Anything that gets your blood racing is probably worth doing. Hunter S. Thompson
The day before...
It's early Saturday morning my phone rang twice once the alarm, second time a call from Dushica to wake me up. The train is leaving in 2 hours. I'm still not packed, haven't showered or washed my hair. It's going to be a rush to pack and everything else... An hour later I somehow managed to do all that and double check my luggage. Dushica is picking me up and her brother is taking us to the train station. But I still haven't told you where we're going or why. It's a very special city for me, a city where dreams come true. Wien, Vienna, Bec you can call it in any language that you like. Wien has something magical around it, I can't quite understand what, but it's there for me. I can feel it. Since the two of us are young with a small income we found the cheapest way to get to Wien is to travel to Budapest by train and than to take a bus to Wien. It's a long ride but we didn't mind. We arrived in Wien at 10 o'clock in the evening, our hosts have picked us up at U Bahn station. We settled and that’s when this fantastic weekend begins.
I can tell you now the reason why we came here. It was a present for my friends Dushica Birthday, and she really loves Hurts. It's her favourite band. Actually this band is the one thing that connects our musical taste since it’s very different, we couldn't believe that we actually both adore the same band. So I suggested to her that on her Birthday we go to see Hurts concert as a present for her. So here we are on a night out, the night before the concert having fun in a club meeting new people drinking almost everything we can, because once you start with vodka and tequila in the equation, you can end up with anything to drink. And so it was. A great night out with lots of lovely people from all over the world, a lot of heavy drinking and dancing till we dropped.
Sunday!!! The day of the show, and we’re so ready for it!!! The day went by so fast, waking up, breakfast with Blake the guy we met last night, who is was so cool that we took him home with us. Got an adorable picture with him and a homeless guy who we paid for the picture cause he needs that money more than we do. Such a terrific morning and a way to start the day! Afternoon spent on a Christmas Market and in Museum Quarter where we had lunch and headed toward our accommodation to change and get ready for the show.
Gasometer here we come! The two of us arrived an hour before the show, managed to get to the first row in front of stage even if we didn't deserve it since there were people who came and waited much longer that we did. I guess we were lucky. Oh, the anticipation.
Finally the lights are off and the support band comes out, normally I wouldn't write about this, but Pegasus is amazing, it was such a discovery for me I really like them, their energy on stage and communication with the audience. I highly recommend their music especially Rise Up', 'Go Out (And Get Her)' and 'Skyline'. The break between the gigs, the longest half an hour of our lives. But then it was all worth it!
The musicians came out on the stage followed by Adam and Theo, it's real and it's happening we are here, we weren't aware so much of it until it actually happened. That we travelled for 16 hours, that we are in the another city, now it all fitted like in a perfect puzzle. The sound of the song 'Mercy' rips our ears!!! There's no player, speaker or head phones that could do justice to the live performance of it or any other song that they played tonight.
As the show went on my voice faded I couldn't sing-along Theo's voice and Adam's playing were too mesmerizing. 'Somebody to die for' perfectly describes the desire to fall in love and how hard is to do it actually and the last verse spoken with Theo's shattered voice "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." taken from Dylan Thomas poem "Do not go gentle into that good night".
'The Crow' made me cry I think that this song is the beating heart of the band, their essence and core. And when you look at the set list all songs have a matching pair except this one this one is the one that stands alone and yet represents all the others. I personally prefer acoustic versions of songs so you can imagine how thrilled I was when 'Blood, tears and gold' was played acoustic so emotional even more for the opening line that Theo gave " This is one of our favourite songs that we ever wrote It's a song that we wrote after the Wonderful life". I must say though I adore song 'Sunday' and even though it was a perfect match since the day of the concert was Sunday a live performance of it didn't do it for me. But 'Stay', oh I must say if this song doesn't touch your soul with first lines of the lyrics then you should question if you even have one. "My whole life waiting for the right time to tell you how I feel" the whole Gasometer was in tears Theo's voice pierced through us, I hugged Dushica with all the strength in my arms wanting to "Stay" here forever, I could feel her tears soaking my jumper, we didn't care about anything else in the world just this moment, this song, Hurts, the two of us together in front of stage overwhelmed. To bring us back to life the band played a little game where all of us turned the lights on our phones and raised our hands in the air. This song is called 'Illuminated', and that's just how we felt. Shimmering light was all around us, Illuminating us and the concert hall, making a perfect match of the lyrics and the light effects.
"When I close my eyes, I see you
When I close my eyes, you're here
In the dead of the night, I feel you
When I open my eyes, you disappear..."
'The Road', final song at least that's what they said, but we all knew that there would be an encore, yet still a perfect way to announce that it's just few more minutes and they will disappear from the stage.
Pause. Cheering, shouting, laughing and the band appears again. 'Better than love' rhythm starts and it really feels better than love, our feet are in the air the euphoria is at it's top, though soon things settle down for the real final song 'Help' from the deluxe version of the newest album. I'm not sure have I got the point of the song right but in my opinion the song is meant to all of us who helped them to reach the stars and not being afraid of life anymore. The band thanks us for a lovely show, the lights are out and it's over.
