The Frankfurt and Mark Owen Concert Post

[przed]

I've finally had some time to write up my fab trip to Frankfurt and my Mark Owen concert experience.


This is the ticket for the show. I've got to say, European concert tickets are very pretty objects. Though it's also lucky I could get the tix mailed to soundofthesurf, since the courier fees to Canada were more than the price of the ticket.


My flight landed Saturday morning, and I was lucky enough to spend all day Saturday with soundofthesurf. We checked out the concert venue, then went to the Römer, the old city hall, and had a lovely lunch in the neighbouring square.


Then we checked out the Palmengarten, the botanical garden in the city.


We checked into the hotel, and the Villa Orange was a really great little hotel. The staff recommended a nifty little restaurant in the neighbourhood for good German food--my request, since you can't get good wiener schnitzel in Toronto anymore--and we spent the rest of the evening there in their open air courtyard. Mostly we talked, about Mark and Take That and all sorts of other things. It was a fantastic day.

Sunday morning, we hooked up with rangerke in front of the venue. rangerke was planning on lining up all day, and I figured since I was already mad enough to fly over from Canada for the show, I might as well go all the way and do the all-day lineup. (soundofthesurf went off to visit a friend in the outskirts of the city.) This is the front of the line. The people at the front got there just after 4 a.m. They were really well-organized, and were giving everyone who arrived numbers so the line stayed reasonably organized.


I was number 32.


I have to say, that waiting in line was anything but a hardship. It was a lovely day--not too hot, not too cold--and I got to talk more Mark and TT and concerts in general with rangerke. In fact, the whole weekend was sort of like a TT convention in miniature, and it was great to be able to talk about Mark and the band with people who really got it and who shared the same level of knowledge/passion/obsession.

The hardcore fans who'd been there all day were entirely civilized, but an hour before the doors were due to open a whole bunch of people arrived who decided that they were going to jump the queue, and then it turned into complete chaos. The venue security were less than useless, and rangerke and I got swept up in the crowd. I have to say that there were a few minutes where I was honestly afraid that we were going to get crushed. But they finally started letting people in, and the crush eased.

If the queue hadn't got screwed up, we would have been first or second row, but by the time we got to the floor we would have been fifth row, and behind a bunch of tall people. That would have been impossible for 5-feet-nothing me, but then I noticed a riser right behind the last row. We got right at the front of it, and it gave us a completely unobstructed view at close to the same level as the stage. It was a brilliant place to watch from, and possibly even better than front row. Here's a screen cap of an interview Mark did inside the venue with were we were stood.


The opening act was a guitar-based German duo, Kids of Adelaide, and they were absolutely killer, and a great warm up for Mark.


By the time Mark hit the stage, the crowd was ready, and we all went totally berserk. Mark was wearing this really awesome white jacket. He looked happy and confident and really seemed to bask in the attention when he came out. (rangerke is convinced he's looking at me in this shot, and I'm going to go with that.)


One of the many highlights was when Mark did his new single, Stars. Some of the fans had bought a ton of star glow sticks, and they were selling them at cost to everyone in line. When Mark hit the chorus of the song, we all pulled out our glow sticks, and the fans who'd organized it threw star-shaped confetti at Mark from the front row. It was a genius moment, and Mark really seemed to groove on it. (Mark encouraged fans to throw the confetti again near the end of the concert, and he ended up with some of it stuck to him, he was that sweaty.)

This is my star glow stick, still with a little juice left hours after the concert.


Mark played guitar and keyboard for various songs during the show. They keyboard was dead in front of where we were, so we had an especially good view any time he was there.


He lost the jacket fairly early on in the show--it was incredibly hot in the venue where I was, and I'm sure way worse under the stage lights--and looked fab in his white t and black waistcoat. And OMG, did he put on an amazing show. He just seemed to be having such a wonderful time, the whole night, which made it even better for us. My personal favourite little moment was when he'd got an especially good reaction from the crowd and he turned back to his band and did this little wriggly dance of delight. It was such a Markie moment.


