Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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 ...