Post by Sarah on Jan 21, 2009 10:22:31 GMT -5
I have finally started my QPR tour diary for 2008!
Riga
Photos: www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/thumbnails.php?album=243
18 September - We flew to Riga from Stanstead and arrived in the evening! It was freezing!! We had arranged to meet Andy at 8pm in an Irish bar that he had been to on a previous trip to Riga. Walked into the bar and there was Andy sitting on a table next to Jamie Moses, Danny Miranda and Spike Edney! LOL! Said hi to them then started drinking with Andy. We had our dinner there too ¡V not very Latvian! When the guys from the band left, Danny said ¡¥bye¡¦ to us! Sweet! Later on, we spotted Pete Malandrone and Justin Shirley-Smith. Justin came over to our table and said he recognised us ¡V from ¡¥The Cosmos Rocks¡¦ preview party a couple of weeks before in London (where we drank all the beer!). Had nice chat with him about the album and the shows, and Andy went to speak to Pete!
Later on, we left and went to a couple of other bars, one where we found Roger Taylor sunglasses and we scared the locals!
19 September -
Gavin and I arrived at the freezing cold queue at 12pm and we were the only people there!
Nobody else turned up until 2pm, when Simon, Martin and Andy arrived ¡V all from the UK! The local fans started arriving about 3pm when they came round to tell us that we were queuing at the wrong door. We moved round to the right door, where they let us stand at the front of the queue (although there were only about 10 people there at that stage!!).
We had 'fanni plats' (fan tickets) so our door opened an half an hour before the main queue. Terry turned up just before our doors opened and we all managed to get a good spot at the front of the catwalk, after going the wrong way when entering the venue! Ooops! Viekko saw us at the barrier before the show and came over and shook our hands and said 'Nice to have you back'.
The set list was:
ONE VISION
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN - Full Version
FAT BOTTOM GIRLS
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
I WANT IT ALL
I WANT TO BREAK FREE
C-LEBRITY
SEAGULL
LOVE OF MY LIFE
39
DRUM SOLO
I'M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR
SAY ITS NOT TRUE
BAD COMPANY
WAR BOYS
FEEL LIKE MAKIN¡¦ LOVE
BRIAN SOLO
BIJOU
LAST HORIZON
IT'S A KIND OF MAGIC
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
SHOW MUST GO ON
RADIO GAGA
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
COSMOS ROCKS
ALL RIGHT NOW
WWRY
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/albums/wpw-bf/normal_080919Riga065.jpg[/img]
Space shoes - www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/albums/wpw-16/normal_080919Riga067.jpg[/img]
Before 39, Brian was introducing the song and said hello to the Latvians and Estonians and then said 'There are some people from England here too' We all screamed and he said 'All 3 of you'
The best moment of the show was the Latvian Prime Minister, on drums for All Right Now. We knew he was at the show as some of the Latvians near us had pointed him out in the seating area to the left of the stage. Roger introduced him then took his spot to play the tambourine! The Latvian Prime Minister was seriously cool and drummed the whole song! At the end, Roger walk over to help him finish, by jumping up in the air and waving his arms around!
After the show, we walked into the town centre (the long way, thanks Andy and Simon!). Stopped at a garage to get water on the way- the lady didn't speak English so Terry just kept saying water in various different accents! We got some in the end! Went out for a couple of drinks and food then went back to the hotel to get some well earned sleep!
Berlin
Photos: www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/thumbnails.php?album=244
20 September - We travelled to the airport for our flight which was at lunchtime! Met Andy at the airport and went to TGI Fridays so Andy could get some food. We were served by a rather mad waitress who gave us pens to write on the wall. I think I wrote something about Queen and Paul Rodgers! Simon turned up looking rather white and hungover just before we boarded the flight!
Arrived in Berlin and we all got the train together into the centre and all went to check in to various hotels! We arranged to meet up at 8pm at the Brandenburg Gate, including Charlie who had arrived from the UK. Simon didn¡¦t turn up but the rest of us went to have dinner in a Bavarian restaurant not far from the gate.
I had a lovely Schnitzel, my favourite German food, and some steins of beer!! Pete Malandrone and some of the crew were also in the restaurant, we decided they must have been following us!
After dinner, we went to the Irish bar next door. The band playing in the bar played 'Runaway' and the singer looked a bit like Paul Rodgers!! And we spotted Julie, Spike¡¦s technician in the bar!
