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in Hamburg, The Academy
Jamie reaching his "expiration date"


to skip the present delivery click here

 

Like always when I don't intend to write a complete review, the evening is totally worth doing it. Luckily there are a few Edcards left in the rack on the wall and Julia can give me her ball pen so I can take some notes about what happens. Of course I forgot my little book I normally use for that at home... But instead I took some other really odd things with me.

So to start this report I need to tell you about the preparation. As I wrote above it's Jamie's birthday today so I start rather early for giving him his present before the gig begins. I have to take my laptop with me, because I have a short movie as a present for the birthday boy and of course I want to see his reaction when he watches it for the first time. Additional to the laptop I have my handbag with my camera and a chocolate cake decorated with Smarties with me. But I'm getting used to walking around near the Reeperbahn carrying a laundry basket or a huge bag with a lot of things you wouldn't expect there. Maybe that's because this is the third birthday party at The Academy within half a year?

I arrive shortly after eight o'clock and there is nobody there but the band and the bartender Andy. When Jamie has finished unpacking and cabling his instruments I confuse him totally by saying: "Before you open your present, you have to watch it!" The reason for that is easy: Dani designed a beautiful cover for the CD that would tell too much about the content. (You can read everything about the movie and get a download of it here.) But first Jamie reads his birthday card which is telling him that he has reached the "BUMS" age now. Barely in bed -"BUMS" he falls asleep. I think you might translate this with "BANG" age. Then I finally start the movie and Jamie's face changes from confusion to joy. It's really funny watching him and his reactions. When he reads about casting and costume for the girl in the credits he says: "The girl?" and half a second later the screen echoes: "the girl???" Wolff appears next to Jamie to watch the movie, too and even Joe watches it from stage. You can hear him giggling through the speakers before he puts his Gretsch away and joins his colleagues. The picture of the bass amp evokes a "Woah!" for three voices. To sum it up: my first movie production "on stage & backstage" seems to be successful.

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- click to enlarge -

The gig starts with Jospeh K from California and his guitar named "Ginger". Joseph plays a set of acoustic songs and I can absolutely recommend listening to him. One of his songs is just three days old! When he's not performing alone he acts out together with his band. I have heard them performing at The Academy before and I really liked them.

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Joseph K & Ginger

Now and again Pay-TV are wearing different suits and today is again such a day. At the beginning of tonight's gig The Academy was nearly empty, but there are lots of people coming in. Joey tells us a bit about celebrating birthdays in Germany. That you have to celebrate into your birthday and out of your birthday and that they all are suffering from their hangovers. Because of that they will start the first set with some slow songs. "Just a flower waiting for blossom" as Joe says. But the second set will be "kick ass Rock'n'Roll". Well perhaps there will be a small problem, because Jamie replies: "I might to be to old for kick ass Rock'n'Roll!"

They start with "Caught me on a bad day" and Joey says in the middle, that it's "you caught me on my birthday" tonight. Their actual CD is called "Everything is happening" just like the next song. And soon - just after the song - there is the next problem on stage... Joe: "That was a little bit more than my headache can take. Wolfman, give me your sticks!!!" Wolff is helpless because Joe AND Jamie say he's responsible for the headache increase, so in the end he has to let his sticks be taken out of his hands.

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The Wolfman playing without sticks

Joey gives them to one of the listeners who will have to decide, if he wants to give them back afterwards. Well, Wolff does a really good job playing "Here we go" without them and as a reward for that he gets the sticks back for playing "Days are oceans". Obviously the Glockenspiel is liked very much so they want to go on with another song where their drummer can use it. Jamie tells us, that they are developing a new style of music. They call it "Glockrocking". The Glockrocking song starts with the beautiful bass slides. It is of course "Beautiful Babies". Did I ever write down the complete part in the middle? Perhaps I should do it now. It starts with Joe telling us about touring together for nearly five years now. Jamie starts singing a little backing melody: "Just the three of us / in our tour bus". And there is always a dialogue like this:
Joe: "Father?"
Jamie: "Yeees, Joe?"
Joe: "I want to kill you."
Jamie: "You can't kill our father, Joey!"
Joe: "Brother?"
Jamie: "Yes, Joe?"
(the next three lines are unusual but they happen like this tonight)
Joe: "Spiritual brother?"
Wolff: "Yes, Joe?"
Joe: "Do you know what I want to do tonight in our tour bus?"
...
In the end Joey takes a deep breath an screams a the top of his voice. It's always a bit difficult to decide: Do I want to cover my ears with my hands or would I like to have a picture of a red faced screaming guitarist? Today I take the picture. Now it's Jamie's part to be the one who can't stand the volume: "Joey? You're walking home tonight!!!"

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Joey? You're walking home
for the next three months!!

They go on with Joe's favourite part of the evening where he and the Wolfman can have a beer on the bar and Jamie has to perform alone. You know it: "Hear me now". Jamie grins and tells us: "It is my birthday today so you all are gonna have to clap after this song!" The song is as great as always even though Jamie's acoustic guitar seems to be a bit balky today. Or were that just some new ideas for the guitar part?

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Jamie playing "Hear me now"

The next song is definitely new for me because I have never heard it live before: "Biosphere 2" from the first album "Spicy No.11". Like I did Saturday I watch Joe very closely to get an idea of what exactly he's playing. Sometimes the gigs turn out to be unofficial guitar lessons *g*. Well, but that's another topic. The last song before they take the usual short break is "Have you seen this man" what doesn't really fit into the slow first part but gives a perfect impression what we will hear in the second set.

Wolff and Jamie stay upstairs nearly the whole break. Just Joe disappears backstage. I don't know what kind of pain killers he takes against his headache (perhaps just something really good coming out of the headphones of his iPod?), but they have an amazing side effect. When the second set starts he is in an infective jolly mood. Just that you don't get the wrong impression: The gig was great so far and you could see that audience AND band had a lot of fun. But this isn't just "fun" any more, it's more than that but hard to describe with words.

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tuning up for 2nd set

Side effect on me: I stop taking detailed notes and just write down the titles.
"A little more time", "Long time coming", "Ordinary Girl", "Sha la la", "Happy Days", "Show me what it's like", "Now and again", "Screw that", and "Monkey Boy". Between the last two ones Wolff plays one of his great and rocking solos and Jamie leaves the stage to dance around in front of it.

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The Wolfman is playing and Jamie dancing

Of course we want to hear more and get "Emma and Julian" and "Safety Line". If you believe in what Jamie is saying they are running out of songs. Well, we don't and ask for "Holiday in Asia" but instead they play "Why so sad" as the ultimate last song for today.

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Can anybody guess what Jamie is thinking?

Setlist:

Caught me on a bad day
Everything is happening
Here we go
Days are oceans
Beautiful Babies
Hear me now
Biosphere 2
Have you seen this man
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A little more time
Long time coming
Ordinary Girl
Sha la la
Happy Days
Show me what it's like
Now and again
Screw that
Monkey Boy

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Emma and Julian
Safety Line
Why so sad

 

I could stop writing now but perhaps it's also interesting what happens after the gig? Imagine DJ Joe playing his favourite songs... We listen and dance to Slaptones and Stray Cats, but also Eminem or Tenacious D. with "F*** her gently". You should see the three packing their things and singing at the top of their voices: "Sometimes you gotta squeeze / sometimes you gotta say please". As I wrote somewhere else: Still waters run deep!

A hobby photographer is there and takes some pictures of a young woman. Guess who's suddenly standing right next to him shouting: "Yeah, baby, yeah baby, give it to me, give me more!".

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The answer... no further comments

Wow, I think now it's really time to stop telling you what happens ;-)



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