Left Bristol on the 2.30pm train- got phone calls and texts from both Gavin and Vern about Roger on Richard and Judy as I was missing it. Brian didn't turn up as he was ill- very worrying- hope he is better for the gig tomorrow!!
Got to Gatwick about 5pm and met up with Andy who was also flying out to Cologne but on a different flight 5 mins after me! LOL! We had a couple of drinks in the bar there then I had to go and board my flight- I was so nervous as this was the first time I was ever going to fly on my own! Arrived in Cologne at 9.30pm and found Brigitte and Eliza waiting for me at the airport!!!! Yay! I was telling them about Brian in speedos in Lisbon which made Brigitte take the wrong turning of the motorway! After we got on the right road, Brigitte drove us to the hotel past the musical dome where We Will Rock You Cologne is on!
We went to the hotel and had a few drinks from an outside bar thing. When we were going to sit down at the table, I happened to look over at the hotel entrance and who did I see going through the revolving doors!?! Roger Taylor!!!!!!!!! I actually spotted Justine, his PA first but then I saw a white shirt and I knew it was him! We saw some people up on the first floor of the hotel from outside and were sure it was Roger and Paul with the rest of the band - we saw them head downstairs then they came out the front door and it was just some randoms!!! At around 1am the bar had shut and some more Queen fans had turned up- Matti had been telling us that he had seen Paul Rodgers and some of the rest of the band that day but Brian wasn't there (which we knew as he was ill- panic!!!) and he hadn't seen Roger. He had managed to see Mariah Carey 5 times though!! She then actually arrived too so we went to watch her go in to the hotel- she was not very nice to her fans and complained she was cold- put a bloody jumper on then!!!
Jamie and I went to check into the hotel around 1.30am and as we were at the check in desk, Roger walked through the lobby with some blonde women! We asked if Brian was feeling any better and he said 'Hopefully, I'm sure he'll be ok' then disappeared off into the lift!
Jamie wanted to leave at 6 in the morning for the stadium but we managed to persuade her to go a bit later. Eliza, Jamie and I all planned to travel to the stadium together so had breakfast together then got a taxi and arrived at 9am. Had NO idea where to queue and the place was huge. After walking round for about half an hour and not finding anybody, we started to a queue at a gate on the South side of the stadium just before 2 girls arrived. One had been at the Leipzig concert so I started quoting at her! She looked a bit scared! So there were only 5 of us for what seemed like hours. It poured with rain, Jamie read Harry Potter, Eliza went to find some shelter and I just sat there in my stupid red raincoat! Eliza was right- Germans don't queue!!!
There were no toilets or shops for miles around that we could see but there was a park across the road with lots of bushes and trees so I went to the loo in a bush (quite a few times!) and managed to get stung on my leg.
Andy and his friend arrived about lunchtime, as did the John Deacon guys! We had so many conversations with the security guard trying to confirm we were queuing in the right place- he even showed us a map and radioed somebody to confirm it but early afternoon, it all went wrong. We were in the WRONG place AGAIN!!! Why is it SO difficult?!!! Me and Nico walked round to check out the queue which was described as a building site at the North left hand corner as we heard there were only a few people there- turned out that was true so we called up everyone else and told them to get round here ASAP! There were 4 woman in front of me but were spaced out so it was only really one person. Got chatting to them waiting for everyone else. Still no sign of Brigitte at this point- panic! A German TV station turned up and Jamie was interviewed, in doing this she got pushed to the front of the queue!!! We heard Queen doing the sound check and Brian was there!!! He must be feeling better! Brigitte finally turned up not long before the doors opened!
Doors opened at 5 (ish!) and Jamie got through first- I was shouting for her to run again! She was the first person to get to the gold circle were she had to be wristbanded and then she ran in and got the left hand corner- exactly where we wanted to be! I got to the gold circle not long after and it seemed like ages while I was being wristbanded and I was just saying 'please please please' to the guy doing it. I ran in and there were a few other people there but had no problem at all getting my space! Thanks Jamie!!!
Everyone was quite spaced out and we stood up most of the time waiting because of the rain.
It was great because we could actually get out to go to the toilet/buy food/merchandise and get back to our spaces! It decided to chuck it down with rain just before the concert started but it was so refreshing and nice! They actually had to come out and brush the water off the catwalk!
The set list was:
The gig was AMAZING! I shouted I love you to Paul and he said thanks and blew me a kiss! They played really well and watching most of the concert in the light was brilliant!!!! We did a dance in Crazy Little Thing Called love and Paul copied it! He looked at us loads of did Brian! Jamie had one condom and threw it at Roger who picked it up and turned round and gave us the biggest grin ever and looked right in my eyes in the day light! The cast of WWRY Cologne joined the band on stage at the end for We Will Rock You/ We Are The Champions! It rained on and off during the show. Roger ran back down the catwalk after Radio Ga Ga!
I totally lost Jamie as we left the stadium and spent 15 mins looking for her. She was standing in the middle of a park shouting Sarah at the top of her voice! We got a taxi back to the hotel and found some fans already outside. We went in and I rushed upstairs to get rushed and straighten my hair while Jamie got some drinks in. Rushed downstairs panicking that I might miss Queen arriving but it was ok! We saw Veikko who told me not to drink too much while I was standing there with a large German beer!
