Diary of an Aspie globetrotter

Hopeful news from the music scene?

2008-12-19T14:22:00.001-08:00

Some glimpse in the darkness in today's music scene may be coming our way, although I try to not be overenthousiast just yet before the news gets confirmed. But in an era of musical recyclement, bad covers of great classics, short-lived hypes created in Pop Idols contests, ... one is more keen to believe in the hopeful news coming his way.

The odds look good that A Perfect Circle, one of my favourite bands, is not dead at all and is even returning from its hiatus. A Perfect Circle, which was formed in the late nineties by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan, has risen to fame with 3 albums (of which notably Mer de Noms in my opinion deserves a mention as one of the best metal albums ever) before going into hiatus in 2004 due to Maynard's commitments with Tool. Rumours about the future of A Perfect Circle have been ongoing since then but it seemed long time that there would be no future at all. "We pushed this project as far as we could, I think it's over," said Maynard himself during an interview a few years back. Worrying news confirmed by Howerdel saying that "APC is done for now".

Ever since, the band members never really indicated a possible return but also never called it an end officially. Maynard at some point said APC was over "until this tour with Tool is done" or that "afterwards we may do some APC". It all seemed vague plans and Billy forming his new band Ashes Divide did not seem to point at a bright futrue for APC. Until now, when Maynard confirmed in an interview that he and Billy are writing new material for A Perfect Circle. A few songs would be ready or in advanced stages. The news apparently would have been confirmed by Billy but I have not read an official interview confirming that. Maynard did not mention which of the former musicians involved with APC would be joining him and Howerdel when the songs are being recorded (very likely Josh Freese will be on drums though) nor if there will be more than just a few songs. He indicated the band would not plan a real album ("nobody is interested in those plastic disks anymore anyway" - no, Maynard, we are interested!) and take things song by song, with the internet as possible channel to release the new material. The same story goes for concerts: a few randomly spread occasional concerts but no real tour planned, although I guess we can hope the spark returns and leads to a full reunion including tour. It does seem that, whatever the output will be, A Perfect Circle is alive and well and the hiatus seems to be officially over!

In Het Laatste Nieuws, one of Belgium's leading newspapers, another rumour circulated. The paper cites that The Smiths would be "closer to a reunion than ever before" and that US based music festival Coachella would have asked the band for a once off reunion gig again, this time offering a sum that even Morrissey would not refuse.

While I am a big Smiths fan and would even fly to California to see them if only this were true, I am more sceptic about this rumour. Reunion rumours have existed for several years, especially linked to the Coachella festival. Up until now, it were just rumours but nothing even close to reality. Morrissey has always refused to reunite the Smiths, refusing a lot of money on earlier occasions. Famous quotes about the subject include that he would rather eat his testicles than to reunite the Smiths (note that Mozzer is a very fanatic vegetarian) or that the only way to unite the band would be to drag the members' dead bodies into a single room. In other words, since the famous courtcase in which drummer Mike Joyce sued the band for unpaid sums of money, the band seems to be over for good and without any hope of ever reuniting. The conflicts within the band are very severe and even if together on stage again it would be questionnable if it would ever be the same as in the band's glory days. With a very succesful solo career and new album and tour coming up, Morrissey also has no direct reason to consider a Smiths reunion. Maybe the most we can hope for is a future collaboration between Morrissey and Johnny Marr, but a full Smiths reunion? It has never been a realistic option so far.

So while I would love to see it happening, allow me to be very sceptic about this one. But with A Perfect Circle returning from a long sleep, there is some exciting happenings to look forward to anyways. 2009 looks to be promising as it is, with Placebo, Marilyn Manson, Orphaned Land and Echo & The Bunnymen all releasing new material.

PS: my Alphaville concert report is upcoming, so stay tuned.

The Levellers set Palac Akropolis on fire

2008-12-14T14:01:00.001-08:00

with my apologies for the delay in publishing this report :)

16/11/2008 : THE LEVELLERS - live in Palac Akropolis, Zizkov/Prague

One of the bands that, despite a lack of recognition in the press, seems to be unstoppable and never let the critics stop them from continuous recording and touring, are The Levellers. The English punkrockers from coastal city Brighton have been going for almost 20 years now and built a very loyal fanbase with their catchy combination of punkrock, English/Irish traditional music, and politically inspired lyrics that lean to left wing politics and especially a mild form of anarchy. Anti conformist, idealistic and guarantee for a party atmosphere, that is a short summary of why The Levellers have been attracting crowds from all different age groups all over Europe (plus a small but dedicated fanbase in the States) for many years now. The band has been going for nearly 20 years with hardly any interruption, if they are not recording they are constantly on the road with a very intense touring schedule. The line up also hardly changed for many years now, with most remarkable persons in the band of course singers Simon Friend and Mark Chadwick, violin player Jon Sevink, and charismatic bass player Jeremy Cunningham. During this European tour, three concerts in the Czech Republic were scheduled, of which the last one was in Prague.

The concert could not have been in a better place than the Palac Akropolis in Zizkov. Zizkov is a more or less centrally located area of Prague, one of the oldest ones (just spot the countless old houses, old apartment blocks dating from the communist era, etc) but also one of the most iconic ones. Zizkov is a nightlife district with a wide variety of options. The district is known to have more pubs per capita than any other area in the whole of Europe, and indeed the area has a certain attraction. It may look old and gloomy sometimes, but it still attracts with its vibrant atmosphere and wide variety of places worth visiting. Zizkov has a great number of artistic venues where young artists and an alternative crowd hang out, but the contrast with the many brothels and gambling houses only a few streets away is huge. But I guess those contrasts and that very special decor is what attracts people to come to Zizkov.

Palac Akropolis is a stonethrow away from the famous Flora shopping mall, the concert hall is in the basement of an old building that inside looks almost like a cavern. Many narrow rooms and corridors with each a few tables and a bar, it was special but it was cosy and charming.

The support act today was one man named James, an expat living in Prague for a while. His lyrics are in English but he did manage to get the attention of the crowd by speaking to them in fluent Czech. The man could maybe be discribed as singer songwriter but with a large rock attitude. Without any backing band, just his voice and his guitar, he still managed to create a very large spectrum of sounds and some excellent riffs. It was quite amazing how rock-esque this man sounded without any electric guitar or drums involved. Definitely a talented and charismatic guy, although I doubt many people will have remembered his act, as obviously the whole crowd was coming to see The Levellers.

The Levellers themselves took the stage shortly after and immediately chose for a classic to start with and get the crowd dancing. Fifteen Years, a song about a man looking back in melancholy while fading away in alcoholism, a relatively old song but still one that gets the crowd going each time. It is a typical Levellers song as well, with heavy guitar riffs with on top of that the Irish violin sounds of the fiddle. This is the classic Levellers sound that brought them fame in the first place, and this is still the Levellers at their best.

The more recent tracks, promoting the new album Letters From The Underground, then followed. That the band have still not forgotten how to write catchy tunes combined with politics laden lyrics or lyrics about the events ongoing in the world, was proven by their most recent single Burn America Burn, a song about the gun culture in the USA and especially about the bloodbaths caused by young people abusing the gun posession law.

And the gunman has just one round left, and he's saved it for himself

The cops are fighting, and some are on the run

There's a bloodbath in the school, and I've only just begun

The sun is shining, the days just begun

Start praying to your Gods, because I'm still having fun

More recent tracks followed, with a few older ones in between. Together All The Way really had the catchy and rocking sound that I appreciate so much about The Levellers. But then, this was one of the oldest tracks in their discography.

Generally though the newer tracks were a bit more calm and less heavy than the older Levellers work. The fiddle is still present in every song but often just collides with the guitar chords and becomes almost a background instrument. The new songs were absolutely far from bad and the lyrics still have that idealistic and society-criticising undertone, however they were just a bit calmer than the average Levellers track. The sound that really made the Levellers to what they were are the more heavy guitar riffs and pounding drums that create a heavy punkrock sound, coming to an apotheosis with an Irish traditional touch when the fiddle comes on top of the screaming guitars right at the moment when the music reaches its climax. This is the Levellers sound that has brought them the loyal fanbase they now have, and I somehow missed that climax and how the fiddle would come into play right at the perfect time rather than being a more constant less noticeable part of the overall sound in some of the recent tracks. It seems though that the majority of fans really enjoyed the new tracks, as the crowd was dancing as usual while bass player Jeremy Cunningham (his dreadlocks now long enough to reach his buttocks) was dancing and jumping around the stage as usual.

However, the audience was treated on some classics as well near the end of the setlist. First there was the uplifting Carry Me, and then a few tracks later it was time for their absolute signature tune "One Way", a song about the struggles of the working class, and about escapism out of the daily gloom by chasing your ideals and living life the way only you want to live it. This is the perfect Levellers track: meaningful lyrics, guitars that come to an absolute climax during the chorus, and Jon Sevink getting a leading role when right at the moment the guitars get heavier his fiddle creates a real Irish pub party atmosphere. This is a song that probably will never get old and always pass the hands of time, and it was a pleasure to see the crowd (with both youngsters and people well in their fourties) jumping around and singing along together that "there's only one way of life, and that's your own!". As has become traditional during recent times, a kilt-wearing guy with white facepaint and red hair is invited on stage to add some didgeridoo sounds to it. Great moment that really set the crowd on fire.

More classics followed near the end of the setlist, such as Riverflow as last song before the encores. Meanwhile the audience was also treated to a very old Levellers song that was embraced again as part of the setlist, the song "Belaruse" (note the odd spelling with the -e in the end) which is about the Chernobyl disaster and how badly it has affected the surrounding countries.

Belarus no longer feels the sun, but it's under the skin of everyone

Belarus, forgotten by the blind... that is until the next time

Remember all your yesterdays in the deep blue

before the world came and rested there on you

And if the sun and moon were both to doubt

Sure enough they'd both go out

When you can't walk in the field, feel water in your hands

You've been touched by the doubts of men

Remember all your yesterdays... in the deep blue

Before the world came and rested there on you

Some nice guitar riffs, in depth lyrics, and right in between there is the fiddle that almost creates a riff on its own and gives the song a really authentic Irish/British folk sound. It may be odd to add such an instrument in a song about a former Soviet country, but it just works to create a party atmosphere without forgetting the powerful lyrics.

The crowd was left screaming for more but also got what they asked for, with a 3 songs encore including two classics: Dirty Davey and maybe the second most known signature tune of the band, "Liberty Song".

They're trying to get to me, to take my liberty

No... Gotta go, go... Get out of here... You don't want me here... Gotta go go, get out of here because...

This means nothing to me, to me...

The way things were is the way I want to be!

Screaming heavy guitars, pounding drums, the fiddle that sets the crowd on fire as if the whole concert hall turned into a huge English or Irish pub for a moment, and the crowd all together singing along that nobody will ever take their liberty... It is an old tune, but it is catchy enough to never get outdated at all.

A great final of an overall quality concert, this was my 5th Levellers gig and once again they did not disappoint. Still, I must add the new material, while far from bad, is not the same as the old classics. A bit heavier guitars, and a better use of the violin (more on the forefront, less in the background) would have made them more memorisable for me. But for the old classics alone the concert was still worth the trip. Unfortunately there was no room for some other classics such as the very hopeful and dreamy What A Beautiful Day (a song about the power of escapism and believing in your dreams with a slight political sauce), Hope Street (the perfect description of what Zizkov looks like in fact: old dirty streets with gambling houses and many pubs) or Just The One (a song about alcoholism that really creates an Irish pub atmosphere - would have suited this decor perfectly well). Guess you cannot have it all...

While posing for a picture with bass player Jeremy and enjoying the chats with some other fans in the cosy basement of the Akropolis, I also had noticed the merchandise stand complete with CDs and shirts as usual, but also with Levellers scarves, all sorts of pins, and many other memorabilia. In a way this may seem a bit odd for a band which usually goes against the grain of our capitalist society, but guess we better ignore such debates and just enjoy the music. The band continues their European tour with some gigs in the Benelux left, and a full month of touring the UK in December.

Setlist:

- Fifteen Years

- Burn America Burn

- The Fear

- The Road

- Before the End

- Fight of Flight

- Together All The Way

- Death Loves Youth

- Sell Out

- Pale Rider

- Carry Me

- Eyes Wide

- One Way

- Belaruse

- A Life Less Ordinary

- The Cholera Well

- The Riverflow

Encores

- Far From Home

- Dirty Davey

- Liberty Song

London After Midnight live in Poland

2008-10-29T14:58:00.001-07:00

About 5 months after the first live exposure to London After Midnight at the Wave Gothik Treffen in Leipzig and after a highly succesful US tour, Sean Brennan and his live band were returning to Europe for a new two weeks tour. The tour was named "The Un-American Tour", refering both to the critique of frontman Sean towards the political status of his homeland and the recent events involving the USA, and of course refering to the fact that this was actually a European tour. The live band this time was made up of Pete on drums, Randy on bass, and Matt on guitar. Only familiar faces, this means.

Those who are not familiar with LAM can easily find my earlier report on the Wave Gothik Treffen, including an introduction to LAM. Brief summary: LAM is the musical project of Sean Brennan, who composes all music by himself but is guided by a live band during tours. The project has been existing since the early nineties and has Los Angeles as homebase. LAM are most often linked to the gothic scene by music critics, something however which is not really appreciated and considered as pointless tagging by the people involved with the project. LAM are quite famous for their social and political statements in their music and during other ways of communication with the fans. The bands last album, Violent Acts of Beauty, had a very heavy political undertone even more so than earlier albums who however had their songs with political statements just as well.

The first gig of the tour was actually in Berlin goth club K17, ironically the place where I first got exposed to LAM when the DJ played their iconic song Sacrifice. I was entranced from the start, and a few songs on internet later (most notably my favourite "Where Good Girls Go To Die") I had purchased several LAM albums already. The WGT experience, including a very brief encounter with Sean and Randy, tasted for more. The circle would have been round when attending the gig in Berlin, but unfortunately this was not an option due to not being in the city for now. I however was not willing to miss out on this tour and soon found an alternative to see the band live: Warsaw. I had never been there, I had a day off the next day, this was perfect. Ticket was booked a two weeks in advance when the concert promotor rang me the night before, announcing there were financial problems within the club and LAM would very likely not play. I was very disappointed but at the same time hardly believed the story as the LAM site did not mention anything about a cancellation. As spending a day on train for nothing is less bad than missing a concert if it goes ahead after all, I decided to jump on the first train to Warsaw after all the next morning. A wise choice, because arrived in Warsaw I was confirmed that LAM would be playing and that only Clan of Xymox had cancelled their gig. The other bands scheduled for the night would be playing, with LAM being the main act and final act of the so called local Independent Festival.

It was a very long train drive to Warsaw, basically I left very early morning and arrived close to 6:00 PM. This means I have not had much exposure of the city, but what I saw made me curious enough to want to go back on a citytrip. Warsaw is said to be one of Polands less interesting cities because it was largely destroyed during the second World War. This means a lot of Soviet style architecture and modern blocks, but luckily a few historical buildings and squares were reconstructed in the original style. These few spots should give the city a nice combination of old and new with a touch of memories on the pre-capitalist era. The parts of Warsaw I did see were the direct environments of the (very big and, with many shops and restaurants, very vibrant) train station and the areas halfway the station and the concert venue. Right across the train station is a nice example of the more modern side of Warsaw, with a big glass building hosting a mall. A mall, but at least they bothered to make it look a bit stylish from the outside.

The concert venue was named Progresja, and is not only a concert venue but also a club. It is mainly orientated on alternative music, including gothic and aparently also metal. The gothic and metal scenes are very big in Poland. Progresja is not the biggest club but it was clean and cosy and it could host a crowd big enough while still being still small enough to have a cosy intimate atmosphere. To my pleasant surprise communicating in English was not a problem at all, and less to my surprise the female fans were a pleasant sight. Ready set go for a nice evening of music.

The first bands I saw were a few synth/wave bands from Germany and Poland, as I was more focussed on talking to security to see if there was a way to meet the LAM guys and say hello, I sort of missed part of the other bands gigs. The Polish band, Agonised By Love, was however far from bad. Same can be said about the band performing just before LAM, replacing Clan of Xymox as the Dutch goth icons had cancelled their scheduled gig at this festival. Psyche was a good replacement however, I had first heard this band back when I lived in Belfast and they stroke me as very interesting back then. Focused mainly on the LAM concert to come however, I again missed a few songs while looking at the merch salespoints and again asking security if briefly saying hi to the band would be possible. What I heard of Psyche was quite good though, with the exception of their cover of Joy Divisions song "Disorder". The original song sounds monotome, gloomy and cold, a perfect soundscape for Ian Curtis' tortured vocals singing about mental decay. Psyche turned the song into a more synth-driven slower song, it sounded more accessible maybe but somehow missed the cold and desperate feeling of the original song. However, the gig was pleasing overall.

By then it was clear London After Midnight would be performing and when at the background of the stage the introduction film to Violent Acts of Beauty began, there was no more doubt. Soon enough the band had entered the stage on a loud applause from a now very packed Progresja club. Clearly I was not the only one who came especially for London After Midnight, and not the only one even who travelled quite a far distance for this gig.

A first highlight for me was Feeling Fascist, one of my favourites from the new album. The lyrics spot on with their very clear political undertone, with "Ignorance is not a bliss" being a core message of the song, and a nice rocking sound. However, the third song in the set was an even more emotional moment as it was a song that touches me emotionally because of some own experiences. The very fragile and beautiful "Scatter" was next on the list, a song that never fails to reach my emotions.

You did it again, yes, you in the mirror
You put your faith in a cruel world
All my dead friends come to haunt, harm and hinder
Never letting go, here to drag me down to hell...

Those lines still amaze me and move me, no matter how often I hear them. Shortly after another highlight came, also from the Psycho Magnet album which mainly deals with themes such as emotional abuse and loss of innocence. The song through which I really fell in love with LAM, "Where Good Girls Go To Die". In Leipzig it was not in the setlist, but this time it was and it was absolutely great to hear it live. The guitar riffs just before the chorus, the haunting atmosphere and the beautiful metaphorical lyrics ... another one of those songs I never get tired of.

Where good girls go to die, that's where I'll be, waiting for my love with my heart on my sleeve
Forget about the future, it wasn't meant to last
My hands are cold, my heart beats slow
Thank God it's the end at last...

Next up we were treated with some new tracks from the latest album, such as the beautiful "Heaven Now" where Sean's warm vocals truly shine in the chorus, and the very political "America's a F**king Disease" which was accompanied by a video stating some less honourful facts about society and politics in the United States. The videos displayed on the background were all composed and produced by Sean himself, and the next songs "Republic" (a well-aimed stab in the body of the Republican Party) and "Pure" also had some fantastic videos accompanying them. Especially the video for Pure was really moving and a great work of art. I hope people in the audience massively paid attention, this work deserved a lot of credit.

The setlist was concluded with two signature tunes of LAM: "Kiss" (again dealing with the theme of emotional abuse) and the deeply romantic "Sacrifice" from the very first LAM album. Still a classic and a fan favourite after all those years. Despite some slight health problems stemming from an exhausting tour, the band treated the very vocally thankful audience to two encores. The evening ended with a nicely rocking "The Kids Are All Wrong", again accompanied by a great video.

Veni, vidi, vici. A great concert once again, and the whole Progresja seemed to share my opinion about that. Despite the exhausting touring schedule and early flights to catch on to the next shows in Greece, the band stayed loyal to their habit of never letting the fans down and coming into the crowd for signatures and pictures. I was able to have a brief chat with Randy and Pete and then spotted Sean in the audience. I was hoping to briefly say hello and maybe a very short chat, but to my surprise he agreed to (once all other fans had their signature and/or picture) let me go backstage for a brief moment in order to have a short chat away from the busy crowd. I was able to talk to him for a short while, which was absolutely great and a lot more than the short hello I had hoped for. Afterwards I ran into guitar player Matt who hung around with me and a few other fans and even invited us to an afterparty in the hotel (which unfortunately I had to skip due to having to catch the early morning train back). The guys in the band were all extremely friendly and down to earth and it was once again a pleasure to meet them and see how much these people really care about their fans. A sincere thankyou.

The trip back was exhausting after a nice without sleep, sleeping on a train is not that comfortable at all when being woken up frequently by random passengers and ticket controllers. But as tired as I was after the trip, I would immediately do it again. Going backstage for the first time, even if it was only briefly, was a nice experience but overall the whole evening and especially the concert was fantastic. LAM will likely be touring Europe again next year. See you all in 2009 and once again thanks to Sean, Randy, Pete and Matt for a great concert and for the meeting afterwards. And Warsaw ... too bad I did not see the entire city, but I guess the upside is that is gives me a reason to go back someday soon :)

Setlist LAM:

- Your Best Nightmare
- Feeling Fascist?
- Shatter
- Nothings Sacred
- Where Good Girls Go To Die
- Demon
- Heaven Now
- Beginning of the End
- Americas a f***ing Disease
- Republic
- Pure
- The Bondage Song
- Kiss
- Sacrifice

encores:
- This Paradise
- The Kids Are All Wrong

The alternative football atmosphere of TB Berlin and the unexpected Dynamo visit...

2008-08-09T17:18:00.000-07:00

Nicht alle Berliner Herzen schlägen für Hertha.

This was the inscription of a t-shirt sold at the merchandise shop of Tennis Borussia Berlin. Indeed, TeBe as the club is usually called, is one of those small Berlin clubs that survive in the shadow of the very popular Hertha. Maybe Union Berlin can still count on a few thousands of loyal fans, but other former "Traditionsvereine" such as Dynamo Berlin (the club from the former Stasi, the DDR police), TeBe Berlin and such have all slipped away to lower leagues and survive now as tiny teams in the shadow of Hertha. But they survive, even when TeBe is now in the Oberliga, the 5th division (comparable with the Conference in England, or the 1st provincial division in Belgium).

Today was one of those rare opportunities for TeBe to be in the spotlights for once again. In the first proper round of the DFB Pokal (the German Cup), TeBe received the visit of Bundesliga team FC Energie Cottbus. For once a team of any fame visited the Mommsenstadion again, and for once TeBe was out of its anonimity even if just for a day. As the Mommsenstadion was the only Berliner stadium where I had not attended a game yet, I of course had to be there.

Tennis Borussia Berlin versus FC Energie Cottbus. The game sounds a bit odd for a football game when you hear those names. The first team almost sounds like a team that has gone lost and ended up in the wrong sports, while the other team sounds like a factory team right from the communist era when most teams were linked to government institutions or companies. A bit of history.

