Dream on (this was submitted as a proposed article for a music mag).

After reading Brandon’s blog an anonymous donor sent me this:

The luck of the Irish! Following Tangerine Dream on the 1997
> ‘Tournado’
> UK Tour. (Compiled by Conrad Gibbons)
>
> This is a detailed account of events which took place during my recent
> trip to three consecutive Tangerine Dream concerts held in Glasgow
> (November 1st), Leeds (November 2nd) and Birmingham (November 3rd).
>
> Saturday November 1st: Destination Glasgow
>
> The morning immediately after halloween, myself and my brother Sean set
> off on the start of our successful trip. I drove us in my Volkswagen
> Golf Turbo Diesel from Derry (in north-west Ireland) to Belfast docks
> where where we met up with my good friend Mark Atchison who was keen to
> make the trip with us. We drove onto the ‘Seacat’ ferry and proceeded
> to enjoy the one-and-a-half hour crossing in ideal weather conditions
> for making such a sea-crossing.
>
> We arrived in Stranraer and were back on the road before 1 pm. I had
> prepared a tape of music most likely to be played at the concerts and
> it
> suited the scenic drive to Glasgow very well. In two hours we reached
> Renfrew Street and our hotel. We freshened up and went for a bite to
> eat at around 3.30 pm. Once we had obtained suitable sustenance we
> made
> our way to the Royal Concert Hall where we sussed out the layout of the
> building, locating the box office, auditorium and importantly, the
> stage
> door.
>
> I had written to Kennedy Street Enterprises the week prior to the
> concerts in the hope of being able to arrange permission to meet the
> band as I had done back in 1990 (at four concerts). I followed up my
> letter with a phone call to the tour promoter who explained that he had
> passed my letter on to the band’s manager, namely Julia Snyder after
> the
> Bristol concert. He said that if I wanted to come to the stage door
> when I would get to Glasgow that “we’ll take it from there…”. We got
> to the stage door at around 4.30 pm and went inside. I asked at the
> security desk inside if it would be possible to speak to Stuart Hobday.
> Very shortly, by the power of portable phones Stuart descended the
> stairs and I did the introductions. He informed us that we had timed
> it
> nicely and that the band were being picked up from their hotel at 4.45
> pm. I asked him about meeting the band and he said he would try to
> sort
> us out with after-show passes. I thanked him and said that we would
> hopefully chat later and that we were destined for Leeds and Birmingham
> in the coming days. We went outside to wait to greet the band.
>
> Half-an-hour later a coach with blackened windows pulled up on the busy
> street, adjacent to the stage door. I was standing nearest the stage
> door so I knew the Tangs would have to pass me by! First out were
> Zlatko Perica and Emil Hachfeld, followed by people I later learnt were
> Julia Snyder, Anja Kathmann and Rob Ayling. Last out came the Froese
> family. As they walked by me I greeted them with ‘Hi folks!’, to which
> Edgar turned to look at me and said somewhat surprisedly ‘Hi, to you!’.
> Having been through the motions of standing around stage doorways in
> the
> past (both before and after concerts) I have always found it to be good
> policy not to hamper artists as soon as they arrive. For this reason,
> I waited over twenty minutes before attempting to make contact with
> Julia Snyder. Two people came out the stage door with a trolley and
> headed in the direction of the tour lorries parked round the corner. I
> asked one of them, a lady (who I later discovered was Anja) if she
> could
> pass a message on to Julia for me to say that I was at the stage door
> and was wondering if she had got my letter or not. She looked at me a
> little puzzled but agreed!
