One of the best things about having friends in a band is that there’s always something going on – either in the city, or out of it. I’ve amassed quite the number of photos of Tanks General gigs over the last 6-8 months both of the band itself and others playing on the same night. Here’s a pretty interesting set.
Tanks General – first ever Gig @Fibbers on Ormond Quay- Dec. 2011:
Paddy & Declan, May 11, 2012 – Fibbers on Parnell St.
* This is part of a series on the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – and my attempt to document the events of the weekend, where 20 years before, a peaceful revolution brought about a big change which helped to end the cold war, and bring about a new Europe. Many more of the events are in the full flickr set here. *
Me & Niall with 2 of the 10,000 free tickets that were gone in under 2 hours.
The U2 concert last night was brilliant. So much so that 7 songs left us screaming for more, and wishing that we had more time to hear, dance, and sing along with them more. I heard on the news this morning that pretty much everyone critic-wise thought that U2 stole the MTV European Awards show – even though they were not presenting – the 10,000 of us at the Brandenburg gate who got to see them live – well, let’s just say I think we all agree with the critics – even though I’ve not seen the “replay” of the awards show yet, though I did read that u2 won Best Live Act last night (well deserved if the 7 songs were any indication of a full length concert).
Thank you to Picapp for the above photo
Despite starting about 30 minutes late (due to rain and logistics issues) – the band was warmly welcomed on the stage. U2 opened with the song “One”, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bono wished Berlin a very Happy Birthday, which was all the more poignant because over his head, we had been watching (on the Brandenburg Gate in lasers) the Gate “divided in 2” with the hammer and sickle on one side – and the stars on the other. Under it, on each of the columns of the Brandenburg Gate were covered in images of nuclear weapons – all of which faded into the words “ost” and “west” – and then into the words “one love” and “freedom”. For me, considering that we were standing on a spot where 20 years before, Freedom was still but an idea and a hope – it literally brought tears to my eyes. 20 Years ago – This WAS communist Germany…. how far life has come since then.
The rest of the songs were well fitting of the tone –
‘Magnificent’
‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’
‘Get Up, Stand Up’ with Jay-Z
‘Beautiful Day’
‘Vertigo’
‘Moment Of Surrender’
Thank you to Picapp for the above photo
Despite the “advertised” 4 songs, we wound up with 7. In addition, at one point, Bono noted that he wanted to say hello, and introduce the “mayor” of NYC. Niall and I looked at each other and went WTF? Bloomberg? Why would Bloomberg show up to a U2 concert… and about that time, Jay-Z hopped on the stage and did a brief rap about how we couldn’t keep building “walls” and how because of walls, genocides in Europe, Serbia, Rowanda, and Darfur were continuing.
The parting words / last song – Moment of Surrender was great. Once again, Bono made a point to say that it’s time to remember that in many places, the fight for Freedom and Democracy is stll going on. Effectively, the point of the speech / song was that we support them, and that we can’t take what we have for granted.
Freedom on the Brandenburg Gate – Pariser Platz side – former “Soviet” owned territory.
For more of my photos from the night, you’re welcome to check out My Flickr Set.
(AKA, 4 days of going with very little sleep). Wow What a weekend. I need a break from all the go go go, but hey, if my weekend is any consolation, at least I’m young enough to have enjoyed it completely. There will be 3 entries posted in one day (Jan 28) so forgive me y’all – I wrote it up but didn’t have time to post.
Friday Night was a concert up in Pankow (clear the north end of Berlin) put on by a friend of mine (Jay’s) Band. I decided that if I didn’t have a migraine (which didn’t return, thanks to my nice friend Jose) I’d go watch them perform. Having mentioned it to Scott, we wound up with 4 of us heading up to hear some fantastic psychobilly/ rockabilly. It was Me (American), Kat (Kiwi), Brenden (Kate’s friend- irish but living in scotland), and Scott (Norwegian).
How to describe psychobilly/ rockabilly.. well, the best description I can give is that it’s a little like the 1950’s style music – on crack. The way people dress for the concerts is like a combo of the 1940’s with goth makeup for the girls, and the 1950’s james dean look but with weird fantastically colored mohawks and wedges for the guys. Let’s just say that in some ways, the costuming of the folks is as amusing to watch as the bands themselves – mostly becauase they can’t decide if they’re punk, goth, or 1940s/1950’s. At any rate, the first band was horrible, and we all got to laughing as we started with a few drinks. During the process of the laughter, Scott and Brenden decided to yell a few “ye-haw’s” thusly earning themselves the nicknames of “Bubba” (for scott) and “Lou” for Brenden. Jay popped over to say hi and let us know that his band would be on by about 11pm, and let’s just say that when the first band was done (50 different lyrics over the same beat/music – I swear!) we were ecstatic.
When Jay’s band came on, we were quite pleased to see better performers, better singers, and actually the crowd getting into the music more. Amusingly, a mosh pit started in the middle of the dance floor (with shirtless guys trying to slam into one other, followed by lots of hugging and kissing and then beer guzzling and more – yep – whole other show in itself) with music that I was cracking up laughing at. Somehow, the idea of a group of guys trying to mosh to a cover of “Reno” by Johnny Cash struck me as funny. At any rate, by the time Damage Done By Worms was done, we had had a great time and cheered them on for more.
Jay, the band did a great job – and all of us agree – we will be happy to go back and cheer you on some more.
No, it wasn’t exactly what the other 3 were expecting, but once they heard y’all, they really did have a great time and are looking forward to more concerts….