Tennis Borussia Berlin is not named like that by coincidence. The club was founded in 1902 and is one of the oldest clubs in the country. It started off as an omni-sports club where table tennis and tennis played an important role. Throughout the years, the tennis became less and less important while the football branch of the club became the most prominent team. TeBe evolved to become mainly a football team and I am not even sure if there is still a tennis branch within the club. But, to not just forget its history, the club stayed loyal to using the word "tennis" in its club name. The purple-whites have their home in the Mommsenstadion in the Charlottenburg area of Berlin, formerly West Berlin. It is in the outskirts of the city, in a very green zone surrounded by a lot of nature. Despite many relegations and financial problems, the club still survived without ever needing to undergo a merger, unlike many other Berlin clubs existing this long.

Maybe it is interesting to also look how such a club survives and how other clubs do. Hertha is obvious as it was always more or less the biggest club in West Berlin, apart from a few seasons. Hertha is the club for the masses and more or less non-political ever since the second world war was over.

Union Berlin is the second biggest club in Berlin, with attendances varying between 5000 and 15000. The club is from the Köpenick area of Berlin, former East Berlin, and was the club of the working class without ties to any political institution ; the popularity of Union lies herein that they were not connected or funded by the communist government. Their main rivals were Dynamo Berlin who were ruled by the Stasi, the secret police from the East German government, nowadays Dynamo plays in 5th division and attracts a very right-wing audience which is notorious for causing problems and racist issues (although this is a reputation that may not be completely true...).

And then there is Tennis Borussia, the last Traditionsverein to survive. Other older Berlin clubs such as Vörwarts Berlin, Blau-Weiß Berlin and Empor all died or merged. TeBe survived although it attracts a small following. The TeBe fans are known to be a quite alternative football audience: very strongly opposed to hooliganism or provocations and focused on football in a cosy atmosphere. The club also is known to attract some artistically minded people, and is not unpopular amongst politically left-wing people in Berlin. This means the club has a rather alternative following, small in numbers but a bit special. I must say this attracted me as well to attend a game of the club.

In the margins of those traditional clubs, more recent clubs have emerged as well of course, with Türkiyemspor Berlin being the most succesful and mainly attracting a multicultural and immigrant following.

Anyway, then there is the opposition of today. FC Energie Cottbus. Cottbus is about 200 km from Berlin and not too far from the Polish border. Indeed, former East German soil. In the communist times many clubs were linked to companies or institutions. Hence the many clubs named Dynamo (usually linked to the police of their city), Lokomotiv (linked to the state-owned railways), CSKA (army clubs) and more such clubs. I must say however I am not sure where the name Energie comes from, maybe the club was linked to an energy provider in the former GDR but I am not sure of that.

Energie Cottbus never played a role of much importance in the old East German league, dominated by clubs such as Union Berlin, Dynamo Berlin, FC Magdeburg and Dynamo Dresden. However, most of those clubs collapsed after German reunification and all of those former East German giants now play in the third or fourth league of the united Germany. Ironically, FC Energie however began to rise once Germany was unified and, along with Hansa Rostock, became the only club from former East Germany to become a more or less established Bundesliga team. As Rostock relegated last season, Energie Cottbus is this season the ONLY former East German club in the highest league of unified Germany. So we can definitely say the club has become a success story since the unification.

A short subway drive took me to the Mommsenstadion in the outskirts of Charlottenburg. To find the stadium was easy with big floodlights high in the sky and with many football fans drinking crates of beer in the woods between the subway stop and the stadium. You could immediately see TeBe attracts a loyal but small fanbase: even though they were playing at home, there were about twice as many Energie Cottbus fans hanging around the stadium. Also remarkable was a small group of Dynamo Berlin fans coming to the game. Why do Dynamo Berlin fans come to a game between TeBe Berlin and Energie Cottbus? Dynamo has a reputation of causing trouble during away games, so the police took some extra security measurements by putting all Dynamo fans together in the stadium, forming a somewhat bizarre "neutral fans" area. In theory I was a neutral as well, but I opted to stand in the Tennis Borussia end of the stadium.

Tennis Borussia used to play in the second Bundesliga at some point, long before they dropped to the Oberliga (5th division) where they are now. The Mommsenstadion can hold just below 15000 fans and is a memory of how big TeBe used to be. Now, the stadium is often looking very empty as TeBe plays its home games in 5th division for 500 to 1000 fans average. Today however, with some neutrals and many Cottbus fans who made the short travel, something like 3500 fans attended the game (I estimate that, with guests and VIPs included, it were more than 4000). TeBe used this opportunity handy and invited several local companies to have a small information spot in the stadium. Handy way to get some extra cash out of this one game they were receiving a decent crowd.

The stadium has, like many German stadiums, an athletics track around the pitch. I really dislike that. Other than that though, it was OK. A nice big stand with seats with a nice roof and comfortable seats. Underneath a paddock where the TeBe die-hards were standing. Behind the goal were curved terraces, and opposite of the main stand was the big terrace where the Cottbus fans (I estimate at least a small 1000) gathered. The unexpected Dynamo Berlin fans were, surrounded by police, gathering behind the goal. In fact this stadium looks nice really, especially with a nice forest-esque environment surrounding it. The terraces and the main stand are nice, and so is the VIP room where I managed to have a small look. The only bizarrity: none of the terraces have a roof, this privilege is only for those who pay to have a seat on the main stand. Also remarkable: a hypermodern scoreboard displaying the logos of both clubs and pictures of all players ; this may be common in professional teams' stadiums but for a 5th division team this is rather unusual.

So the stadium was nice. And yes, the somewhat alternative image of the TeBe fans is correct to a certain extent. If they are really left-wing is not sure to me, I did not discuss any politics. If artists and alternatives are drawn to TeBe is also not entirely sure to me, but it is likely to be true as I saw several somewhat eccentric people walking around the terraces and the fans all looked very calm. Not very vocally present, but just enjoying a chat and a cosy atmosphere. The non-hooligan and non-provocative image is 100% true and for that alone I respect their fans a lot (I dislike the tribalist terrace culture you often see at bigger clubs). And looking at the few somewhat eccentric fans (not large in numbers but still a few) the artistic image may be true, but I am unsure. I liked the atmosphere though, it was very friendly.

Also, before the game songs such as "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC and "A Love Like Blood" by Killing Joke (a band popular in the goth culture) were played. I never heard that before in a stadium but I loved it! Also, a version of the Ramones' classic "Blitzkrieg Bop" with alternative lyrics about TeBe was played. Yes, the alternative/artistic image of TeBe fans will probably be correct as well.

The fans of Energie Cottbus were more typical football fans: very vocally present and colourful. At some point during the game they even danced the pogo on the stands. Yes, the pogo... :)

All ingredients were there for a nice football evening. The only question was: how would a 5th division team be able to compete with a fully professional Bundesliga team used to play teams like Bayern München, Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen?? TeBe probably had entered the field with little hopes of winning and with the main target to just leave the pitch with the heads up high.

In the first 10 minutes the difference in leagues was not that clear really. Cottbus did play more on the half of TeBe and had more possession, but they were not that dangerous and TeBe did try to counter-attack whenever they had the chance. The first few tiny chances were for Energie, with a few shots from distance that missed the target. TeBe saw a free kick from Fuß (what an appropriate name for a soccer player) easily saved by Energie goalkeeper Tremmel. Another TeBe shot from distance also missed the target.

TeBe comfortably survived at first but almost brought itself in a nasty situation when a long ball from Cottbus was reaching a defender from TeBe who, despite no Cottbus player being near, headed the ball into corner and thereby narrowly missed his own goalpost. With a bit less luck this was one of the most silly own-goals you could imagine, but "die Borussen" got away with it. However, on the 20th minute Cottbus did as expected open the score when Pavicevic's cross from the right was shot into the net from close range by Rangelov at the first post. No chance at all for goalkeeper Stillenmunkes.

TeBe defended well and do receive credit for never giving up, but it was clear that their opposition was a bit too strong. A rare chance for the 5th division team was a free kick for Ahmetcik who shot the ball only narrowly over the Energie goal from 20m.

But only 7 minutes after the opening goal, Energie Cottbus doubled the score. Skela dropped the ball over the entire TeBe defense and saw Branko Jelic, with only the goalkeeper in front of him, volley the ball in the net via the far post. A great goal as the ball came at a difficult height but rather than controlling, Jelic chose a volley and made it a superb goal. 0-2 and in fact the winner was known at that point. The remainder of the first half, apart from a weak header from Cottbus, was not really worth mentioning: Cottbus knew victory was assured and easily controlled the game, while TeBe tried their best but clearly was not good enough.

The second half was basically Energie Cottbus controlling the game, with TeBe just trying to play a decent game. Jelic slipped through the defense after 10 minutes and was brought down in the box, the referee somehow failed to award a penalty kick. Little protest however with the Energie team in nice orange away jerseys, they felt sure of victory anyway.

There was little to see on the pitch, but unfortunately there was a lot to see aside the pitch. The Dynamo fans unfortunately confirmed what people feared: the few Dynamo fans who somehow attended the game, had come to cause trouble. In the zone where the approx 20 or 30 Dynamo fans gathered, suddenly people starting kicking and pushing bystanders, a lot of policemen rushed to that section of the stadium to interfere. Unfortunately this was not the end: some of those "fans" managed to run away into the area of the stadium where the (very well behaving) Cottbus fans were and starting attacking a few Cottbus fans. A very large number of policeman had to come in between to keep the hooligans away from the normal fans and avoid very serious riots, but some kicking and fighting did occur. I am not sure if people got arrested, but the police had to interfere in large numbers to prevent very serious riots. Such a shame that a very peaceful evening is disturbed by a group of hooligans from a club who was not even playing... I know, the majority of Dynamo fans are probably nothing like that, but it is a shame a small group of people were trying to ruin a very peaceful football night. Thankfully the police did their job properly before the riots were getting out of hand, but the things I see (I was luckily far away from the area where it happened) looked quite violent and bad... First time since I live in Germany that I witnessed violence in the stadium, and it is bizarre to see it was caused by people not even supporting the two teams on the pitch.

Once the situation on the stands had calmed down people could focus on the actual game again. An Atan free kick sailed over the crossbar. With 23 minutes to go finally some real excitement: an excellent shot from Angelov into the far corner of the goal was perfectly saved by TeBe goalkeeper Stillenmunkes with a very nice dive. Great save, followed by a rare Tennis Borussia attack resulting in a header from Griesert that missed the goal.

Although in fact it was long clear that Cottbus cruised to an easy win, the scoreline became totally decisive when in the 73rd minute the ball got stuck in the box but the TeBe defense could not clear it, Rangelov suddenly got posession and face-to-face with the goalkeeper he could no longer miss this chance. 0-3 and totally over and out.

Only 1 minute later it should have been 0-4. A rost cross reached Jula, who controlled only a few meters from the goal. This should be as easy as can be to finish off, but somehow he managed to shoot it against the post instead of into the net. A chance the average fan in the stadium would have scored, but with the 0-3 already on the scoreboard it did not really matter anyway.

TeBe never managed to make it Cottbus difficult but, probably also because Cottbus did not play at full speed most of the game, they were never overpowered and in fact deserved a consolidation goal as reward for never giving up. With 6 minutes left to go TeBe came very close to that 1-3 when Griesert's cross from the right reached Fuß in front of goal whose header from close range was only stopped by goalkeeper Tremmer just before the goalline. In fact this was the only big chance for TeBe and the only time Tremmer really had to save a ball. Other than that TeBe had some shots from distance who missed the goal, including a last efford shortly before time that curved past the far post.

0-3... Cottbus has an easy evening and TeBe did not get a very harsh defeat. "Our opponent is 4 leagues higher, but there is only a 3 goals margin", the stadium speaker said. So clearly Tennis Borussia were not uncomfortable with this defeat. The defeat was expected but they did the best they could and with a decent number of spectators they will have had a financially good day. The Mommsenstadion was nice, the TeBe crowd was friendly and cosy, the only downside were the "neutral fans" who tried to ruin it with their fights. When entering the stadium I was wondering why there was a large policeforce present, after seeing what happened I am glad they were there.

A nice evening after all, and next week the big games begin for both teams when Energie Cottbus kick off their Bundesliga season while Tennis Borussia begin their new season in the 5th division. For Cottbus the target is a worryless season in the mid table of the Bundesliga, for TeBe the target is promotion to the 4th division and slowly starting the climb back to their old glorious status.

A visit to Magdeburg

2008-08-03T09:18:00.001-07:00

Wir sind durch die Stadt gerannt

Ham keinen Ort mehr erkannt

an dern wir nicht schon einmal waren

Wir ham alles ausprobiert

Die Freiheit endet hier

Wir müssen jetzt durch diese Wand

Verlager dein Gewicht, den Abgrund siehst du nicht...

Achtung, fertig, los und lauf!

Vor uns bricht den Himmel auf

Wir schaffen es zusammen übers Ende dieser Welt

die hinter uns zerfällt

I am opening my diary entry with a quote from the song "Übers Ende der Welt", written by the best contemporary German poet/songwriter, Bill Kaulitz from the new German music sensation Tokio Hotel.

Why quoting Tokio Hotel?! Apart from the fact that I sort of like their music (I know this is a guilty pleasure), there is another good reason: today's trip took me to the only big city in the former GDR that I had not visited yet: Magdeburg, which also happened to be the city where Tokio Hotel were formed. Magdeburg of course is famous for a lot more reasons than having given the world Tokio Hotel. It was one of the most important medieval cities in the area and its town laws were spread across Europe known as the Magdeburg Rights. The voyage started at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, a cheap 35 euro weekend ticket would allow me the 1,5 hour journey to Magdeburg central station. Achtung, fertig, los und lauf!

Magdeburg is not a big city, or at least the city is not that big. In fact I could walk through the historical center in less than 2,5 hours by foot and still see all historical places. Having been heavily suffering during the world war II, the historical sights in Magdeburg are not large in numbers, but they are nice. First of all the train station itself is quite nice as well. The walk from the train station to the inner city shows one of those things that former East German cities seem to have in common (when thinking back of Leipzig and Dresden): classy old houses and monuments next to hypermodern shopping malls and business complexes. It sounds wrong on many levels, but somehow it works fine and old and new go together well.

Most beautiful place is definitely the city hall (Rathaus) and the square it borders. The city hall itself is a beautiful building, a sober version of a baroque building with a few statutes. The whole square itself shows a lot of old houses of which one is worth a few pictures of your camera's memory card. In front of the city hall you can find the Magdeburger Reiter, a sort of big lamppost with golden decorations and a small golden statue inside of a knight on a horse. Not a big statue, but a beautiful.

We then cross a few more modern squares, including some Stalinist-esque architectures and a nice fountain, and then arrive at the main sight of the city. The "Hundertmeere Haus" (house of 100 seas). Why it is called like that is beyond my understanding, but it is a great sight. Describing it is hard because rarely you will see something equally bizarre. It is like a pink mansion with all sort of other colours incorporated, very bizarre shapes in the wall, balconies in a really bizarre form like you would see in a fairytale, golden domes, and all sorts of bizarre shapes and abstract figures decorating the building. Inside is a small courtyard with a fountain. Extremely bizarre but a unique sight. Opposite of this are a few old mansions that nowadays house a bank.

Also worth seeing and only a stonethrow away from this bizarre building, is the Magdeburger Dom, an old cathedral which also is a more sober version of baroque but still too stylish to be classified as gothic. It is considered a gothic cathedral and is one of Germany's oldest in its sort, but I would personally say it is somewhere in the middle between gothic and baroque. A great sight for sure. Behind this church is a park and a small promenade along the river Elbe.

So Magdeburg is small, the historical center is really small. It is smaller than Leipzig and MUCH smaller than Dresden. But it is still worth a visit, even if only to see the incredibly bizarre Hundertmeere Haus... This building alone is so special that it is worth the trip to Magdeburg. And for those wanting a small stop on their way to bigger cities in the area, strolling 2 or 3 hours in Magdeburg would be ideal as it allows you perfectly to see the entire city. Summarised: the city is nothing special and certainly doesn't feel like a big city, but the few nice buildings are still nice enough to dedicate 2 or 3 hours to this city.

PS: I was lucky that, although the heatwave was over, it remained dry and cloudless. So no need to go durch den monsun, hinter die Welt, ans Ende der Zeit bis kein Regen mehr fällt...

Next stop should be Istanbul although there may be another short trip added somewhere in East Germany. If so, updates will follow in my blog.

Eisern Union in the Jahnsportpark!

2008-08-02T09:59:00.001-07:00

Union Berlin hat nur 1 Heimat: an der Alte Försterei...

Since this season German football has 3 national divisions, while until last season there were only 2 nationwide divisions followed by the regional divisions. The brand new 3.Bundesliga was formed by a few relegators from the 2.Bundesliga, plus the best teams from the Regionalliga who narrowly missed promotion to the 2.Bundesliga. Amongst those latter teams is Union Berlin. The "Eisern Union" from the Berliner district Köpenick was in the running for promotion to the second division until the last game, when a 0-3 defeat versus Oberhausen terminated their dreams of promotion. But no worries, Union had long qualified for the new 3.Bundesliga.

This new "Dritte Bundesliga" started last week and contains quite a few nice teams with a long history: Dynamo Dresden, Union Berlin, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Eintracht Braunschweig, SpVgg Unterhachung, Carl Zeiss Jena, Wuppertal... they are all present in the newly formed third division. And indeed, Union as well. After their first game away from home in München it was time for the first home game of the season this weekend.

"Home" game is a bit questionable though for the Köpernicker outfit. Their own stadium "an der Alte Försterei" in the southeastern outskirts of Berlin was for a long time in danger of disappearing because it did not fit the standards for the new third Bundesliga. Several Union fans were outrageous: leaving the Alte Försterei was unthinkable and should never happen as it is a part of the club's history. A move to the Jahnsportpark where enemies Dynamo Berlin used to play, was even less acceptable. In the end the club found a solution: the Alte Försterei is being modernised so that Union can stay in their own Heimat. The modernisation is unique in a way: not only professional construction workers but also many fans who volunteered are rebuilding the stadium. Yes, the stadium is being rebuilt by the club's own fans!! The Alte Försterei will be completely up-to-date with modern security standards in less than 3 months and end of October, when Paderborn travel to Berlin, the new Alte Försterei will be officially opened.

Union can stay at home, only for 2,5 months while the construction works at their own stadium are going on, a temporary solution was needed. As no other options existed, Union will play 6 home games in the Jahnsportpark. Only 6 games and then back home to the Alte Försterei, this was acceptable for the fans as well. And thus, this first home game was played in the Jahnsportpark.

The Friedrich Jahnsportpark is situated in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin, not too far from the city center. Prenzlauer Berg is, like Union itself, former East Berlin. It used to be a neighbourhood known for its alternative population including punks and artists. Nowadays it still is a bit like that, with many artists residing here and a vibrant nightlife with its many narrow streets and bars. The Jahnsportpark lies in the middle of a nightlife area so you won't get bored after the game... It is the second biggest stadium in Berlin at the moment, only the Olympiastadion of Hertha Berlin is bigger. The Jahnsportpark was used by several clubs in the past. The now defunct Vorwärts Berlin used to play its home games here, and Dynamo Berlin as well for a while. Especially the latter was a reason why Union Berlin fans did not like the stadium: while Union was the people's club without ties to the communist regime, Dynamo was during the East German era the police club who often committed fraude in order to win trophies to please the communist regime. Needless to say the hatred between Dynamo and Union was big, very big. Since Dynamo left the stadium to move to the Sportforum a bit further down the area, the Jahnsportpark has served several clubs from several sports. American football, soccer, ... have all been played in the stadium. Hertha Berlin recently beat an obscure Moldovan team here (8-1) in the UEFA Cup while their own stadium was unavailable. Union Berlin itself used the stadium 8 years ago to play their European games in the UEFA Cup. From this season on, Türkiyemspor Berlin will have their home here because (after being promoted to the Regionalliga) their own stadium in the Kreuzberg area became too small.

And now Union Berlin are using the "stadium from nobody but for everybody in Berlin". The first 6 home games will be played here, before going back home to the Alte Försterei. The Union board hopes to use the occasion to promote Union Berlin to people living closer to the city center.

I had never been inside this stadium, only outside but with locked gates. I do remember the impressive sky-high floodlights, classic floodlights like in the good old days. Inside the stadium was quite nice actually, even despite the athletics track around the field. Because of the athletics track the stands around the field have an oval shape. Two stands aside the pitch have a roof (one of them is the quite high VIP stand) while the seats behind the goals have no roof. The stadium is an all-seater and, which gives it a colourful outlook, the seats are all in yellow-red-green. Yes, the colours of my beloved KV Oostende :) About 5100 Union fans have made the trip to the stadium, while opponent Stuttgart had brought about 30 maximum. If you include however the VIPs and guests who got in for free, you can say we probably had not much less than 6000 fans at this game.

Introducing Union is not really necessary, but the opposition today was far less interesting. The rules of the third Bundesliga say that maximum 3 reserve teams of 1.Bundesliga teams can participate. Union had to start last week against the reserves of Bayern München (and lost 2-1) and now another reserve team was the opposition: the reserves of VfB Stuttgart. Two reserve teams as first two opponents, you can hardly call that attractive games... (a third reserve team in the 3.Bundesliga are the amateurs of Werder Bremen).

I personally don't like reserve teams in the regular leagues. And today you could see again why: VfB Stuttgart reserves were supported by exactly 30 fans. OK, it is a long drive from Stuttgart to Berlin, but still. If this was the normal Stuttgart team there would have been several hundreds. Reserve teams simply don't interest or attract lot of people. Last week in München, the game between the Bayern reserves and Union Berlin was attended by only 3000 fans as well. Personally I would have prefered the likes of FC Magdeburg or VfL Lübeck in the third division instead of reserve teams of 1.Bundesliga clubs. But anyway...

The game started off with an aggressive Union team but apart from a lot of posession and mainly playing on the Stuttgarter side of the pitch, there were few chances. The first danger even came from the Stuttgart amateurs when a cross frpm the left narrowly missed their striker at the far post who could otherwise have slided the ball into the open goal. Union had most posession however and their noisy fans screamed them forwards. Gebhardt's free kick was the first good chance for the "Eisern Union". Shortly after Union broke the deadlock: a free kick from Gebhardt from the right reached Ruprecht who headed the ball into the net. 1:0 für die Eisernen!

10 minutes later Union doubled their lead: the Stuttgart Amateure did not clear the ball outside of their box, and a Ruprecht header was narrowly saved by goalie Ulreich. The ball bounced back in the field from the crossbar and Benyamina easily shot the rebound into the net. 2-0!