Musically there were so many highlights. Of the new songs, The One and Heaven's Falling were standouts for me. And during Heaven's Falling it was great to hear guitarist Ben Mark rock out on the supporting vocal.


It was also great to see Jamie Norton live. (We saw him outside the venue as we were waiting in line. He was heading towards us, carrying a keyboard case, but stopped before he got to us when he realized he was not heading towards the stage door.)


It was wonderful to hear Mark's older solo songs, Four Minute Warning, and Makin' Out and Believe in the Boogie live, especially with the crowd all enthusiastically singing along. Of the TT songs, Mark's version of The Flood was really lovely. I've never quite had the love for Hold Up a Light, but live it was quite transcendant. But not as transcendant as Shine. It's one of my favourite TT songs, and probably just one of my favourite songs ever, and this version live was everything I could have wanted. (Well, except for Howard and Jason lifting Mark up over a piano. *g*)

After the final song of the regular encore, a killer version of End of Everything, Mark stayed out on the stage and did a capella versions of both Babe and Up All Night, which was just a lovely way to end the concert.

Here's a last picture of Mark at his keyboard, with one of his merch mugs full of his honey and ginger tea. You can see his little good luck cat to the right of the keyboard. (He introduced the cat as his version of the TT giant elephant and robot.)


And here's my Mark mug, now firmly ensconced on my desk.


After the concert, we said goodbye to rangerke as she headed off to her hotel, then soundofthesurf and I headed off to Villa Orange. We stayed up until sunrise, talking about the concert and Take That and having a wonderful time, then got a couple of hours sleep before I had to head off to the airport and the return trip home.

It was an entirely brilliant trip, brilliant concert, and worth all the time, expense, and travel drama I went through. A week later, I'm still basking in the glow. (I was in a downtown bookstore on Friday getting some birthday books for my mom when I realized they were playing Shine on the sound system--and I've never heard TT before in a Canadian store--and it just put me in such a good mood for the rest of the day.)

Comments

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

That sounds really great! Thank you so much for putting together such a comprehensive illustrated report for us! I'm so glad it all went well and that you had such a lovely time.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Creating this post was entirely enlightened self interest on my part. It let me revisit a fantastic night, and put together a permanent record of it. *g*

[sunshine-2525.livejournal.com]

What a brilliant report, well worth waiting for :-) And what a brilliant weekend you had!

Your pictures are so good, beautiful :) Of course Mark is looking at you in that pic!

You were very lucky that he wore a nice white jacket instead of that other one *g*.

How rude of the people coming late jumping the queue like that! It sounds like a really scary moment too, with the chaos that followed :( Luckily it turned out great for you anyway. It had been awful if you had ended up not seeing anything considering the fact that you had been queueing all day.

I loved that about the glow sticks and star-shaped confetti! What a fab idea!

It's really good to hear that you had such a great time, especially when travelling all the way from Canada :)

Oh, and that ticket is so much cooler than the one I got for the Sheffield gig. Mine is just a plain ticket, without the artwork or picture of Mark. Lucky you who also got the mug!

Thanks for a lovely lovely report. It put a big smile on my face on this otherwise dull Monday afternoon :)

[przed.livejournal.com]

It was a completely brilliant weekend, and the post was fun to put together.

Most of my pics were dodgy, but these ones turned out nicely.

I have to admit to wishing bad karma upon the queue jumpers. Especially since they were utterly unrepentant when it was pointed out to them that the rest of us had been waiting all day. But in the end it all worked out. (It was a small enough venue that there were multiple places we could have watched from. But we definitely scored an awesome spot.)

The glow sticks were brilliant. (The Sweetie was impressed by the organization of those fans, and so was I.)

I'm glad I lucked out with the ticket. And the mug! We all got one, but only by buying them before the gig started. They were sold out afterward. (Here's hoping he sells it online.)