>
> After this Anja and the other chap returned with a trolley-full of
> boxes
> (two large ‘Fruit of the Loom’ and one medium-sized brown box with
> ‘Tangerine Dream Ambient Monkeys’ written with black marker on the
> side) before re-entering the stage door. Ten minutes later I could see
> the lady who I thought was most likely to be Julia standing near the
> desk inside (the stage door had a portal window you see!). She looked
> like she was looking for someone. Me, perhaps? I quickly persuaded
> Sean and Mark to follow me in. I caught Julia’s eye and introduced
> myself. I asked if she had got my letter, and she said she had. She
> asked if we were going to more concerts, and I mentioned Leeds and
> Birmingham. She said that we would be able to meet the band after the
> show. She said that we could collect passes at the box office. I
> thanked her emphatically and shook hands once more. We exited in good
> humour, headed for the box-office only to be told that we were too
> early
> to see a guest-list and he suggested we call back in about an hour.
>
> It was now after 5.30 pm and we decided to have a browse along
> Sauciehall Street. Mark and myself headed for HMV while my brother
> nipped into Waterstone’s book shop. I had arranged by e-mail to meet
> Armin Thiessen in a pub called ‘The Victoria and Albert’ at around 6.00
> pm. To be in time, Mark and I left HMV in search of Sean in
> Waterstone’s. While in Waterstone’s I spotted an old friend and
> colleague, Siegfried Lindhorst with his friend Peter Stoeferle. We
> chatted for a while. They told me how they had been to the Nottingham
> concert and were going to Glasgow and Leeds before returning home to
> Germany. I asked them not to tell me too much about the Nottingham
> gig!
> They emphasised that the concert would actually start at around 7.30 pm
> and to be aware of this! I explained I had to meet Armin in the pub
> down the road, and that I would see them later.
>
> Sean, Mark and myself headed for ‘The Victoria and Albert’ pub. Once
> inside I hoped to see Armin (who I had met in ‘The Moon On The Green’
> at
> Shepherd’s Bush in ’96) but also that I might spot some other TD fans
> who might happen to be there. Well, there was no sign of Armin, in
> fact
> he later apologised for not being able to make it. However I did
> recognise Craig Cordrey who had also been at the pre-gig pub meet-up in
> ’96 at Shepherd’s Bush. I reacquainted myself with him before
> introducing my entourage to his entourage. Craig introduced his
> friends
> to us. They included Grant Middleton who like Craig, is a regular
> contributor to the Tadream bulletin board. We had a right old chat
> and
> a few beers. I relayed the relevance of 7.30 pm. I wanted to have a
> look at the merchandise on sale so we departed from the Scottish lads
> around 7.00 pm.
>
> First stop the box office! No passes! Slight mix up – the attendant
> got on his phone and came back to tell us that the passes were sitting
> at the security desk inside the stage door. Out we went of the
> building, right and right again to the stage door which we entered.
> The
> security man at the desk recognised me and said ‘Conrad Gibbons?’
> before
> handing me a white envelope with my name on it and ‘3 Passes’ beside
> it.
> ‘Thank you very much’ I told the man before we quickly left and made
> our
> way back in to the building. We showed our tickets on entering before
> having
a quick look at the merchandise on sale and locating our seats.
> An announcement said that the performance would start in one minute.
>
> We took our seats on the left terrace. We had a good view of the stage
> and the crowd. As is usual at Tangerine Dream concerts, the stage was
> covered by two large semi-translucent curtains which met in the middle.
> A number of lights shone from behind onto the curtain projecting the
> TD/TDI logo while the stage itself was bathed in a soft blue hue. The
> hall lights dimmed just before the concert started. The opening piece
> was recognisable as Waterborne from ‘Oasis’. Mid-way through the
> piece,
> the curtains were pulled open but snagged on a row of lights at the
> front of the stage. Two of the crew quickly ran out to free the
> curtains and open them fully. Other recognisable music played included
> Betrayal, Poland, Sundance Kid, Silver Scale, Warsaw In the Sun,
> Stratosfear ’95, Dolphin Dance, Streethawk and for the first time
> performed live on tour, Beach Theme. At one point sounds reminiscent
> of
> Edgar’s ‘Ages’ were played as a bridging sequence. Emil played
> percussion on most tracks and added an awful lot of energy to the
> performance, while Zlatko played guitar occasionally and stood
> patiently
> the rest of the time. Edgar and Jerome looked engrossed at their
> keyboard workstations. The light show complemented the music and mood
> of the concert. Computer graphics were projected onto the screen
> behind
> the band, and this worked very well. Sean and I both had hand-held
> binoculars which allowed us a closer look at string-picking,
> bongo-tapping and keyboard-tinkling. After one hour it was time for an
> interval of approximately twenty minutes.
