Strasbourg, 16 november 2011

[frenchsting]

Hi again,

2 posts in aday... wow...
So here's the set list as I remember it so far. Maybe omissions and/or mistakes
The show was great and we really enjoyed that it began with "The Great Escape". Just because it allowed Paul to be self introduced
We really appreciated that Clive and John M made a huge effort in speaking french.
A lot of humour. John J always smile when not laughing. Paul made a really funny mistake : he intoduced John Mitchell as John Jowitt. So, in the end, all members looked like their name was JJ

Code Select Expand

1. The Great Escape
2. A Crack in the Ice
3. (Don't Forget to) Breathe
4. The City of Lanterns + Riding the tide
5. What If?
6. One Last Au Revoir
7. Burning Down
8. Serenity
9. Valley of the Kings
10. Crying for Help IV
11. The Eyes of Lara Moon
12. Ghost in the Firewall
13. Rapture
14. The Ghost Walks
15. Bedlam Fayre
16. The Tinder Box
17. The Visitor
18. Crying for Help VII
Encore :
19. Ascension


[Teunis]

2 posts in aday... wow...

At this speed you'll be a sicko soon  .

Seems like a great gig to me. I've read a review of an other gig where the reviewer wrote that it looked like Arena had 'another day at the office'. I can't imagine that. Arena always has and shows fun on stage and tries to make contact with the audience.

[Peter]

Hi folks,

I was there, too, as the Stuttgart gig was cancelled.

I had heard one track on the DPRP podcast before, which sounded very promising, so I went there with high hopes. The guys were in a good mood, chatting around alot and speaking French to the audience, especially Clive, who was more talkative than ever before

Actually, I had a bit of a hard time that evening. It started when I arrived there. I had bought my ticket online and printed it out at home. The lady at the entrance wanted to see my photo ID card, which I never carry around when I go visiting gigs, cause I don't want my stuff to get lost or stolen. I had a short discussion with her about whether it mattered if I was the person on the ticket or not, but finally she let me in.

The opening band, Clover Seeds, were pretty interesting, albeit the new percussionist would have better not been invited, if you ask me. ARENA came on stage at about 21.30. The sound was absolutely lowest drawer, and it was compensated with loudness. "La laiterie" is a rather smallish place, which can take about 200 people or so, at max. I didn't have my earplugs with me, so I had to get used to it.

I really like to sing along tracks I know, and I know most of the ARENA stuff by heart. Paul sang his own interpretations of the tracks, which made it quite an adventure for me to recognize the tracks or even sing along. Don't misunderstand me. Paul has a great voice and I really enjoyed his performance, but this is one of the reasons why I stopped attending Simple Minds concerts: Jim Kerr always makes it a whole different song.

When Ascension was over we were basically kicked out of the concert hall by security, the portal to the hallway with Smeagol's sales stand was wide open and it was literally freezing, so I left without getting a chance to have a chat with the guys.

Maybe I'm getting too old :/

[frenchsting]

I corrected the set list. Remembering that Riding The Tide was played.

Sorry for you Peter. I also disliked the security staff. Very annoying. We call not talk to the band. They just wanted us to be out