The second half was less exciting with VfB Stuttgart II being more dominant and having more posession, but they had very little chances. When they could not keep up their tempo, Union saw counterstrike possibilities. A Dogan corner was headed in by Benyamina but the Stuttgarter goalie saved. One minute later a new corner followed and this team Benyamina headed the ball into the net from close range at the near post. 3-0 and the Eisernen were now sure of victory.

Stuttgart's reserve team played well but was very sterile in attack, apart from a few shots from distance easily saved by the goalkeeper Glinker. 13 minutes before the end, Hofmann gave the Stuttgarter reserves a consolidation goal when he shot the ball past goalkeeper Glinker in the far corner of the goal. 3-1 but that latter goal was just a statistic.

Overall a deserved victory for Union whose fans seemed to have enjoyed their first day out in the Jahnsportpark. 5 more home games to go in Prenzlauer Berg, und danach ist's züruck nach Hause, züruck nach dem Alte Försterei! The home game versus Paderborn in the last weekend of October will celebrate Union's return home to the modernised stadium in Köpenick. Und niemals vergessen: Eisern Union, Eisern Union!

2/8/2008: 1.FC Union Berlin - VfB Stuttgart II : 3-1

Jahnsportpark, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

Union: Glinker - Göhlert, Stuff, Ruprecht, Kohlmann - Bönig (80. Menz) - Bemben, Younga Mouhani (66. Dogan), Gebhardt - Benyamina, Biran (87. Patschinski)

VfB Stuttgart II: Ulreich - Schwabe, Kovacevic, Feisthammel, Enderle (82. Rahn) - Ikeng - Funk, Träsch, Rudy (82. Klauß) - Schipplock (46. Schieber), Hofmann

A lot of travelling... from Norway to Poland

2008-08-01T15:50:00.001-07:00

The last weeks I have had very little time to update my blog, partially due to some travels. I thought I would stir up the travel desires in you all and report a bit on my voyages.

First destination: Oslo, Norway.

Oslo is the capital of Norway and only somewhat big city (unless you consider places like Bergen or Trondheim big cities, which I don't). The Norwegian capital has approx 600000 citizens but if you count in the surrounding towns you will get well over 1000000 people. About 50% of the country's population resides in the capital city or surrounding towns. It is rapidly growing city and one that attracts a lot of immigrants searching for employment and welfare. The city has a growing expat population with mainly non-European expats such as Pakistanis, Indians, Arabs, Turks, ... While growing more cosmopolitan, the city also expands in terms of population which means a lot of construction is going on. Despite that, Oslo is still not a big city like some other capitals such as Paris, London, Berlin, ... Oslo still has the cosy feeling of a big town rather than a metropolis.

Those who know me, know that Norway is the country of my dreams. It has been since childhood, and it has always remained like that. Countries such as Turkey and Israel can be added to that list, I am a Middle East fanatic as well. But my obsession with the far north and Scandinavia goes back to early childhood. In fact it is mainly the north of Scandinavia that attracts me. Everything above the polar circle, and in particular the city of Tromsø which combines the arctic feeling (no sunlight in winter, no sundown in summer) with a vibrant city life, strongly attracts me. The north of Norway combines desolate areas with a few small villages surrounded by mileslong wilderness, and a unique scenery. Places like Honningsvag or Grense Jakobselv (nowadays a ghost town but it used to be the very last outskirt before entering the USSR ; a sort of arctic gateway into the communist world) are the true edge of the world, unless you include very isolated arctic villages further north like Longyearbyen or Ny Alesund. I still hope to relocate to north Norway someday, but meanwhile a visit to Norway is always a pleasure even when the voyage takes me to the more southern outskirts of the country.

Oslo lies in the south of the country, by the south coast. The city is quite unique because it is surrounded by nature, unlike many other capitals. To the north of the city there is endless woods. Take a train only 20 minutes out of the city and you're in the middle of nowhere. Even the train from the Gardermoen airport to the city center goes through some rural areas with only a handfull of houses in several miles. Knowing some of those woods are on soil that belongs to Oslo municipality, means Oslo is a very green city. To the south of the city there is a big fjord with some small islands off coast. This fjord is extremely close to the city center, you can see the sea between the shopping malls and buildings when walking along the main boulevard in the center. Only 5 minutes walk from the main shopping street take you to the fjord, where a lovely promenade along the sea and a cosy marina await you. A drink on a terrace overlooking the fjord, followed by a walk through the hypermodern architecture of the neighbouring Aker Brygge district is a very idyllic way to spend your evening.

The train from Gardermoen airport takes you directly to the National Theatre close to Aker Brygge and Slottparken, or to the central station in the heart of the city. Slottparken is the big park where the royal palace is situated. You can walk through the park and just come extremely close to the palace. There is no fencing around the palace, it is just a building in the middle of the park. Some guards will make sure nothing nasty can happen, but other than that you can just walk passed the royal residence without any hassle or have a picknick a few meters further in the park. At the end of the Slottparken you find the main shopping boulevard Karl Johans Gate. All modern shops and a few hypermodern malls are on both sides, as well as some cosy pubs and classy restaurants. In the middle of the big avenue you have some terraces where people enjoy a drink. In between the houses and shops you can see the sea, as the big Oslo Fjord is only a 5 minute walk to your right, with a cosy promenade and marina overlooking the idyllic fjord.

At the end of Karl Johans Gate you can find the parliament building Storting which is worth a few pictures on your camera memory card. Once past this building you enter the nightlife district with, apart from the huge shopping mall near the central station, you will mainly find bars and clubs. Cross the river to the left of the center and you come in the Grunerløkka district of the city which is known as the big nightlife area. Grunerløkka is quite different from the rest of the center, as it mainly has a lot of small streets with older houses housing bars and pubs. No hypermodern architecture like Aker Brygge or no big malls here, but mainly narrow streets housing cosy pubs and bars.

Oslo is not a big city, even for a capital it feels quite small. It feels more like a smaller city than a capital, because the city center can be walked through in less than 1,5 hour and it doesn't breathe the atmosphere of a metropolis. But Oslo is cosy. It feels cosy and clean, and it combines some hypermodern sights with natural beauty and lovely scenery a stonethrow away from the main shopping and clubbing districts.

The cliches of Norway are proven correctly here as well. Yes, the women are drop dead gorgeous and most of them are blonde! Yes, the nights in summer don't last long, it gets dark only around 11:30 PM and before 5:00 AM sunlight is welcoming you again. And unfortunately yes, the country is damn expensive. I tried to keep my expenses low, but to give you an idea: a glass of coca-cola costs about 3 to 5 euro, in more expensive clubs probably more. I am not a beer drinker, but I heard those cost over 5 euro often enough. Internet cafe: 4 to 5 euro for an hour, while in my current home Berlin it would be 1 euro per hour maximum. Hotel, while not a luxury hotel, was about 60 euro for a night. Locals do earn salaries adapted to the cost of living, but for tourists and expats not used to Norwegian salaries the city is very expensive. Recent polls showed Oslo is in the top-10 of the world's most expensive cities. So this may not be the ideal destination for those who feel like clubbing and nightlife. Not that options are very diverse in that area anyway, probably enough choice if you just want a drink in a cosy pub but I could not find a single goth bar and only 3 rock bars of which 1 would close down forever the night after my visit...

But, overall I like this city. Small but cosy. The people are friendly and the vast majority of them speak English fluently so you won't have any problems talking to locals. Everything is very modern but with a bit of searching you find some more historical sights just as well.

One downside I need to mention: while I would love to relocate to Scandinavia, jobhunting is not easy unless you want to work in fishing, hospitality or unless you have a very high degree as engineer or so. For regular office jobs, companies will demand fluent knowledge of a nordic language, even though the majority of the people in the city speak English fluently. It is very hard to find vacancies you can reply to, as either the language is a barrier or the demands include a bachelor degree or higher. Working in a pub or hotel is an option but those jobs are not available all year and often enough they want you to work a few days as a trial and start immediately when you are doing well, so finding such job while still being based abroad is also very hard. I hope to realise my dream sooner or later, but it will be a goal that is difficult to reach.

Shortly after my return to Berlin, me and a few friends decided to make a day trip cross-border to Poland. Destination was Szczecin, a town less than 10 miles across the German-Polish border and thus very easy to reach from Berlin. Note: because few foreigners manage to pronounce the name of the city well, the Germans have their own name Stettin for the city. As this is indeed a bit easier, I will resort to using this name ;)

To reach Stettin you just take a train from Berlin-Alexanderplatz or Berlin-Gesundbrunnen and this takes you straight to Poland. Stettin is less than 1,5 hour away. The weekend ticket cost us 35 euro and divided by 5 this means 7 euro each. Bargain! The train drive took us through the countryside of the former East Germany, where miles without any sign of civilisation were followed by very tiny towns of less than 4 streets. I felt fascinated to know what the people living in such remote towns do for a living... As we crossed the Polish border and left the train in Stettin's central station, it felt like entering into a different world. Even though the German border is so close, the differences are huge.

The first sights from the train station were very old houses that apparently did not get renovation or paint in many decades. It felt a bit like a ghetto: very old houses in a bad state. We thought this may be just a few less attractive blocks, but soon enough while walking into the city center we realised the majority of residences were like that. The city seemed full of very old buildings that really need renovation or at least a layer of paint. They all look in very poor state, maybe they look pretty inside but with this appearance outside it really felt like a bit of a ghetto. A few of those blocks were full of graffiti and did not have glass in the openings that should normally contain windows. I felt sorry for those living in those particular blocks. It was a sunny day and it all looked a bit special, but I can imagine that in winters when it is dark and rainy, this city can give a depressing feeling if you live in the wrong areas.

Another thing that surprised me: despite the German border being so close, hardly anyone spoke English or German. In the dining places we visited, we often needed to point at the food we wanted, after which the waitress had to write down in numbers how many Zloty we needed to pay (yes, Zloty... like most new EU member states, Poland will only introduce the Euro as currency a bit later on. 1 Euro is something between 3 or 4 Zloty). It really felt a bit like a different world in some bizarre way.

However, the city looking old and sometimes a bit grey does not make it an ugly city. There is still enough to see. Not that Stettin is a place full of beauty and history, but there are some places worth seeing for sure. We saw a lot of churches (a lot more than you would see in the average city) of which a few were really nice. There was a more cosy area which featured some nice restaurants and terraces, and a lovely old mansion with a courtyard that contained some really lovely architecture. On that courtyard a Russian folk choir was performing Russian folk music.

It is not the most exciting city but it felt totally different than the average German city and therefor worth a visit and still stirring up the desire to travel. Also, we had our oddities to photograph such as a true army tank in the middle of the city center streets, and a tram with the carriage number 666 on it.

Then a few trips in Germany itself. I won't comment on Leipzig as I already did that before, even though the second visit was just as pleasurable.

Potsdam was the first stop. A small city in the suburbs of Berlin, but because Berlin is a Bundesland (county or state within the federal German republic) on its own, Potsdam is technically another Bundesland and serves as capital of Brandenburg Bundesland. It has about 150000 citizens or slightly more. The city is only a 20 km out of Berlin so very easy to reach. It is a small yet cosy city with some narrow streets in the center which serve as shopping district. A few old houses and a nice city gate (like a miniature version of the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin) gave the city center some nice sights. The gate is by the way called Brandenburger Gate, but definitely not to be confused with the big arch in the heart of Berlin.

The main attraction of Potsdam however, is the big park that contains the Sans Souci and several other palaces. The Sans Souci Palace is in the middle of the Sans Souci Park, only a stonethrow from the shopping streets. Sans Souci means "without worries". It contains a large lane full of nice statutes, a lot of green, many fountains, and several palaces. Nicest palace by far is the impressive Sans Souci palace which stands on top of a small hill with many trees and hagues between the stairs to the palace. The biggest palace is on the other end of the huge park and is called Neues Palais. About 5 or 6 other palaces and nice buildings can be found in the park, on both sides of the huge central lane. The nicest ones you should not miss are the Chinesisches Teehaus (a pavillion in Chinese style with some very nice golden decorations) and the Schloss Charlottenhof.

Saving the best for last then, as the last city I visited was probably the most beautiful one. Dresden is the capital of the Sachsen state within the federal republic of Germany. Dresden is in the extreme southeastern corner of the former GDR, very close to the border with the Czech Republic and less than 150 km from Prague. Distance to Berlin is about 200 km. It has almost 700000 citizens in the city proper.

Dresden is known as one of Germany's nicest cities in terms of architecture, but it is also a quite big city with many suburbs who each have their own character and some have their own sights worth seeing. To discover the whole city you need quite a bit of time, a Stadtrundfahrt (a tourist bus through the whole city) may be a good idea although the drive takes over 2 hours in total. The most central parts are the famous Altstadt (old city district containing all historical buildings) and the Neustadt (the new city district) and those are also the two areas I visited.

The Altstadt is definitely a must see. It is full of beautiful architecture. Old buildings and new modern buildings such as business complexes and malls go hand in hand, but the old buildings dominate the cityscape of this district. Most impressive is definitely the Frauenkirche in the middle of the market square, it is a beautiful old yet colourful church. Surrounding the church are a few opera buidlings, museums and other halls who each have an equally beautiful appearance with mainly baroque outlook. When going away from the market place you come in the Kneipenviertel where you will find a few narrow streets with many cosy restaurants and bars that, during the heatwave we experienced during our visit, have terraces all over the street until late night. Add a nice fountain and another old church next to the pubs and you get a really cosy feeling.

Even outside of the heart of the city you will stind find a lot of academies, opera buildings and churches who each have beautiful architecture to offer. Dresden clearly is a baroque city and this style pleases me a lot. The city center is not large, you can walk through it in 1,5 to 2 hours time, but it has a lot to offer with beautiful buildings and monuments on nearly every street corner. The Hofkirche is definitely a must-see. Just outside of the city center you find a very weird building with minarets in a more moder style (it looks like a sort of future-esque mosque) and the extremely beautiful Zwinger Palace, a huge palace accessible through a bridge over a small river and an impressive gate decorated with gold. The tower overlooking the inner yard of the palace is beautiful and the whole palace is extremely pretty to see. Don't forget to consume a drink or lunch on one of the many market squares in the city, enjoy a drink or meal surrounded by the fantastic architecture of the Altstadt!

The Neustadt is less impressive but still worth a short visit. It is a collection of very narrow streets where the (not necessarily new!) houses are home to a somewhat alternative population of punks, goths, students and such. Many small pubs, punk and goth stores, record stores selling hard-to-find music, small restaurants etc give this city area a somewhat special touch, even though it has no monuments to witness. But with its alternative touch and wide variety of subcultures present here, it definitely has a nice atmosphere and is worth a short peek. The bridge connecting the Neustadt to the Altstadt overlooks the river Elbe with in the background the towers of the many impressive churches in the Altstadt. A lovely sight, and an excellent place for a picknick or sunbathing along the river if the weather is fine.

Definitely a city I would recommend to visit.

In two weeks time I am off to Istanbul. Back to the city for which I felt love at first sight and where I spent several months full of pleasure last year. Reports of that travel will follow as well of course, as well as photos of my last voyages I just described.

The sleeper must awaken... and a review of the Euro 2008

2008-07-31T14:15:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of updates. I had a lot of stuff going on in my private life, a lot of professional duties, and several travels. I hardly found the time to fix the bug in my earlier blog entries and to write new material. I even had little time to write despite the Euro 2008!

But, be confident, this blog is not disappearing and it will be revived as I am going to pick up blogging again.

Maybe, let's first write some stuff about the European Championships 2008 and then I will write more in detail about my travels later on. Well, nuff said, the tournament was excellent. A few surprising teams, lot of spectacle, some beautiful goals, a well deserved winner, a good atmosphere.

With my favourite teams (Norway and Israel) not qualified and my native Belgium absent, I mainly looked out for the performances of my current homeland Germany and my former homeland Turkey. As it was Turkey where I lost my heart, it was Türkiye I would support.

To make a summary of all games with such a delay is quite impossible. So let me just give my personal opinions on the teams involved, or at least the majority of them.

The hosts: Switzerland and title defenders Greece were the big disappointments. Switzerland was expected to maybe surprise but they lost their first two games and were out without many chances. Only in the third game against a Portuguese B team (as they were already qualified) the Swiss could get a result. Co-hosts Austria finished with only 1 point, a draw against Poland. For the first time ever both co-hosts of a tournament are out after the first round. Austria set a new record for worst home nation ever in terms of results (1 point). However, IMO the Austrians were not that bad. They may have not impressed but they showed a lot of determination, spirit and some decent football. If only they had a striker that easily scores, they could have done better than their 1 point. But they proved to have a decent team and not to be minnows, maybe that is a victory in itself.

Greece: for a defending champion, it was a first time ever to leave the tournament with 3 defeats. The defensive tactics did not work and the Greeks embarrassed their country. Cold shower after the triumph of the former Euro 2004, but because of the sensational win then I guess Otto Rehhagel still got some credit as coach.

France: another big disappointment. Showed inspirationless football without Zidane, with Ribery being the sole exception. The French were outclassed by both Holland and Italy, and left the tournament with one single point. Coach Domenech is in serious trouble although he has not been sacked so far.

Italy: somewhat halfway a disappointment and decency. Against Holland they were outclassed but then every team can have an offday I guess. Against Romania it was not convincing, against France they showed that they still win the games when it is really needed. However, in the quarter finals against Spain the Italians refused to play, they just defended the entire game in pure catenacchio style, hoping to reach the penalties. Which they deservedly lost, good riddance. This Italy was simply not good enough, although maybe the coach's defensive tactics were partially to blame. Luca Toni, who was expected to explode during this Euro, did not score a single goal and was the disappointment of the tournament in terms of players.

Holland: showed extremely fantastic fast combination football with tactical flair against Italy. To beat the world champion 3-0 was impressive. The 4-1 against France was less impressive IMO although I realise many will disagree with me. France was not that much worse but Van der Sar was keeping excellent and the French refused to score the goals. Holland scored very efficiently and with a bit of help of a fumbling French goalkeeper Coupet. Right after the 2-0, Henry scored the 2-1 but Holland then immediately stroke again and the game was decided. Everyone was full of praise and already named Holland the winner of the tournament. I did not get impressed against France, Holland was more efficient though and to score 7 goals against the two world cup finalists is a great achievement. Somehow I expected Holland however to not get too far, and my prediction was right when they were unrecognisable and underperforming against Russia, resulting in a totally deserved 3-1 loss and elimination in the quarter finals. Typically... The Netherlands always shine a few games but then lose it before really getting that far. Inconsistency has been their trademark under Van Basten, and I expected this to happen. Maybe though, with the huge talent pool they have, they can achieve something with a new coach?

Portugal: impressive against Turkey. Best midfield around? Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, Nuno Gomes, Nani, ... Nuff said. Impressive team and I expected them to win this Euro. But their only really bad game, against Germany, proved fatal, partially thanks to two fumbles from the very insecure goalie Ricardo. May be a penalty hero but whenever he leaves the goal for a cross, it is total mayhem in the Portuguese defense...

Croatia: one of the teams I considered outsiders for the victory. However, after some really good first games, they were very unlucky to have a goal against them in the very final second of extra time against Turkey. Broken moral and penalty loss...

Russia: were nowhere against Spain in the first game (4-1 defeat) but with star player Arshavin back in the team they impressed against Greece and Sweden. Nice combination play, nice collective attacks, fast attacks, some technically gifted players. That they would also completely overpower Holland to reach the semi-finals was beyond expectations. They completely outplayed the Dutch team that was considered unbeatable and surprised them with the fast attacks. Without an incredibly strong Van der Sar, Russia could have embarrassed Holland completely in the scoreline. Now they were not capable of stopping Spain, but to reach the semi-finals with such a young team was an incredible achievement and maybe Russia is on its way to become the new powerhouse in Europe??

Turkey: my favourites so I may not be entirely neutral here. Turkey had to cope with a lot of injuries but nonetheless faught like lions from the first till the last second and never gave up. The determination and moral strength of Fatih Terim's team were incredible. Both against Switzerland, Czech Republic (from 0-2 to 3-2 in the final quarter) and Croatia they came back from behind. The game against the Croats and the celebrations afterwards will stick with me for a long time. Turkey faught like lions despite many injuries, goalkeeper Rustu makes a capital mistake in the last minute of extra time and Croatia scores. Nobody expected Turkey to come back, but in the last second of extra time the final shot on goal went in. Rustu became the hero in the penalty shootouts and Turkey was in the semi finals !! To lose narrowly against Germany with a lot of injuries, was no shame and the Turkish players rightfully were welcomed as heroes when they returned to Istanbul.

Germany: mediocre but somehow going to the final. Typically German?? Played only one good game, versus Portugal. The other games they struggled (even against Austria and injury-torn Turkey) and always made it with luck. In the final they came nowhere near threatening the Spaniards. Germany got more than they deserved with their silver medal. Schweinsteiger was very good, Ballack and Lahm were very decent. The others were mediocre, and the German defense and goalie Lehmann were constantly insecure.

Spain: deserved winners. The stereotypical underachievers at a tournament finally proved the cliche wrong by winning a major trophy. And well deserved. In every single game they were the better team, overpowering their opponents. They always chose attacking football and were a pleasure to watch. Xavi, David Villa (top scorer of the tournament), Torres, Casillas, Guiza, ... The team was a pleasure to watch, chose attacking football, was the only team to not play a single bad game. Totally deserved champions of Europe!

In the margin:

Best games:

- Croatia-Turkey and Czech Rep-Turkey: very emotional games for me as a Turkey fan. To see the team fight from first to last minute and come back from a lost position in a sensational way was just beyond belief. The joy and excitement were huge.

- Holland-Italy: although Italy clearly had an offday, the Dutch were simply impressive. Fantastic display, one of the best teams of the Euro by far although their inconsistency caused an early exit later on against Russia.

- Russia-Holland: again fantastic attacking football and a great team spirit, this time from the Russians however.

Best players: Xavi, Iker Casillas, David Villa, Boulahrouz, Van der Sar, Sneijder, Arshavin, Schweinsteiger, Mehmet Aurelio and Nihat (although those two may be the Turkiye fan in myself speaking)

Nicest personal experience: celebrating with over 50000 Turkey fans dancing on the Kurfurstendamm in Berlin. 50000 Turks dancing in the national jerseys and waving the flags, celebrating as if they won the European Cup.

