Cologne, a private concert

Hi folks .... again!  ;-)

This is the concert report from Cologne, July 10th 1998. Actually The Corrs
were supposed to be the supporting act for the Simple Minds ...... but not
for us !!!!!!


After a long night of preparing new banners and signs ... and having a "Pizza
a la Corrs" (selfmade, everybody could create one sector of the pizza as
he/she wanted to) for brunch, we arrived at 13.00 in Cologne for finding out
which entrance would be best for getting to be in the front row. There weren't
many people around except the stage crew which was still setting up the stage.
So we decided to wait by the backstage entrance hoping to meet The Corrs when
they would arrive.

Nothing happened. It was raining a bit, but fortunately it stopped soon (this
was an open air concert). And some time later a crew member told us that the
Corrs wouldn't be there for a soundcheck and would only arrive a few moments
before they were going to play.

So around 17.00 we joined a small group of  Simple Minds-fans by the entrance
which was the closest to the stage. There were three entrances and we were
worrying about the other entrances getting opened before ours.

The gates opened at 18:00. Unfortunately we were not the first to be let in
from the gates. But Raymond got a place a bit right of the center --- FRONT
ROW !!! The rest of our group managed to convince some Dutch Simple Minds fans
beside Raymond to swap places for the duration of The Corrs concert.

Security was a little strict: we weren't allowed to sit down while waiting for
the concert or to keep our stuff on the other side of the fence "It is too
dangerous". We had to wait for 1.5 hours before the concert's beginning.

A few minutes before the concert started we prepared our signs. Then when The
Corrs walked on stage we held them front side up, spelling ' T H E  C O R R S'
(each letter was written on a single sheet of paper). The Corrs smiled when
they saw our signs and recognized us from Luxembourg .... YEAH!
After that we turned the signs around, so The Corrs could read the letters on
the back: 'W E' R E  B A C K'. They started laughing at this !

The first song was 'When he's not around'. Nobody was clapping except us.
After we had presented our signs, we rolled out the banner which said "Did you
miss us?!" which again got the Corrs smiling. 

Next in the concert was "No good for me" followed directly after WHNA. We were
really surprised to hear that because it was a short concert. Instead of this
we expected them to play WCID and some songs from the FNF album, like Runaway,
but they didn't play any of them.. After the song had finished, Andrea made
some comments: "We have played here before and it's nice to be back... and its
nice to see familiar faces" -- she was looking directly at us when she  said
this. Then she continued quietly (in response to our banner which was still
rolled out) "Yes of course we missed you... it's been such a long time since
the last time we have seen eachother". :-) (Ironically meant 'of corrs'......)

The first instrumental was "Carraroe jig". Now the crowd joined us in clapping
and cheering enthusiastically. During this song we shouted "One - Two - Three
- Four" along with Andrea, she was looking at us and smiled. :)

There were a lot of photographers taking pictures when the Corrs played these
three first songs, and some of them also took pictures of us and our
signs/banners!

After Carraroe jig when Andrea said "Thank You" to the audience in response to
the cheering and clapping, Renate held a banner saying "You're welcome!".

During "Haste to the Wedding" we prepared our second set of signs, four sheets
of papers with the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 written on them.  Andrea saw them
before we were ready, and at the appropriate time during the song she pointed
to each one of us holding the signs in turn, as we put them up and counted to
4 with them. :-)  It was a great moment!

"Hopelessly addicted" - It seemed to us as if Andrea dedicated this song to
us. She smiled into our direction and put her hand on her heart when she sang
the chorus.

The next song was "Dreams". Andrea announced it as a song of a great band. And
in opposite to the concert in Luxembourg she dominated Fleetwood Mac this
time.

Going on with the concert The Corrs performed INLYA. Andrea was shaking her
hips more often and  more vehement than she did ever before. Like for all the
other songs she seemed to enjoy our engagement very much.

