Last week was the Jack Johnson concert. And it was a beautiful day.. sunny, hot. I had spent the morning taking photos all over munich for my darkroom session on sunday and had a nice sunburn going on. But it didn't matter. We arrived rather early to get good spots and hung out until the concert finally started, around 8:30. Despite the long beer lines, we had a blast! And the music was great. And then it started. Omnious black clouds swirling around the stage. We thought it would pass but then BAM, lightening, and more, and then came the rain. CATS AND DOGS! We put our cheap fleece blanket over our heads and hoped for the best. But it didn't really stop. It let up a bit, only to start again 15 minutes later. And it just kept on pouring. But nobody left...they all just opened their umbrellas, pulled on their ponchos, or danced without in the rain.
The concert continued until one of the tech guys came out on the stage and announced that they were worried about all the lightening. They said they would stop the show for ten minutes, and then start again. At that point it started to really pour, and we decided to leave. But by the time we made it out the gates, the music was starting up again, and the rain was letting up! So we turned around and headed back. The ticket guy even asked for our ticket! Haha, as if we had been hiding for the past two hours in the bushes, getting soaking wet, so we could sneak in.
Boy were we cold but i still really enjoyed the last half hour, even though it started to pour again and we really got soaked. After the concert we headed for the train, which was a 15 minute walk anyways and with thousands of other soaking wet and freezing fans. Some had umbrellas, some had ponchos, some had even stolen a giant plastic banner from the concert. We made our way along underneath our soaking wet and heavy fleece blanket till we came to the tracks, which we had to cross. They were being controlled by police men who were lined up holding a rope. Of course they stopped letting people through two rows before us and we had to wait over 20 minutes while the trains went by and the policeman spoke through his loudspeaker, telling us to "stay calm"
The germans then all starting spontaneously singing, which is something that germans usually reserve for oktoberfest and soccer games. They sang "let's all go onto the green-white party bus" (the police car, in germany they are green and white) and "die mauer muss weg! die mauer muss weg!" (the wall must go! a famous historical chant from the days of the berlin wall) But really, the germans are very law abiding and all of the soaking wet young people stayed put, just like the policeman asked, until the trains were gone and the ropes were lifted.
Then we all made a run for it, to the station. Of course it was packed, and the first train that came was full to the brim and the windows were already fogged over. The next train was supposed to come in one minute, but then it switched tracks! Everybody tried to go back down the stairs to the other side, colliding with those running to the original train, and there was a huge jam. The train was late anyways and when it came we allowed ourselves to be smooshed inside by the mob. Finally, we got out 5 stations later at Ostbahnhof and shivered our way to our bus. But the concert was totally worth it...
