So, we reached the day of the show now. We left home at about 9am in the morning and drove together to Berlin. A car full of die-hard BJ fans. I was the craziest one for sure, but like I have said before I couldn’t have picked a better crew for this trip. Right when my friends came to pick us up, the first question was: “What will we play in the stereo? Richie, right?” And everyone agreed. I had all BJ and Richie’s albums on pen drive with me and we were listening to it all the way to Berlin. Nothing else. Fantastic! We were all so pumped for the show. That was the first BJ related experience for my mates, and they were extremely excited for it. One of them even took the guitar with him, so we could play it on the way, and hoping that maybe Richie will sign it too. And he has a beautiful guitar – Taylor K20CE, worth about 5 thousand dollars! I didn’t even know he has such an amazing guitar. We haven’t played together in a long time, and he now plays in many different bands, and basically makes a living from concerts, especially during summer season. You can listen to one of the bands he plays with here (http://www.youtube.com/user/duoacousticofficial).

We were heading to Berlin and on the way, for the first time, I explained my friends my quest that I’ve been working on for over a year and that I will try to pass my reviews to Richie somehow. They liked the idea and thought it’s worth a try. When we reached the border, for the last time, I wanted to check if Nick wrote anything new on Twitter and in fact he did. He said he’s looking for meeting many people in Berlin and that he will have some time for that between 3-5pm. When we were leaving the border it was 3pm already(we had a stop for lunch over there that took us about an hour unfortunately). So we didn’t have much time to be honest and about 130km left to Berlin. And since my friend already knew my goal he drove there as fast as possible. We decided to go to the venue first, hoping to meet the band (most importantly Richie of course) after the sound check, which should finish more or less at that time, or at least try to find Nick to give him my reviews. And so we did.

On the way I had thousands of thoughts in my mind. I was extremely nervous. I knew that in the next couple of hours, I will get the answer whether my dream is possible or not. After trying to make it for over a year, I reached the point where everything was in my hands personally but I needed a lot of luck too. I was trying to think of what I should say if I meet Richie. I was making the lines in my head but all of the sounded stupid. I was afraid that if I get the chance I will not know what to say, or will make a lot of mistakes in English or will simply say something stupid that will make me look like an idiot. But I tried to calm down and not to think too much, and let it all be. What must be, must be. I left my destiny in God’s hands and I just closed my eyes and prayed so he could help me make my dream come true again. Faith has never let me down. I got to this point only thanks to my faith, both in God, and myself too. And when I felt I don’t control it anymore I just gave it all to Him and my guardian angels.

When we reached Berlin centre we got stuck in some traffic. As it has turned out there was some strike, and a group of people were walking on street back and forth, blocking the way for the cars, in the centre of Berlin!!!! Great, we were almost late already and it was almost 5pm, so chances of meeting anyone before the show were going down. With the help of GPS we took a way around and somehow we reached the place at 4.45pm. We parked just in front of the venue, as it was actually a part of small shopping mall, with parking spaces outside. So that was good news actually.
When we walked out of the car, we went to the front doors and saw a group of people waiting for the early entrance and great spot. I tried to find Nick in the crowd but he wasn’t there. We went a little bit away from them, and we reached some fire escape stairs, that looked like a backstage entrance too. There were some people waiting there too, with different kinds of things to get signed by Richie. But neither Nick nor the band was there. We also saw the tour buses for the band, just at the same parking lot as we were, about 25m from us, but no one was there too. It was already after 5pm, so we thought we already missed the sound check to be honest. Moreover we had to go to the hostel we were staying at for one night, to check in, which was about 10km from the venue.
So actually we didn’t have much time to be honest to do all that and be back for the show as soon as possible to get a good spot.

And suddenly, I saw Nick walking down those stairs, coming our way. He was actually heading to tour buses to tell something to the driver. It was about 5.20pm, so only about half an hour since we arrived. That was THE moment. I was waiting for such a chance since Dublin. Remember, that Nick was the guy who replied to me on Twitter already so I had a good excuse to start the chat and ask him whether he remembers my tweets and his promise to read reviews on the plane. So it was now or never and with a decisive step I walk toward him and started the chat, holding my printed reviews in hand. I introduced myself first, we shook hands and I asked him if he remembers my tweets from Sunday morning. He was very nice and said he did. But I didn’t even ask him whether he read them or not and I just told him I have it printed with me. And I started to explain him why those are so important for me, what they are all about etc. I told him about my Dublin story and that I went there only to get DC. He looked at me and smiled and said “DC is my fav song too”. So we already had a good start of the conversation. I showed him all the photos in it, and also explained that there is a review of the new album in there too. He seemed to really like the layout and this printed version and started to flip through the pages. He also asked if it’s in English and of course I confirmed. To be honest I don’t remember exactly what I told him as I was extremely nervous, but I just asked him to pass this book to Richie and that it’s the most important thing for me and if he does that he will help me make my dream come true. He smiled again, said that it looks really nice and that he will give it Richie for sure. YEEEEAAAAAHHH! Finally I made it! Almost 1,5 years of trying through so many people on the internet but it seemed I finally found the right person for help. I also had to ask a bold question, what are the chances of having a picture with Richie and he replied that Richie was not there and won’t be back until 8pm. I also said if he can ask Richie to play “Seven Years Gone” tonight, and he just laughed and said he has nothing to do with set lists and that only Richie makes those decisions. I have no idea how long this conversation has taken, but I finished it saying how grateful I am for his help and that I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. He said it’s not a problem and that he will do it for sure. So, mission completed. The minimum task was done. There was no photo with Richie but at least there is a chance he will receive my reviews which was the most important thing. So here we are, Nick and me, as a proof of this meeting.



When I walked away I felt like I won the lottery. Just like with my DC quest, again I made it. It was only thanks to faith, hard work, determination, patience, perseverance and of course some luck, but I made it again. I was so happy I could not find the right words to express it. But I totally forgot that I also wanted to give Nick my business card, just in case he ever comes to Poland and need any help, and as he was still walking around between buses and the venue, I walked to him again and gave it to him. He said “thank you” and again assured me he will leave it Richie’s dressing room and walked back inside to the venue. As he was walking up those stairs, again he was flipping through the pages of my book, so I assume he really liked it, which gave me a lot of confidence he will really pass it to Richie.

So, with the job done already, we could go to hostel to be back for the show in the evening. We came back to the venue at about 7.45pm and there was no queue at the main entrance. Since we knew that the place is not big, and that everyone will have a good spot anyway, and we didn’t care about being in the front rows at all, we decided to give it a try a wait for Richie outside to have a photo with him, as he was about to be there at 8pm,as Nick said, so in only 15 minutes. Security men were waiting by those stairs so we knew it’s not too late. And so we waited but as it has turned out Richie was late and arrived at about 8.30. He arrived in a black Mercedes and the driver went as close to those stairs as possible, giving us no chance for a photo with Richie. And actually there was only 12 people there, including the 4 of us. We hoped that Richie will agree for photo. But unfortunately he was in a rush and when he was stepping out of the car and on his way to those stairs, one of those people waiting with us shouted ‘Richie, can we have a photo with you?” , he replied “I’m sorry man, can’t do it now, I’m late, maybe later”. And indeed it was quite late so can’t really blame him. My friend was holding his Taylor guitar hoping Richie would sign it, but also no luck.