the wretched

2005-06-20 00:15

finally, after 5 long, long years trent reznor and his gang rocked again. last time i saw them was at the hurricane festival in summer 2000 and it was .. wow. so, as soon as they announced the touring dates i managed to get us tickets which was pretty clever since the next day it was sold out .. hehe.

the concert took place at the best location: columbia hall. and for the very first time in our history of rocking that hall we managed to NOT use the wrong way. for the first time we went straight to the place, we didnt take wrong exits on the autobahn or didnt take the wrong autobahn at all .. hehe. but we were still a bit shaky since we actually didnt drove that autobahn in that direction before so we thought “oh .. i dont know that exit there … are we still right? damn, we have managed to drive wrong again .. oh wait .. no, i dont know that exit there neither .. damn. we are really wrong again …” and that went on and on till i saw the ebay building which is nearby the autobahn and which was the final confirmation that we were indeed on the right way. after that we leaned back just to realize that none of us knew the right exit at a later point :) ”... this exit here? ... no, to early, i remember those houses and we have to pass them … this exit? no .. looks strange… ” and so on and so on. we finally made it, just in time. perfect.

most people were already in the building so the queue to get in was pretty short. like always we went to the right to the bar since there is the perfect place to head towards the stage in very short time once the crowd is moving.

near 20:00 the supporting act entered the stage: a woman and a man, the man with a melone on his head and pantomime makeup. the woman entered her keyboard and the man his drums. as soon as they started we realized that they are one of the best supporting acts we’ve had ever experienced. after a couple of songs they played “coin operated boy”. that was the point where my buddy feuer remembered their name dresden dolls. he wanted to see them on the hurricane festival last weekend already but he didn’t quite make it there. so he was very happy about it. they played somewhat between 45 or 60 minutes and it was really good.

after that the crew prepared the set for nin and we prepared ourselfes to .. cut thru the crowd :) anja decided to stay away from the “hot” zone and to watch the show from different positions: from behind, the side and from above .. aka gallery.

trent entered the stage and from there on feuer and i were pretty busy to head to the fence. we made it to the 5th or 4th row and needed 3 songs for that :) then we got separated and i was pushed more to the left (around where jeordie white was playing his bass) while feuer was busy getting to the 2nd row and defending his place. i had a pretty good view on the whole crew and the show was just .. well, like a nin-concert should be :)

after some songs at that place behind some “big” fellows and a constant pressure from behind i decided to see the rest of the show from a more relaxed point and went to see anja. i headed to both bars, checking out the sound and the view at those places coz i usually experience the concerts i go to from the first rows. the sound at the bar was a bit pulpy, the view was blocked from crowd and some struts. yeah, i really liked that place :) next i tried the gallery. much better air then in the eye of the crowd but i guess you have to be early at place to get a nice view. and i didnt find anja, though she was at the gallery but “hidden” at some place. so i went down again and found a nice place to watch the amazing show end. we met in front of the hall and headed towards the car. after changing cloths and drinking something we got hungry and, for the first time in our columbia-hall history (at least as i remember it), we managed to take the right exit to the next mcdoof (mcstupid).

so, nice evening with nice people and nice bands. if you ever get the chance to see either nin or dresden dolls .. dont think, buy the tickets :)

some other people made pictures: here and here and here

^^^