The last but one song :-( was "So young". Renate uses always to raise her
hands for the chorus. Andrea saw that and kept on with laughing.
Helen and Jim also had a very good time. Maybe you remember the little story
about Helen's little hand (an illuminated hand made of plastic from a Michael
Jackson concert).
In Luxembourg Jim tried to make her (Helen) clear that the way she was holding
her little hand meant, that he was supposed to double-f**k himself.
This time Helen hold it the right way. Jim saw that, stopped playing his
guitar to show his "real two fingers" varying by way of suggestion!!! Only the
"Front Row" knew what he meant and we were laughing out loud as Jim did !!!

When the Corrs were playing Toss the Feathers at the end of their set, we
rolled out the banner which said "It was f**king brilliant!!".  This made
Andrea laugh so hard that she had trouble playing the tin whistle. :-)  The
rest saw it as well and laughed, including the guitar and bass players.

As The Corrs were leaving the stage, we rolled out the banner saying "Nooo....
Please Stay!"  When Jim saw this he just spread his hands in a helpless
gesture. :-)

After The Corrs' set ended we all (The front row - even those who actually
wanted to stay for the Simple Minds act) ran out of the concert area to wait
at the back door for The Corrs. All the Simple Minds fans looked at us like we
were crazy. :-)  We had to wait about half an hour before the Corrs came out,
but we didn't get to talk to them because they were going to do a TV interview
(we don't know for what program). But they told us they would be back in a few
minutes. So it was some more waiting for us, but it was worth it the moment we
saw The Corrs walking back our way.  We clapped for them as they walked toward
us.

Renate had prepared a present for them with a little help from Helen. She made
a nice collage of photos from the gig last month in Cologne and we had wrapped
it up in very cute rapping paper. Renate handed over the gift to Sharon with
Andrea and Caroline standing next to her and told them it was a little gift
for them and their parents. Sharon asked if they could open it and we
responded with 'yes, of course'. Sharon then started opening the present and
they loved it. Andrea commended straight away at the picture with her pulling
the same undescribable face as on the photo from wednesday. They told us they
would give it definitly to their parents as they would love it too. Then
Sharon and Andrea gave Helen, Renate, Mikko and Raymond all a kiss as a thank
you. Unfortuantely Wolfgang was busy with taking pictures and hunting for more
autographs .... So: no kisses for him!
Wolfgang also had a small conversation with Jim and John. W. prepared a new T-
shirt (a different design than his shirt for Luxembourg) with a picture on its
front which was taken in May in Cologne. While Jim was signing it, John said
to him that it might be a bootleg. Wolfgang explained to him that he has taken
that picture with his own camera and that this shirt is the the one and only
in the world for his own use. The two of them smiled and said "Well done".
We asked then if we could take a picture with the four of them, but suddenly
Jim had disappeared already leaving his sisters with all the attention. Of
course they had no problem with that. Renate asked then Caroline if she had
changed her shoes. She started laughing. Andrea told her that Helen had
written a little note during the concert with the remark about her lovely
white sneakers. Caroline was a bit embarrassed, she told us she had forgotten
to bring her black shoes. It wasn't very charming, but it was good for a
laugh.....
We had made some beautiful t-shirts with the faces of our 4-some on it. We
asked them to sign them. Renate told Andrea that they weren't original ones, 
but that we would use them for personal use. She really didn't mind, she
really liked them. According to Mikko, Andrea even said she liked our shirts
better then the originals!!! Only John was looking a bit worried.
The security and John were really anxious to leave, but the girls took their
time for us!!! They must love us......

That day was an experience we will never forget: The concert was very special
because we felt like the Corrs were only performing to us. We had a great
place in the front row and there were just only a few Corrs fans present, so
we got a lot of attention and smiles. :)

There are a few more things to mention:
Even some Simple Minds fans loved The Corrs' performance. They were asking
after the concert for what the group's name is and told us that the music is
great.
We also can welcome a new fan. Actually he joined us for only the Simple Minds
concert. But after this fantastic "supporting act" by The Corrs he decided to
come with us for meeting them by the backentry.
The third thing to mention is that two Simple Minds fans said that The Corrs
performed better than the SM.


Desperate waiting for the next meeting with THE CORRS....


Helen, Renate, Mikko, Raymond and Wolfgang