Disappointments of the tournament: as a team France and maybe Greece and Italy as well, as a player definitely Luca Toni

Prettiest footballers wife: Schweinsteiger's belle... At least one trophy for the Germans :)

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade

2008-05-25T09:49:00.001-07:00

Yesterday 24th May was again a date to mark in the agenda, as the annual Eurovision Song Contest, this time organised in Belgrade (Serbia) after the Serbs won the last edition last year.

The Eurovision has been a tradition for over 50 years now. Personally I started watching the Eurovision Song Contest in 1991 and have been watching it annually until 2004. I have mainly great memories of the festival in the nineties. 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, and to lesser extend 1998 were all great. Also, 2000 was great as well. Some highlights I can recall were Kan (Duo Datz - Israel), Eternal Wanderer (Youddiph - Russia), Ale Jestem (Anna-maria Jopek - Poland), We Will Be Free (Frances Ruffelle - UK), The Voice (Eimaer Quinn - Ireland), and many many more. The festival still contained some really good songs by quality musicians, and many countries sent ethnically-inspired songs that gave insight in the musical traditions and background of the country. Unfortunately the last couple of years the festival faded in quality, mainly due to the countries now allowed to sing in English, resulting in more and more countries giving up their folk-inspired songs and choosing void poppy songs instead. The festival should be a multicultural event bringing musical cultures together, but it has become a bit of a kitsch event. Nonetheless, the festival is still fun, if only for the banter between the countries and the frustrated reactions from the losers ("they always vote for their neighbours") afterwards.

I had not seen the Song Contest for 3 years now due to my travels. Since I left Belgium I had no TV connection anymore so it was hard to follow the contest the last few years. But this weekend I had a chance again to witness the festival live, as a bar in Berlin broadcasted it on big screen. With the CouchSurfing members who were gathering in the bar, this would become a multinational party with some people from all over Europe.

The bar we chose to watch the festival is called Goldman's, right next to the Rosenthaler Platz and Torstraße in the "Mitte" district of Berlin. The Goldman's is situated in the basement of the Circus Hostel but the bar is cosy and drinks are really cheap. The bar has a high camp image, due to the person that is all over the bar: David Hasselhoff. I am not sure why the bar management picked him, but pictures and memorabilia of "The Hoff" are all over the bar. Pictures of the Hoff, record sleeves (yes, he used to be a singer!) and more memorabilia. But that's okay, the Song Contest has a high camp image so we could just as well make it more campy by having The Hoff in there as well. I arrived at 9 pm, a few minutes before the festival started. After saying hi to my Swedish friends Rolf and Hilda it was time to take off with the festival. Achtung, fertig, los und lauf!

The contest these days is different than 10 years ago. Due to many eastern European countries now taking part since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the number of countries wanting to take part is now almost doubled. 43 there were this year. Austria had dropped out but with San Marino and Azerbaijan we again had 2 debutantes. Because having 43 songs in one contest would take almost 5 hours without the results, it was needed to reform the Song Contest. Two semi-finals now have to determine which 25 songs eventually start in the final. My former home countries Ireland (who sent a highly bizarre entry: a singing turkey) and Belgium did not survive the semi-finals.

So 25 countries eventually started in the finals of the Eurovision. I won't comment on them all but I will list the songs that I somehow find worth mentioning for different reasons.

THE BEST SONGS:

1) ISRAEL : local "pop idols" winner Boaz Mauda was ready to show his talent outside of his own home country for the first time. "The Fire in your Eyes" to me was the best song of the evening. Written by transsexual Dana International by the way, who won the festival for Israel 10 years ago with "Diva". The song had something bombastic and dramatic, but Boaz has an amazing voice and brought the song simply fantastic. In my opinion the absolute nr 1 of the festival. He deserved better than the (still honourful) 9th place.

2) ARMENIA : Armenia sent female singer Sirusho. Apart from her very cute face and nice outfit (including the first short skirt of the evening, there would be many following) this song was just really good. She had a good voice, and her song "Qele, Qele" was one of the few songs of the evening that was not just a simple pop song. Her song had some traditional Armenian instruments involved, which made it one of the few ethnically inspired songs. As I love Middle Eastern music, it was no surprise that this floated my boat. Great song, and well deserved finish in the top-5!

Those two were my big favourites. But there were a few other songs I also quite liked:

3) ALBANIA : Olta Boka was the youngest singer on the festival. She was only 16 years old. But I liked her song "Zemren E Lame Peng" a lot. It was a somewhat bombastic song with a slightly dramatic touch, and very well sung. She also looked very cute, although I must say I feel kinda guilty to say that now that I found out the girl is only 16 years old!

4) TURKEY : my former homeland sent one of their most popular bands, rock band Mor ve Ötesi. Mor ve Ötesi make very atypical Turkish music: rock and sometimes heavy rock. They are also very popular in Turkey, having recently played a concert for 100000 people and having won several trophies as best band in Turkey. Still I was somewhat surprised to see this band represent Turkey (despite their popularity I was surprised) as they are very well known for their politically inspired songs. Their last album tackled Turkish politics and influence of Islam in politics. That such a band was selected to represent the country is quite surprising, but their song "Deli" was very good. They finished 7th. Probably the Turks thought a popular group would get massive votes from the Turkish expats in other European countries, this worked partially but apart from the first 5 sets of votes they never came close to really winning it.

5) GEORGIA : Diana Gurtskaya, a blind singer, brought the song "Peace will come". Usually when I see anti-war songs at the ESC I get suspicious as it's been done so often before, but this song was actually good.

So far my favourites. There were also some bizarrities as usual.

Azerbaijan and Spain were the amusing bizarrities.

- Azerbaijan (a Muslim country!) brought a song where an angel and a devil were having a conversation with each other, of course sung. There were also some ladies dancing with the devil, dressed in very short skirts that left little to the imagination. Elnur and Samir's "Day by Day" did quite well, and the act was overall amusing.

- Spain sent a local comedian Rodolfo Chikilicuatre who brought the song "Baila el chiki chiki". The lyrics were quite hilarious and the guy looked like some nerdy version of Elvis with bizarre glasses. Surrounded by some seductive girls in clothing that looked more like a bikini, the guy tried to introduce us the Chiki Chiki, a new sort of dance similar to the Macarena and other such attempts to create new dance styles out of nothing. The lyrics and act were highly bizarre, yet amusing.

- France (with some female backing vocalists dressed as bearded men) was not bad but also didn't really stick long enough to remember the song. The French government made a riot out of this song as only a few lines were sung in French instead of English.

- Bosnia was not as amuzing as Spain and Azerbaijan, but Laka and his song Pokusaj were far from bad. The guy looked like Renars Kaupers from Brainstorm but with a bit of make-up and silly clothing, and entering the stage while the female dancers were hanging clothes on a washing line! Bizarre act but the song was catchy.

- Latvia sent a group of men and women dressed as pirates. I didn't like it at all.

- Croatia sent Kraljevi Ulice and 75Cents. 75Cents is a 75 years old rapper and probably the oldest guy ever on a Eurovision stage. I didn't really like the song, and the image of a 75 year old guy scratching records on a turntable is just wrong on so many levels! :)

So far the bizarrities, then the disappointments:

- Poland, Romania, Denmark: all songs that were forgotten as soon as the singer vowed his/her last words. Boring is the right word here.

- Sweden: a while ago Charlotte Nilsson won the contest for Sweden with her song "Take me to your heaven" which even became a hit in Europe. Now she tried again with the song "Hero" and new name Charlotte Perrelli (a new name as she married and adopted her husband's name). If she had won it'd be the second time an artist won twice for the same country. But she did not manage to repeat Johnny Logan's success, as this time she failed miserably. The song was nothing special, and without some friendly scores from the neighbouring nordic countries she probably ended close to bottom.

- Ukraine: what the bloody hell was that ?! Ani Lorak must have worn the shortest skirt ever in a Song Contest. OK, there were a lot of sexy ladies with short skirts tonight, men who like staring at legs will have had a great time. I won't complain about this obviously, but the song has to be somewhat good as well. The Albanian and Armenian girls were sexy as well, but had a good song also. Ukraine however was terrible music-wise, in my opinion. "Shady Lady" was almost a parody on a red-light district or peepshow, with male dancers staring to singer Ani Lorak's buttocks and legs that she always moved in a very seductive way. All fine, but if the song is terrible then I consider this a failure. Unbelievable that this act finished 2nd. Probably the woman tried to mainly score with her body rather than her song, and unfortunately it worked as well.

The other countries were nothing special, although Greece, Serbia, Norway, UK and Portugal were decent. Decent, but nothing more. Russia was quite good but also not top-5 material IMO.

And then there was my current home country Germany. It was a disgrace. "No Angels" and their song "Disappear" got the price for both worst clothing and one of the weakest songs. I don't know why Romania gave this 12 points, but apart from that they only got 2 more points and finished bottom along with Poland and the UK. For Germany and the UK it has been ages ago since they last had a decent score. Maybe Germany should send Tokio Hotel or Rammstein who both have a huge fanbase across Europe, then at least there'd be a chance to have a decent score.

OK, the voting. 43 countries had to vote: the 25 finalists and the 18 countries eliminated in the semi-finals. Because reading all the points of 43 countries would take ages, the first 7 scores per country appeared on the screen without being read, and then the spokesperson for that country only read the 3 highest scores. I regret this as by not hearing all scores out loud it takes tension away and sort of makes it less easy to have an overview of the scoreboard, but of course the system is understandable as reading the full scores would take at least 2 hours.

In the beginning it were Russia, Greece and Turkey who were all very close and battling for the nr 1 spot. After about 5 countries' votes, Turkey started to fall behind while Greece ran away on top (which I don't understand - their singer looked not too bad but the song was mediocre) with only Russia able to somewhat follow. Meanwhile Armenia and Ukraine began climbing to the top-5. Especially for Armenia I obviously was very happy. That Sweden remained in the lower areas of the scorelines was a surprise.

After a while the Greek engine started to have problems while Russia suddenly started to massively collect the high scores. After a short while Russia, represented for the second time by Dima Bilal, ran away from its competitors and it was clear they would be the big favourites. Greece struggled but managed to stay in the top-3, although Ukraine now came very close and would eventually pass Greece in the end. Armenia settled comfortably in the top-5 and to my own pleasure they also collected several 12 points (and even 10 points from political enemies Turkey!)

Turkey did not receive any more points for a while but then recovered and collected enough points to secure a place in the top-10. My own favourites Israel never got any 12 or 10 points but did collect enough points to make sure they would also make the top-10.

In the end Russia came out as winner. Dima Bilal is already a huge star in his home country and now hopes that he can also break through in the western world. His English pronounciation was still a bit weak, but it has to be said: his song "Believe" was very decent (and with a violin and an ice-skater the act was also sobre but original) and he has a good voice and the looks to make many girls fall for him. So he definitely has that potential to break through internationally.

Ukraine came second (which I absolutely don't get : the woman was very sexy but the song was not that good and the act a bit cheap ; that's just my opinion though) and Greece in the end finished 4th.

My own favourites: Armenia had a great 4th place and it pleases me that an ethnically-inspired song scored this well. Israel came 9th (deserved at least top-5) and Turkey 7th. Of the songs I really liked, only Albania (despite a 12 from neighbours Macedonia) did not too well, ending at 17th spot.

Some general conclusions:

- those who state that the Eurovision is dominated by Eastern European countries due to them favouring their neighbours, are sad people who seek excuses for their own country's failure. First of all it is normal that people vote for their neighbours: they share the same taste in music, and the singers are known in their neighbouring countries and have fans there.

But most of all, the voting for neighbours did not influence the result. Russia got votes from 36 out of 43 countries, this means Western Europe also massively voted for him. On top of that, not all former USSR countries gave him a 12 points. In general, all entries finishing top-4 received votes from many Western European countries as well.

And if you really want to complain about countries favouring their neighbours, then surely this is not a purely Eastern European thing. Have you seen how the Nordic countries gave each other high scores as well? And those are not Eastern European countries. In the end this phenomenon always existed, long before the Eastern European countries came into play and even when it was still with juries rather than televoting.

The only countries favouring their neighbours were the Balkan states and the ex-Yugoslavian states. But this had little or no influence on the actual result. The countries finishing on top were given high scores by both Eastern European and Western European countries.

- the skirts were never this short in the Eurovision and several singers clearly tried to get some extra points by revealing their body. The Ukrainian singer in particular. Unfortunately it even worked...

- the organisation by Serbian TV was very decent, but the festival seems to be a victim of its own success. With so many countries participating, there is not much time anymore for decent introduction films or to let the hosts speak. The hosts said very little apart from re-reading some scores during the voting. Also, the voting is cut short with the countries no longer able to read all scores like in the old days. It all has to go fast in order to squeeze the votes of 43 countries and songs of 25 countries in a 4 hours broadcast. Pity but guess there is no alternative as you cannot exclude countries from participating on that ground.

There you go, next year the festival will be based in Moscow. It will be interesting to see if winner Bilal is now going to get the international breakthrough as well like he was hoping for prior to the song contest. Overall it was very decent, no stunning songs but also not really lot of bad songs. I had an amuzing night.

Short note: due to a technical problem during writing of the report, part of the report is published twice in my blog. The incomplete part will be removed later on, so meanwhile skip the next entry and continue reading my blog from the entry below that. Sorry for inconvenience.

Eurovision Song Contest 2008

2008-05-25T09:39:00.001-07:00

Yesterday 24th May was again a date to mark in the agenda, as the annual Eurovision Song Contest, this time organised in Belgrade (Serbia) after the Serbs won the last edition last year.

So 25 countries eventually started in the finals of the Eurovision. I won't comment on them all but I will list the songs that I somehow find worth mentioning for different reasons.

THE BEST SONGS:

Those two were my big favourites. But there were a few other songs I also quite liked:

So far my favourites. There were also some bizarrities as usual.

Azerbaijan and Spain were the amusing bizarrities.

- Latvia sent a group of men and women dressed as pirates. I didn't like it at all.

So far the bizarrities, then the disappointments:

- Poland, Romania, Denmark: all songs that were forgotten as soon as the singer vowed his/her last words. Boring is the right word here.

The other countries were nothing special, although Greece, Serbia, Norway, UK and Portugal were decent. Decent, but nothing more. Russia was quite good but also not top-5 material IMO.

Ukraine came second (which I absolutely don't get : the woman was very sexy but the song was not that good and the act a bit cheap ; that's just my opinion though) and Greece in the end finished 4th.

Some general conclusions:

And if

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London After Midnight at the Wave-Gothik-Treffen : a day of darkness in sunfilled Leipzig

2008-05-13T15:09:00.001-07:00

It was shortly after my arrival in Germany I discovered the band London After Midnight (well, to name it a "band" is not entirely correct, see further down). I was entirely new in Berlin and the city offered me some new gothic bars playing dark music all nights of the week. I felt like a child in a candy store and frequented clubs such as K17 and Dunckerclub. It was during one of those visits to the K17 that I heard the song Sacrifice. I did not know LAM yet: in Ireland they were not that well known and in Turkey gothic-orientated music in itself is nowhere to be found except for online shopping. I heard Sacrifice during that dark december night in K17 and asked the DJ which band it was. London After Midnight. The interest was there, and a bit of research and lot of listening later I quickly fell in love with the band. When it was announced LAM would be headlining the very well-known festival Wave Gothik Treffen in Leipzig, it was clear I wanted to be there.

Wave Gothik Treffen is a very well known festival, not only in Germany but all over Europe. Gothic fans from all over Europe travel to the Eastern German city during this weekend, to experience a weekend full of concerts of gothic-associated bands (note: the WGT programs all sorts of "dark music", not solely gothic bands). For one weekend per year the city literally turns black and venues spread across the city organise gothic festivities and concerts all weekend. Me and a friend from the LAM internet community had agreed to travel to Leipzig together and witness LAM live. The festival ticket cost me 58 euro and upon arrival is exchanged for a wristband which allows you to enter all venues used in the city as frequently as you want during the 4 day event. My friend came all the way from Paris and came only for LAM, and personally I did not feel like paying multiple train rides to Leipzig while LAM were the only band I really wanted to see. So we decided to keep it a Sunday-only trip. The trip started on 11:30 AM in the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central station) where a 1 hour train ride would take us to Leipzig. There awaited the first but luckily only really unpleasant moment of the event: the train ticket would cost 40 euro single ride. I love Germany and I enjoy living here, but if one thing needs to change it is the costs of public transport. With Deutsche Bahn's sky high prices you basically cannot afford to just decide on a morning to make a day trip to let's say Munich or Cologne, or it would cost you 20% of your month's salary. Luckily Berlin is an exciting city so you don't feel a strong need to leave the city often, but the prices of the trains in Germany is really a scam.

Upon arrival in Leipzig we quickly searched our way through the inner city towards a cinema theater called Cine Star. It was announced on the LAM messageboard by singer Sean Brennan (who frequently posts on the LAM internet forum to keep in touch with fans) that there would be a signature session in that cinema shortly past 1:00 PM. As this was not announced in the Wave Gothik Treffen website and as Sean has already talked to me and that friend often on the internet, we were hoping for a short conversation with Sean. However, bad luck: the train ran 10 minutes late, and there was a huge queue in the cinema. Seems everyone had somehow heard of the signature session and by the time we finally queued near the end of the line we just saw the band members leave. Talking of bad luck! But that happens, and our next plan was to discover the city and do some decent sight-seeing.

And this was a very pleasant experience. Leipzig is a really nice town which surprised me in many ways. It is small (in less than 2,5 hours we had seen the entire city center and photographed every corner) but it is cosy and there is a lot to see. Especially the architecture is really nice. Leipzig has a lot of small narrow streets full of old houses (at least several hundreds years old) and colourful buildings. There are especially quite a few nice churches in the city, some of them in gothic style but some have a more original look with decoration or roofs in quite unusual colours. It gave me the impression of one of those cosy Austrian towns with their colourful buildings and narrow streets. In a way Leipzig reminded me a bit of Salzburg, but obviously a lot smaller. Highlight was probably the Thomaskirche, the burial place of famous musician Johann Sebastian Bach. Apart from Bach's tombstone there is a small museum displaying some of his handwritten compositions and some really old instruments. The church itself has very nice stained glass windows, and a very nice decoration overall.

Other nice sights were the Nicholaikirche, the city hall and old city hall, and many old residential houses which were decorated with some really nice statutes. In the middle of all of this, you still have a modern vibrant town with many pubs and some big shopping malls. But somehow those modern malls don't bother you, old and new are going together well in this city.

So Leipzig is definitely worth the trip, especially if you like architecture. It is a cosy city (especially with this warm weather where all people dine outside on terraces in the streets) with many narrow streets and some really nice old buildings. In a way, when it comes to architecture, I like it more than Berlin. Yes, it is much smaller and with a lot less events to do, but purely in terms of nice buildings and lovely sights, I like it. Berlin is more an active city where you go for its many events, its sparkling nightlife and its interesting history, but if you like cosy cities with nice architecture than Leipzig is definitely worth a visit as well.

Also, this weekend it was a real gothic enclave for a couple of days. People in gothic clothing were walking all over the city, you could not enter any street or park or you would see goths walking around. The local population clearly didn't care or has become used to it after many years of the annual event. Especially interesting was a sort of gothic flee market. You needed to show your WGT wristband to be able to enter the area. Gothic jewelry, clothing items and drinks were sold were street musicians performed. I picked up my own souvenir there: a necklace displaying the Star of David, which I considered a nice item displaying my fascination for Israel.

The time flew by and by the evening a short ride to the outskirts of the city took us to the Agra Hall, the biggest and main venue of the festival where LAM would be headlining.

London After Midnight is a project started in the late eighties in Los Angeles. The project in studio only has 1 permanent member, being singer-songwriter Sean Brennan. On stage there is a live band which has changed line-up several times throughout the years, but basically the project is the creative outlet of Sean Brennan rather than a full-grown band. Beginning with a few local gigs in the famous LA goth club Helter Skelter, LAM (named after a black-and-white old horror movie) quickly gained a growing fanbase. Within only a few years LAM had fans not only all over the United States but also in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Russia.

LAM is very well-known for their strong political undertone and lyrics critical of society. Animal rights, human rights, corporate issues, and liberal politics are often re-occuring themes in the LAM music (with also lot of songs tackling emotions such as love, often using dark and macabre metaphors) and Sean Brennan has used interviews and internet discussion boards to also spread his views on these issues. It has gained LAM a cult following all over the world and a reputation of one of the most lyrically in-depth acts in the gothic scene. However, LAM itself has always rejected ties to the gothic scene as this tag is considered artistically limiting and associated with a scene that has lost its original values. Nonetheless many of LAM's fans are somehow connected to the gothscene, so the fact that the band headlined a big gothic festival was no coincidence at all.

The Agra Hall looked like a huge bunker in a field. The field surrounding the bunker was used as a camping spot for the people who attended multiple days of the festival, and with a lot of merchants selling drinks and fastfood the area had a festival outlook but small enough to keep a cosy feeling. Inside the Agra Hall there were two main halls, once was a big marketplace selling merchandise and souvenirs, the other contained the stage where the main acts were performing. There was also a cafe and a dancing attached to the complex.

I did not notice too much of the band performing in front of LAM, they did not leave a significant impression so I wouldn't even know for sure what they were named. By the end of the set I assured myself of a spot very close to the stage, 4th row. Ready for the main act!

Prior to LAM coming on stage, video images were displayed on a big screen behind the stage, promoting LAM's most recent studio album "Violent Acts of Beauty", their by far most political work to date. After this intro the band came on-stage, with Sean and guitarist Randy Mathias throwing roses in the crowd (unfortunately I was not lucky enough to get one). The live line-up today was somewhat different from the previous live line-up, with drummer Joe S. temporarily unavailable and replaced by Pete, and guest guitarist "Trouble" Valli from the band Crazy Town.

The setlist mainly contained work from the latest album. With songs such as "Feeling fascist?", "America's a F**king Disease", the very catchy rocking "Nothing's Sacred" and "Republic" (the latter being one big protest against the politics of lies from the Republican party) the setlist had the same political undertone as the album itself. The giant screen behind the stage was used for displaying images and texts tackling some problems in modern-day American politics. The songs were very well received by an enthousiast crowd, and despite some technical problems halfway the set (problems that were none of the band's error) the concert was great.

A personal highlight I need to mention was the song "Heaven Now". With only a piano guiding Sean's voice, the chorus sounded almost a-cappella, emphasising Sean's warm vocals that sounded so pure it was almost overwhelming. A fantastic moment that highlighted the vocal class of the LAM frontman.

