The Juze Hammerschlag Gig

People started coming in for the show at around half eight and I couldn't believe how quickly the time had gone. I'd had a great time talking to everybody. After another bottle of the wonderful Dinkel Acker the show began - a German band called Muff Potter played first and I don't really remember all that much about them except that one of the guys sang like Frankie Stubbs during the soundcheck. I was thinking it and then Ryan said the same thing out loud. Oh, they were ok I suppose but they just seemed to go on and on and on and on. They played something like an hour which seems like an extraordinarily long time for the first band on out of four!

The changeover was pretty quick though and The Tone followed soon after. Alison climbed up by the amps at the left side looking at the stage and peered over the top at the band which looked pretty funny. I danced myself silly for the whole of their short set which was pretty much the same as all the other ones I'd seen. That's no bad thing though! At the start of one song Dan said "This one's for Chris who's come all the way from London to see us….. and he's a bit of a twat!" :-) That was another nice moment and it made me glad that I'd made the effort to do this trip.

I must say something about the venue at this point - the Juze Hammerschlag. When the place had been empty earlier on in the day it had reminded me of a little skate park. There was a half pipe halfway down the room and ramps all at the back. It sounded really good too although there seemed to be a severe lack of communication between The Tone and the sound guy. Definitely must be that language barrier rearing its ugly head again!

Discount were the third band on and it was sad because I knew that it would probably be the last time I saw them play :-( Florida is a possibility in August but I don't know… we'll see. Alison came on in this weird crash helmet thing (that sound is too damn loud!) and the band proceeded to pummel through an amazing set. I've noticed that a LOT of the songs in the set are off Crash Diagnostic but that's fucking wonderful when there are songs on it like "The Kill Fix" and "Age of Spitting". Some way through the set I went to the bar to get a couple of bottles of water and when I got back there was this rude girl who'd just dumped her bags on my beer thus knocking it over. When I told her she just said "I don't care". Well fuck you. And she seemed to know the female on stage too. At least she seemed to when she took her top off and was left with not much else underneath. I was trying to look nonchalant but failing miserably, wondering what the connection was between those two. I don't think I wanted to know.

Things were getting very exuberant. Alison was writhing on the stage and then Todd decides to get undressed - right down to his underwear! C'mon, it was hot but hey! :-) The crash helmet made a reappearance and soon the set was over. It was beautiful and I was done. Utterly wonderful stuff.

Hot Water Music were on last and I knew it was the last time I would see them for a while too. I was right in front of Chris for most of the first half of the set and right from the first note I was being pushed from the back of me. I was so far forward I managed to headbutt Chris' guitar at one point! Oops! I got sick of the pushing after a while and so climbed on stage and stood at the side next to Todd, still in his underwear! He dived into the crowd once like that and I was urged to follow him. Unfortunately, I could tell when I got to the edge that the crowd would just part like the Red Sea if I dived and so I just kind of pathetically jumped on to the floor. Soon, I gave up in the crowd and clambered back on stage again. Todd was up there again and we were both getting really fucking into the music. So was Chris' microphone which kept electrocuting him and this pissed him off greatly (obviously!). He shouted at the sound guy "I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop me getting fucking electrocuted please!" then turning round and facing George said, "He hasn't got a clue what he's doing!" Todd ran across the stage again, slipped and went crashing down on the stage causing a big smirk and a laugh from Chris. It was that kind of night - exciting, exhilarating, a little crazy and quite unusual. The set seemed quite a bit different from normal, no "Better Sense" for example and that just added to it all. Hot, sweaty and strange… beautifully strange. The last song (I think) was Turnstile though and loads of people clambered up on stage to sing it. I grabbed the mic at one point and screamed "there's no point to surrenderrrrrrrr" but then flung the stand away from me as I realised I didn't know the part after that! Soon, it was all over and I couldn't quite believe it… The time had passed by so quickly and I didn't want to think that that was it. I said hey to the guy from the Snuff list who I'd met earlier on in the night (sorry, I can't remember your name). Then I bought a t-shirt from Bill for 25 Marks and started to feel a little bit out of place so I wandered outside. I didn't want to go though and so I slowly walked round the outside of the building. Happily, I saw Chris in the distance talking to a couple of people so I went over. We had a little chat but then Chris said he had to go inside to get something. "Stick around though. I want us to hang out for a bit." The minutes grew long and all I could think of was the long walk back. There was no sign of Chris and so I decided to go. I told Todd to "say goodbye to Wollard for me" and sadly trudged back the way I'd come that afternoon. Even though I'd had a fabulous day I felt empty, dejected and despondent for wasted opportunities and missed chances.

After the long long long walk back to the hotel it was about 2.30am so I just collapsed onto my bed and went to sleep. I dozed on and off for the rest of the night and all morning. My dreams were strange again and full of sadness. They were somehow comforting though and I didn't want to move from there. At last, at about 11.45am I got up and checked out.