Live Review : San Francisco (CAL, USA), August 19th, 2008

The Fillmore San Francisco

the wait

The Fillmore was far from the active center of San Francisco, in Japantown, accross the crossroad from Japan Center (yeah, San Francisco is a town I'd already been to, luckily as we didn't get much time to visit. I was happy to go back there though, as it's one of my favorite towns).

Only about 30 girls were there when we arrived, early in the morning, and the one just before us told us that actually, most of them had just arrived in the past hour. A few had spent the night or more there, in front of the Post Office. It looks like they mimick the European frenzy about queuing for TH... I'll be damned if I understand why o_O
(travelling to US to see TH shows is half motivated by the fact that there's no way I'll wait more than a day to see a gig of them... and in France that would only get me a distant row in the pit, while in US even if I show up mid afternoon, venues are so small that I'll see better than at a regular show in Europe).

There was a little excitement around 4pm when the band arrived in tour bus. They went straight from it to the Fillmore by the Artist's entrance (the metal stairs on the side), waving hello to us on the way (sorry, no photo, I messed up).

The wait was very relaxed and pleasant, though the weather was more humid and cold than I expected from "California in August". We could sit until 2 hours before the show, then the line was packed up. And it was announced then that there would be no Fast Lane for Livenation ticket holders... Oh, the joys of organisation changes in lines :P

I aimed for Georg's, side because I didn't keep many memories of my second row on Tom's side in New York, apart from insane shoving from the back AND the middle, and struggling to see the band between raised hands, cameras, cellphones and love kisses *roll eyes*.
I settled a decent 2nd row there, with a really good sight between heads. With my queue-neighbor - a fan from Reno -, I thought I'd just stay there for a few songs though, as the pushing started as soon as the room was filled, way before the show started. It wasn't violent per se, at least, unlike I read other shows were. Just we were very, very compressed, and reduced to a single mass of sweaty flesh. I lost the posters we'd been given at the doors in the battle (silly, that. Give them after the show, not before! They actually gave us one on the way out, but a different one, without any band's picture).

the show

The first notes of Break Away rang, though, the curtain fell but my sight was obscured by raised arms and hysterical waving... When that fell down too, I had my first glimpse of the band... and instantly thought "Okay, that's worth the incomfort and pain to breathe, I'll stay here the whole show if I don't faint".

It's rare to see them so up close in Europe. Even if you manage to score one of the front rows, the venues they play in are so much bigger that you lose sight of them on the stage when they're not on your side. While here, no matter where they stood, I could still see their expressions, and look at any of the guys as much as I wanted, instead of relying on screens. Bliss...

On the down side, there was so much screaming and singing around me that I barely heard Bill's voice over it. Or the music even, at times o_O So don't count on me for details on the performance music wise.

Just basically... though it wasn't too obvious because of the fan screaming and sound level, I don't think I've ever heard Bill's voice being as clear, steady and powerful as it was before March. The February shows in NY were already a bit strained.

And I have to wonder now, if the many-but-shorter shows in US are just because they really want to conquer the US market... or because the set list in English gives them a good excuse to make shorter sets (while they play nearly 2 hours in Europe), and to skip many old songs that had been written for Bill's pre-puberty, high-pitched voice. With notes that he already had troubles singing during the Zimmer 483 tour, for some, but that he, by the sound of it, can definitely not sing anymore, after his vocal chords... :(
There's a reason why the "Rescue Me" / "Rette Mich" chorus melody has been changed from the Schrei album version. But even that doesn't seem to be enough now. Mind you, it doesn't help that the crowd keeps singing the old version, while Bill can't.

The band was very enthusiastic and energetic (I don't know how they're doing with jet lag, I was baked even though I had arrived in S.F. 4 days earlier). Even Gustav was radiant when they went to play or sing in front of him. Bill said they had visited the town a bit and found it beautiful. The rest of his speeches was... the usual. But I expected that. I don't know many artists who tour that much and change their routine speeches. His English has gotten better though.

It was easier on that side to hear Georg when he backed up Bill for the vocals on several songs. It complements the sound nicely. One of my favorite songs of them lately is Schwarz, and the English version is not bad. I had regretted though that it was hard to enjoy it, because in the European shows Bill sings it from high above, perched on a platform way above the stage, and at the NY shows he was sitting in the dark on the stage, hidden by fans' heads and arms.

So I was already happy when the first notes of it were heard that I had a good spot this time around to see the entire stage... imagine my reaction then when I saw him approaching our side to sit on the edge of the stage, only 2 or 3 meters away:

Something like : O__O OMG SO CLOSE YAYE! *grabby hands*
Awwww, he's so cute and soft and into the song! (and his eyelashes are longer than mine ever were. I want his make-up artist to teach me that. I suck at make-up anyway).

One reason why I like this song is that I think it's one of their few introspective ones about the unexpected, rushed turns their career has taken, and what's ahead of them and how they deal with it. It was reinforced when Bill sang the "It's dark despite the light" by pointing at the spotlights. Dawww... My precious... It's a song that's so much better in a more intimate setting like that than in a ginormous 10 000+ venue.

Also, they had added (compared to the February mini-tour) a wall of lights, on which they showed same montage from the Zimmer 483 backstage DVD that they had on the 1000 Hotels tour in Europe, of the boys being their endearing, goofy selves throughout the years and their sky-rocketting career. Dawww, bis.
Bill stood up and sang the "let us run and don't look back / We'll leave behind a burning track" part to Georg, sweet.

I have to admit, I tended to Schrei rather than Scream, and to Leb Die Sekunde rather than Live every Second... Because some songs still sound better to me in German than in English. Totgeliebt especially. Not just because of the sound, but also because the translated lyrics are, in places... a bit dumb. Where the original ones are much less redundant and more poetic.

Tom was a bit less cheeky than in Europe on his stage antics during Live every second...

after show

I waited a bit that the crowd scattered, because I had lost my hotel key/card - though since it was in my denim's back pocket, it was more probably stolen than lost. It wasn't in vain though, as 1) I took a shot of their logo-ted equipment boxes and 2) I found on the floor a blue guitar pick with the TH logo on the front and a scribble in the back. I didn't know whether it was merchandising or a genuine guitar pick, but upon checking our show photos, it turned out it was a real one - and it was pointed out to me that the "scribble" was actually Georg's printed signature ^^; Duh! Bad fan I am!

I found my friends outside by the grids, where we waited for the band, not for long. As they had a show in Los Angeles the next night, they were out less than 30 min after the show. They didn't stop to sign autographs, just hopped into the tourbuses and left. We did the same, as we, too, planned to be in L.A. the next day...