The band finished the evening with two of the most iconic songs from the first 2 albums: "Kiss" and "Sacrifice", two songs we could describe as LAM anthems. Both also are perfect examples of the dark metaphors used to describe emotional situations or social issues. "Kiss" for example tackles emotional or physical abuse by clergy:

"You'll never understand,
the meaning in the end
We're standing at the gate,
you'll meet the darker fate
Your purity and rage,
your passion and your hate
You promised more than bliss,
with your God and with your kiss
I'm on my knees
I beg your mercy
My soul is my loss
I'm well hung from your cross
Take me,
take me in your arms my love and rape me
Don't hide behind your rage I know you love me,
and always will"

The two songs proved a perfect climax to what was a great concert. The only downside I could think of was the organisation forcing to cut the setlist somewhat short as in the last weeks before the festival they decided to program another act later on the evening (contrary to their first promise of LAM being the final act). This meant we had no encores. I was hoping to hear songs such as "Love You to Death" and my personal favourite "Where Good Girls Go To Die" (the song through which I truly fell in love with LAM) but unfortunately there was no room for an encore as another band had to take the stage. I believe it was Fields of the Nephilim but I am not entirely sure ; I came for LAM and my evening ended with LAM. Rather than attending the last band I chose to go to a second autograph session with LAM which was organised at the last moment. This allowed me to get an autograph of Sean and Randy after all, and to get the picture of me and Sean like I was hoping for all the time! Although it was a brief meeting, I managed to say hello to Sean, which really became another highlight to an already great evening.

In October LAM are touring Europe again, including a concert in Berlin in the K17 club where I first discovered the band. Other locations will include Copenhagen, Zaandam, Moscow, Athens and more. Be there, you won't regret it!

Before concluding this blog entry I would like to thank the band for a fantastic concert and especially Sean for taking the time to say hi and posing for a picture with me. Also thanks to Anne-Sophie from Paris who joined me during the day out, I hope you had an equally great experience as I did.

Ha'ayara Bo'eret live on the Holocaust Memorial Day

2008-05-04T09:20:00.001-07:00

Israeli metal band Salem have had the great honour to perform their controversial song "Ha'ayara Bo'eret" live during the Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel on April 30th. With their performance in Tel Aviv in front of mainstream Israeli media, Salem probably became one of the first ever metal bands to play at such an event, and saw permanent recognition for a song that originally stirred up enough controversy to reach the Israeli parliament "Knesset".

Ha'ayara Bo'eret is a cover, not only Salem's most controversial song but maybe one of the most unique yet controversial covers ever recorded. The song was written in Yiddish in 1938 in Poland by jewish poet Mordechai Gebirtig as "S'brennt". The song was written after a pogom that destroyed a small jewish settlement by putting it to fire. S'brennt became a warning for the upcoming antisemitism which would eventually lead to the Holocaust. During the holocaust the song became an anthem often sung in jewish ghetto's. Ever since the war ended and the modern-day state of Israel was established, the song has been often sung during ceremonies remembering those who died in the camps during the world war.

You can imagine this song is very emotional and sensitive for many Jews, so when a dark metal band decided to cover the song there was a lot of commotion. Their idea to create a video for the song that contained actual footage and images from the concentration camps, further stirred up controversy. Was it appropriate that a metal band would sing such a song? And was such a shocking video appropriate? The Knesset (the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem) eventually had to decide if the song could be published or not. After hearing several band members had family that survived the holocaust and how they wanted to make the song an anti-war statement rather than a commercial efford, the Knesset gave green light for the song to be released. It still remained a controversial issue, but the song was given green light.

And the result is impressive. It starts with a very eerie intro based on a Jewish piyyut, however one that sounds dark and uncomfortable. This intro sounds more eerie, as if it predicts something very worrying is upcoming. Then as soon as the first heavy guitars make their intro the images of the concentration camps follow. The band are pictured playing in a very dark basement, with an eerie candle light as only bit of light while the singer sings the first lines of the song: "Srefa, achim, srefa" (burn, brothers, burn). What follows is an impressive doomy sounding song, but unlike many such doom metal tracks this one really gives you a doomy feeling. The images of the camps are so horrifying, and especially because you realise that this is all real footage. The doomy sound and vocals combined with such terrible images give you an almost apocalyptic feeling.

Was it appropriate for a metal band to cover this song? It is open for debate. One thing can be said: this song and video leave a very deep impression on you, and indeed form an excellent anti-war and anti-racist statement. When you realise this version has reached out to metalheads and brought problems like racism and war into the spotlight to a new audience, then maybe the Knesset did make the right decision by allowing the song. A decision that, we can say, now has been confirmed right once again by giving Salem the honour to perform their version of the song on Holocaust Memorial Day.

If I manage to find footage of the live version, I will publish it in my blog at a later stage. You can find the official video on YouTube by searching for "Salem Israel" however (I am not putting a direct link due to the shocking nature of the images, and people browsing for the video should be warned for the footage they are about to see)

An exact translation of the song is not available though with the help of a Hebrew-speaking person I know from the web, this is a more-or-less relevant translation:

Burn, brothers, burn
Our little town is completely on fire
Black spirits are raging through our town
Destroying flames are burning it down, leaving no traces
The town is going down in ashes
And you do reach out your hands but do nothing
Nothing to stop the fire
The fire on our little town

Burn, brothers, burn
Because the hour (of destroying) is near chas vechalila
The flames will go on and destroy us all
Only the remainders of the walls will testify
of what has once been here
And you reach out your hands but without offering help
Without stopping the fire
The fire on our little town

Burn, brothers, it is burning!
Only in your hands lies help!
Please reach out your loving hands
and save us from death
With your blood, stop the flames
Please, stop the flames with blood
Don't look from a distance
Because the flames are rising higher
Please don't take away your hands
The fire rises high!

More information on Israeli metal will be published on my website soon, including a chapter on the iconic cross-cultural oriental metal band Orphaned Land.

My dreamt of UEFA Cup final is reality!

2008-05-01T19:07:00.001-07:00

With the Champions League once again being an elitist tournament of boredom (once again the same clubs in the final stages of the competition, with 3 English clubs out of 4 semi-finalists, that is just too predictable and such a deja-vu that it just isn't worth watching) the UEFA Cup is a true relief for people like me who adore football but prefer to discover new teams from new locations instead of always seeing those same big clubs play.

Today the UEFA Cup semi-finals (2nd leg) were being played. Zenit St Petersburg was facing Bayern Munchen while Fiorentina was receiving the visit of Glasgow Rangers. Bayern München was heavy favourites to win this tournament and even though they narrowly escaped elimination in Getafe, the team was still the one club that everyone thought was unstoppable. And if one team was capable of making it hard for Bayern, it'd be Fiorentina.

So basically anyone expected a Bayern-Fiorentina final. I on the other hand, prefer unpredictable results and two underdogs competing for the trophy. My wishes have been heard and I got what I was hoping for: the favourites are out, and with underdogs Rangers and Zenit going to the final it is sure that the trophy will be lifted by a team few or nobody had expected. With the CL being so predictable it has lost its appeal, the UEFA Cup with its unpredictable results has been a refuge and this final is definitely a game I won't be missing!

Bayern had only gotten a 1-1 draw versus Zenit at home (the Russians who previously eliminated Bayer Leverkusen after an impressive 1-4 victory on German soil) but Bayern was missing goalgetter Toni then. Now, for the return game in Russia, Bayern were favourites as they had a full-strength squad (including the returns of Kahn, Toni and Klose, and of course with other stars like Ribery and Van Bommel) while Zenit were missing 5 players due to injuries or suspension.

But those who'd expect a Bayern easy victory were quickly proven wrong. The Russians, supported by a very vocal audience, immediately took the lead in the first minutes of the game. Pogrebnyak fired a free kick past the Bayern defensive wall and Oliver Kahn was completely surprised... 1-0 Zenit after less than 5 minutes of play.

Bayern had slightly more posession but they were never dangerous. The stars team had a complete offday and apart from some crosses easily grabbed by Russian goalie Malafeev, Bayern never came close to scoring. On the contrary, 5 minutes before half-time Zyrianov found a way through the Bayern defense and face-to-face with Kahn he shot the ball perfectly into the far corner. 2-0 at halftime.

Bayern of course did come back from a lost position in Spain but it was clear now that they were not going to do it. Zenit didn't allow them any chances and the Russians themselves played a really impressive game, creating more chances and often outplaying the stars team from Munich. When in the second half Fayzulin headed in a perfect cross above the grabbing Oliver Kahn, the decision was final. Zenit St Petersburg on to their first ever European final. The team from Dick Advocaat even made the humiliation for Bayern complete when Pogrebnyak stroke again, shooting the ball perfectly into the low corner of the net. The only downside for Zenit is that they will have to miss this player in the final due to suspension, but other than that we can only say Zenit fully deserved this qualification. They created many chances, Malafeev only had to make one difficult save (a Ribery shot when it was already 3-0) and often the Russians outplayed Bayern. Impressive display and a fully deserved ticket the final.

Bayern have a consolidation: this weekend a victory over Wolfsburg assures them the German league crown after already having won the German Cup. For veteran goalkeeper Oliver Kahn his European career ends in St Petersburg. The goalkeeper, who retires at the end of the season and who defended the Bayern goal for almost 15 years, ended his European career with the biggest defeat he ever had to swallow in his European adventures. A sad ending of the European career of a great goalkeeper, but to finish his career with a Germa title and cup is far from bad.

Fiorentina were heavy favourites to beat a Rangers side who go through a hard time in Scotland (including two losses against their hated rivals Celtic) and with a 0-0 in the first leg, everybody expected a Fiorentina win. However, in the first half both teams created only a few half chances. The games was deadly boring until halfway the second half Fiorentina finally started pressing. Rangers could do no other thing than to defend with all the team (to be honest, their tactics seemed to be based on a very defensive style anyway) but Fiorentina only had a lot of corners and some shots missing the target.

Extratimes after a boring game, but luckily the extratimes were a lot better and the tension of who'd qualify was an extra ingredient. Rangers now even more than before had to fully focus on defense as Fiorentina now had some pressure, but Christian Vieri missed a great chance and some further corners and shots from distance did not break the deadlock. Ironically, despite losing Daniel Cousin with a red card, Rangers came closest to a goal when on one of their only counter attacks of the game, goalkeeper Frey missed a cross but was just in time to push away the ball before a Scot could score the rebound, a second rebound being blocked by the defense.

The game was disappointing but the penalty shootout at least gave us a dramatic ending. The first penalty from Rangers captain Ferguson was brilliantly saved by Frey. But then the next balls all went in, until the third Fiorentina penalty: Liverani's shot was blocked by Rangers reserve goalkeeper Neil Alexander (who played a decent game in absence of first choice keeper McGregor) and Christian Vieri terribly shot the fourth Italian penalty over the bar. This meant Novo scoring the last Rangers penalty was enough to shoot his club to the final, played on May 14th in Manchester.

I was hoping for a clash of the underdogs, and with Zenit and Rangers in the final it is sure an unexpected winner will lift the trophy. My preference would be Zenit who really impressed me during the tournament (also, I do like the Russian league) but whoever wins, I am glad it will be one of the underdogs.

On to the final in Manchester, played in Man City's "City of Manchester Stadium". And come on Zenit!

25 years of waiting have come to an end... Standard wins the Belgian league

2008-04-21T18:59:00.001-07:00

Although my interest in Belgian football has been reduced since having emigrated and no longer seeing games on weekly basis, this weekend I did focus on the native country for once again. The league could be decided this weekend and Standard was on the brink of winning their first championship in 25 years.

Having grown up amongst Anderlecht fans, I would either love the club or revolt against it. The latter happened. Although I refuse to use words such as hatred (it is a game after all...) I can safely say I felt a strong rivalry with Anderlecht. Of the clubs that are able to keep them from the league crown, only Standard really attracted me. Liege is a great city, the Standard audience is very colourful and loyal (a bit of a southern/meditarranean atmosphere you could say) and somehow emotionally the club does float my boat. Not like being a fan, but apart from my own favourites Oostende the "Rouches" are one of the teams I can appreciate a lot. But ever since I followed Belgian football (which started in the early nineties) Standard always disappointed or came close but narrowly missed the trophies in the end. It almost forced me to not care about Club Brugge winning trophies as they seemed to be the only alternative to Anderlecht. Until this season...

Standard was not the team people predicted on top of the league. They lost some key players (including star player Conceicao who left for the dollars in Kuwait's league) and started the season with a talented yet very young and unexperienced squad. But, directed by an outstanding Steven Defour as new leader (despite his very young age), Standard freewheeled through the early stages of the season. Because of a bad period with draws against teams such as St Truiden, Dender and Mons, Brugge did lead the league halfway the season. But after new year, Standard was the team that went on freewheeling through the league again. Since their 1-2 victory in the clash in Brugge, they leapfrogged over Club and never lost the nr 1 spot again. Before last weekend they had 7 points in front of Anderlecht and 8 in front of Brugge. With Club Brugge only getting a draw in Ghent, Standard only needed 1 more victory to be sure of the title. That decisive game brought their arch rivals Anderlecht to the Sclessin stadium.

Anderlecht were in great shape and by an impressive winning stroke they climbed to nr 2, which was unexpected after their very bad first half of the season. Standard had received an uppercut in the Belgian cup where Ghent eliminated them with a 4-0 victory. Standard, still unbeaten in the league, was under pressure but the knowledge that beating the arch rivals from Anderlecht would lead to the league crown gave the team the needed wings. Sclessin was sold out and the atmosphere was as impressive as it can possibly get in Belgium, with a haunting atmosphere usually seen only in football stadiums in Italy, Spain, Greece or Turkey. To see Defour get the Golden Shoe (trophy for best player in the league of last year) from living legend Zinedine Zidane was the first moment of magic for the Standard fans that night. Standard needed 1 more win and 2 second half goals by Dieumerci Mbokani (formerly with Anderlecht!) assured the Rouches of the win and of the Belgian title.

Winning the league for the first time in 25 years and winning it by beating your most bitter rivals in the decisive game... I can imagine for Standard fans the last 25 years were incredibly frustrating and desperation must often have been their share, but to end that long wait in such a way and by beating your worst rivals must be the ultimate climax you can get in a football stadium.

Congratulations to Standard and after years of hoping it'd happen and equal number of disillusions I am finally witnessing the Liege outfit celebrating a new league trophy. Still unbeaten with only 3 league games to go, only 17 goals against them, ... No doubt it was well deserved. Standard have 1 remaining target to chase after a week of long celebrations: to finish the season unbeaten, which would be the first time it happens since Belgian football professionalised after world war II. A big congrats to Standard who finally break the spell after 25 years of waiting.

Anderlecht however can still claim the vice-champions title if they beat direct rivals Club Brugge within two weeks, the game which will probably decide which of the two teams joins Standard to the Champions League qualifiers.

On a sidenote: for my own favourites Oostende the situation may not be entirely hopeless but still very bleak. Second from bottom in divison II, relegation to 3rd division is very near. KVO last week surprisingly beat 2nd placed Tubize with 5-2 and this weekend won yet another game: 1-2 in Beveren. However, with all other teams on the bottom of the table winning their games as well (Deinze, Union St Gilles, Waasland and Olympic Charleroi all won their games as well), there is not the slightest progress with the win in Beveren. KVO have less than a handful of games left to save themselves. I keep my fingers crossed but realistically it could get very tough to escape from relegation.

The German Cup final in the historical heart of Berlin

2008-04-20T10:36:00.001-07:00

Yesterday the German cup final was being played. In the Berlin Olympiastadion, Borussia Dortmund faced Bayern Munchen.

The gap between the two contenders could hardly be bigger: Bayern Munchen has a team full of world stars like Luca Toni, Franck Ribery, Mark van Bommel, Oliver Kahn, and more such players, and is already 99% sure to win the German Bundesliga this season. Borussia on the other hand are in the mid-table and are already happy not to have relegation worries anymore. But for them it was a very bad season, so disappointing that coach Doll risked to be sacked if the final was lost. Bayern score very easily (only Werder Bremen has scored more goals this season in the league) and especially Luca Toni scored with eyes closed: the Italian striker scored 33 goals already in league + cup + UEFA Cup, never before has a player scored so often during his first season at Bayern. Meanwhile Dortmund has a terrible defensive record with already 53 goals against them in the league.

It was very clear Bayern were favourites to win this cup, and few people gave Borussia any chances. Last weekend the two teams played each other in the league. Despite giving Franck Ribery and Mark van Bommel a rest, Bayern still won very easily with 5-0 and many people feared that the full-strength Bayern would win the cup final with an embarrassing score.

The Olympiastadion is not far from my home district Wedding but with the game sold out and tickets on the black market being sold for 150 euro cheapest price, I decided not to even try to get a ticket. There was an alternative: the game was broadcasted on a giant TV screen attached to the Brandenburger Tor in the historical heart of Berlin. A huge football party in open air with thousands of football fans seeing the game on big screen in the middle of Berlin's most beautiful area? This is definitely almost as good as being in the stadium.

The Brandenburger Tor is the huge port at the beginning of the most beautiful avenue in Berlin, Unter den Linden. Further down Unter den Linden you have the most beautiful architecture in the city, such as the Berlinder Dom. But the Brandenburger Tor in itself is already fantastic, a very nice tall port with several very beautiful statutes as decoration. Only 300 meters further you can see the Reichstag, another impressive building which is not only architecturally a beauty but also incredibly big (you have to walk around it to realise how huge it is). In other words, this is the historical heart of Berlin where you find all the most beautiful buildings. An excellent place for a football party.

Several thousands of people gathered. The organisation spoke about 100000 fans. Probably taking their wishes for granted, but there were several ten thousands at least. The crowd was huge, and it was clearly a football fanatic crowd. A lot of flags and scarves of both teams, people singing songs linked to their favourite club, hotdog and bretzel salespoints like in a real stadium, ... Although this was the historical center of the city, far away from any stadium, you did have the true football atmosphere. Also, like in the stadiums as well, there is no segregation of fans (should be like this anywhere) and you see a lot of women in the crowd. German football fans are cool people and to be non-violent and anti-hooligan. If only the rest of Europe would be like that ... What surprised me is that there were more Dortmund than Bayern fans in the fan meeting and apparently the stadium itself also contained slightly more Borussia fans than Bayern fans. Strange, because the general expectations were that Dortmund would be hammered by Bayern.

The pre-match entertainment was a bit stupid. Two women and two men in maffia and policewoman uniforms singing silly songs. The crowd saw the pun intended, but I thought it was pretty lame. Unless you are easily entertained or unless you have a fetish for women in uniform, there was nothing to it. As much as I despise schlagers, but for a football party where beer is massively consumed, a German schlager would probably have been ideal to get the crowd into a party atmosphere. If it wasn't such a guilty pleasure, one would almost long to hear "Verdammt ich lieb' dich" or "Du bist Alles was ich habe auf den Welt" (please don't think your reporter enjoys this sort of music outside of a pub though! :)). And, with one of the two teams coming from Bavaria, "Eins Zwei Zaufen" would have been just perfect for this occasion.

On to the game. Both teams started slowly but Bayern had more possession. The fears that Bayern would make it a walk-over were coming up when after only 11 minutes Philipp Lahm and Franck Ribery started an offensive, Ribery's cross was perfectly kicked in by Luca Toni in front of goal, past the chanceless goalkeeper Marc Ziegler. 1-0 Bayern and once again Luca Toni is the one scoring. The man is a goal machine and this was already his 34th Bayern goal this season... Impressive.

What followed was less impressive. The game wasn't really that exciting. Dortmund defended a lot better than most people thought they'd do. A Ribery shot richt at Ziegler and a shot from distance easily saved by Oliver Kahn were the most dangerous things happening. Shortly before halftime Borussia had a huge chance to equalise, a cross was kicked towards goal from very close range but Lucio just narrowly managed to stretch his leg and block the shot. If he came a fraction of a second later, the ball would have probably gone in as I cannot see Kahn save a hard shot from such a close range.

1-0 Bayern at halftime. The second half looked similar, with two teams trying but few chances. Ziegler stopped one shot from close distance with the foot, and a few shots on both sides very narrowly missed the target. The game seemed to end in a 1-0 until the injury time brought what nobody expected: a Borussia cross was not cleared too well and Petric' shot was touched by two Bayern players who however could not hit the ball well enough to clear it from the line. Lahm came just to late and could only see the ball bounce after the goal line into the net. 1-1 and an exstatic Borussia Dortmund got extra times!

Nobody gave BVB any chance to win this game, so extra times were already a huge surprise. In those extra times, we saw a Dortmund side who had a boost in confidence and adrenaline and seeked to realise the impossible: beating Bayern. Oliver Kahn had to make a great save to dive a superb shot out of the goal into corner kick. But then, against the honesty of the game, Bayern stroke again: a cross from Ribery and once again Luca Toni stood at the right place to push the ball into the net with the tip of his shoe, past goalkeeper Ziegler who came close to saving the ball but came just a fraction of a second to late. 1-2 for Bayern, and once again Luca Toni proved how important he is. In Getafe his two goals helped Bayern proceed to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, in the league his 20 goals helped Bayern to get the nr 1 position they currently have, and as well in the German cup his two goals in the final proved to be decisive. In total this was his 35th competitive goal for Bayern. Impressive.

For Dortmund this was an emotional kick in the eye, and they never recovered from that. When Kuba got a red card it was over and out for Dortmund. Bayern have their cup and their first trophy of the season (or should we say second, as the league is 99% sure to be won by Bayern). Bayern did not dominate the game and was even dominated during extra time, but the difference between these teams was one man: Luca Toni, the killer who scores with his eyes closed. Maybe we should not say Bayern has won the cup today, it was Toni who has done so. Bayern on its way to the triple, but the question we should ask: if Bayern did not have the goal instinct of Luca Toni, would they be anywhere near the successes they currently have?

For one man the cup was an extra special occassion: 38 years old goalkeeper Oliver Kahn played his last cup final (he retires at the end of the season) but in that last cup final he set a new record: he is the first ever player to win 6 German cups in his career.

With the Bundesliga already won (it would take more than 1 miracle if Bayern would still lose that) and with the German cup in the hands of the Munich team, the club can now focus on also winning the UEFA Cup. If they do that, Bayern would win 3 major trophies in 1 season time. One thing is sure: after 1 very bad season last year, Bayern is the nr 1 team in Germany again, not a single doubt about that.

Borussia Dortmund have one consolidation: because Bayern is sure of Champions League entry already, Borussia goes into the UEFA Cup next season as losing finalist. So we will also see die Borussen in Europe next season, but they'd better buy some extra players if they want to have any chance to get far in Europe ...

