Well, I’ve now been to my first 18 shows and only have 5 left to do! I have loads and loads of photos to upload and lots of memories to write so it is going to take me ages, but I will do it!! :)

In the meantime, enjoy this clip from Al Murray filmed at the o2! Look out for me at the front taking a photo next to Nick!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=E74_kWQyuPA

and a couple of my photos of Roger in Liverpool!

We were going to get the train to Hamburg from Hannover but as Jens was driving and had stayed at our hotel the night before, we decided to get a lift with him! We left the hotel at 11.30am and arrived in a very wet Hamburg at 1.30pm. We met Pierre and his mum at the train station at 2.30pm and got the S3 train to a station vaguely near the venue. We had a 20 minute walk through a park in the pouring rain to get to the venue.

It was a cold and wet day in the queue but luckily we were undercover. We met some people from San Francisco who loved Paul Rodgers and they ordered a pizza to be delivered to entrance 3 of the arena!

We saw the band arrive by watching through a gap in a fence – I think I saw Brian’s hair!

We were moved to the fan club queue at 5pm and the doors opened for us at 6. We were let in as far as the doors to the floor and got to hear them soundcheck ‘We Believe’. I was finally getting to know the words by reading them on the autocue every night – just like Paul!

We were let through the final set of doors at 6.40 and stood on Roger’s side of the catwalk! No surprises during the show. Danny waved at me during ’39 and I made Paul’s PA, Brad laugh by doing some mad air drumming next to him during Bad Company. In my notes, I have written there was a joke about Roger having 2 shoes but I can’t remember anything about it!

The set list was the same as the night before:

Surfs Up… School’s Out
Tie Your Mother Down
Fat Bottomed Girls
Another One Bites The Dust
I Want It All
I Want To Break Free
C-lebrity
Seagull
Love Of My Life
39
Electric Bass Solo
Drum Solo
I’m In Love With My Car
A Kind Of Magic
Say It’s Not True
Bad Company
We Believe
Guitar Solo
Bijou
Last Horizon
Radio Ga Ga
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
The Show Must Go On
Bohemian Rhapsody
Cosmos Rockin’
All Right Now
We Will Rock You
We Are The Champions
God Save The Queen
We Believe was also played at the Soundcheck

It was a long journey back into the centre of Hamburg and we went for dinner in a steakhouse near the train station. We were all very tired after almost 3 weeks on the road and looking forward to flying home.

The flight home was from Lubeck, which is not really Hamburg so had to get up very early to get there. The flight left at 9.20 and we got back into Stansted at 9.45am UK time. It was a very long journey back from Stansted to Bristol – but it was all worth it!

We met Andrea at the hotel at lunchtime and got the tram over to the venue. Arrived there at 3pm and joined the normal queue but got moved into the fan club queue later on.

We were let into a holding area fist and the security woman asked what my inhaler was as I had it in my hand, ready to run! Luckily she spoke English so understood my explanation! We were then walked very slowly from the first holding area to a door to the arena floor. We were held again and heard them soundcheck ‘We Believe’ and ‘Small’! Unfortunately, they never played small during the tour even though it is such a lovely song!

We had a chat with the security guards and they let me, Gavin and 2 guys from the JDFK in first!

We were in the front row again, along the front of the catwalk! Andrea thought Brian kept looking at us during the show.

The setlist was:

Surfs Up… School’s Out
Tie Your Mother Down
Fat Bottomed Girls
Another One Bites The Dust
I Want It All
I Want To Break Free
C-lebrity
Seagull
Love Of My Life
39
Electric Bass Solo
Drum Solo
I’m In Love With My Car
A Kind Of Magic
Say It’s Not True
Bad Company
We Believe
Guitar Solo
Bijou
Last Horizon
Radio Ga Ga
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
The Show Must Go On
Bohemian Rhapsody
Cosmos Rockin’
All Right Now
We Will Rock You
We Are The Champions
God Save The Queen

After the show, we went to the German fan club party. It was in a restaurant in Latzen so Jens drove me, Terry and Gavin there! It took as an hour to get there after getting lost quite a few times! Had a great time at the party, we listened to Cosmos Rocks and Live At The Bowl! And drank a lot of wine! Jens drove us back to Hannover afterwards and stayed at our hotel. We finally got to bed at 3am!

We had a very early start and got the train from Mannheim to Hannover via Hildesheim at 6.30am!! Arrived into Hannover at 10am and went to the hotel to leave the bags! We walked round the city following a red line which was the official city walk!

We also went to the zoo – I found a barrier which I felt the need to run towards and some drums - so I played We Will Rock You!

Slept all afternoon then we went out for dinner with Pierre and his mum, Danielle.

Munich

We arrived at the queue around 12.30 to find Vern, Julie, Jens, Charlie plus one person from Germany and one from Argentina. It was a very quiet few hours.

At around 3.30, the queue was a bit busier and we got moved back. We had been chatting to a mad German guy who was there in case his ex girlfriend was queuing. He managed to sneak inside the venue and stayed hiding in the toilets until the soundcheck started. He tried to sneak out to watch it but someone spotted him and threw him out! It turns out he wrote ‘BRAIN RULES’ across his chest during the show and Spike Edney took a photo of him from the stage and published it in an SAS Band newsletter (see page 5). We Believe and Runaway were played at the soundcheck.

Terry joined the queue about 6.30 and said that the queue was still quite small compared to some of the other concerts.

They decided to open 3 doors on each side. Someone told me to go down to stairs near the candy store when I got inside and in the mad panic of running in and going down 2 flights of stairs, I suddenly saw the candy store and knew what to do! We stood at the front of catwalk, slightly to the right of the centre!

A Kind of Magic was back!!! And sung by Roger whilst drumming at the end of the catwalk! I almost fainted! What a great addition to the show!

The band had been to Oktoberfest the day before and they all came on for ’39 wearing German hats and Brian had a toy which played a funny song. He held it up to the microphone to play it and you can hear it on the download of the song from QOL! The band looked like they were having great fun and Brian smiled at us during ’39 and I’m In Love With My Car! Paul waved at me during Say It’s Not True. We were all swaying and Roger smiled at us! At the end of Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Paul wanted to give me his plectrum but he couldn’t reach so I held out my hands and he threw it right into my hands!

Brilliant gig with a great fun atmosphere!

The set list was:

Surfs Up… School’s Out
Tie Your Mother Down
Fat Bottomed Girls
Another One Bites The Dust
I Want It All
I Want To Break Free
C-lebrity
Seagull
Love Of My Life
39
Electric Bass Solo
Drum Solo
I’m In Love With My Car
A Kind Of Magic
Say It’s Not True
Bad Company
Feel Like Making Love
Guitar Solo
Bijou
Last Horizon
Radio Ga Ga
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
The Show Must Go On
Bohemian Rhapsody
Cosmos Rockin’
All Right Now
We Will Rock You
We Are The Champions
God Save The Queen