Munich review - by the crazy naked Finns

I know this has been done by a lot of people already, this is our version of the night (what a night!). (About the title first - we were writing this review at first on the beach in Nice half naked, and then finished it in the hotel room totally naked... :P We were too lazy to put any clothes on. Oh, but on to the review.)

We arrived in Munich by Anja's and Dany's car from Zurich (thanks girls ) in the evening. The girls drove us straight to the stadium, and after looking for the well-hidden VIP entrance for a considerable amount of time, finally found it and got numbers 11 and 12. Marianne, Kirsi and Timo arrived just a few minutes after us.

We took our backbags and things to Timo's hotel room, took out our sleeping bags and headed out to the stadium for yet another night under the starry sky. Well, so much for the stars. It rained heavily all night, with thunder I think, but fortunately we all could sleep under the roof of the stadium. This time, we had two sleeping bags, at this point looking for more comfort.

We had to move the line at 6 am because we were camping outside the doors, and the security needed to get around. By this time it had stopped raining. The local security put up fences and tape to form a queue for the fc. Once again, we were reorganised in lines of four by four. By now, there were already over 70 names in the list.

We went to take our backbags and things to the railway station, and that took longer than we thought, as we got lost in the huge station. Timo called us and told us to get there asap, as the line was about to be moved inside in the VIP lounge. We got inside at around 11.30, when Kevin showed up. He said it looked like it was gonna rain, and he wanted to get everybody in before it started. They checked our tickets and fc cards as well as ID's because there were so many members there. The first 128 people formed lines of eight by eight in the VIP lounge, the rest just formed a sort of a mess in the lobby. People who showed up at this point didn't want to have numbers anymore, and it was quite unfair for those who had numbers up until 400. It started raining almost as soon as the first few hunderd people had got in, talk about timing.

The queue got a bit messy, as there were people walking around, buying drinks and food and hanging around in the lounge. At about 3 pm they started to rearrange the lines, getting rid of everyone with a number over 128. Fortunately, Frank (the amazing security guy from Mannheim who made it happen there) was in Munich to see the show, and he took over controlling the people and telling the local security what to do.

We were supposed to be let in the stadium at around 3 or 3.30, depending on the weather, but because of some problems with the fire department inside the stadium (they had to check something or other, or something like that), it was well over four pm when we were escorted in. We walked down the stairs of the stand two by two, at this point there was no pushing. By the time we got into the pit it wasn't so calm anymore, and a lot of the first people lost places because of that. It seemed like we were ending up very much to David's side, but then we noticed a space right in the middle of the stage between the VIPs and took our places there. We don't know if they were supposed to be reserved for someone, but nobody said anything so we stayed there.

As soon as we got our spots, we saw the Italian cow with mustache (who was causing trouble in Zurich, too) run back and forth the line, trying to find a place in the front row. Carola had given her a warning before outside, and she faked innocence, claiming she didn't care where she stood as long as she was in the front row, and that she wasn't pushing or queue-jumping. Because there was no space for her in the centre of front row, she decided to use her considerable size and make some space. First, she tried to push herself between Rosie and her friend, but when that didn't work she just pushed herself next to Rosie on the other side. We told the cow what we thought of her, saying "oh, you were the one who doesn't care where she stands". She said she didn't understand English, Funny, she spoke English just an hour before that. If you are reading this (oh, we forgot, you don't understand), let's hope you have at least the common sense to be ashamed. We hope we never have to see you again.

Back to business. Timo came to stand behind us, and we saw Marianne and Kirsi got good spots on Dave's side. Marijke and Inge were between Jon and Dave, the perfect place for Marijke to flirt with David and vice versa.

Taija was feeling quite ill. Also, Marijke told us that Inge was sick, and had to leave the front row. We hoped she would get back before BJ!

The first opening act was Gil, a local band which wasn't bad but not good either. "At least Gil, the singer, was cutish, in a pretty-boy-kinda-way," Laura says. Taija sat down for the most of the act, waiting for the painkillers to work. Angel had a banner saying "Gil, we want you!" and we had a lot of fun with that.

Live - better than ever! By now, we hope that someone will/has bootleg/ged Live's part too, that'd be great to have! Hint, hint. Hih. They played the usual set, which sounds very very good. Now, even Taija thinks she's gonna be a fan by Hyde Park.

During Live, Inge got back YAY and got a lot of cheers from friends! We were so happy she didn't have to miss it. Also, Taija got some salted nuts from Marijke, and thus everyone were ready to rock'n'roll!!! We had heard that the band were gonna play for three hours, but still didn't have our hopes up for that. Besides, we had a train to catch, so we wanted the band to stop early. YEAH, RIGHT!!!

The sold-out stadium was totally up for it from the first intro. And the band responded to that. Carola had made 20 banners requesting Tico to sing, and we all held them up during Bad Name.

The beginning of the show was familiar, but from everything it was obvious that the band were on an even better mood than usually, especially Jon who was talking a lot more to the audience than usually.

After Prayer, Jon was doing his usual thing, making the crowd shout "whoa" etc. But this time, the crowd did also Jon's part. He just stood there, laughing to himself, waving his microphone from one side to another. We laughed like crazy.

Lay Your Hands On Me is a great crowd-pleaser. Jon had again the lyrics taped on the floor of the stage, and he checked them every once in a while. And still got parts of it wrong. "I don't mind the fact that he has to stay in the centre, right in front of us, the whole song ," Taija says. We find it funny that Jovi's played the song probably 1500 times and Jon still can't remember the lyrics.