Back to reality. We went to get our jackets and got lost on the way but somehow managed to find the wardrobe. When we got out of the venue, I had that weird sensation in my guts that we should walk around the hall, so we did. We found the spot where other people waited for the band, took a stand there and started to talk with a girl who offed us cigarettes. She said that she interviewed Adam and Theo a few months ago on a festival in Wien. In her exact words she said that the boys are so nice and relaxed, proper gentleman, they even asked her to play a guitar for them since she does it in private life.
The night was cold, ice cold if you ask me, but when Theo showed up and started to give autographs nothing mattered anymore. As he was approaching we put our phones away since we didn't want to see one of our favourite frontman through camera lens.
Of Course, no problem.
While he was signing my ticket I asked him: "Can I shake your hand?"
He gave me the look like please why do you even ask and replied: "Of course, not a problem”
-Thank you Theo, this is lovely.
- No problem, thank you. It was a great show , it was real special tonight.
- Yeah, it's her birthday, I say.
He gives Dushica a look under his eyebrows saying: " Happy Birthday."
and adds a heart next to his autograph on her ticket, she gives her thanks as he moves on.
As the people started to move on. I approached to the manager and asked him can we take just one photo with Theo he replied No photos just autographs and I remembered what the girl from the radio said, that managers really don’t get the fan thing. The usually just see money that the band will earn from us. But for us fans it’s different, we live for that show or shows if we’re able to afford them. And if we manage to meet the band member it’s such a precious memory for us especially if we get to keep some memory of that encounter. You can imagine how important for the two of us was to have that photo with him. And when he said No, I just had to ask Theo to take a picture with us, and he didn't disappoint, he said yes, no problem. Moment later we stood in his embrace ready to take that photo. I gave my phone to the security guy to take it, but instead he flipped the camera to front and took a picture of himself. He realized that something was wrong and didn't know how to fix it, he tried to take it again but the same thing happened. Dushica took the camera from him and just took a shot not realizing that the camera is flipped.
We said thanks to Theo and he asked:
- “Are you sure that you got it?”
- “Yes” we said, but unfortunately we didn't take it.
Thank you, Theo this is lovely.
It was too late and we were bummed for it, but then it came to our mind that Theo stood
there in our arms the whole time waiting patiently for us to take that photo, not trying to
rush anything. And that memory of him indulging us is more precious than any photo
we could make. So thank you for that.
On our way back to accommodation, we just sat in silence trying to sort out the
memories made moments ago. But this condition of ours had a short life, the
moment we had the chance to speak what just happened to us, we endorsed it. A good
night sleep helped us to summarize our impressions from the show, making them more
real than ever. We came back home full of new life and energy, But not the rushing one
that pumps up your blood, but the calm one that brings you tranquility.
So our two gentleman from Manchester till we meet again <3
Happy Birthday. Love Theo.
The day before...
 |
| Listen, smile, agree, and then do what ever the fuck you were gonna do anyway. |
I can tell you now the reason why we came here. It was a present for my friends Dushica Birthday, and she really loves Hurts. It's her favourite band. Actually this band is the one thing that connects our musical taste since it’s very different, we couldn't believe that we actually both adore the same band. So I suggested to her that on her Birthday we go to see Hurts concert as a present for her. So here we are on a night out, the night before the concert having fun in a club meeting new people drinking almost everything we can, because once you start with vodka and tequila in the equation, you can end up with anything to drink. And so it was. A great night out with lots of lovely people from all over the world, a lot of heavy drinking and dancing till we dropped.
Sunday!!! The day of the show, and we’re so ready for it!!! The day went by so fast, waking up, breakfast with Blake the guy we met last night, who is was so cool that we took him home with us. Got an adorable picture with him and a homeless guy who we paid for the picture cause he needs that money more than we do. Such a terrific morning and a way to start the day! Afternoon spent on a Christmas Market and in Museum Quarter where we had lunch and headed toward our accommodation to change and get ready for the show.
Gasometer here we come! The two of us arrived an hour before the show, managed to get to the first row in front of stage even if we didn't deserve it since there were people who came and waited much longer that we did. I guess we were lucky. Oh, the anticipation.
Finally the lights are off and the support band comes out, normally I wouldn't write about this, but Pegasus is amazing, it was such a discovery for me I really like them, their energy on stage and communication with the audience. I highly recommend their music especially Rise Up', 'Go Out (And Get Her)' and 'Skyline'. The break between the gigs, the longest half an hour of our lives. But then it was all worth it!
The musicians came out on the stage followed by Adam and Theo, it's real and it's happening we are here, we weren't aware so much of it until it actually happened. That we travelled for 16 hours, that we are in the another city, now it all fitted like in a perfect puzzle. The sound of the song 'Mercy' rips our ears!!! There's no player, speaker or head phones that could do justice to the live performance of it or any other song that they played tonight. As the show went on my voice faded I couldn't sing-along Theo's voice and Adam's playing were too mesmerizing. 'Somebody to die for' perfectly describes the desire to fall in love and how hard is to do it actually and the last verse spoken with Theo's shattered voice "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." taken from Dylan Thomas poem "Do not go gentle into that good night".