There's only one way of live, and that's your own...

2008-04-16T17:20:00.001-07:00

Today I wish to pay a tribute to one of the first bands that paved the path for me to discover alternative music. I digged through some old records and found some gems on YouTube that I think deserve a mention and a place in the spotlight. This is one for Brighton's "folk punk" icons The Levellers.

I was 15 years old when I was still a school boy in my native Belgium, but dreaming of emigrating and with a very strong interest for Ireland. Ironically, I would realise that dream and even that particular version of the dream, as 7 years later I moved to Dublin and spent 3 years on the Emerald Isle, but that is just a sidenote here. I studied in my native city Ghent and spent a lot of hours after school and during weekends in the local Irish pub. I had discovered the taste for Ireland and was going through a phase of looking up a lot of Irish traditional music. It was actually a teacher of mine that told me I should not stick to traditional stuff like The Dubliners and (a favourite of mine) Clannad, but to also check out the more Irish-orientated rock. He recommended me The Levellers. Sometimes you do learn something useful at school indeed. I checked them out and fell in love with the band straight away. The band may best be described as punk but with a lot heavier guitars than the average punk, and with celtic influences such as the violin and the fiddle. The sound can best be described as celtic punk maybe, or celtic rock, with especially the violin creating a very destinctive Irish touch to what is quality punk music. Lyrically the music is typical punk, with anarchy being a core theme in many Levellers songs. But mind, as Irish as it may sound sometimes, the band is British and not originating from Ireland at all. The band have their cradle in Brighton, south coast of England.

The first Levellers song I heard happened to be (purely a coincidence) their most epic tune, "One way", describing the struggles of working class people and their longing to be free and escape from their gloomy existance and underpaid hopelessness. The chorus "There's only one way of life, and that's your own" became the signature line of the band. The same topic would re-appear on their excellent album Levelling The Land in another classic of the band, "Liberty Song" (featuring the line "This means nothing to me, the way we were is the way I'm gonna be").

Another song immediately sticking with me was "Fifteen years", tackling the topic of alcoholism, describing a person sitting at the bar looking back on how life went wrong while spending his unemployment dotations on his escapism in alcohol. The song has a very strong Irish touch with its violins throughout the song.

Another classic: "The Boatman", a calmer song which tackles the issue of slavery. In the first paragraphs the storyteller describes of how he dreamt of a life in freedom as a rover or a boatman: "My only law is the river breeze that takes me to the open seas, and when I live the life I please then I will be a boatman". Then when the song goes on, the person appears to be a slave who is bound to an unfree existance but still maintains his hope for a better life in freedom someday: "I know someday I will be everything that I dreamt I'd be... And when I live the life I please then I will be a free man"

One more song I need to specially mention is the song "What a beautiful day", another Levellers fan favourite. The song pays tribute to the power of dreams in life and how everything is possible as long as you believe in it. The song uses the idea of social revolution and anarchy as example of those dreams to chase. The message of the song is that nothing is impossible as long as you believe in it and that having your hope and your dreams in itself can make a difference in life: "What a beautiful day, I'm the king of all time... And nothing is impossible in my all powerful mind".

The song that inspired me to write this piece however is a song from the Zeitgeist album and a personal favourite of mine: "Hope Street". I never knew the song had a promo video, and today after all those years I found this little gem on YouTube that brought back all those memories. The song describes a theme often recurring in the Levellers' songs: the working class struggles in a misery-struck little town. The song describes the lives of the unemployed gambling and alcohol addicts spending their money on beer and bets, wasting their time in a local pub in the hopeless decor of a street ironically called Hope Street. If you grew up in the average big city with the classic suburb, I am sure you all know some places that perfectly match the image created in the song. The pub, the riots in the street, the betting office, ... I guess we all know a Hope Street of our own, no matter how it is called in our own towns.

The song also forms a very nice contradiction to the other songs such as One Way that take that same suburban miseryness as starting point but revolt against the gloom and look towards the future with hope for a change. But I will close this entry with the lyrics of the song whose video inspired me to write this, Hope St.

I will post the videos in this message to share this little goodness with you all. Keep on levelling the land!

There's a young boy in the queue, there's not much else for him to do

He's had a trick, he's had a view... down the pub on Hope Street

Dear old lady, you're looking thin, got a shopping bag with your life in

Your old man's going through the bins, and so it goes on Hope Street

Rain on me, come pouring down, clear the dirt of this old town

Tell the sun to come around and show its face on Hope Street

There's a fight right down the street, the betting shop has got him beat

He blew his money for the week on a horse called Hope Street...

No more faces out today, someone took them all away

Cleaning up or so they say... the dirty face of Hope Street

Rain on me, come pouring down, clean the dirt of this old town

Tell the sun to come around and show its face on Hope Street

Every day I look at you, dressed up in your ties all blue

Saying there's not much that you can do to help the kids of Hope Street

You don't seem to even care that it was you who put them there

You seem to think they like it there, hanging out on Hope Street

Hope St: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxNPxkWSz0I

Liberty Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzCiOQyuObk

One Way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XScq7NLRnYU

What a Beautiful Day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36gW-IPV0aA

Berlin Ankaraspor in the gem of Berlin's stadiums

2008-04-13T10:37:00.001-07:00

13th April 2008: Berlin AK - Ludwigsfelder FC : 0-0 (approx 120 spectators)

Groundhoppers can be divided into two categories roughly: those who love the big and impressive modern arenas (think Old Trafford, Allianz Arena, Amsterdam ArenA, ...) and the "nostalgics" who prefer old stadiums that still have the look of the old days, the sort of stadiums where time stood still.

I belong to the latter category. Most modern stadiums all look very similar and don't have that authentic feeling, they don't have a soul. While there are exceptions of modern stadiums that actually look good (for example Fenerbahce, Hertha Berlin, Aarhus and Celtic Glasgow, or even -and I admit this against my own will- Anderlecht all have modern stadiums that I still like) most modern stadiums just don't have a lot of soul. And the new trend of stadiums with shopping centers and casino's built in is sort of making me feel like chocking to be honest.

Just give me nice authentic stadiums. Stadiums that haven't changed much during the years and still look like time stood still. For example in my native Belgium my favourite stadium is the one of Union St Gilloise. 110 years old and has hardly changed a bit, it still looks like time stood still and entering the stadium is like taking a step back in time. Another favourite of mine is the Crossingstadium in Schaarbeek (Brussels), another stadium not updated for over 60 years. 3 out of 4 stands have been closed down because they are no longer safe, and high weeds cover what were ones classy stands. This is the sort of stadium I adore! Since having emigrated I saw another couple of really nice old stadiums, such as the ones of Glentoran, Cliftonville and Derry City in Ireland/Northern Ireland.

Today I visited the Poststadion in Berlin. It was on my list for a long time but somehow it never happened yet to visit even though, from pictures I had seen, I just knew this was a stadium I would adore. This weekend I saw that Berlin Ankaraspor played a home game versus Ludwigsfelder in this stadium. A Turkish club playing in Berlin's oldest stadium? That sounded the opportunity I had been waiting for to check out this stadium. The stadium is in the outskirts of my home district Wedding, very close to the Hauptbahnhof (= main train station) so very easy to get to. Off I went to the Poststadion with high expectations.

Sometimes however, expectations are not really realistic. Sometimes what you are about to see is so beautiful you couldn't have imagined it. This was one of those days. The moment I entered the stadium, I was in love. What a fantastic stadium. For fans of old authentic stadiums like me, this stadium was a pure climax. Every single detail was just bliss.

To describe a stadium of such beauty is not easy, in fact you have to see it to believe it. But here is an attempt. The absolute highlight is the old seated stand. I think this stand must be built before the world war and probably has never been renovated since then. It looks incredibly old but beautiful. The seats are all covered and the walls look in very bad state (and unfortunately covered with graffiti), the steps leading to the stand look equally old and still are partially wooden, and the roof of this stand looks so old that it could fall down as soon as a serious storm would hit Berlin. Underneath this old stand was a small "paddock" and the windows of what probably used to be a canteen or dressing room under this stand were closed with bricks. The stand doesn't look safe anymore ... but it looks old, authentic, and a fantastic untouched piece of Berlin football history. Stunning!

Then the other stands, those are unseated. The stands have an oval shape around the field and athletic track, The standing areas all are classic terraces with authentic crash barriers. Beautiful. Here as well, you could see from the stones used to build the stands, that these terraces were really really old. Usually old stadiums have their terraces covered with weeds. Here they were covered with real trees, as if a forest grew on top of the terraces. The height of those plants indicates the terraces have not been used for many years now. But if you look well between those trees you can still see the terraces and the crash barriers. The only thing impossible to see was the actual size of the terraces, the plants covering them were too big for that.

This stadium looks like it has been untouched for over half a century. It is incredibly authentic and nostalgic, and I think it is fantastic that they left it untouched rather than to modernise it. It is an incredibly beautiful remainder of the old football days in Berlin. Hopefully they never ever modernise it (even though there are plans to do it, as TeBe Berlin would like to return here in a few years time). The only modern part of the stadium is also the part where the spectators are allowed: a very small part of terraces have been renovated and seats have been installed there. Uncovered, with no roof, and a maximum of 400 or 500 seats if I counted them right. So apart from that very small area where spectator facilities were installed, they left the terraces and old stand untouched (even though it is not used anymore right now)

Beautiful. And then I am only talking about the actual stadium itself. To make it complete, even the surrounding neighbourhood had that air of nostalgia : old houses and old factories gave the whole area a feeling like time stood still here, the same feeling you get inside th stadium.

Well, with all that groundhopping goodness you'd almost forget a game was played today. Actually, more than 1 was played. Because next to the Poststadion there are a few smaller pitches without any stands, where other clubs have their home. Before the Berlin AK game you could see the players and spectators of those other clubs walk around the complex, which was strange because it gave an impression of a sort of football fan day with multiple games and with more than 2 teams being present. I saw players walk around from at least 3 clubs and 1 ladies team, plus spectators leaving the grounds surrounding the Poststadion. From the signs pointing to those smaller grounds, I noticed Union 06 Berlin (not to be confused with the famous 1.FC Union) has its home here, and another Turkish team apparently also uses those smaller fields for their home games. I saw a lot of girls in football clothing as well, so one of the ladies' teams of the city apparently also uses the complex for their home games.

But forget about those other fields, they're just grass fields with a dressing room and nothing more. The focus today was the real stadium, the Poststadion.

Poststadion used to accomodate over 10000 people back when all stands and terraces were still used. Now, with the seated stand being unsafe and with the terraces covered by weeds and trees, only 400 people can attend games here. Since the professional teams left the Poststadion, the stadium has become home of some of Berlin's many multicultural teams. Mainly Turkish teams obviously, as Turks form the overwhelming majority of the immigrant population in Berlin. The team that used the Poststadion mostly during the last years was SV Yesilyurt. However, this team went bankrupt at the beginning of the season and all games of them have been cancelled.

With the stadium having no home team anymore, the city appointed another club that would make the Poststadion their home. The choice was made to give the stadium to another Turkish club, Berlin AK. Berlin AK is short for Berlin Ankaraspor Külübü. The team has risen out of the ashes of one of the city's oldest clubs, Berlin Athletik Klub. However, about 5 years ago Atletik Klub had financial problems and sought refuge in merging with one of the Turkish teams in the city, trying to attract a new fanbase that way. This never worked and the Atletik Klub officially folded. The remaining people within the club decided to turn the multi-ethnic club into a 100% Turkish club and renamed the club Berlin Ankaraspor Külübü. The name refers to a Turkish top division side Ankaraspor, that sort of sponsors the Berlin club. Ankaraspor hopes to see some of the more talented Turkish players in Germany playing for Berlin AK and then transfer them to Turkey, hence the corporation between Ankaraspor and Berlin-Ankaraspor. Today, not a single German plays for Berlin AK, all players are Turkish immigrants.

For the remaining part of the article I am going to call Berlin AK just Ankaraspor, so whenever I write Ankaraspor now it is refering to the Berlin team playing in the Poststadion.

Ankaraspor (a 4th division team) is having a very bad season and only a few weeks before the end of the season they have not even collected 10 points yet. They lost the vast majority of their games and are on the bottom spot. However, because only 1 team relegates and because Yesilyurt ceased to exist, Yesilyurt is automatically finishing last and this means that not a single team playing the league is relegating. Despite losing almost all its games, Ankaraspor is not relegating thanks to the bankruptcy of Yesilyurt. The opposition of today is Ludwigsfelder FC, a mid-table team playing in yellow-red-green, the colours of my beloved KV Oostende. However, just having similar colours is not enough to win my sympathy and given my passion for Turkey it was an easy choice for me to support Ankaraspor today.

The game kicked off in front of approx. 120 people, of whom at least 40 were Ludwigsfelder fans. The LFC fans were also quite noisy, singing all the time. This was a weird feeling, because in such a big stadium you have a very strange feeling when only 120 people are there, it looks very empty and the singing of the fans is like disappearing into thin air...

The first half was only just started when Ankaraspor got their first chance. One of their players escaped from the LFC defense but, face to face with the goalkeeper, his shot was saved with the foot.

Ludwigsfelder, obviously favourites to win this game given the fact that Berlin Ankaraspor had lost almost all games before, immediately went into counter-attack. A cross from the right reached an LFC player at the second post who only had to head the ball into an empty goal from 1 meter distance. As easy as it seems, he managed to hit the ball completely wrongly and the chance was gone. Another chance for the visitors came when a shot from just outside the penalty box went over the crossbar. Ludwigsfelder also claimed a penalty when one of their players ran after a long ball but ran into a Turkish defender, the referee correctly decided not to award a penalty kick.

Ankaraspor could not cause much danger at this point of the game yet, a shot from 20 meters right at the Ludwigsfelder goalie was the only shot on target for the Turks.

Just afterwards Ludwigsfelder had another great chance to open the score. A long ball reached one of their strikers who, with a header put the ball aside for a fellow striker that had followed and stood face to face with the Ankaraspor goalkeeper. The goalkeeper however blocked the shot very well and was also fast enough to run after the ball and catch it before a Ludwigsfelder player could score the rebound.

Ankaraspor had been lucky to survive so far but then slowly found its way into the game. A nice collective attack resulted in a shot from just outside the penalty box, the ball had a great curve but narrowly missed the upper corner of the goal. Right afterwards an even better chance for a Turkish goal: a great cross from the right reached an Ankaraspor player completely unguarded centrally before the goal, he tipped the ball into the far corner of the goal from very close range but the LFC keeper had a fantastic save and dived the ball into corner kick. Best chance for Ankaraspor so far!

By this time the game became really amusing and entertaining, even though the chances were missed. Right before halftime a deep ball from Ludwigsfelder, one of their players battled for the ball with an Ankaraspor defender and claimed to have been held by the shirt. The referee again ignored the penalty claim while the Turkish goalkeeper picked up the ball. 0-0 at halftime.

The second half started with a Ludwigsfelder chance. A free kick from 20 meters was curved over the wall very well but narrowly missed the upper corner of the goal. Shortly after Ankaraspor got a similar opportunity when two players dribbled their way to the goal but were brought down by the defense. Free kick from inside the "half circle" before the penalty box. A great spot for a free kick but the ball was kicked extremely badly: a low shot right into the wall, a wasted opportunity.

Ankaraspor however smelled its chances and another player came in good shooting position, however the corner was sharp and the goalie blocked the shot with the foot. Ludwigsfelder now had to undergo the game but suddenly got a great scoring opportunity thanks to a mistake in the Turkish defense: a long ball was missed by two defenders who stood in each others way, this left the only Ludwigsfelder player in the area with a great scoring opportunity but his shot from close range bounced centimeters past the far post.

Apart from an Ankaraspor shot that missed the target nothing happened for the next 15 minutes. The Ludwigsfelder supporters, vocally present throughout the whole game, caused some entertainment however when they waived their identity cards in the air while singing "Wir sind Deutsch" (= We are German). Even the Turks in the stadium found it very funny and applauded the fans of the visiting team. Most Ludwigsfelder fans seemed great people constantly encouraging their team, with the sole exception of 2 or 3 people who tried to provocate innocent bystanders on random occassions (their provocations were not responded however). Apart from those few exceptions, most LFC fans brought some nice entertainment with their chants throughout the entire game.

After 15 minutes of boredom finally a new chance when an LFC free kick bounced off an Ankaraspor player and the ball bounced not that far from the post into corner. Ankaraspor was awake again as well, with a player passing a few opponents and then shooting from 20 meters, a hard shot narrowly missing the far corner of the net. One of the Ankaraspor corners also caused mayhem when the ball couldn't get cleared and a new cross from the right almost fell into goal, the LFC goalie could save however.

The biggest chance in the end of the game was for Ankaraspor when a cross from the left was badly cleared by the defense, heading the ball into the feet of an AK player who shot into the low corner of the goal from very close range, only to see the LFC keeper stop the ball on the goal line. A great save again and Ludwigsfelder FC narrowly escaped from defeat.

In the end a draw was a fair result. For Ankaraspor this is the second 0-0 in two weeks time. The team has not scored a goal in many games now and today again they created chances enough but never managed to score a goal. However, for a team that lost the overwhelming majority of its games so far, not losing twice in a row is a good result. The team cannot relegate anyway due to Yesilyurt's bankruptcy so I guess Ankaraspor will just happily accept their very low number of points and be more busy with how to prepare for a new season in which they'll have to do better than this year. The game was entertaining with several chances, but both goalkeepers played very well while the strikers of both teams missed precision in their finishing.

Maybe however, when witnessing a stadium of such beauty, the result of the game is just a detail. This stadium is a true gem and I am definitely coming back here during one of the next Ankaraspor games.

Short PS: the other Turkish team in this 4th division, Türkiyemspor, won 4-0 today and is on its way to promotion to the 3rd division. At least one Turkish team doing well, so I guess I can still use my slogan "En büyük Türkiye" (Turkey is the greatest!)

Miracles exist in football... Getafe-Bayern and a great night in FC Magnet

2008-04-11T12:30:00.001-07:00

I don't have a habit of writing reports on games I only saw on TV instead of live at the stadium. Sometimes you see a game so great that you need to make an exception though. Yesterday was such an event when in the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup, Getafe CF and Bayern Munich played a game that will be remembered for many years to come.

I am usually not much of a fan of the final stages of European cups and especially not of the Champions League. Moreover, I dislike the Champions League and rarely watch any CL game not involving my own favourites Rosenborg. The Champions League just does not match my own vision in football. I like to discover new teams, new stadiums, new players and sets of fans from far away countries, teams from places I have never been before and from leagues I didn't know well yet. The Champions League used to be great for that back in the days when it was still restricted to teams that had won their own domestic league. Nowadays however the nr 4 from England gets into the Champions League more easily than the actual champions of some smaller more amateur-esque league. This is totally unfair in my opinion. The set-up of the CL is made in a way only to protect the current status of the existing top teams: in the way the CL is set up, every year the same teams get into the final stages of the CL, so every year the same teams get richer and richer. The gap between them and the teams from other countries in Europe gets bigger and bigger which protects the existing top team status of the teams involved. This is totally unfair in my opinion and takes away the charms of European football. If you would let in only real champions, smaller teams from small leagues such as the Israeli, Finnish, Irish or Macedonian leagues (to name just a few) would participate and win some good money as well, this would allow them to grow further professional and further develop, buy better players and this would in its turn even attract more fans in general for the entire league of their country. But instead of helping the smaller teams to close the gap, the UEFA puts commerce first and kneels for every command of the existing top teams. Not only unfair, but also it makes the CL a rather boring tournament. Chelsea and Liverpool have played each other so often now already in the semi finals of the Champions League, and the other two semi finalists are also teams that rarely get eliminated prior to the final stages. The deja vu feeling is becoming so big that I have lost my interest in it.

Luckily for people like me who prefer discovering new teams from smaller and lesser known leagues, there is an alternative: the UEFA Cup. The tournament where small teams can still surprise, which is highly unpredictable, and where new teams enter the competition every single year. Last year for example we suddenly had 2 Israeli teams that survived the first round and still played in Europe after the winter. While giants like Ajax, Anderlecht and Bruges were already long out of Europe, tiny semi-professional Zulte-Waregem was playing Newcastle United as only surviving Belgian team in Europe. This year, European debutantes Getafe reached the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup while totally unexpectedly Zenit St Petersburg had already booked its semi-final ticket. You gotta love the UEFA Cup!

The question this year was however who would be able to stop Bayern Munich, if anyone would be able anyway... Bayern played a dramatic season last year in Germany and narrowly missed out on a top-3 spot. Apart from the humiliation this meant, this also included missing out on the Champions League for a year. Winning the UEFA Cup was more or less obliged if they somehow wanted this season not to be a completely wasted one in Europe. Bayern bought a lot of top class players in order to build a team that would assure to win the German league and shine in Europe, and would avoid a new embarrassment like last season. Star players like Miroslav Klose, Franck Ribery and Luca Toni all joined Bayern. Bayern's European campaign was one in which they freewheeled through every game they were really trying, including a 0-5 victory in Anderlecht and a 5-1 trashing of Aberdeen. But we also saw a Bayern that was sometimes taking things too easy, resulting in some less impressive scores such as 1-0 narrow win versus Braga, 2-2 draws versus Bolton Wanderers and in Aberdeen, and a 1-2 loss against Anderlecht.

Opponent Getafe is a lot less well known and a relatively new name in Europe. The team still played in the Spanish second division 4 years ago but without any real star players, the team managed to do very well in Spain since they promoted to the top flight, and their European debut this season brought them immediately into the quarter finals. Ironically, the powerful and traditional city rivals Real and Atletico have already been eliminated from Europe this season, so tiny Getafe was the last remaining Madrid-based team left in Europe. Oh the irony...

In the first tie of this quarter finals, Bayern took an early lead but then thought things would go a bit too easy. Result: Getafe equalised quickly enough and outplayed Bayern in the second half. A 1-1 draw in the Allianz Arena in Munich was the outcome, and this means Bayern would need to travel to Madrid on full strength and really go for it if they wanted to avoid elimination from Europe. Was Bayern not unstoppable after all? Or would the Munich giants set things straight quickly enough in the return game in Getafe's tiny stadium? Would Bayern freewheel through an away game again like they did in Brussels, or would the long and impressive international career of goalkeeper Oliver Kahn end in the tiny (10000 capacity only) stadium in the Madrid suburbs?

