I was told the venue uses this dummy for sight-lines – to make sure most seats have a good view of the whole stage.
Michael cracks a smile while setting up his drums.
“OTTMA EBE”
In Naples the drumkit is black.
DM view of my guitar.
Crate in my dressing room. Now quickly say that German word three times: Bruchgefahr, Bruchgefahr, Bruchgefahr!
What an interesting conversation two people might have, comparing our two performances in Naples yesterday evening, if one had come to the first show and the other to the second show.
We were asked to play two shows of about 75 minutes, including encore. It was especially important to keep the first show to 75 minutes or less, because otherwise there would not be enought time to turn over the house.
I placed my phone at my feet, so I could tell time using the large digits of the Flip-Clock app. (((I can read the Flip-Clock without my glasses. I love performing without wearing contacts or my glasses. I can see my guitar really well, and when I look up the audience is just a big blurr. It’s a blurr I can easily smile at without seeing individual faces or eyes that might distract me. ))) After about an hour we ended with a new upbeat tune, took a bow and walked offstage. While we were getting ready to walk back to the stage to do an encore, the applause died down. We looked at each other and the venue’s stage manager. We would have been happy to play an encore, but walking out to no applause would seem to say we’ll play some more, whether you like it or not… In the end we decided to leave it at that.
At the end of the second show, we decided to stay on stage after our bow, instead of walking off, and to start the encore immediately. After the encore we bowed again and walked to the dressing rooms. This time the audience would not stop and after a couple of minutes we walked out and played a second encore.
I don’t think our performance differed a lot between the first show and the second. I am also not blaming the audience, I just think it was a strange alignment of energy, of the stars, of who knows.
I would love to overhear that conversation though.
Ottmar is a pleasure that we share each of the experiences that happen to you. someday, I will be in one of your concerts. That day will be special for me.
Please keep your guitar playing and enjoying your music.
you have a good weekend