>
> Most people who got up from their seats headed for the toilets, but I
> headed towards the merchandise counter as I knew the crowd would be
> small. I was served straight away, buying ‘The Keep’, ‘Ambient
> Monkeys’, ‘Time Square’ and a T-shirt. By the time I was served a
> considerable crowd had built up behind me and I was glad that I had
> gone
> to the booth straight away! During the interval I recognised music
> from
> The Keep being played. I spoke briefly to Siegfried and Peter who
> seemed to be enjoying the show. A quick trip to the bathroom was
> called
> for to ensure an interruption-free second set. The second set began in
> a similar fashion to the Tournado CD with Emil performing a drum solo,
> though it featured an extra very Eastern latter half. This lead into
> Flashflood and then into 220 Volt allowing Zlatko to join in once more.
> The bridge sequence (as featured on ‘Tournado’) before Firetongues is a
> personal favourite at the moment and I enjoyed hearing it live. Zlatko
> played electric guitar for the start of Firetongues before taking a
> seat
> and playing Spanish guitar for the last part. As in the first set, the
> mesmeric computer graphics were easy to get into. Other music played
> included Two Bunch Palms, Little Blond In The Park Of Attractions,
> Rising Haul In Silence, Lamb With Radar Eyes, and Touchwood. The last
> piece of the second set turned out to be a new composition featuring
> interesting sounds and analog synth tones similar to that featured in
> Church Theme from ‘Wavelength’ together with chord progressions more
> akin to the Schmoelling/Franke/Froese era than present day TD music.
> Zlatko joined in too, but reserved his soloing to complement the piece.
> This tune seemed to go down well with the crowd and it brought the
> second set to a close.
>
> Edgar, Jerome, Emil and Zlatko all left the stage but returned
> eventually at the audience’s enthusiastic response. The first encore
> played was the shorter version of Maedchen On the Stairs. This was
> followed by Thief Yang And The Tangram Seal. Both went down well with
> the crowd, particularly the Tangram and Thief parts. Once more the
> band
> left the stage while the crowd clapped and whistled enthusiastically.
> Finally the band returned for the last time to play Towards The Evening
> Star. Edgar introduced the band members and thanked the audience
> before
> leaving the stage followed by the band. On came the lights and so
> ended
> our first concert of three. We had all enjoyed it considerably.
>
> Having waited for the hall to empty, we made our way outside and round
> to the stage door expecting to find a small crowd gathered, however
> there were only three people – Craig, Grant and their friend. Mark,
> Sean and myself went inside and asked the security man if we could
> speak with Julia Snyder. Very shortly, Julia came down the stairs and
> told us that she would bring us upstairs to the band. We followed her
> back up the stairs and to the dressing room area. In the corridor
> outside the main dressing room Edgar appeared and both talked in German
> before Julia beckoned us in. We shook hands with Jerome, Edgar and
> Emil. Siegfried Lindhorst and Peter Stoeferle were already seated.
> Edgar offered us seats which we took, and asked about us coming over
>> from Ireland. I explained how I had met with them before in 1990 at 4
> of the concerts. Initially my brother Sean sat with Edgar and spoke
> with him about the concert. We then swapped seats and I asked Edgar to
> sign some items for me. I had happened to bring enough items for three
> nights of signing and Siegfried and Peter joked about this at my
> expense! I divided the bundle of cd inlays in two and handed one half
> to Edgar. Even he joked about it and asked me not to shock him when I
> handed him the second batch, but then told me that ‘I forgive you!’.