This game was interesting enough for me to get out of my home and seek a place in a cosy football orientated pub in Berlin's Mitte district, not far from Rosenthaler Platz and Torstraße. Should you ever be in the area: the pub is called FC Magnet and broadcasts games from all over the world on giant TV screen, an excellent football pub and with football fans forming 95% of their visitors. The pub this night was filled with people in FC Bayern jerseys obviously, I have not recognised any Getafe fan. I was lucky to make the decision to see this game, because it would turn out to be one I won't easily forget, one of those very few games that has everything that makes football such a beautiful game.

The game kicked off with Bayern fielding all its star players. Bayern also took the initiative immediately and this resulted in a first key moment after only 6 minutes: Miroslav Klose slipped through the defense and ran straight towards goalkeeper "Pato" Abbondanzieri. Attacker Ruben De La Red, who was as emergency rule fielded as a defender tonight, had no option to bring Klose down with a tackle from behind. The referee didn't hesitate: red card for De La Red (yes, that sounds silly !) and all of Getafe's good intentions and hopes seemed to have been smashed straight away. Getafe faced another 84 minutes with 10 men only. How would the tiny Spanish underdog survive the pressure of the Munich giants for such a long time with a player less on the field? The Madrid side escaped from an early second bow when the free kick resulting from that foul was kicked against the post by free kick specialist Ribery, Luca Toni controlled the ball and shot the rebound high into the net. The referee however spotted correctly that Toni used the arm to control the ball and the goal was disallowed.

Getafe escaped but much to my surprise we didn't see a Getafe side that, reduced to 10 men, decided to mostly defend its 1-1 from the first leg. Contrary to that, Getafe didn't let the red card break their moral and still tried to attack whenever possible. Sure, forced by the circumstances they had to leave ball possession to Bayern most of the game, but in fact Getafe gave away few chances and rarely got into trouble, and even tried to still counterstrike whenever an opportunity came. This paid off because Bayern had a lot of possession but the many crosses and shots from distance formed no serious danger to the Getafe defense and goalkeeper. Shortly before half-time the unthinkable happened: Romanian defender Contra received the ball on his own half and started an impressive run all the way towards the Bayern goal, a short dribble past two defenders followed and then he shot the ball high over Oliver Kahn in the top of the net. 1-0 for Getafe and the tiny stadium exploded with joy. Getafe was leading 1-0 at half time despite being reduced to 10 men after only 6 minutes, and what was even more impressive was that the lead was not even undeserved. You somehow felt this night was going to be special.

Bayern was now forced to attack even more in the second half and the first part of that second half the pressure finally made Getafe struggle. A lot of crosses followed (mostly by Ribery who, despite not playing at his usual level, was still one of the better players at Bayern) but the Bayern strikers didn't have a good day and wasted the opportunities given. Especially Italian goalgetter Luca Toni was not having his goal instinct he usually displays, with a header and a shot from close range both narrowly missing the goal. A Ribery free kick went past the defensive wall but Abbondanzieri saved without many problems. Getafe was struggling to survive but the storm calmed down and Bayern had to take a step back.

Getafe smelled opportunities now and the 10-men side very bravely chose to attack once again rather than staying focussed on only defending the 0 on the scoreboard. Braulio managed to escape from the Bayern defense and came face to face with Oliver Kahn, he managed to dribble the Munich goalkeeper but then somehow hit the ball totally wrong. A unique chance to score the 2-0 and finish Bayern off completely. Shortly after that same Braulio once again escaped and slipped through the defense and past Oliver Kahn, but forced to go to the backline and with the goal out of reach from such a sharp corner, he passed the ball backwards to a team mate who faced the open goal but saw his shot blocked by a tackling Bayern defender. Once again a gigantic chance missed and once again Bayern escaped from a certain elimination.

Getafe missing such chances gave Bayern a lifeline and remaining hope but the attacks of the Germans lacked precision. Until the 89th minute, when the Spanish defense could not clear the ball and Ribery volleyed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal from just outside the box. 1-1 and the brave Getafe saw their stunt slip out of their reach in the very last moments of the game. Extra times were needed and many feared that such a punch in the face would break the moral of the brave Spaniards who now had to survive another 30 minutes with 10 players only.

But the Spaniards proved everyone wrong and within the first seconds of the extra time Casquero shot the ball on goal from 20 meters, the ball was just out of reach for Kahn and bounced off the post into the net. 2-1 Getafe!! At this moment the game had already reached the status of a true epic, but the biggest drama was still to come. Less than 2 minutes later however, it seemed over and out for Bayern when Lucio made a huge fumble, leaving Braulio with a very easy task to fire the ball home from close range past Kahn. 3-1 and the European dream for "unstoppable Bayern" seemed over and out.

But remember the words of Gary Lineker: "football is a ball game with 22 players, and in the end the Germans always win". It didn't seem to be one of those cliches turning into reality though, as Bayern desperately chose to attack but the many crosses never had the precision to reach a player in the right position to score. It was Getafe goalkeeper Abbondanzieri, the Argentinian nr 1, who gave Bayern a lifeline and new hope when 5 minutes before the end a very easy long ball came straight at him. The goalkeeper however made a terrible mistake by letting the ball slip through his hands, presenting Luca Toni the easiest goal of his career by shooting into an empty goal. A terrible mistake right at the worst possible moment. The nightmare for Pato was not over yet and the dream of Getafe turned into a nightmare in the most dramatic and cruel way. In the very last minute of extra time Bayern needed 1 remaining goal, even Oliver Kahn (whose international career was over after tonight should Bayern not score that needed goal) went in front when Bayern was awarded a free kick. That free kick was dropped into the box, Pato left his goal but realised the ball was too far away, leaving Luca Toni with an easy header into the net. Pato ran back towards the goal line but could only witness the ball bouncing in the net.

3-3 and the dream was over for Getafe. What seemed to be a dream turned into a nightmare thanks to 2 Luca Toni goals. Toni, who played a really bad game however, but was still awake enough to thankfully accept two presents from the goalkeeper. This was the sort of game you remember for years. It just had anything you can possibly want in football: tension, sensational scorelines, beautiful goals (especially the first 2 Getafe goals), a red card, terrible goalkeeper errors, an incredible shock victory almost happening, a dramatic equaliser in the very last seconds of the game. This game had everything that makes football worth watching, the word "epic" suits this night perfectly.

But, as fantastic as such games may be, you really have to feel so sorry for Getafe. The underdog was reduced to 10 men after only 6 minutes and had to play with 10 players for another 124 minutes. When you face a giant like Bayern and, despite getting that red card, you still choose to attack rather than to built an iron wall in front of your own goal ... then you deserve the biggest respect, and the whole world will probably agree with me that we saw a Getafe side that was incredibly brave and deserves the utmost credit for playing in such a way despite that red card. In fact it is injustice to the full extend that they had to be eliminated in such a cruel way after having played such an incredibly brave game. Yes, that's part of football, but it was injustice and heartbreaking for anyone involved with Getafe CF. And you especially have to feel sorry for goalkeeper Pato, who made two of the biggest mistakes of his career right at the most unlucky times, throwing away a stunt victory for his team that would have been remembered for many years.

Bayern proceeds to the semi finals and meets Zenit St Petersburg from Russia there. Bayern is still favourites to win this UEFA Cup, but they are very lucky to still be in the race. Bayern escaped from elimination in the very last seconds of the game and only thanks to 2 goalkeeping errors. The relief with the Bayern players was so huge that they celebrated as if they just won the trophy. As Oliver Kahn, who probably never thought to experience this sort of game in the last months of his career, put into words afterwards: "In 10 years time nobody at Bayern will remember our games against Real Madrid and Manchester United, they will remember our game against Getafe."

In the other games of the day, Glasgow Rangers surprisingly beat Sporting Lisbon 0-2 and advances to the semi finals of a European tournament for the first time since 1973. PSV Eindhoven had a great 1-1 result in Firenze last week, but a dominant Fiorentina put things straight with a 0-2 victory in Eindhoven thanks to 2 beauties from Mutu (the first one being one of the hardest possible free kicks, and still very precisely into the upper corner of the net). Belgian star player Timmy Simons missed a penalty for PSV, illustrating the bad day PSV was facing. Zenit St Petersburg, who also missed a penalty in their home game, lost 0-1 versus Leverkusen but as the Russians won the first leg 1-4 their semi final ticket was already booked before their second leg even started.

We have one heavy favourite (Bayern) and one other favourite (Fiorentina) remaining, with two unexpected underdogs (Rangers and Zenit) joining them into the semi-finals. While the Champions League is once again repeting itself with always the same teams in the final stages, the UEFA Cup is as exciting as it can possibly get this season.

A Perfect Circle forum finally online

2008-04-09T08:10:00.001-07:00

The registration of the domainname took a few days longer than expected (but this was something beyond my control) and then the technical aspect of setting up the forum still needed to be done... but that is all done now and the forum is ready. After a long while without APC forum on the web, A Perfect Circle fans have their own hang-out spot again. I welcome all of you who like the band to visit the forum : www.apcfans.com

The forum has the obvious focus on A Perfect Circle, with subforums to discuss the involvement of all band members separately, subforums to discuss each album individually, a forum to look back on those great APC live performances, but also some off-topic areas in the margin. As we respect the fact that many people like both APC and Tool, we created a Tool subforum as well, as well as a subforum to promote Billy Howerdel's new project Ashes Divide. Also, there is a general off-topic section and a political debate area (the latter has been included because I figured that eMOTIVe made APC a bit of a political band, and thus discussions on these subjects should not be censored). But let me make clear the main focus of the forum is obviously on A Perfect Circle, and the forum has been started solely to give the brilliant band its own forum where fans can gather without being the minority surrounded by an overwhelming majority of Tool fans.

The forum looks very empty now because it is less than 1 day old. But I hope to see the first registrations and discussions getting along soon, once the forum is a bit active it will be easier to attract more people into registering. In any way, the forum is brand new and to get it started properly I need people to post. So if you like A Perfect Circle, please do join us at http://www.apcfans.com !

I look forward to seeing all of you on the forum.

Peace, and Allah Korusun.

A visit to Germany's most hated team: BFC Dynamo

2008-04-06T07:37:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I went groundhopping once more. For those not familiar with the term: groundhopping means visiting as many grounds and stadiums of football teams and for most groundhopper it involves making photographs as well. I have been a groundhopper for 10 years now, unlike most groundhoppers I don't only visit real stadiums but also tiny grounds of amateur teams most people never heard of. In total I have seen over 1400 grounds by now, mostly in my native Belgium where I have visited almost all stadiums in the top-3 divisions plus hundreds of grounds of amateur teams, but I also did some extended groundhopping in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Holland, Denmark and now Germany.

After having already visited Union Berlin, Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Amateure, Turkiyemspor Berlin, A. Wacken and TB Berlin, the last remaining big stadium I haven't visited yet in this city was of course Dynamo Berlin.

Dynamo is a club with a long history but a very troubled one. Are they the most hated team in the world? Well, that would be exagerated. Are they the most hated team in Germany? Very likely!

Dynamo was one of the bigger teams in the old DDR (Eastern Germany) league but never had too much success until the government wanted a Berlin club to be the dominant force in the country. Dynamo was then linked to the Stazi, the secret police in the communist-lead DDR. The consequences were dramatic: in the end of the seventies they won their first league after the best players of other clubs were obliged to sign for Dynamo.

Dynamo went on to win the league 10 times in a row. Impressive? Well, not really, because they won it through a lot of bribing. If things were going wrong for Dynamo, the government and Stazi made sure the referee would help them a hand. If another club had a great player, he was forced to sign for Dynamo. This constant cheating went on for 10 years but it did lead the club to a German record of 10 titles in a row. The club meanwhile was hated by a lot of people in the country, especially with Union Berlin the rivalry was fierce: Union was known as the people's club, the working class club. They of course were extraordinary angry with the police-controlled team bribing its way to lot of trophies.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain and unification of Germany, things went downhill for Dynamo. The club slipped to 5th division and even had to face bankruptcy. During that season, Dynamo was removed out of the league tables but was forced to play the remaining games as obligatory friendlies. The Dynamo team was a reserves team and lost all games 10-0 or more, giving the former DDR clubs that hated Dynamo so much a chance to get some revenge. Dynamo by this time had broken all ties with the police and changed its name to FC Berlin, however the club never managed to truly get rid of its image of cheaters. By the end of the nineties and after having made a fresh start (the bankruptcy meant relegation of 1 series but the club could then move on with a new start) the club adopted the name Dynamo again. According to some opponents because the new name didn't really make anyone forget the corrupt past, according to club officials itself because the name Dynamo would bring back the true tradition and former glories of the club. Dynamo is currently playing in the Oberliga, 4th division. They have lost many of their fans but still have a small yet die-hard following of just over 500 fans. The club has been often linked to violent and fascist movements or to strongly communist groups, though I guess most of those are rumours?

There was no game going on yesterday but the stadium gates were open so this allowed me to go in and make the pictures I was after. Dynamo currently plays its home games in the Sportforum, next to the Eisbaeren Berlin icehockey hall and very close to the famous Landsberger Allee in northeast Berlin. The Sportforum is an old but pleasant stadium with tradition terraces on 3 sides (the ones behind the goals still have crash barriers!). Only on 1 side there are seated stands, strangely enough only the VIP stand (with more luxurious seats) is covered by a roof while the other parts of the seated part of the stands is uncovered. The field is very decent and the old terraces create a really nice sight. I definitely should come here again for a game. The only bad remark I can give is that the field is too far from the stands (even though there is no athletics track around the field, but I have the impression there used to be one...).

On my way back to my Wedding home I passed the old Dynamo stadium, currently an athletics stadium and still used for football occasionally (like for the Berlin Cup final). The stadium is bigger than the new Dynamo stadium, it was used by Dynamo for their European games as well. Due to an event in the basketball hall next door the entrance to the stadium was locked for those without a ticket for the basket event. Thus I could not see anything apart from the impressive floodlights rising high above the stadium. But I will come here again when it is Berlin Cup final.

To complete the day I also took pictures of the small ground of amateur team Corso Vineta, located one street away from my home. Just an artificial grass pitch without any real stands or features, so nothing special really. Decent enough for an 8th division amateur team though.

More groundhopping and music reports will come up both in my blog and website. The APC fan forum is being launched the coming days, the short delay was caused by difficulties with domain registration. With that problem solved though, I am ready to launch the board. It will be only in less than a few days, the only thing left to do is configuring the domain and creating the logo for the forum. Check back my blog soon and find the address to the A Perfect Circle forum here soon!

Speaking of A Perfect Circle, I will close down with a bit of music here. APC's "Diary of a Lovesong": two covers mixed into 1 song, being Lovesong (The Cure) and Diary Of A Madman (Ozzy Osbourne). The two songs are mixed wonderfully well together, and Maynard looks so charismatic in his underpants on stage :) And for the record, NO, Paz Lenchantin's breast is not showing, she was wearing a silk top under the dress. Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyo9TAOuetk

Website online at last

2008-03-30T11:50:00.001-07:00

So I sticked to my own deadlines for once this time. My website is online and I invite all to have a look. The URL is http://www.gerritsite.com , it contains my CV and a lot of articles. More articles to be added the coming weeks so don't forget to check back often!

When it comes to my A Perfect Circle forum... Will be online in a couple of days. The domainname has been requested and the hosting space has been set up. Forum will be ready to take its first posts in a couple of days.

Football and more short updates

2008-03-28T09:21:00.001-07:00

Shalom,

The sleeper must awaken (OK, quote stolen from one of my musical heroes, Maynard James Keenan)

Sorry for a lack of news lately, I have been quite busy. My personal website is progressing well and I expect to have it launched by the end of the weekend. It has been delayed very often due to several issues but I am planning to this time let nothing come in between it (and hopefully I won't change that plan this time ;)) and launch it very shortly now. Finally you could say...

Also, my fan forum for A Perfect Circle is upcoming, thanks to the help of an internet friend of mine who is technically more gifted than me and who is taking care of the technical side of launching the messageboard. It will be a new APC messageboard after the existing ones seem to have all gone online, leaving APC fans with no other resort than Tool forums where we however always experience the strange attitude that we are aliens in a place where we shouldn't be. Well, time for a change, and with this APC forum I hope to give A Perfect Circle fans a new hang-out spot on the web.

Lack of personal news yeah, but no lack of news in general. This week saw several football friendlies and although they were basically warm-ups for the upcoming tournaments and World Cup qualifiers, there were some really interesting fixtures for both fans of the top sides and the minnows.

First of all the top... Italy lost in Spain 1-0 while France beat rivals England with the same score. Franck Ribery scored the decisive goal in the Stade de France in Paris.

Holland struggled in Vienna where they faced a 3-0 score against one of the weakest teams at the upcoming Euro 2008. However, an incredible turnaround saw the Netherlands come back and win 3-4 in the end, leaving the Euro co-hosts with a very shocking loss, although scoring 3 goals against the Netherlands should give them some confidence. Neighbours Germany had less problems, winning in Switzerland 0-4, a big loss for the other Euro 2008 hosts.

My native Belgium lost 1-4 against Morocco and although 3 out of 4 Moroccan goals resulted from personal mistakes from the Belgians, this result can hardly be seen as uplifting and the bomb is about to explode with several players outing their unfulfillment about the national coach's tactical decisions.

My own favourites then: mixed feelings here. My one favourite Norway faced an embarrassing loss in Montenegro. 3-1 with Carew scoring the Norwegian goal when it was too late already however as Montenegro was leading 3-1. For the very new nation, preparing for their first World Cup campaign, this must be a huge victory although it also indicates how rapidly Norway have slipped to become a mid-table team in Europe.

My other favourites Israel did better. While not playing a great game, Israel won 1-0 against Chile in a sold out Ramat Gan stadium (10 shekels a ticket: that way you do fill the stadium even for a friendly!). Yossi Benayoun scored the goal, while reserve goalkeeper Nir Davidovitch made some crucial saves (he played the second half while first choice goalkeeper Dudu Awat had a relatively easy game in his first half). Maybe more important than the result itself: Barcelona's top talent Guy Asulin entered the game during the second half and earned his first Israeli A cap. Spain was trying to convince him to choose for Spain as he has dual citizenship, though Asulin followed his heart and chose for Israel. He is now having an A cap, meaning he can no longer change teams and is an Israeli international for the rest of his career now. I greatly encourage such an incredibly talented youngster chose to play for Israel instead of Spain, and I am sure within less than 3 years Asulin will be the leading man of the Israeli team. El el Israel!

My previous home countries... Turkey played in Belarus in difficult circumstances with freezingly cold weather. Despite that, a 2-2 draw was realised with Türkiye coming from behind twice.

Northern Ireland beat Georgia 4-1 with all-time top scorer Healy scoring... an own goal. I am sure Norn Iron fans will forgive him after having scored an all-time record nr of goals for any Northern Ireland player ever.

An interesting result was Malta versus Liechtenstein. Two minnows facing each other, with Malta winning 7-1. Not only the biggest victory ever for the tiny island nation, but also the 5 goals (including one pure hattrick) of star player Michael Misfud was remarkable. Congrats Malta!

Also interesting to me is Nepal beating Pakistan 2-1, a very rare victory for a Nepalese side that is considered one of the weaker sides in Asia. Pakistan did have its revenge as two days later they won the return game 0-2.

Some results I couldn't care less about, but maybe interesting for some of you: Brazil beat Sweden 1-0, Scotland drew against Croatia 1-1, Luxembourg lost to Wales 0-2, Congo got a 1-1 draw in Algeria, and a tropical derby between Jamaica and Trinidad-and-T. resulted in a 2-2. Probably you all think "who cares?" so I will quit here :)

Well, that is the football news for now.

But this is not all... I have been following Belgian football and KV Oostende in particular since childhood. I have emigrated Belgium and left my past behind almost 4 years ago, but with internet and tapes my family sent me, I still remained very up-to-date on the Belgian football. However, is this going to change and is my long-lasting love for KVO going to drop to a minumum soon?

The arrogant top teams are once against trying to capture the whole Belgian football in their power by once again wanting to reduce the number of teams in the premier division. Something I am very much against because the number of teams in the premier at least stops the sport from becoming elitist. Only the top teams benefit from reducing the nr of teams, for fans of any other club it would be desastrous. The top clubs thought giving some compensation cash to the smaller teams would help to get their stupid idea through. Also introducing play-offs was proposed, which even fans of top teams are very much against. Luckily the second division teams barred the proposal, the world is saved for at least a bit longer. But I fear now reforment plans will come up, and the moment the number of teams is reduced (making the league an elitist happening) I will officially stop following the Belgian league. I still love KVO, but if it plays in a league whose policies are against all I believe in, then it just makes no sense to keep paying attention and time into that league. Hopefully new reform plans will be barred as well, although I fear the top teams will do everything they can to push them through. I find it hard not to call this the murder of the Belgian football. At least I have my beloved Rosenborg to keep following in a passionate way but for KVO and the Belgian league it will never be like it was before if the league is reformed, I can only hope it won't happen.

If the reforms would happen, then I consider Belgian football officially dead and will stop following it. As much as I care about KV Oostende, if they are no longer in a league that I consider as honest, then I just don't see the point to loyally check all results weekly and have my family sending me tapes of highlights. In this case, I will stick to following Rosenborg who at least play in a league worth following with fair chances to all.

Meanwhile by the way, KVO is now struggling to stay in division 2. 18th out of 19 teams and the next month will be decisive if the team can stay in the second division. If not, a derby with city rivals VG Oostende awaits in division 3, as VGO solved its financial worries and is now close to promoting from 4th to 3rd division.

Some actually good football news (apart from Israel's win) is that my organisation CENF (I am their Secretary) is close to having a first game organised and already received over 10 membership requests from including Western Sahara, Southern Cameroons, Vatican City, Republic of Rijeka, Greenland, ... I am really excited about this and determined to make CENF a success.

Well, I close down with a song. "Bir", from Turkish metal pioneers Pentagram/Mezarkabul.

The Istanbul based band is known for its Turkish folk influences (while metal however dominates) and for its lyrics dealing with Middle Eastern issues, Turkish national pride and Islam. The song Bir could be seen as Islamic metal as, despite criticising some imams and priests, it is an ode to Allah. The song ("Bir" means one, referring to the One god Allah) tells never to fear anything or anyone because we are all coming from the same allmighty god Allah. The lyrics are in Turkish but the song rocks even if you cannot understand it. If you pay attention well you can hear Prophet Muhammed being praised in the song, while the chorus is an ode to God (Haktan comes from Hak, the Turkish word for God/Allah).