[img src="www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/albums/wpw-93/normal_080923Berlin005.jpg"]
When we left, we spotted this half a church:
21 September -
I travelled on the metro to the venue and got to the queue at 10.30 to find Jens, Vern, Julie, Jim, Charlie, Andrea and the Japanese guys! A very odd venue as it was next to a swimming pool and not really near anything else. A few of us went for a walk to burger king in the morning for some not very nice breakfast (but still better than McDonalds!). We also saw Viekko, the head of security wandering around during the morning!
At 1.30, the security came out and started putting barriers up a few 100 metres away from where we were queuing and there was chaos as everyone ran over there. We ended up standing in a crush next to the barriers for at least half an hour while the security set up the barriers and confirmed what we needed to do. After that, we managed to get everyone to space out a bit and sit down!
During the afternoon, we had lemon meringue pie kindly donated by Vern and Julie!
The doors opened at 6.30pm and it was the longest run of any of the venues. The venue itself was actually a velodrome and we ran the full length round it, down some steps then UP some steps and across the floor to get to the front! I almost had an asthma attack and people were running past me left, right and centre but I still managed to get to the front of the catwalk!
The set list was:
SURFS UP¡, SCHOOLS OUT
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN
FAT BOTTOM GIRLS
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
I WANT IT ALL
BREAK FREE
C-LEBRITY
SEAGULL
LOVE OF MY LIFE
39
DRUM SOLO
I¡'M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR
SAY ITS NOT TRUE
BAD COMPANY
WAR BOYS
FEEL LIKE MAKIN¡¦ LOVE
BRIAN SOLO
BIJOU
LAST HORIZON
IT'S A KIND OF MAGIC
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
SHOW MUST GO ON
RADIO GAGA
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
COSMOS ROCKS
ALL RIGHT NOW
WWRY
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
The gig was better than Riga and the band looked more relaxed! They played part of Surfs Up, Schools Out at after the intro ¡V it rocked and I went mental! Paul spotted me at the front during Fat Bottomed Girls and reached down to me but the gap between the stage and the barrier was too wide for him to reach me! I did our usual dance during Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Paul copied it!
We went out afterwards with Matt from Birmingham and Hendric from the Netherlands who Terry had met at the concert. Had some lovely cheese and bacon pancakes!! Yum!
Riga
Photos: www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/thumbnails.php?album=243
18 September - We flew to Riga from Stanstead and arrived in the evening! It was freezing!! We had arranged to meet Andy at 8pm in an Irish bar that he had been to on a previous trip to Riga. Walked into the bar and there was Andy sitting on a table next to Jamie Moses, Danny Miranda and Spike Edney! LOL! Said hi to them then started drinking with Andy. We had our dinner there too ¡V not very Latvian! When the guys from the band left, Danny said ¡¥bye¡¦ to us! Sweet! Later on, we spotted Pete Malandrone and Justin Shirley-Smith. Justin came over to our table and said he recognised us ¡V from ¡¥The Cosmos Rocks¡¦ preview party a couple of weeks before in London (where we drank all the beer!). Had nice chat with him about the album and the shows, and Andy went to speak to Pete!
Later on, we left and went to a couple of other bars, one where we found Roger Taylor sunglasses and we scared the locals!
19 September -
Gavin and I arrived at the freezing cold queue at 12pm and we were the only people there!
Nobody else turned up until 2pm, when Simon, Martin and Andy arrived ¡V all from the UK! The local fans started arriving about 3pm when they came round to tell us that we were queuing at the wrong door. We moved round to the right door, where they let us stand at the front of the queue (although there were only about 10 people there at that stage!!).
We had 'fanni plats' (fan tickets) so our door opened an half an hour before the main queue. Terry turned up just before our doors opened and we all managed to get a good spot at the front of the catwalk, after going the wrong way when entering the venue! Ooops! Viekko saw us at the barrier before the show and came over and shook our hands and said 'Nice to have you back'.