> Jerome signed the appropriate inlays too. Zlatko entered the room and
> I
> shook hands with him. Emil and Zlatko were friendly lads. They too
> enjoyed signing stuff. Mark and Sean took some photographs for
> posterity. I asked Jerome about a schedule for next year and whether
> or not they would be likely to be touring the States. He seemed
> uncertain but said there was a possibility that they might go there in
> March. Edgar asked us about which other concerts we were likely to be
> going to, and invited us to come backstage in Manchester where there
> would be a get-together of sorts. I thanked him for the invitation and
> explained that unfortunately we would not be able to go to the
> Manchester concert as we had to travel back due to work commitments.
> He
> joked about ‘Sometimes it is necessary to have to work!’. After a
> while
> we decided to leave the band and said our goodbyes, explaining that we
> might see them again in Leeds and Birmingham. As we left the dressing
> room I spotted Monica Froese who I recognised from the time I met her
> in
> 1990. We made our way back downstairs to the stage door. Once
> outside,
> I told Craig and Grant how the band were in good humour and would
> probably be coming out soon. Armin Thiessen and his three pals turned
> up around this time and we had a short chat. They didn’t hang around
> too long though…
>
> Siegfried and Peter emerged from the stage door and we continued
> talking. Five minutes later the tour coach pulled up once more so I
> knew the band were coming out and that Craig and Grant would have a
> chance to nab them! Sure enough, out they came and made their way in
> the direction
of the coac
before being greeted by the lads. It was
> good that they too had a chance to greet Edgar and company.
>
> I said farewell to Craig and Grant before heading off with Peter,
> Siegfried, Mark and Sean in the direction of our hotel. It turned out
> that Peter and Siegfried had found accommodation next door to ours.
> We
> talked for a while before arranging to meet them in Leeds at 5 pm the
> next day at the Town and Country Club.
>
> Sunday November 2nd: Destination Leeds
>
> Having got up early and had our breakfast we left Glasgow at 10.15 am
> heading south for Leeds. We stopped off for half an hour after
> Carlisle
> for a lunch break and a refuel, before continuing south. We reached
> our
> accommodation in Leeds in good time (around 3 pm). The venue was less
> than a five minute walk away. We left for the Town and Country Club
> after 4.30 pm. As we approached the last street leading up to the gig
> a
> certain coach drove past and we were able to follow its general
> direction up to the stage door area. Just as we got there Edgar and
> Jerome stepped off the coach and looked our way saying hello before
> going for a sound check. At this point Peter and Siegfried turned up
> and we decided we should go for a meal in advance of the concert. The
> five of us had a very pleasant meal chatting about all things
> TD-related
> and generally becoming good friends. Siegfried explained how they
> would
> have to leave relatively soon after the concert as they had to drive
> south to Antony Ainsworth’s house where they would get a few hours
> sleep, before getting up at 5 am to drive to Heathrow Airport to catch
> their planes home. Soon it was 7 pm and time to head for the concert.
> Once inside I asked about a guest-list before being handed a white
> envelope similar to the previous night. The gig was standing only
> (apart from two small balcony areas), but this had the advantage that
> it
> allowed mobility during the concert. ‘Ambient Monkeys’ was played as
> the pre-concert music. The running order of the tracks performed
> proved
> identical to the Glasgow concert, right down to the encores. In my
> opinion, the computer graphics did not work as well in Leeds as at
> Glasgow, as the projector was too close to the screen; they were even
> shining directly on the band’s faces. At the interval as I spoke to
> Peter, Anja came up to him and spoke in German. He introduced me to
> her
> and she remembered me from Glasgow.
