I was nervous about the show selling out, so I got there at 8:30, about a half-hour after the doors opened - and was one of maybe 3 other people there to see the band. So I had to sit around by myself & try not to look like a loser until the first band came on, sometime after 9.

At some point, Scott, Alexis & Johnny came in, & made a beeline for the Foosball table, where they played with some other guys. When Johnny went over to the bar to get some coffee, I stopped him & asked why they weren't playing in Berlin (I try to find this out when I can, because it happens often with bands, & it just seems weird that the capital & largest city in the country would be left off the itinerary - I've never gotten a satisfactory answer, though one woman who works at a Berlin record label said it may be because the bookers just can't find an appropriate place to play during the time that the band wants to be in Germany, but I don't know). Anyway, he asked me if I lived in Hamburg, & I said no, I lived in Berlin, & came up for the show because I had to miss them the last time they were in Berlin. But I didn't chat with him long, because he was more interested in getting back to the Foosball game. Can't say I blame him - I must've seemed sort of creepy, sitting there by myself, way too early, having traveled for the show & all.

Anyway, more people did eventually come (Johnny at one point made a comment about my possibly being the only person there), & the warmup band, a local outfit called Tiger Beat, hit the stage. They were OK, but were too much of a Jon Spencer Blues Explosion rehash. They had some fun moments, but they just didn't have that indescribable "it".

GvsB finally went on stage for their set, & Scott made the rather Greg Dulli-esque move of greeting the crowd by saying, "I'm feeling *nasty* tonight." Eli commented that he was using the wrong mic for that, so he went to the distortion mic behind him & started mumbling something into that. I'd been droopy & sleepy all day, after a weekend of too much booze & not enough sleep, but as soon as they kicked into "Park Avenue," I was wide awake, & started dancing like a demon. I did eventually take some photos, but I realized it's less fun to be concentrating on getting good shots, & dammit, I was there to groove! There were 2 press photographers there, & they made the artistic (though maybe not editorial) mistake of concentrating on Scott while Eli's dancing around was offering the best photo ops. I was in the middle, & was one of the few people right at the front, so I had a great view. But I have to admit, I was dancing too much to really pay attention to what the boys were doing, with the exception of a few moments where I went, "Oh, so *that's* how they get that sound on that song!" But those moments were fewer than I would have liked - I'm still curious about some things.

I nabbed Johnny's set list, & they deviated only a bit from it, playing:
Park Avenue
Psycho-Future
Disco 666
TheKindaMzkYouLike
Super-fire
Roxy
Push the Fader (written as "Push der Fader")
Bulletproof Cupid
Cowboy's Orbit (also written as a joke on German, but my CompuServe program won't do umlauts)
Exorcisto
Vera Cruz
My Life in Pink
A song I didn't know, played impromptu because Johnny's Marshall stack was acting up & they had to get that sorted out & fill time - Eli's comment at the end of it was that it was the worst thing he'd ever heard
Let Me Come Back
Vogue Thing
Kill the Sexplayer

They played a two-song encore, starting with In Like Flynn, then playing another that I've completely blanked out on. At the start of one song (it may have been Bulletproof Cupid), Scott screwed up the lyrics, & Eli rolled his eyes & gave him an exasperated look. Scott just grinned & went back to goof around with the distortion mic.

I dug Eli & Scott's faux-tiger skin guitar straps, which made Eli's big bulky silver bass look like something Fred Flintstone would play.

"Let Me Come Back" kicked my ass all over the place, & I have to be honest & say that as much as I've been enjoying "Freak*on*ica" (isn't it fun to make the asterisks?), those songs, with a few exceptions sort of dragged. Those were the ones during which I took photos, because the older ones just made me dance too much. Also, while the band played really well, they didn't seem all that into it, but maybe that' s just their way - this was my first time seeing them. I've also been in more enthusiastic audiences, so that may have contributed as well. But it was an excellent show, & I was very glad I made the effort to get up to Hamburg for it. GvsB are certainly up in my Top 10 of live bands, simply not to be missed.