Paul was the first to arrive with Cynthia and he only stopped briefing for a chat. We told him we really enjoyed the gig and it was the best yet!. Pointed out to him that he imitated the dance we were doing during Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and he agreed, then we told him how many shows we went to and Cynthia said we were crazy!!! They then went off to their hotel room and never returned.
Next to arrive was Brian who stopped outside and signed loads of stuff. We waited in the lobby with our beers! He came up to us with a welcoming look, seemed happy we weren't hounding him with picture requests and whatnot. He voluntarily put his arms around us we talked about how great the gig was. I babbled on about food poisoning, and how worried we were and glad to hear he's feeling better. He was happy, he said something about the food in Lisbon. Jamie couldn't stress how good the gig was and the outdoor lighting made it fantastic. We also told him how many gigs we'd been to and he said "Bloody Hell!" and I almost replied with "Bloody Hell, Leipzig!"
Roger snuck in through the back, but since we're staying at the same hotel, we were in the lobby. We went up to him and Sarah asked if we could have a chat for two minutes. We told him, again, that it was the best gig yet, and he was really taken aback, he said he didn't agree, we told him we liked the outdoor lighting and he said that they don't like that lighting. We mentioned the rain, I said I liked it because it was cooling, he made some sort of response saying he didn't like it too much. Sarah then said well he was protected back at the drum kit, but he said he had to go on the catwalk anyway. Then we asked if he recognized us and he said "Yeah! Actually I do, from the front row!" Aaaaaaah! He also said that he had to take it easy today because of his wrist, so we took the opportunity to ask what had happened and he said it was just a little sprain. He said that he was glad we liked the show then turned and went into the bar.
Trip Kalef arrived somewhere in the middle of all this and I got my picture taken with him. We also got chatting to a random guy who knew Trip and he actually worked for Mariah Carey.
Cooper, Eliza, Brigitte and Elenir turned up about 1am and we were still out in the lobby drinking (Brian and Roger were in the bar area). Then some girls came in and asked if we were English and I said I was. They asked if Mark Owen from Take That was here and I started screaming! I love Mark Owen. Nobody else had a clue who he was!! We didn't see him though!
We headed into the bar where we saw Jens and his friend so stood with them. Roger was there nearby with Rory, Dominique and Justine.
Brian was over chatting to people from WWRY Cologne. Spike and Jamie (Moses) were also in the bar and Brigitte was chatting to Jamie (Moses). She went off to speak to her friend on the other side of the bar and had to brush past Roger!
Later on, Brian looked like he was off to bed so I went over to say good night. He smiled at me and gave me a kiss of the cheek then I chatted with him and Viekko. Brian was asking how I could go to all these concerts and I explained how I paid off my student loan and worked for the government so I got lots of leave! I explained that my boyfriend didn't actually like Queen and Brian said he could understand!!! LOL! Said good night and he said good night to a few people from WWRY. I went to get Jamie from the Internet café so she could say good night to him too!
Shortly after Roger went off to bed but we didn't get the chance to say good night.
I then chatted to a girl who was in WWRY for a bit. Later still, we were sitting at a table and then two random guys came up and we told them that Queen had been there. They didn't believe it at first. Then one shouted "Brian - come back!" and they both kept asking me who Roger Taylor was. They didn't exactly know Paul Rodgers so I sang them some short versions of the all songs!! Oh dear! They managed to recognise them from my awful singing! We were the last ones in the bar except for an ugly old drunkard.
Jamie was still up when I got to our room and I just crashed out. 3 hours sleep later……….
Jamie had to get a plane at 7.45ish and mine was 9ish so we got up at 6 and left to hotel in a taxi by 6.30. I felt so rough. Got to the airport far too early and slept for a while. Went over to check in and met Isabelle who was on the same flight. It was nice to sit with someone on the way back. We arrived in Gatwick and went to get the train but they kept announcing there were power surges on the tube so it was shut. We didn't have far to walk when we got to Victoria so I figured it was fine. We got on the train into central London and by the time we got there, someone had said that bombs had gone off. Shortly after we arrived, they shut Victoria station. It was 10am now and I was so hungry, we just went to Burger King.
People were trying to contact us but we had no idea what was going on really and the phone networks had gone down. Isabelle walked to her hotel and I went down to our office in Victoria so I could use the phone. I looked a right state and had to meet my Board Director and see the Chief Executive!!! Talked to our press office and finally realised the scale of what had happened so I phoned Dan and told him I was OK. He had been very worried. I then started panicking about Jamie- the last I heard from her is that she was on a bus to Russell Square and a bomb had gone off in a bus going to Russell Square. Turned out later that she had been asleep in a hotel the whole time! All my friends were travelling down to London that day so I went on Queenonline and said I was ok. Checked to see if everyone else was ok and a lot of the people travelling had already turned back to go home. Queen didn't know what was going to happen with Hyde Park so I figured it would be cancelled.
About 2.30, our building got evacuated so I gave up and walked to Hyde Park to see if I could find out what was happening. Spoke to a security guard who said it had been postponed until next week then about 10 mins later I had a phone call from Vern to tell me that Queen had officially announced that so I then walked to Paddington where luckily the trains had started again. They let me use my apex ticket and I was so relieved to get home.