The chorus:

Korkma Ondan Bundan
Ne Ölümden ne hayattan
Bu Dünyada gördüklerinin
Hepsi Bir Hepsi Haktan

Translated:

Never fear of them, those

Neither death nor life

All that we see on earth

is one, coming from one God (Allah)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYs2iHHDRZg

I saw these guys live at Kurucesme Theatre just next to the Bosphorus. They are really good and worth checking out. Songs such as Anatolia deal with Turkish pride, while songs like 1000s In The Eastlands deals with the unnecessary suffering of Middle Eastern people. Definitely a band worth checking out.

Well, hopefully my plans aren't ruined again now and hopefully my site and APC forum are both up and running really soon now. Anyways, I will let you know when it happens.

For now, best regards to all of you.

Peace, and Allah Korusun.

An interview with... me

2008-03-18T14:44:00.001-07:00

Apart from my beloved Echo & The Bunnymen, only one band's lyrics and musical creativity has been moving me as much. The Smiths. The brilliant guitar riffs of Johnny Marr, the warm voice of Morrissey, and especially those fantastic lyrics, cut like a knife through every heart.

What attracted me to The Smiths isn't that hard to see: the lyrics are very poetic and sometimes romantic, sometimes eerie and depressed, with also often a political undertone. Lyrics about alienation, loneliness and being misunderstood are cliche, but Morrissey brings them in such an honest and in-depth way that I was amazed by so much lyrical beauty. As an Aspie, the aspie element in some songs also stroke me of course. "How soon is now" (and especially the line about going to a club, hoping to meet someone you connect with, but leaving disillusioned on your own) could be an Aspie anthem, while also songs such as "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" and the brilliant line "and then a strange fear gripped me and I just couldn't ask" are very recognisable to many Aspies, including me. The Smiths to me have always been a bit of an Aspie band, even though none of the members have any publically known diagnosis whatsoever, and of course the Smiths are much more.

Combining the eerieness and romance (such as There Is A Light... dealing with romance by wishing to die together and to never return home) but also sometimes deeply romantic ("No it's not like any other love, this one is different because it's us" from the song Hand In Glove) and sometimes just a bit satirical yet with a kick in the eye of politicians worldwide... The Smiths were diverse but never failed to amaze me with their musical and lyrical brilliance.

For over two years I have been a very active member of Strangeways, an internet fan community about The Smiths. Unlike other forums, who generally focus more on Morrissey and all he's done since the Smiths, Strangeways is really a Smiths forum (without completely ignoring Mozzer's solo work). The community has not a large number of very active members, but the hardcore members are extremely interesting and nice people who are always up for good craic but also for some in-depth discussions.

The forum has a long-term tradition of "Member of the Week" elections where the member of the week has to be interviewed by the other members. Last week I was, for the second time, the victim having to answer the questions :) My first time was 2 years ago when I was still based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Lot has changed for me ever since as I became even more into politics, experienced the beauty of two more home countries, and further expanded my artistic horizons by discovering a lot more bands, and fell in love deeply with the Middle East.

Those who want to read my views about issues such as romance, sexuality's role in society, capital punishment, the true meaning of gothness, life as a traveller, the politics of both my native country and the ones I have been living in ever since.... You can find the most recent interview here:

http://www.strangewaysherewecome.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1504

For all records, you find the older one from 2 years ago here:

http://www.strangewaysherewecome.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1180

Smiths fans in general are always welcome to join the Strangeways gang at www.strangewaysherewecome.co.uk

Peace to all, and Allah Korosun!

Victory, Not Vengeance

2008-03-04T17:43:00.000-08:00

Most songs in my music collection have a rather sad or sombre undertone. It is not that I so much love to dwell in depressive feelings, but it seems that it is much more difficult to write optimistic or hopeful songs that feel honest and coming from the heart. While a lot of songs manage to express feelings of loss, sadness and despair with the most beautiful poetic words that you immediately recognise yourself in, it seems only a handful of artists manage to write songs about those moments of bliss and joy that you immediately recognise your own experiences in. Many songs trying to reflect the feelings of joy fall into clichés.

There are exceptions though. Such as this one: "Standing" by VNV Nation.

VNV Nation are an Irish-British band (though operating from Hamburg, Germany) that are usually classified in the "futurepop" or "EMB" style of music (but I am not a specialist when it comes to labels...). The VNV in the band name stands for Victory, Not Vengeance, resembling the band motto to look forward with hope and ambition rather than looking back in bitterness.

The song "Standing" is about those special moments of ultimate joy, when all good things seem to just come together. The sort of moment so intense that you remember it for years to come, remembering it as if it was yesterday. The sort of moment you want to remember for life to look back upon during troubled times. And this is the exact point of the song: treasure those special moments, remember them as intensely and clearly as you can, and use them as a piece of strength when you most need it.

One line in the song especially sums up the message of the song completely, it is one of the very few optimistic lines from a song that really moved me and that is written in a way beautiful enough to really express the feeling in an honest and true way:

"I let the wind run through my hands, before I turn to walk away

In distant days I long to sense it all so clear"

Also the message of the chorus pretty much sums up the feeling well: "fighting time so hard I pray that this moment lasts forever".

However, as optimistic the song may sound, there is some hidden gloom if you wish it to be there, because the song also clearly points at the fact that no such feeling lasts forever and that darker times will come. However, focus on the poetic beauty of these lyrics and maybe it can give you some hope or strength as well, as I believe this was the original message as it was intended by singer-lyricist Ronan Harris.

A fan tribute to VNV Nation featuring this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsFlzhzxTlA

The full lyrics:

"Eyes betray the soul
And bear its thinking.
Beyond words they say
So many things to me.

A stranger here reborn it seems
Awaking wonders deep in me.
If nothing's ventured nothing's gained,
So I must seize the day.

And fighting time so hard I pray
That this moment lasts forever.
And will the world stay standing still
At least for me.

Through my eyes stare into me.
I bear my heart for all to see.
With my face turned to the sun
There ever standing still.

It wasn't you it wasn't me
It wasn't anything.
It was a day so long awaited
And a chance to be as me.

I let the wind run through my hands
Before I turned to walk away.
In distant days I long to
Sense it all so clear.

And fighting time so much I ask.
I will this moment last forever.
Though seasons change and things come to pass
Remain inside of me.

I had no faith before that time
In any vow or deed.
Days followed days and
Years were meaningless.
Despite the wisdom of defeat
I bore my heart for all to see
The wonders I'd seen.
The wonders I'd seen."

Also, as much as those who know me are not used to me liking pop tunes, another hopeful and uplifting song you may wish to check out is "Run" by Northern Ireland's new musical pride Snow Patrol. The song was not intended as a lovesong though, as the lyricist wrote it to try to give himself courage when he had ended up in hospital with some bad injuries and a serious depression. However, no doubt the song has lifted up many people who used a slightly different interpretation to the lyrics.

The official video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qen3Xovtfc

These few musical gems may keep you all busy while you really expected a football report from me probably. Well, I went to Tennis Borussia Berlin last Saturday, but upon arrival at the Mommsenstadion (one of Berlin's bigger and most famous arenas) I found the place desolate and the pitch water-soaked. The game was called off, while ironically the amateur team playing in the same street could have their game played due to their artificial grass pitch...

En Büyük Türkiye in Berlin!

2008-02-24T11:00:00.001-08:00

24/2/2008 : Hertha BSC Amateure - Türkiyemspor Berlin : 0-2

289 spectators

Berlin is sometimes nicknamed the "most Turkish city outside of Turkey". The number of Turkish immigrants in Berlin beats any other city in Europe. Almost half a million Turks live in Berlin. Turkish restaurants, shops and cafes are everywhere in the city. Especially the districts of Kreuzberg, Wedding and Neukölln are real Turkish bastions, although in other Berlin districts there are a fair number of Turks as well. While Berlin is multicultural in general with people from all over the world (something I, as a left-wing supporter of multicultural cities, strongly like), the Turks are dominant.

With all these Turkish people it was obvious Turkish clubs would be formed, including Turkish football clubs. At this moment there are lot of Turkish football clubs in Berlin. Names such as Hilalspor, SV Galatasaray Berlin, Trabzonspor Berlin, Yesilyurt Berlin, and more such names leave little to the imagination. All those clubs however are small amateur clubs in the very lowest leagues of German football.

One exception however became a success: Türkiyemspor Berlin. The club was founded in 1978 in Kreuzberg, the most Turkish of all districts of Berlin (some streets in this district have almost 80% Turkish citizens). The club was originally named Kreuzberg Gencler Birligi (similar to the popular Ankara-based club) however when it officially registered in the German Football Association it adopted the name Izmirspor as many founding members were immigrants from the Izmir region.

The club immediately appealed to a lot of people within the Turkish immigrant community and local merchants financially supported the club. To attract a wider audience, the name Izmirspor was dropped in 1987 and the new name was adopted: Türkiyemspor Berlin.

The club has been a success ever since, climbing the ladder to the semi-professional levels of the German league. In Europe, only 1 or 2 other immigrants teams have done better. Apart from that, Türkiyemspor has always been strongly multicultural with both Turkish immigrants and Germans in the team. The team has won several prices for their role in integrating immigrants into the local Berlin society, and they showed the outside world that multicultural teams could become a success. This inspired Turkish people in many other cities to set up their own local Turkiyemspor teams, which exist now in many German cities but also in Holland, USA, Australia and many more countries. So to say that Türkiyemspor Berlin has made a large impact, is an understatement.

The team won, only a few weeks ago, yet another trophy which rewarded them for their positive role when it comes to integrating immigrants and local people into an organisation. But as much as the club is proud of these achievements, they of course also aim for success on the pitch.

Türkiyemspor's biggest achievement was reaching the 3rd division of German football. They are currently in 4th division but are aiming to promote to the 3rd division again.

This season may very well be the perfect occasion for that promotion. Türkiyemspor has a good team and is currently in 2nd position. The only team ahead of them is the reserve (amateur) team of top division club Hertha Berlin. Hertha was 7 points ahead of Türkiyemspor and had not lost a game this season. This weekend was the big clash between the two top teams. If Hertha won this game, the gap was 10 points and the title was theirs. Türkiyemspor needed to win this game to come back to 4 points behind Hertha II and make the title race exciting again.

A very interesting game and I needed to be there. Who would I support? The answer is so easy to guess the question is unnecessary even. I lived in Turkey for a while and fell in a deep love with the country, I would even love to re-emigrate to Turkey. Plus, I love multicultural societies and clubs. So the answer was clear: I was hoping for a Türkiyemspor victory!

Note by the way that the teams play in an interesting league with also a few very traditional old clubs like Dynamo Berlin (the team from the former DDR police) and Tennis Borussia Berlin. A second Turkish team, SV Yesilyurt, was also supposed to play in this league, but they collapsed before the season started, leaving Türkiyemspor as the absolute nr 1 immigrants team in Germany.

The Hertha BSC Amateurs play their games in the (what a dull name...) Amateurstadion. This stadium is located within the quite impressive domain of Hertha BSC who have a lot of smaller training pitches next to the impressive Olympiastadion. The Amateurstadion is located next to the Olympiastadion, in the shadow of the big arena. From the stand of the Amateurstadion you see the impressive Olympiastadion right in front of you.

The Amateurstadion is decent, but that's all really. A small terrace behind the goal (terrace sounds more impressive than it really is) and a stand with seats. I think the capacity would be maximum 1000. Today, for a top game, there were only 289 spectators. If you realise that at least half of them were Turkiyemspor fans, you can imagine the Hertha fans don't really care about their amateur team. It is in my opinion not even justified that reserve teams are allowed to play in the regular leagues. But I of course liked the Turkish invasion of the stadium and had a nice time talking to the Türkiyemspor fans. Talking about how much we like Turkey, about Turkish football, ... You get the picture.

The game itself started slowly. Hertha had a bit more possession but Türkiyem had technically more gifted players. About 3 or 4 players were German and they also had 1 African player, the others were Turkish immigrants. The fans were 80 to 90% Turkish people, plus another few Germans who supported Türkiyemspor (and me of course :)).

The first chance was for Hertha: a high ball from the left side reached a player that stood totally isolated at the far post, he controlled the ball but then delivered a very weak shot right at the Türkiyemspor goalkeeper.

Türkiyemspor reacted with a long dribble but the shot went past the far post. Hertha got a free kick but the ball was kicked over the bar.

Some small chances, but nothing too special really. The game was, at that point, rather boring and luckily some conversations with the Turkish fans kept me awake...

Luckily Türkiyemspor realised they had to win this game to keep promotion within reach, and the technically gifted Turks started to attack. A few shots were blocked, the rebound was going straight at the Hertha goalkeeper.

Hertha woke up and also tried to react, with a long pass over the ground and a shot from the edge of the 11m line. The ball went straight into the upper corner of the goal, but the Türkiyemspor goalkeeper managed to catch without many problems. Another Hertha shot deflected on a Turkish leg, the ball bounced out of reach of the goalkeeper but Türkiyemspor was lucky to see the ball bounce just next to the post into corner.

Türkiyemspor reacted with one of the finest technical moments of the game, when a player dribbled past 4 or 5 defenders, only to be stopped by the Hertha goalkeeper diving into his feet to catch the ball. Great moment though.

A nice conclusion after a somewhat disappointing first half. One player however caught my eye: Türkiyemspor striker Fatih Yigitusagi, who was technically very gifted and was a constant threat to the Hertha defense. Remember that name, because he would play a decisive role later on in this game.

The second half was of a lot better level than the first half. Hertha immediately chose to attack with a shot from inside the box which however just missed the near corner and died in the wrong side of the net.

However, by this time Türkiyemspor really became the better side and the chances for the Turks came as well. First a very hard shot only narrowly missed the far post. Then another one of those beautiful dribbles came, but this time it was concluded with a shot right at the Hertha goalkeeper.

However, the pressure from Türkiyemspor was broken suddenly when a cross from the left from Hertha was headed in from close range. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced back into the field, the rebound from just outside the box aimed straight at the upper corner of the goal but the Türkiyem goalkeeper caught the ball with an excellent dive.

The big chances came and a goal was just a matter of a few more minutes. Rightfully deserved, it were the Turkish who scored the opening goal. A great pass over the ground from the left side of the pitch reached Fatih Yigitusagi in front of goal, who controlled the ball and perfectly shot it in the far low corner of the net. The Hertha keeper had no chance and the by far best player on the pitch had put Türkiyemspor in front.

Hertha just had to react but didn't manage to seriously bring any danger to the Türkiyemspor goalkeeper. On the contrary the opposite happened: once again Fatih Yigitusagi made a fantastic dribble (seems to be his trademark!) past several defenders, and this time (once again face to face with the goalkeeper) he shot the ball into the net.

0-2 and Türkiyem was in fact sure of victory at that moment. Hertha kept trying but never came close apart from one moment: a cross from the left was headed in from very close range at the first post, the ball bounced off the ground and into the arms of the Turkish goalkeeper.

That was it. 0-2 and Türkiyemspor is entirely back in the title race. 4 points behind Hertha II still, but this is a gap that can easily be closed. For the Hertha reserves, this was the first defeat of the season. With an away game versus the tricky Dynamo Berlin coming up, Hertha could be facing another very tough weekend.

While the Hertha players immediately went hiding in the dressing rooms the Türkiyemspor players danced and celebrated on the pitch, singing "Türkiyem Türkiyem Türkiyem" for minutes, then on to celebrate and hug the fans. I had a few more conversations with the Türkiyem fans before going home.

The first half was disappointing, but the second half was amusing and the best team won. The technically very gifted Fatih Yigitusagi was by far the best player on the field, and Türkiyemspor deserved this victory. Hopefully on to promotion now.

Also, the friendly Turkish fans and the very technically gifted players were a pleasure to deal with, and I am surely going to attend a home game of Türkiyem the coming weeks (their home is the Katzbachstadion not far from their native Kreuzberg district). Of course, as much as I like Berlin, I fell in love with Turkey and would love to emigrate to the Middle East again, but an afternoon like this, talking to the Turkish people (often with the subject how nice and beautiful Turkey is :)) was a nice moment while waiting and hoping to be back in the Middle East itself in the near future.

And I will finalise with a traditional chant of Turkish football fans and, given the Türkiyemspor victory tonight is very appropriate: "En büyük Türkiye !" (Turkey is the greatest!)

Dark Passion Play in Berlin : Nightwish

2008-02-22T13:34:00.001-08:00

First of all, I wish all welcome to my new blog. After failed attempts to keep the blog going in the past, I decided to start from scratch and hopefully this time we will make it work long-term :)

Yesterday was my first local concert since I am in Berlin. Finnish "symphonic metal" band Nightwish are on tour to promote their album Dark Passion Play. I never was a huge fan of them, basically due to not really knowing a lot of their music. What did attract me though were their album covers. Oceanborn pictures a woman laying just under the surface of the sea with a full moon above, while a fan t-shirt (which I bought long ago purely for the picture and poem) pictured a woman staring at the full moon at night, with on the back a poem that was an ode to the sea. The words "to be one with the waves" somewhat moved me. Also, I remember a Nightwish article that featured the quote "Every dream is just a journey away". Clearly they showed poetic potential, but somehow I never took time to discover the music. Until I heard the beautiful ballad "Sleeping Sun", an ode to the night featuring the trademark operatic vocals by Tarja Turunen.

My first interest was raised, and then in late 2005 Tarja was sacked from the band because of personal differences between her and the rest of the band. Since then my curiosity grew, and when new vocalist Annette Olzon from Sweden was introduced I was curious to hear the "new" Nightwish. I feared that without the typical opera-esque vocals of Tarja it would not feel like Nightwish anymore, but on the contrary, the more rock-orientated vocals of Annette pleased me and "Amaranth" was both musically and lyrically a really interesting song.

So to call me a fan would be exagerated surely, but my interest in Nightwish was there and I started listening to some older work as well. Since then I started heavily sympathising with the Finnish band. Especially the song "Nemo" moved me, with its beautiful chorus: "Oh how I wish for soothing rain, all I wish is to dream again. My loving heart lost in the dark, for hope I'd give my everything."

When I noticed Nightwish were coming to Berlin, my current home town, to promote the new album, the curiosity and interest in the band was big enough to buy myself a ticket. I was keen on hearing the new songs live, and curious how the older songs would be with Annette on vocals.

So yesterday was the big night. A 45 minute tram and subway drive took me to the Treptow Arena, located in (obviously) the Treptow part of Berlin, in the former East Berlin. The arena is in a nice location, just next to the river Spree with a nice promenade next to it. In the river, a bassin was built for open air swimming in summer, and next to the arena their is the famous Badesschiff where you can have a sauna and hot water bath with view on the Spree river. One of the hippest places in Berlin for sure. The arena itself surprised me as well. No small intimate concert hall, but a huge hall with room for almost 10000 people. The arena was practically sold out so my guess was that 7000 or 8000 people were present for Nightwish's arrival in Berlin. Luckily there was a stand built for those who prefer to sit down for the concert. I usually prefer front-row standing, but not at metal gigs, as I am not into headbanging and jumping around a lot. So this time I was happy with a seat, which by the way proved to provide me excellent viewing and without being blocked by tall people jumping in front of me :)

Support act was a metal band called Pain. Quite heavy with some typical metal songs and screaming vocals. Not bad, though not enough variation to really keep me interested the whole time. But that is OK, as this meant time for a last drink before taking seats for Nightwish.

Approx 9:00 pm the time had come for the main act. A darkened stage with the Nightwish logo and name on the background was awaiting while some classical sounding music served as intro until the lights went on and the band members walked on stage. After a very short welcome message, the band chose to immediately keep the crowd going with one of the heaviest songs from the new album: Bye Bye Beautiful, a goodbye message to former vocalist Tarja Turunen.

To those who were anxious about the new vocalist, it was clear from the start that any fears were irrational. Annette, who looked quite cute with a short skirt by the way (how the heck did I notice that ? :)) immediately proved to be a quality singer. From the first song on she sang perfectly, and her voice suited extremely well with the music. Also, she immediately showed her charisma, walking around on stage and interacting with the audience as if she had been part of Nightwish since the early days of the band. You could clearly see an Annette full of confidence and who really enjoyed her new role, she clearly adapted into Nightwish really well and song after song she would prove that all bad comments appearing on some websites were not justified. Band leader Tuomas, who also does the keyboards and writes all lyrics, has made an excellent choice with Annette as new singer.

The band also took care for a bit of show elements, as from the first song on firecrackers and flames were used on stage, especially during the heaviest parts of the songs flames rose from several objects on stage. It made me think a bit of Rammstein, though a bit more modest. Still, a nice addition to the show.

The band chose for a setlist with the best songs from the new Dark Passion Play album (surprisingly leaving out Eva, the first song that was released from the album... though it was clear the band chose for rock and no ballads tonight, as also Sleeping Sun was not played) along with some more classic Nightwish songs. And yes, also here, Annette did het job perfectly. Songs such as Nemo were risky to be played because most people know the songs so well with Tarja's voice which is entirely different from Annette's voice. But Annette sang the song very well and it definitely sounded as good as it always did, she never tried to copy Tarja but just gave the song a new interpretation.

I really was pleasantly surprised, not just by her vocals but also by the stage personality of Annette. I saw an Annette who was well integrated in the band, who enjoyed every moment of the gig, appeared full of confidence, and was joking around with the audience in a really spontaneous way. Somewhat unexpected, she threw condoms into the audience, stating to that fans "have fun, but do it safe". I never expected condoms at a Nightwish gig, but it was somewhat a pleasant bizarrity. Also, since the last album guitarist Marco is doing vocals as well (though only in a few songs) and the combination of the male and female vocals worked out really well.

The crowd interacted really well with the songs, and responded really enthousiast to the band. The pyro-effects were a nice addition though not even necessary. With the music alone the band was convincing enough as it is. They finalised the concert and evening with a really great version of Wish I Had An Angel, yet another moment proving Annette's vocals were really suiting the music well and that no older songs sounded any less good than before. All concluded, a nice concert which somewhat makes me enthousiast to maybe travel to another German gig of them as the tour will visit Leipzig, Hannover and some other cities not too far from Berlin.

I finalised my evening two subway stations further down the road, enjoying a few coca-cola's in the famous gothic/wave club K17. Thursdays are usually the best days in K17, and I was not disappointed. The Broken Ones (Diva Destruction), Just Like Heaven (The Cure), Kiss (my request ; London After Midnight), Passion of Lovers (Bauhaus), Bruise Pristine (Placebo) and My Girlfriends Girlfriend (Type O Negative) were an excellent conclusion to a nice evening before I really got too tired to continue the night.

Let's just say: my first Nightwish experience was a very good one, and I will definitely try to see more of their shows.