This is the concert report from Hamburg, Freilichtbühne.
July 7th, 2000.


List of people attending (at least):
Mikko (Finland), Daniel (Sweden), Melanie, Thomas, Wolfgang, Rena
(Germany), Helen (Netherlands), Deborah, Kerena, Lucy, Val, David (UK).
Some we forgot, probably (sorry!).  And lots of others, 6000 tickets
sold out :-)

Some of the people got there before noon, so it was about 6 or 7 hours
of waiting.  The soundcheck even before the band arrived took quite a
long time, we heard bits and pieces of backing tape sounds and testing
instruments starting around 2pm.  The Corrs arrived around 4:30pm, but
they just drove through inside the gates, so all the fans waiting
outside got was waves through the windows.  After that the real sound
check with the band began, and we heard Breathless, Runaway and parts of
other songs while waiting at the gate.

There was just one entrance for the audience (good!), with 3 different
gates.  We were the first group of people in the queue so we got front
row positions quite easily.

The stage was set up at a park, at an "amphitheater" shaped area. The
stage was on the ground on a part which was higher than the audience
area, and in between was a waist-high stone wall with a bit of
grass-covered ground rising up to the stage.  No fence, no security
guards -- they were all sitting at the side of the stage. The band could
have walked down directly from the stage to us, if they had wanted to.

There was a support act, a guy called "Birth" singing and playing
acoustic guitar for about 25 minutes.

After that there was a 35 minute wait.  The crowd started getting more
and more excited.  There was a cheer every time the song from the tape
ended, and "boo" cries when the next one started.  Then finally, at
about 8:20pm, the concert started.  The intro was the orchestral version
of Erin Shore played from a tape, during which first Caroline, then Jim,
and finally Sharon and Andrea walked on stage.


The Setlist

1. Lough Erin Shore (intro tape)
2. Only When I Sleep
3. What Can I Do
4. Irresistible
5. Forgiven Not Forgotten
6. At Your Side
7. Give Me A Reason
8. Radio
9. Runaway
10. Old Town
11. Joy Of Life
12. Queen Of Hollywood
13. Dreams
14. No More Cry
15. I Never Loved You Anyway
16. Breathless
- - -
17. So Young
18. Toss The Feathers


Good parts of the concert:

During the chorus of "Irresistible", Mikko and Daniel rolled out a big
banner which was done with spray-paint painted letters on a wallpaper
roll.  It took about 8 people to hold it when rolled out. From about 5
or 6 meters away, the band could read the text pretty well :-), it said
"You're Irresistible!"  We didn't see Caroline's reaction, but Andrea,
Sharon and Jim all laughed at it and looked very happy about it.

After Irresistible Andrea talked some, first she thanked some guys also
at the front who had an Irish flag, and then she pointed at Mikko and
Daniel and called us "Evil things" (but with a smile!).  :-)  We later
found out that this was because we made her laugh while she was supposed
to be singing...

In general, the FnF and ToC songs were performed pretty much same the
way as during the ToC touring.  Runaway had Caroline playng a small
keyboard as the piano, and during the beginning Jim was off the stage.
Toss The Feathers had Caroline's drum solo, which included a new part.
All of the songs from the new album sounded MUCH better live.  On the
album the songs are over produced and too polished. Performed live, they
have more emotion and they have a fresher sound because they are
performed with the instruments on stage.  It's difficult to describe,
but trust us, they're better live. :-)

Andrea seemed very happy and she was moving and dancing around on the
stage a lot more than usual.  She also spoke to the audience quite a
bit.  Once she tried to come closer to the audience to sing in front of
the monitors but unfortunately had to back away because of the sound
circulating (or whatever the term is...).

Andrea had a cold, but it didn't seem to affect her voice or performing
at all. She said that it's one of their first concerts for the new album
and after a long time without performing, it's great to be back doing a
concert and remember the reason why you do this job.

Old Town was the surprise song of the set.  Jim played a different
keyboard which was placed left of the drum kit, between Anto and Andrea.
Caroline came to the front to sit on a stool and to sing and play a
tambourine.  Before they began the song, Mikko showed up his "drumstick"
sign with an arrow pointing downwards. This was the third time in
concert.  The first time was at Skelleftea, where she saw the sign while
they were walking of the stage and didn't have the drumsticks with her,
so couldn't throw them.  The second time was at Lansdowne, where Mikko
succeeded in showing it to Caroline again (got a laugh from her then)
but it was too far to get the sticks...  So this being the third time,
Caroline laughed a lot when she saw it. :-)  Mikko also made a praying
gesture saying, "Please!!" :-)

During I Never Loved You Anyway, Caroline threw one drumstick up to the
air -- but she didn't catch it when it came down! :-)  Jim saw this and
was laughing at it (too).

The band introduction was done during I Never Loved You Anyway, and
after the song ended Andrea said "Thank You" and "Guten Nacht", then
walked off the stage.  The rest of the band stayed and looked after her,
wondering where she had gone!  We saw John Hughes rush off after her and
then after about a minute, she walked back on stage.  She looked
*rather* embarrassed, and greeted the audience with "Guten Abend". :-)
After this they went on to perform Breathless, the REAL last song of the
set before the encores.  (Breathless rocks live! And quite a lot of the
audience seemed to be singing along, or at least WE were...)

Then they left the stage and stayed away for quite a long time, maybe
even 5 minutes.  Then the usual encores were played, So Young and Toss
The Feathers.  While they were winding down SY, Jim was shouting
something to the other people on stage..  And then we were treated the
long version of the song, same as at Lansdowne, with Andrea leading the
audience into "Yeah-yeah-yeah" singing... This went on for quite a
while, before the song was properly ended!

During Toss The Feathers, Mikko and Daniel tore open the bag of
feathers, grabbed a handful each, and then passed the bag onward.  Then
followed a lot of tossing feathers, which made up a small cloud..  At
the end of Toss The Feathers, Andrea took the tin whistle and threw it
to Daniel.  Daniel showed a sign with "Keyboard? :-)" and an arrow to
Jim, which made Jim and Sharon laugh.  Daniel was rewarded by Jim
throwing a water bottle to him, no keyboard though. :-) Then Jim also
tried to throw the guitar pick, but failed and it landed on the stage.

After the band was finished and had done the usual bowing to the
audience together, Caroline ran down the small bit of grass and handed
the pair of drumsticks to Mikko!  FINALLY!!! :-)

After this Daniel climbed up to the grass and threw himself forward to
grab the guitar pick. He managed to just get it before the security
guard got him and urged him back. :-)

The audience was very good, they cheered and sang a lot.  Runaway was
not completely sung by the audience, but we did do a pretty good job
during the "sing along" part. :-)  The Corrs were visibly impressed too
by the audience's reaction.


After the show, some of us went to an Irish pub for a few hours of good
time (including getting FnF played there..).


The next day, Daniel, Mikko, Helen and Wolfgang went to the airport to
see Kerena and Lucy off.  We accidentally managed to meet up with the
band there while they were on their way to Switzerland.  It was very
quick, they were in a hurry, so it can be summarized with "Hi, good gig,
thanks, bye!" and a photograph taken.


By: Mikko, Daniel, Melanie and Helen. Wolfgang contributed by sleeping
in the chair. :-)