Keep the faith with Sympathy for the devil and the always-so-amazing jungle-part was excellent, and the crowd loved it. The band were really giving an extra something to respond to the crowd's enthusiasm.

In these arms was especially good tonight. Even tho it was the familiar version, it was the crowd and the atmospheare at the stadium that made it so special.

After ITA, we noticed Jon went over to Dave, then Tico, Richie and Hugh respectively, to say something. Laura lip-read it as "Roses", Taija thought he said "you sing" to Tico. From David's piano-intro we noticed that it in fact was an ex tempore Bed of Roses. The whole crowd were waving their hands and lighters, and the mood was amazing.

The same as for ITA and BoR was true for The Distance. Compared to Oostende, the song had so much more feeling because all the small blue lights forming a dark sky in the back curtain.

In the first verse of Runaway, Jon messed up the lyrics totally. He said "It must be something they did," and pointed at Julia, Donna and Shari. He said he hadn't forgotten the lyrics in years. Jon looked like an ashamed little boy - awww. He got the hang of it a few lines later, but still kept throwing in comments, with a huge grin on his face.

Jon gave a speech of a sort, talking about the setlist and saying he wanted to do something special. Diamond Ring. And from the first chord, the whole pit went mad. "I knew that it was a good song, but I never thought I'd like it so much live," Taija says. "It fitted the mood perfectly," Laura adds. After the song, we thought that this was it, as far as surprises were concerned, but oh how little did we know.

Jon introduced the next song, saying they'd do something from David Bowie. Heroes was great to hear live for the first time. The good thing about covers is that you really get to hear the band play, because the audience doesn't sing along so loudly.

Saturday night had the audience partying along. The I'm alive part, Jon's screams and the good mood, the crowd's involvement... Those are the reasons why this song is on the set list, and so it should be.

Just Older was in the main set this time. "After seeing this five times now, it's still very special to see Jon and Richie during the second verse," Laura says.

Surprises weren't done for the evening. Something to believe in was a great rarity, and most of the pit was ecstatic! Umm... except us... Well, it's always great to hear these rare songs live, but "I've never really understood why people want this song so much, and to be honest, I still dont," Taija says. The "hey, hey, hey" part with the crowd shouting it was cool. "I liked the B-part a lot," Laura says. "Sent chills down my spine."

Jon was getting crazier and crazier, and knew it himself. The mood was getting more and more hilarious and the crowd loved all of it!

Born to be my baby was again a prolonged version, with Jon making the crowd sing the nananana-part over and over again. "I don't think Taija minds that at all," Laura says. "I think the only thing she'd like more is "two, three, four" repeated by the crowd. Hih."

By Sleep when I'm dead, Jon was totally crazy! He said he's going crazy because it's full moon, and then howled at the moon. He went over to the people on the left side of the stage, and got on his knees in front of a girl. Later on, he invited her to the centre of the stage to dance with him (not slow dance). The girl looked a bit shocked, but what do you expect, dancing in front of crowd that big, and Jon. Then, he kissed the girl on the cheek and sent her back. Rocking all over the world followed, the crowd really liked this one! I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it, I liiiike it.... Then, Jon reminded the band to finish Sleep.

Raise your hands ended the main set with 70.000 people raising their hands.

After the main set, we realised that the concert had already been going on for longer than most other concerst had even with encores. So, we thought that the encore would be the usual one, with Crash and Bad Medicine. However, Misunderstood opened the encore. It was good to hear it again, only the second time for us. Then, Crash and Bad Medicine followed. After that, Jon introduced the band in a funny way (listen to the bootleg for more details ).

We thought that that was it, but the band weren't ready to go yet. These Days set the stadium on fire. We guess it was good that the fire dept took time to double-check everything in the afternoon, hih. For a lot of people this was the last concert for the tour, and what an atmospheare this song had!

Twist and Shout finally ended the show at three hours three minutes. As strange as it might sound, for us this song was a rarity, it was the first time we heard it on this tour. And it's not a bad way to end a concert. After the somewhat wistful (?) mood of These Days, Twist and Shout ended the concert in a very jovial way, just what most of the concert was!

The tempo of the concert was unique. After the hit parade at the beginning, followed by a more atmospheric and feeling-packed period with a few rockers thrown in, and then ending the show with a boom. Our apologies for ever saying that we don't like covers. There were 5 covers played tonight, and they all rocked!

This concert ended the mainland Europe tour for us. And it really couldn't have ended in a better way!

Never before have we laughed out loud so much in a BJ concert! This concert was just too funny!!!

It's sad we had to say goodbye to a lot of great people we got to know, and old friends we met along the way. You know who you people are, so a big thank you for everything! You all made it a lot easier and a helluva lot more fun for us, crazy but innocent first-timer Finland. Hih. See some of you in London at least!!!

Next stop Glasgow

wow... madness

probably not the last i'll hear of this show i fear

It's great that you both had an great time again. BTW Laura I still got your flower in my purse

You kept it Thierry? Oh well, I'm sure it's still very fresh Maybe next year I can give you another one

Doesn't matter I will keep it anyway Sure I would like to have an new one in Hyde Park or next year :P

Hyde Park it is!

am i right to be a little worried or does this lose in translation?

I meant portemonnee, weird Englishman