> Being right up at the front (and in the middle) allowed an excellent
> vantage point for the second set. The band were about six feet away
> and
> we could follow the band’s movements – particularly that of Emil’s
> percussion and Zlatko’s guitar playing. The only drawbacks of the
> concert were the presence of a few intoxicated individuals at the front
> left who in their misguided enthusiasm persisted in shouting
> uninterpretable babblings at Edgar, and the presence of the idiot who
> decided to jump up on the stage, wave at the crowd and attempt to shake
> hands with Edgar before being swiftly removed by crew and bouncers.
> There seemed to be a smaller than expected crowd and later one of the
> house staff told me that there were only 420 tickets sold. Pity, it
> was
> a good concert.
>
> Backstage, Siegfried and Peter said their goodbyes as they had to set
> off on their return journey. I went upstairs to chat with Stuart
> Hobday to thank him for his co-operation. I returned shortly to find
> Mark and Sean on their own waiting for me. They told me that two fans
> (only) were in with the band. I led the way to where the dressing
> rooms
> were. Julia Snyder sat in the first room we met and she told us to go
> on down the corridor to the next room, which we did. I poked my head
> in
> the door, said hello and explained that we were not staying and that we
> just wanted to say hello and goodbye. Edgar said ‘Come in, you would
> like a beer?’ pointing to some beers held in ice. I said ‘No thanks!
> Its ok!’ (as I don’t drink beer). Edgar wasn’t having this though and
> pointing to my brother Sean jokingly said ‘He looks like he would like
> a
> beer!’ Needless to say Sean took him up on the offer and we entered
> the
> small room and began chatting. Jerome, Emil, Zlatko, Monica, Anja and
> a
> German couple were all present. I seized the opportunity to ask Edgar
> about something I had puzzled over for the last few years. I asked if
> he knew anything about Linda Spa playing as part of the Austrian entry
> in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place in Dublin in ’95. He
> said that this was correct and that she was asked to play by some
> people
> in Austria. So folks, it was Linda! Anybody still got this on video
> tape? I think I still have it somewhere. I asked Edgar about the new
> track played at the end of the second set. He explained that it is
> Time
> Square from ‘Dream Mixes II’. Sean talked at length to Emil about his
> energetic performances. Emil explained to him how he enjoys playing
> percussion and that he could go for a few months playing live and that
> this tour is too short for his liking! I spoke to Jerome about the
> computer graphics accompanying the show. He explained that they are
> done by a Japanese animist and that the music for the video project has
> been finished in Berlin hopefully to be released in ’98. We talked
> about the graphics at last year’s Shepherd’s Bush gig. Jerome told me
> that most of the footage is on The Video Dream Mixes. I explained the
> difficulty I had experienced in trying to order it and how after a year
> and a half of trying to order it I still did not have it! He shook his
> head in dismay and said ‘This video! So many problems!’. Having had a
> second successful evening we once more said goodbye to the Tangerine
> Dream entourage and began to make our way back to our accommodation
> very
> content. Before exiting the building, I spoke briefly to Rob Ayling
> of
> TDI who thanked me for taking the trouble of coming over for the three
> concerts.
>
> Monday November 3rd: Destination Birmingham
>
> With two concerts down and one to go we prepared ourselves for the day
> with a tasty continental breakfast at our hotel. We had a look round
> Leeds before setting off for Birmingham at 11.30 am. By 2 pm we
> reached
> our next B+B in good time. It seemed like a good idea to head into the
> city centre for a browse of the shops and of the venue. We did some
> shopping before heading to Symphony Hall to get our bearings and our
> after-show passes courtesy of Stuart Hobday who we met there. On our
> return journey to our accommodation, rush hour traffic combined with
> necessary tricky lane-switching manoeuvres (which didn’t always go to
> plan) meant that it was well after 6 pm by the time we got back. Time
> for a quick freshen-up before leaving to go to Symphony Hall. A lucky
> encounter with a bus going our way allowed us to get to the gig with
> ten
> minutes to spare. As we went to go upstairs to our seats I recognised
> Antony Ainsworth in the queue waiting to buy merchandise. I spoke with
> him briefly. He told me that Siegfried and Peter had stayed with him
> the night before and had got up early to head off to get their flights.
