02-12-2008 Die Toten Hosen

Supports: Bloodlights; Venue: Arena, Trier (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

An after work trip to Trier lead me through a winter wonderland with lots of snow, but I got there without any trouble and even found a parking lot nearby the venue. The destination of the journey was: Arena Trier.

Located next to houses where people were living and not really outside of the town as I am used to when talking about arenas, this one was very inconsiderable from the outside. I did not see huge signs saying “Arena Trier”, no masses visible waiting outside, no huge banners of tonight’s show. As I went there to find my way in I saw the masses that were upstairs waiting in front of the main entrances, and many people in the bar of the arena, waiting there to not have to be standing out in the cold. From the inside the arena was close to the SAP arena, the back stage areas not quite so confusing but still great for getting lost. Luckily I didn’t.

Inside I found out that the show was sold out, like every other show on this tour of Die Toten Hosen. My reason for being there was another one though: Bloodlights opened for Die Toten Hosen and tonight was their last time during this tour doing so.

At 6:30pm the doors opened and the fans were streaming in to snatch a spot in the front row. The show would not begin before 8pm so there were still 90 minutes to go. Time enough for all the fans to get in, get their first drinks and mentally prepare for what will be coming up. At 8pm the Norwegians entered the stage and began their set. Unfortunately their show was only 30 minutes long. But most of the audience who were there for DTH seemed to like Bloodlights a lot. They danced and moshed, some even sang along. The singer talked mostly German with the audience which was a definite plus for them. Bloodlights started out with a brand new song, which I personally liked a lot. For the cover song “New Rose” the drummer of Die Toten Hosen came on stage to perform with them, which made the audience cheer out very loud. But they also cheered as Nico came back, not as loud, but they still did. The light and sound was amazing and somehow you got the feeling of this band belonging into arenas.

Up next were Die Toten Hosen, the biggest German punk-rock band founded in 1982. I didn’t watch their complete show. But I saw the audience going wild; several circle pits were going on in the crowd. The fans sang along so loud that you could not even hear the band playing. Die Toten Hosen played a double set of about two hours, a little more. They had a special as they came back on stage after the first set: They came back with a stage piano, cello, acoustic guitar, a trumpet and an accordion and played cover songs. One of the cover songs was “Hand In Hand” by Beatsteaks, but they also played older cover songs. After about 20 minutes they went back to their “normal” instruments and continued with their own songs.

It was a great night with lots of great people. If you missed out on it I hope I could give you a somewhat good summary of what it was like in Trier.

Links:
Bloodlights MySpace
Bloodlights Official
Die Toten Hosen Official