Glad I could put a smile on your face. Thinking about the gig certainly made me happy again. *g*

[sunshine-2525.livejournal.com]

I'm also hoping they will be selling the mugs online later on. In Sheffield, when I got inside the venue I also first went to the merchandise stall, but there was already a bit of a queue there and as I wanted to get a good spot for the gig I didn't want to wait in that queue. I thought that it would be no problem shopping after the gig instead. The annoying thing is that the mugs sold out just a short time before it was my turn :( Oh well, at least I got a good spot for the show, which was more important than getting a mug :D

[przed.livejournal.com]

We had a double-pronged attack for the mugs. Since soundofthesurf didn't want to be close, she was going to buy an extra mug for me. But after we'd staked out our spot, I hit the loo and realized there was no lineup at the merch table, so I picked up a mug too. (I figured that there would be someone who wanted it if we ended up with an extra.) In the end, they sold out before rangerke could get one, so she took the extra. It only worked because there was more than just me, though.

And yes, a good spot for the show is the most important thing!

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Hiya. Thanks for this - I really enjoyed reading it, which is all the more remarkable because I don't actually know anything about Mark or his music. (Try not to look too appalled :)) But it was brilliant and somehow it now seems completely reasonable that you should spend a day in a queue after crossing the Atlantic.

I've heard that queuing arrangements for big events can be half the fun. Or, well, not half the fun, but at least some fun :) Delighted to hear that was true for you. Well, until the queue-jumpers arrived. Grr. I've ended up in great conversations in queues for events, so I can only imagine what it's like when you multiply it by however many people are in the queue around you.

Fab photos, too.

Really enjoyed, thanks.

[przed.livejournal.com]

I don't actually know anything about Mark or his music.

Oh, you don't know how hard I'm restraining myself from doing a potted history of Mark and his music for you. (That's how halotolerant reeled me in. *g*)

But I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the report. And yeah, approached with the right attitude the queue can be a fun part of the adventure.

[asilia.livejournal.com]

I'm so jealous - we didn't get nice tickets like that in London :(

But I do have that mug as well :D I always end up buying mugs at concerts, I have like 10 TT ones at home from their tours, lol.

I find it funny that I always know quite a few of the people who are queuing at Mark/TT concerts - I recognise a lot of them on that pic you posted ;) In London, people were actually camping outside the night before - crazy!!! I don't really see the point in such small venues, tbh.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Ah, but you got Howard in London. Surely that's worth the loss of fancy tickets. ;-)

This is my first concert mug, and it's a beauty. (I usually go the t-shirt route, but I find I'm not wearing them as much these days, and they're also not making them in sizes/styles that fit me right. I'm too wee, in the wrong ways.)

I imagine it's like any community, where you get to know the players. (I'm like that with Toronto film events, where I've got to know a number of people who turn up at the same events I do.) The Frankfurt venue forbade camping overnight, or I'm sure some of them would have done it.

I wouldn't normally have waited so long for a venue like that--it was a tiny place, and there were multiple places I would have been fine with seeing the concert from--but since it was quite possibly my one and only shot at seeing Mark solo, I figured I'd go for the whole fannish experience.

[asilia.livejournal.com]

I think I only ever got nice tickets for The Circus tour - those were very pretty (but then again I loved the whole theme and the colours so they could hardly go wrong...)

I have a bunch of shirts but I've realised I never wear them - sometimes because it wouldn't be fitting to go to the office in a TT shirt (I'm already stretching their tolerance with my tattoos...) and sometimes because I'm worried to make them look less pretty if I wash them too many times. Not that I ever use the mugs I buy, mind you. I have them on display in a glass cabinet, together with my tour programmes and other TT memorabilia I've collected on tours :)

Yeah, although I'm not really friends with any of those people - they're the ones who are *always* first row (even at every stadium gig they went to, no idea how that is even possible, lol), they always manage to meet the boys etc. I don't really care about any of that - I've never actually queued in my life (at least not for more than a few hours) but that's because we mostly go for seating tickets so we hardly ever have to. We did in London for about an hour because there was unreserved seating and we were worried we wouldn't find 5 seats together - we had good seats in the end but never used them because we went to stand on the side with Howard, lol.

