The people being there with me told me afterwards that my look was so different to what it was before the show, my eyes seem to have been sparkling and I was already in a different world.
They came back and, knowing now that original encore was supposed to be When We Were Beautiful / Wanted Dead Or Alive / Superman Tonight / Livin’ On A Prayer I was more than happy that they stayed behind the stage for a few more minutes and totally threw it all around!
Tico counted in, hit the drums and Hey God exploded on the stage! Now I heard it before, in Munich three years ago. There it had been special because it was rare, this time it was special because it was brilliant! Like on Undivided and When We Were Beautiful, I have to go a little deeper her as well.
It was in late 2006, where the marriage of my parents started to crack. We were on vacation and while driving in the car they had one of their many fights back then. To that point I had never paid much attention to the These Days album, but on this day I turned it on with the vague hope to escape having to witness those fights for once. And there it was, the edgy guitar tone exploding like everything that was on my mind a singer who sang with so much passion and anger about the same things that were concerning me.

I felt that Jon had taken all that kept me away from sleeping at nights and put it with all his emotion into that song. It was the first time I started to find strength in music and where I discovered and found the magic of the These Days record for me. It had really been a turning point in my life regarding my connection and attitude towards music and its power.
And now there was this feeling again - Jon literally singing his heart out on stage, adding some extra lines, really delivering what this song was about to me! He got on his knees after the solo, adding some rasp to the vocals while singing and looking into the sky. That was so intense that I can’t deny having a tear rolling over my face at that point. I had never, neither during Undivided or WWWB, felt such raw emotions while witnessing a live show. It touched me, but for some reason (thank God) didn’t put me down emotionally after the song. I was just thankful!
The “national anthem” came up and even the sunrise on the screen was somehow special at this point. The version was the best one I heard live, with the audience taking over the first verse and Richie shining on the 2nd one. Jon and he shared the vocal duties brilliantly and there was the brotherhood feeling again that probably had been there 25 years ago when the song was written. Unlike on 90% of the shows nowadays, where the song is only done because it’s a classic that deserves to be there every night and with Jon going plain through the motions, it felt true at that point. But I was emotionally so far that they could have sung “My little green cactus” and I would have liked it. I guess…
Once again they discussed for a moment and In These Arms came. Not the song I would chosen, but it was (besides the guitar solo) good and the audience loved it and sang every line of it!
I was expecting Prayer, but instead Jon pointed again to David and he started Hallelujah! I didn’t really know what to think. Everyone always fancied about how awesome this tune would be, to me it had so far not been much more than a song with endless verses. I remember getting a little pissed off in Frankfurt 3 years before when Jon asked the audience what they wanted to hear and so many screamed for Hallelujah. He went with These Days back then, now it was the Leonard Cohen song. And 6:40 afterwards I had completely changed my mind! The performance was brilliant, so spot on and yes, I’d say, one of Jon’s best efforts on that song! I got goose bumps all the way through that tune and it was silent around me. But not in the way of “let’s wait till it’s finally over” like it happened in the past during Make A Memory, but in the style of “let’s appreciate this moment and suck it all in”. When Jon held the last long note the silence broke and rapturous applause set it.
I heard someone left of me saying “Magical!” (in German of course) and I couldn’t agree more. Here Jon really showed off that he developped as a performer. Yes, I miss the way he pulled some covers off with raw emotion in the early 90’s (like Shooting Star), but I really think he couldn’t have delivered this tune in such a way 20 years ago. This was great!
A thank you speech for the German fans followed and again it didn’t feel forced this time, it was honest and appreciated. Now Prayer was to start and there was so enthusiastic singing around me going on that I didn’t hear the band all the time, but I didn’t mind. That’s how I want to experience such a song and it rocked like hell!
They got together to take their final bows and the audience kept applauding till they went back and gave us one more, running close to the curfew. Love’s The Only Rule! One of my favorites from the Circle and so far I had always missed out on this. It was great, Jon went out on the circle for a reprise and the crowd loved it, though surely many didn’t even know the tune. I’m gonna fly…! I was flying for hours already by now!

This was the final, during the last “wooo oo” Jon’s voice split while returning to the stage, but no one cared about it anymore.
The lights went on and everybody was stunned. So many went by saying that this was the most awesome live show they had seen (mostly casual fans) and how brilliant live musicians these guys would be. I certainly didn’t disagree!
We tried to get something to drink, but almost all stands were sold out, so I already headed to the meeting point where Kathleen, Paul, Terri, Seb, Thierry, Steph, Erik, Ronny, Johnny, his girlfriend and Johny joined us. Everyone loved the show and was happy. We chatted for some time, took a group picture and, as much as I didn’t want the concert to end I didn’t want this moment to end as I knew that it could easily be a few more years before I’d see most the Sebstage group again.


Then we went back to the parking lot, talking a while with Johnny and his girlfriend and giving Johny (confusing, isn’t it?) a ride home to the nearby city Heidelberg.
This concert left me hyped for over a week, as it had really caught me emotionally and left me pumped, ergo it combined what Dresden and Munich had done separately before.
Everybody disappeared into the night, ending a summer of great concerts and magic moments for me…