The set list was:
ONE VISION
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN - Full Version
FAT BOTTOM GIRLS
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
I WANT IT ALL
I WANT TO BREAK FREE
C-LEBRITY
SEAGULL
LOVE OF MY LIFE
39
DRUM SOLO
I'M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR
SAY ITS NOT TRUE
BAD COMPANY
WAR BOYS
FEEL LIKE MAKIN¡¦ LOVE
BRIAN SOLO
BIJOU
LAST HORIZON
IT'S A KIND OF MAGIC
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
SHOW MUST GO ON
RADIO GAGA
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
COSMOS ROCKS
ALL RIGHT NOW
WWRY
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/albums/wpw-bf/normal_080919Riga065.jpg[/img]
Space shoes - www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/albums/wpw-16/normal_080919Riga067.jpg[/img]
Before 39, Brian was introducing the song and said hello to the Latvians and Estonians and then said 'There are some people from England here too' We all screamed and he said 'All 3 of you'
The best moment of the show was the Latvian Prime Minister, on drums for All Right Now. We knew he was at the show as some of the Latvians near us had pointed him out in the seating area to the left of the stage. Roger introduced him then took his spot to play the tambourine! The Latvian Prime Minister was seriously cool and drummed the whole song! At the end, Roger walk over to help him finish, by jumping up in the air and waving his arms around!
After the show, we walked into the town centre (the long way, thanks Andy and Simon!). Stopped at a garage to get water on the way- the lady didn't speak English so Terry just kept saying water in various different accents! We got some in the end! Went out for a couple of drinks and food then went back to the hotel to get some well earned sleep!
Berlin
Photos: www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/thumbnails.php?album=244
20 September - We travelled to the airport for our flight which was at lunchtime! Met Andy at the airport and went to TGI Fridays so Andy could get some food. We were served by a rather mad waitress who gave us pens to write on the wall. I think I wrote something about Queen and Paul Rodgers! Simon turned up looking rather white and hungover just before we boarded the flight!
Arrived in Berlin and we all got the train together into the centre and all went to check in to various hotels! We arranged to meet up at 8pm at the Brandenburg Gate, including Charlie who had arrived from the UK. Simon didn¡¦t turn up but the rest of us went to have dinner in a Bavarian restaurant not far from the gate.
I had a lovely Schnitzel, my favourite German food, and some steins of beer!! Pete Malandrone and some of the crew were also in the restaurant, we decided they must have been following us!
After dinner, we went to the Irish bar next door. The band playing in the bar played 'Runaway' and the singer looked a bit like Paul Rodgers!! And we spotted Julie, Spike¡¦s technician in the bar!
[img src="www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/albums/wpw-93/normal_080923Berlin005.jpg"]
When we left, we spotted this half a church:
21 September -
I travelled on the metro to the venue and got to the queue at 10.30 to find Jens, Vern, Julie, Jim, Charlie, Andrea and the Japanese guys! A very odd venue as it was next to a swimming pool and not really near anything else. A few of us went for a walk to burger king in the morning for some not very nice breakfast (but still better than McDonalds!). We also saw Viekko, the head of security wandering around during the morning!
At 1.30, the security came out and started putting barriers up a few 100 metres away from where we were queuing and there was chaos as everyone ran over there. We ended up standing in a crush next to the barriers for at least half an hour while the security set up the barriers and confirmed what we needed to do. After that, we managed to get everyone to space out a bit and sit down!
During the afternoon, we had lemon meringue pie kindly donated by Vern and Julie!
The doors opened at 6.30pm and it was the longest run of any of the venues. The venue itself was actually a velodrome and we ran the full length round it, down some steps then UP some steps and across the floor to get to the front! I almost had an asthma attack and people were running past me left, right and centre but I still managed to get to the front of the catwalk!
The set list was:
SURFS UP¡, SCHOOLS OUT
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN
FAT BOTTOM GIRLS
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
I WANT IT ALL
BREAK FREE
C-LEBRITY
SEAGULL
LOVE OF MY LIFE
39
DRUM SOLO
I¡'M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR
SAY ITS NOT TRUE
BAD COMPANY
WAR BOYS
FEEL LIKE MAKIN¡¦ LOVE
BRIAN SOLO
BIJOU
LAST HORIZON
IT'S A KIND OF MAGIC
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
SHOW MUST GO ON
RADIO GAGA
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
COSMOS ROCKS
ALL RIGHT NOW
WWRY
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
The gig was better than Riga and the band looked more relaxed! They played part of Surfs Up, Schools Out at after the intro ¡V it rocked and I went mental! Paul spotted me at the front during Fat Bottomed Girls and reached down to me but the gap between the stage and the barrier was too wide for him to reach me! I did our usual dance during Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Paul copied it!
We went out afterwards with Matt from Birmingham and Hendric from the Netherlands who Terry had met at the concert. Had some lovely cheese and bacon pancakes!! Yum!