> I was glad that
things had gone according to plan for them. We had
> seats in the right hand side of the circle which meant that we were
> about 20 feet above overlooking the stage. Symphony Hall is a
> beautiful
> purpose-built venue – much nicer than Leeds, Shepherd’s Bush, or
> Manchester Apollo for that matter. The acoustics are very good as one
> might expect from a venue that hosts an orchestra on a regular basis.
> Once again the concert was identical to the previous two nights. At
> the
> interval we went to the cafe to grab a bite to eat. On our way back I
> visited the merchandise stall to purchase a few items for some friends.
> Anja recognised me and we chatted a little. I could hear Emil’s drum
> solo starting so I returned to the circle. I moved right up to the
> very
> front seat overlooking the stage as the seats there had been unoccupied
> during the first set. I was actually far enough forward to be in
> behind
> the main speakers beneath me so that the sound I could hear was coming
> manily from the stage monitors. The computer graphics were even better
> than in Glasgow and worked extremely well. Towards The Evening Star
> finished the show.
>
> Afterwards we went backstage for the last time. The attendant at the
> appropriate doorway used his mobile to contact Julia on our behalf.
> Very soon she appeared and greeted us with a big smile. ‘Is this your
> last night??!!’ she asked jokingly. ‘Yes, it is’ I joked back. We
> followed her into one of the lifts. She asked us which of the three
> concerts did we prefer? Sean and Mark enjoyed Glasgow the best while I
> enjoyed all three!! Once out of the lift we could see Edgar standing
> in the corridor. Julia beckoned us over and Edgar extended his right
> hand through the doorway. We said hello and went in to the room.
> Julia
> and Edgar followed and closed the door. There was a piano in the room
> so I tried to lift the lid off the keys but unfortunately it was
> locked.
> Edgar also asked us if this was our last concert to which we assured
> him it was. We talked about the possibility of Edgar coming to
> Ireland,
> to which he recalled being in Dublin and Cork in the early ’80s. I
> clarified that if he ever wanted to holiday there that he would be very
> welcome to visit us. He said that perhaps someday he might! He then
> got up from his seat and apologised for the fact that he had some
> things
> to take care of, so we thanked him for meeting us each night and shook
> hands. We left the room and Julia escorted us back to the lift. I
> thanked her very much for letting us back-stage and shook hands until
> next time. I asked the attendant if I could speak with Stuart, so he
> kindly got on the mobile for me. Stuart came downstairs and we had a
> fairwell chat. He introduced me to Rob Harris of Voiceprint. Just as
> we were about to leave, Zlatko and Emil appeared and it was slightly
> amusing because they recognised us and they shook hands with us (rather
> than vice-versa). They too were now leaving the building (via the
> front
> door). We chatted with them on the way out, wishing them luck on the
> rest of the tour, and of course inviting them to Ireland!
>
> I was surprised by the lack in numbers of lingering fans. Are we too
> shy to hang around? Surely not. I was glad to be able to meet the
> band
> after the shows for the simple reason that very few others were making
> a
> similar effort, and in a way we were able to represent all fans.
> Similarly that is why I have written this account, so that other fans
> can share some of the events which took place.
>
> Next morning we set off for home. Our return sailing was at 6.30 pm
> which allowed ample time to get back to Stranraer. After our return to
> Belfast, Sean and I said farewell to Mark before driving on to Derry.
> Sean and I had driven over 920 miles.
>
> Hopefully some of you will enjoy this record of events, I certainly
> enjoyed preparing it. I must sincerely thank the following for this
> successful Tangerine Dream experience: Julia Snyder, Stuart Hobday,
> Edgar Froese, Jerome Froese, Emil Hachfeld, Zlatko Perica, Anja
> Kathmann, Monica Froese, Peter Stoeferle and Siegfried Lindhorst.
> Cheers!
>
>