much clapping along going on this time – often N. and I were the only one but the audience seemed receptive nonetheless. Everyone around was smiling happily and very much into it. Martin got back to what Jim said about the whisky and kindly asked us to keep it coming. N. was relieved then. He was raving about Jim and how much fun it is touring with him.
When he wanted to tell us how many gigs they had been playing so far, he got confused so I told him this was number ten. “Thank you, if we don’t know how many concerts we played the audience does.” When introducing ‘One way forward’ he pointed at us saying that we had already heard them but they were still calling them new. “Let’s call them previously unreleased. They may be new to some of you.”
The general mood was great and we laughed so much. The loudest probably when James asked us if we were laughing because we thought what he said was funny or because we didn’t understand him. Don’t worry, we understand you just fine.:)
Every song was wonderful and I loved not taking pictures and just watching what was going on on stage and listening to all the beautiful music I never get tired of. The mixture of old and new still feels perfect to me and I really hope all the new songs will make it on the album. After so many positive reactions the guys should not have any doubt regarding the quality of these songs.
For ‘Crashing into Love’ Jim and George (who currently backs him on keyboards) snuck up on stage once again and there as some banter going on as to how they both had to sit on the small seat behind the keyboards and were only allowed on stage if they sat on each other’s knees.
Everyone was back on stage for ‘I have to fall’ as well, singing their hearts out. When the song started, Martin looked a little lost with both the drumsticks and tambourine in hand. He looked at us for help and N. and I both pointed towards K. who gladly took the tambourine and jammed right along with them, while the rest of us stuck to clapping and singing along. This song is a great show closer, especialy with ‘Twist and Shout’ and ‘You shook me all night long’ mixed in.
It was all over way too soon, but so very lovely. We had a nice chat with the guys after the show, got a group picture once again and thanked them for all the great gigs. They loved the whisky they got from N. and so did Jim.
Once they had left the four of us ended up in an Irish pub for last drinks, but they kicked us out pretty soon. For K. it was time to say goodbye and go home today, the others I will meet again in Munich. This was my 20th Martin and James gig in total and the next to last on this tour. I’m happy I’ll get one more, but sad that it’s gonna be the last one. I will certainly try to make the most of it. 😀
7 concerts down, 1 to go. Last stop: Munich.
Setlist
She’s light guiding
Turn it up
Maybe it’s time
Wheels
Wrong directions
One way forward
You’re a window
I was blind
Bad Dream
Live Wires
Love’s not a Fight
Cynical Skin
Hard to cry
Little bits of Light
Life’s a Show
The Rope
All over the News
Crashing into Love
Encore:
Somebody
I have to fall/Twist and Shout/ You shook me all night long