[przed.livejournal.com]

I'll bet the Circus tickets were beautiful. That whole album/tour was just beautifully designed.

I tend to wear my favourite concert shirts frequently, though not to work. ;-) (I've got a whole bunch of funky outfits from local designers for work. *g*) I just try to embrace their ephemeral nature and not worry when they eventually die. :-/

I reckon if I ever make it to a TT tour--which I'm determined to--I'm just going to go for reserved seats. I don't want to do that sort of crazy queue, especially if I've got Ros with me.

[asilia.livejournal.com]

Yes, reserved seats are generally very comfortable - we had unreserved seating in Wembley once, which was fine as well, although we were very far at the back (because we didn't queue) but on the Progress tour, every stadium had reserved seating which made things a lot easier (one of my TT friends who I almost always go to gigs with is quite sick so she needs have seats anyway).

And especially in stadiums, I think standing is only worth is if you are willing to queue properly so you get really close to the stage, otherwise you won't see anything (I'm not exactly a giant either and usually end up behind the tall person in high heels).

I'm still hoping TT will do another arena tours - arenas in the UK are all-seated so there is no queuing and no pushing and you have a nice view from wherever you are...

[angel-ci5.livejournal.com]

Excellent and impressive report! And what a fantastic view you had!
Lovely pics (I much prefer that white jacket to the one he wore in London).

And didn't he sound great? I loved hearing the old and new songs, thought they sounded fantastic. :)

[przed.livejournal.com]

I couldn't have asked for a better view. And was quite happy we got the white jacket. ;-)

And yes, he and his band sounded fantastic. I went in with high expectations and prepared to be a bit disappointed, but Mark lived up to my hopes and then some. And he nailed both the old and new songs. The One was one of the highlights for me, and that wasn't even a song that had jumped out off the new album for me, but it was killer live. And Shine was just genius, of course. :D

[blinking7i.livejournal.com]

I was there too. Right behind you in the queue, number 35 :D
The concert was absolutely brilliant. Loved every second of it.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Oh my, wish I'd known! We could have chatted. Hope you managed a good place inside.

It was utterly brilliant, wasn't it?! One of the best shows I've ever seen, no exaggeration.

I've added you as a friend. More TT friends are always a good thing.

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

Oooooh how lovely! Your first time with (some of) TT live! It's just brilliant isn't it? *g* I think 'Hold up a Light' does have to be live to really make sense, and then suddenly it works so, so well. I'm so glad you got a good view in the end and that it was so good *pats Markie proudly* It sounds really magical - there is, as you say, a fan convention feel to going to see TT/members of TT - I have ended up sharing life stories with many random people I've been near or stuck next to in crushing exit queues, etc. That mug is very pretty (I'm always so pleased when there's nice merchandise, the Circus stuff was all gorgeous, the Progress stuff not quite so much, although I did wind up with a very expensive t-shirt due to freezing to death one night and it being my best option!)

Thanks for sharing all these lovely pics and your experience *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

It was a completely fantastic experience, from beginning to end. And Mark was soooo good. I really was steeling myself to be a bit disappointed, but I needn't have worried. And wow, I wasn't expecting to like Hold Up a Light nearly so well. I was a tad disappointed when I saw it on the set list.

I was quite pleased with the mug. I'm getting pickier about merch in my old age, but I should have known Mark would have some lovely stuff. (I toyed with paying 50 Euros for a limited art print he had, but reason prevailed. Even though it would have looked fab in our stairwell with my theatre poster collection.) And hey, I've got a t-shirt from Bowie's Glass Spider tour that was also bought to stave off hypothermia, so I know whereof you speak. *g*

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

Ah, what a way to relive that perfect evening! Why oh why did I miss the little wriggly dance of delight…? That’s classic Markie and one of those many reasons you can’t help but love him ;) Would you happen to remember at about what point in the show this was?

