arriving at the casino i find a lively scene of people: the norwegian crew mats, stig & sjur are there together with arkane, the italians are there, jeannette, leslie, the supercool magdeburg contingent, jürgen & heidi of course, volker & ingo, the two oldenburgers living in berlin & lots & lots of my friends are there as well. the mood is excellent; we trade stories about traffic jams, discuss TSOOL & i feel alright. :)

just when i was ready to enter the venue i meet a girl i got to know at work last year who sort of had a crush on me & with whom i did talk endlessly about music & stuff during long night shifts. what a brilliant coincidence! i had someone to concentrate on, someone i hadn't seen for a while, someone who was female & who paid attention *TO ME* in a special way. i am sorry if i come across like a jerk but that's how the male soul works. :P

the casino turned out to be a nice hall, with a well equipped bar. there were weird projections of chemical formulas & serotonine structures all over the walls. i was thinking this just demands a psychedelic show. ;)

anyway, after we had a couple of red wines TSOOL start & tonight i really enjoy their songs with my eyes closed. they really warm me up; what an excellent support! ;)

did i mention it was PACKED & CROWDED? oh boy, it was! you could not move or see anything of the stage (which i didn't mind but a lot of my friends could not enjoy the concert due to that). in addition it was hot, hotter than hamburg even; i was completely soaked after a couple minutes, i sweated like a pig.

at this point i didn't meet the certain someone yet & chances were pretty bad to do so due the packed crowd. perfect conditions for a killer show i think & there they are, entering the stage AGAIN! :)

i don't know what kind of weird drug the band was on but let me tell you their comments & anouncements were NON-STOP HILARITY!!! they spoke almost only in german & especially snah was out of his head screaming & woohoo-ing all the time. you have to listen to the recording of that night to get the picture... it's just insanely hilarious!

"guten abend. alles gut? dann geht's los! woohoo!", snah greets us. :)

they start of with "snafu" followed by the short "go to california" that really took me by surprise. at first i thought i had fallen asleep again during the solos but a short glance at the watch confirmed i was awake. :P

so, this means a fast pop & roll show i think. and that's alright, i am fine with that. after the köln show my desire for a far out show was satisfied & i was completely open to whatever the band was up to. :)

next up "walking with j". did you notice they have been playing the same version the past four weeks? pretty unsual for a song that is a jamming showcase in a live setting. this rendition they have been playing all tour is a great one. i especially dig the last part when baard solos & snah takes over on the rythm guitar.  t h a t  is funky,  t h a t  is sexy,  t h a t  get's me going & i freak out air-guitaring madly. i guess you all agree that snah was the hero of the tour? for me at least he was...

while "all is loneliness" is played in a nice version it doesn't have the impressing magic of hamburg.

"landslide" on the other hand is masterful with its long improvisational part. this version clocks in at 7:31 min & features some very sensitive jamming.

during "hey jane" i think of one of my best friends (no pun intended) who celebrates his birthday tonight. this is his favourite song & i am sending a warm 'happy birthday' vibe into his direction, wherever he might stand in this packed crowd.

"neverland", already approaching hit status just like "go to california" did last year, leads up to a strange but hilarious announcement of bent.

bent: "danke schön. und jetzt ein alter lied."

crowd: "yeaaaahhhhh!"

bent: "ah ah, that's not the response we were after. 'oh, noch ein alter lied.' das what we wanna hear, right. ok, try again: und jetzt noch ein alter lied!"

crowd: "yeaaaaahhhh!"

it's "she used to be a twin". while i was only mouthing the lyrics in bielefeld i *SHOUTED* them out today at THE TOP OF MY LUNGS. i earned a lot of very strange looks from the people surrounding me (nobody, nowhere seems to know this song!) but i couldn't care less! this was MY song, this was BERLIN & a certain someone was present as well. i just needed to let it all out & there isn't a better opportunity than this song. a sad masterpiece, for sure!

the lovely acoustic set brings us "sonnyboy gaybar". before i can believe what i am hearing it's over. funny anyway & very fitting to the band's hilarious mood today. :)

"trapdoor" is another emotional highlight of mine. lyrics are shouted again & i just freak out. one of my favourite "timothy" songs & they nail it. this version has a lot of tension unlike the version from skien i knew from CD, which was awefully sloppy & lost a lot of feeling.

before the main set closer "superstristano" we get "song for a bro'". listening to the recording right now it seems to be very grateful dead-ly inspired with some easy noodling in the middle.

"superstristano" is just so superior to the version played the night before. such a pity they didn't record it. this version played tonight is MIGHTY!!! they return to the main theme at the end which they did not do in köln. when finally the riff kicks back in the bass volume raises to such a level that makes the floor of the hall shake. everything is just bass, nothing else! it is loud, it is hypnotic, it is heavy & it's incredible...

the encore surprises us with "young man blues", which was only logical after that all-who soundcheck in bielefeld. ;-)

this was a funny & high energy show that saw they guys in a GREAT MOOD. they could have played anything tonight & i still had been happy. :)

there were lots of 'good byes' after the show. geb came out to talk to us & the tour people were among the last ones that left the venue around 2 am. :)

i was just happy. we saw another great show & i am constantly surprised how the band is able to increase the energy level night by night. i am not saying it was better than köln. it was funnier, happier, more open, it was a party. just incredible. :)

oh...in case you wondered...i didn't meet her that evening. phew...;-)