Ocean of Noise

Last Sunday was spent riding the train back from the Alps, changing into more comfortable clothes, and heading off the the Kultfabrik Gelände for the Arcade Fire concert! Artur came along, and it was pretty exciting to see all the fans streaming from the S-Bahn station despite the pouring rains (what came down in the Alps as snow was streaming down in Munich as rain, filling the street with giant lake puddles.)

We picked up our "guest" stickers at the entrance windows and secretly smirked at the jealous stares coming from our fellow concert goers-- I had emailed a friend from college in the band to let him know i'd be coming, so we would get to go backstage afterwards to say hi! We stuffed our jackets into the stage scaffoling work lining the sides of the concert hall and took central standing room places in the front third of the room. The crowd kept getting bigger and we had to revert to some physical elbow jabbing to keep from getting jostled from our places, but we managed to hold our ground and had a great view of the action once the band came on stage.

It's funny, seeing an old college acquaintance and a band I once saw with 40 other students in Champagne-Urbana Illinois playing in my new hometown Munich-Germany to a crazy sold out audience of over 3,000 fans. I just have to say, I was proud. We jumped and screamed and sang and sweated our way through the new songs from the Neon Bible and the old classics from Funeral until the air in the room was literally unbreathable. The best part was before the encore, when the audience stared humming Wake Up and didn't even stop when the band came back on stage. I think the masses had just discovered their own talent!

After the show we stood by the freshly opened doors and breathed in huge mouthfuls of fresh air while we waited for clearance to go backstage and say hi. Finally allowed inside, we got to say hi and hear great stories of life on the road and watch the band members navigate past at least five buckets collecting dripping water from the leaking roof. Well, fame isn't quite so glamorous as we all think, but it sure is exciting.

My hero for the evening, however, was Artur, who, on the walk back to the train after the show, pulled me to the side just before a car drove through a puddle and soaked me-- it just soaked the girl walking in front of me. My Hero.