15:28, 25/01/2005

Duck threading

Berlin TV Tower from Hotel
Berlin TV Tower from Hotel

Berlin was an absolutely interesting place. There was nothing about it that was not somehow stimulating, challenging, exciting, scary, tasty, exhausting or gorgeous. Though what I realised as we flew away from it is the same thing I realise whenever we play in foreign cities, or even in British cities outside of London - that touring and gigging is no way to see or appreciate a place. There are flickers of impressions in there somewhere, but mostly, the booze, noise and late nights have obliterated the concrete memories.

It started badly because K, who was originally coming, had caught a very bad bout of flu and eventually decided very sensibly that getting up at 3am to fly to a very cold city then having to stay up probably very late the same night in a smoky, boozy environment was not a good idea. Still, it was a tearful moment when the final decision was made.

Having made it to Luton with heavy flight cases to check in for five am, the rest of the journey was a blur. Berlin Schonefeld airport was a bit of a benighted former East German hellhole, served by one of the bleakest railway stations I've ever encountered. The land around us was totally flat and we could see miles upon miles of blasted terrain; the former East Germany is still in recovery from the comedown that was the last century, it seems. It was here that the first of many sausages were eaten. Let it not go unsaid that Germany has fully mastered the art of sausage construction. Well done. Sehr gut!

To our immense relief, the journey to our hotel near the main station of Ostbahnhof very quick and pain free. I was delighted upon checking in that my window afforded an unencumbered view of the magnificent Communist Television Tower. I fully intended to scale its mighty "golfball-impaled-by-cocktail-stick" structure later on. Our happiness was also increased by the fact that the venue was across the road from the hotel, making this possibly the best and biggest dressing room we'd ever had. Ja!

The afternoon was spent wandering erratically around the East Centre and Centre of the city. Without much planning, and often without much of a clue that we were doing so, we managed to take in Kreuzberg, The Jewish Museum, Friedrichstrasse and Checkpoint Charlie, several second hand shops, a Turkish cafe, a brown bar (good beer and cheese on toast with salami and pinapple!) and get caught in a freezing rainstorm, before fleeing by cab back to the hotel to grab a couple of hours kip before soundcheck. Been up 15 hours at this point.

Club Maria, OstbahnhofThe gig itself was uneventful but the evening was very very long. Club Maria was an excellent and atmospheric venue, but the promoter had had a very hard time getting people into it because it was a fashion trade show weekend and most of Berlin was out partying at industry events with free booze and entry. Bah! Still, by the time we went on (over an hour late), the venue was not embarrassingly empty. We went down quite well, I think, though felt a bit tired in the second half of the set. Some of the others went back soon afterwards, but I stayed and boozed and saw all the other bands. I enjoyed almost all of them, but the best by far was the Berlin-based Rich and Kool, who transcended their Junior-Senior comparisons and charmed me and our tech guy with some electroclashy German rock and some good, unironic wit and humour. The others hated them. Ah well. I got back to the room about six.

Two hours later, we were up and checking out to go to the next hotel, the Estrel, which I can only describe as a cruise liner run aground. I'm grateful for the promoter who put us in there for our second day, as it was an uniquely surreal experience.

to be continued

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