The One really is something special live, isn’t it? Already was one of my favourites (among favourites ;)) on the album, but live.. Just wow. (Love the drums and Ash was totally rocking it out too ;))

Hope you're still enjoying your afterglow and that bookstore gets big bonus points for playing Shine!

[przed.livejournal.com]

The wriggly dance of delight was classic, but very, very quick. I don't remember which song he was doing, but he'd lost the jacket already and I think it was about halfway through the set. He'd just got a huge crowd reaction for something, and turned to face Ben and Ash, and got his arms up and just...wiggled.

I liked The One already, but seeing it live has kicked it into my top three on the album. (The others being Animals and Heaven's Falling. And End of Everything is definitely up there too.) And yeah, Ash totally rocked it out live. And on the album.

I really am still enjoying the afterglow. Which is awesome. Usually that fades in a couple of days, but not this time. And yeah, bonus points to Indigo for having Shine on there music mix. That didn't hurt either. \o/ Hope you're still enjoying the afterglow too.

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking this (13:05) could very well be the wriggly thing ;) Even if it isn't, that's exactly what I was picturing from your description. *g*

Animals was the first song on the preview that got stuck in my head like crazy, catchy stuff. Yeah, noticed Ash is the drummer on the album as well, so nice to have 'the real thing' on stage. The band seemed to have great chemistry, they should just stay together and keep touring (a little break to do TT-stuff is allowed :p).

That's great! The Markie effect is magical. Every time I feel a bit down because the tour's over, I just watch vids of the live shows and that brings the wonderful glow right back!

[przed.livejournal.com]

That was it! You found it! The only difference was from our angle I could see he had this adorable grin on his face when he did it.

I was a wee bit disappointed he didn't do Animals live, but I suppose something had to go. And yes, I do hope the band sticks together. He's certainly stuck with Ben and Jamie for a long time. (One of the very bittersweet things on the Live at the Academy DVD was a bit on the making of where Mark is talking about how great his band are, and he says "They're my band and no one can take them away from me." This tour was like him getting that back again.)

I haven't watched any vids of the tour yet--I didn't want to displace the images in my head--but I think I have to rectify that. Once I have time!

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

I was lucky, think it was only the second Frankfurt vid I watched! His expressions are priceless, but I pictured there would be a smile and I can just feel the grin radiate from him ;)

He should have done Animals, and S.A.D (I'll give him a pass on the bonus tracks, even though I'm still very much in love with Ghost) and definitely some more songs from IYOT and HTMF. And he could have, if he would just have chosen a reasonable duration for the show ;) I believe you wrote something about the Sweetie informing you that British sets for club dates are known to be shorter. Well.. That part of the British experience sucks :p

Bittersweet indeed! Thankfully he could arrange a spot for them in the Take That band. And I love the songs they wrote as a trio for The Circus (How Did It Come To This!). But during the Progress era Jamie and Ben had to take a step back again, so it must have been great for the three of them to write TAODN and perform together!

As long as you can enjoy the images in your head I can imagine you don't want to displace them. You can always go back and watch those vids. I need them, because my images have been blurred by all emotion ;)

[przed.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you found that video. It definitely makes me happy.

I'm with you on wishing Mark's set was (much) longer and took in more of his solo songs. But after the Sweetie informed me that 45 minutes was not unheard of for a British club set, I was thankful we got as long as we did. (Boo for short British sets!)

Oh, I didn't know they wrote How Did It Come to This! That's awesome. And Hold Up a Light too, which I now recognize is genius.

It's definitely a tour I wish I could have seen more than once so the moments would be more firmly ingrained in my memory, but I'm happy with the little moments I've held on to. Once they're faded a bit I'll go looking on YT.

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

45 minutes?! I'll complain no more ;)

Isn't it awesome! And I think it's the perfect song for Jason, he looks so happy and confident performing How Did It Come to This. Wooden Boat is beautiful because of its vulnerability, but I really started appreciating Jason's voice because of How Did It Come to This. Hold Up a light definitely is genius, always nice when you truly start appreciating a song! I agree with Howard, it's a real rock and roll song of Take That ;)