'The Crow' made me cry I think that this song is the beating heart of the band, their essence and core. And when you look at the set list all songs have a matching pair except this one this one is the one that stands alone and yet represents all the others. I personally prefer acoustic versions of songs so you can imagine how thrilled I was when 'Blood, tears and gold' was played acoustic so emotional even more for the opening line that Theo gave " This is one of our favourite songs that we ever wrote It's a song that we wrote after the Wonderful life". I must say though I adore song 'Sunday' and even though it was a perfect match since the day of the concert was Sunday a live performance of it didn't do it for me. But 'Stay', oh I must say if this song doesn't touch your soul with first lines of the lyrics then you should question if you even have one. "My whole life waiting for the right time to tell you how I feel" the whole Gasometer was in tears Theo's voice pierced through us, I hugged Dushica with all the strength in my arms wanting to "Stay" here forever, I could feel her tears soaking my jumper, we didn't care about anything else in the world just this moment, this song, Hurts, the two of us together in front of stage overwhelmed. To bring us back to life the band played a little game where all of us turned the lights on our phones and raised our hands in the air. This song is called 'Illuminated', and that's just how we felt. Shimmering light was all around us, Illuminating us and the concert hall, making a perfect match of the lyrics and the light effects.
"When I close my eyes, I see youWhen I close my eyes, you're here
In the dead of the night, I feel you
When I open my eyes, you disappear..."
'The Road', final song at least that's what they said, but we all knew that there would be an encore, yet still a perfect way to announce that it's just few more minutes and they will disappear from the stage.
Pause. Cheering, shouting, laughing and the band appears again. 'Better than love' rhythm starts and it really feels better than love, our feet are in the air the euphoria is at it's top, though soon things settle down for the real final song 'Help' from the deluxe version of the newest album. I'm not sure have I got the point of the song right but in my opinion the song is meant to all of us who helped them to reach the stars and not being afraid of life anymore. The band thanks us for a lovely show, the lights are out and it's over.
Back to reality. We went to get our jackets and got lost on the way but somehow managed to find the wardrobe. When we got out of the venue, I had that weird sensation in my guts that we should walk around the hall, so we did. We found the spot where other people waited for the band, took a stand there and started to talk with a girl who offed us cigarettes. She said that she interviewed Adam and Theo a few months ago on a festival in Wien. In her exact words she said that the boys are so nice and relaxed, proper gentleman, they even asked her to play a guitar for them since she does it in private life.
The night was cold, ice cold if you ask me, but when Theo showed up and started to give autographs nothing mattered anymore. As he was approaching we put our phones away since we didn't want to see one of our favourite frontman through camera lens.
Of Course, no problem.
While he was signing my ticket I asked him: "Can I shake your hand?"
He gave me the look like please why do you even ask and replied: "Of course, not a problem”
-Thank you Theo, this is lovely.
- No problem, thank you. It was a great show , it was real special tonight.
- Yeah, it's her birthday, I say.
He gives Dushica a look under his eyebrows saying: " Happy Birthday."
and adds a heart next to his autograph on her ticket, she gives her thanks as he moves on.
As the people started to move on. I approached to the manager and asked him can we take just one photo with Theo he replied No photos just autographs and I remembered what the girl from the radio said, that managers really don’t get the fan thing. The usually just see money that the band will earn from us. But for us fans it’s different, we live for that show or shows if we’re able to afford them. And if we manage to meet the band member it’s such a precious memory for us especially if we get to keep some memory of that encounter. You can imagine how important for the two of us was to have that photo with him. And when he said No, I just had to ask Theo to take a picture with us, and he didn't disappoint, he said yes, no problem. Moment later we stood in his embrace ready to take that photo. I gave my phone to the security guy to take it, but instead he flipped the camera to front and took a picture of himself. He realized that something was wrong and didn't know how to fix it, he tried to take it again but the same thing happened. Dushica took the camera from him and just took a shot not realizing that the camera is flipped. We said thanks to Theo and he asked:
- “Are you sure that you got it?”
- “Yes” we said, but unfortunately we didn't take it.
Thank you, Theo this is lovely.
It was too late and we were bummed for it, but then it came to our mind that Theo stood
there in our arms the whole time waiting patiently for us to take that photo, not trying to
rush anything. And that memory of him indulging us is more precious than any photo
we could make. So thank you for that.
On our way back to accommodation, we just sat in silence trying to sort out the
memories made moments ago. But this condition of ours had a short life, the
moment we had the chance to speak what just happened to us, we endorsed it. A good
night sleep helped us to summarize our impressions from the show, making them more
real than ever. We came back home full of new life and energy, But not the rushing one
that pumps up your blood, but the calm one that brings you tranquility.
So our two gentleman from Manchester till we meet again <3
Happy Birthday. Love Theo.
