Andreas' nmn page

How comes I missed nomeansno's last Europe tour, and that's sad! But then during a small party in our office, Guido (also sitting in the very same office) told me that nomeansno will come to the AZ in Mülheim. Happy, happy, joy, Joy! Spontanously a couple of people agreed to go there and I was prepared to be joined by about ten fellows. But then: Bärbel (my beloved wife) wasn't sure if that was her music and had to look after Tobi (a dog). Matthias had to get his parents to the airport. Erwin was in teacher stress. Another Matthias was searching for Paula (another dog). And even Martin, one of the greatest nmn fans ever (see below), was hindered! Guido also wasn't well, took the pledge and agreed to drive the van from Wuppertal to Mülheim. Just us two! Some other guys from Wuppertal wanted to join us at the AZ. In the beginning Arrived, we met Alex and others, drank a beer (and a coke) etc. I looked at the sales booth and found the new CD "generic shame" and bought it (Having heard a few times I must confess I really like it). No new T-Shirts that convinced me. The AZ hall is quite big and there weren't many people in the beginning and so it somehow looked empty. Later more and more people arrived and when "Removal" entered the stage it looked better. They were loud (the hammer bass) and heavy and I really liked them. They have no singer and consequently no mikes. Funny! They couldn't even say "hello", "thanks" or "bye" and were holding up a sign that said "Hallo, wir sind Removal". I bought their first CD afterwards and this is really good stuff to listen to in the car... No One? Till then I wasn't sure what to think about nomeansno's new CD "No One". Some things were great, some sucked somehow and my thoughts hadn't settled down then. But one thing I was sure of: This was nothing to perform live. With that in mind I emptied my last beer and approached the stage... No One! But already the first song "Graveyard shift" disabused me! Wow! Nomeansno really is a live band. You simply cannot compare that to their studio recordings! It was amazing and I started dancing with the crowd. A nice crowd by the way, that was having fun but wasn't violent. Form then on I cannot remember much: I was in ecstasy and was hurled from one song to the other. (Luckily I managed to get a setlist after the show that you can see on the left). I really enjoyed ever single song of the show and had the impression these guys (Rob, John and Tom) on the stage were also doing so. After "The Rape", "The Fall" and "Angel or Devil" my clothes were already soaked from sweat and I had the chance to recover a little during Rob's life lesson before "Hello/Goodbye". After "Sex mad" I was completely exhausted but was still dancing feverishly. "Phone Call" is my favorite song from the new album and washed my last doubts concerning "No One" away. The following "Self pity" is one of my all time favorites and I nearly died! But I "Couldn't stop talking" ...aehm... singing and dancing. I think I have nothing to say about "Oh No Bruno"... And to hear the "Happy Bridge" from "Mr. Happy" live was the absolute climax of the show (from my point of view). "The River" was flowing powerful as always. But that was not the end... Encore ("If you weren't there, we won't do it!") I had seen them three times before but they had never returned that often back on the stage. I think that was another sign that they were also enjoying the show (Didn't you, Rob?). During one song (couldn't remember which) Rob was coming down to the audience and played his bass in the middle of the crowd. (I was nearly hit by the neck of his guitar :-) What a pleasure! The songs I can remember are "Humans", "It's catching up" (Wow! But there was an idiot who knocked over Rob's mike.) "The Tower" (that was the point where I absolutely lost my voice :-) "Beat on the brat" (Rob said something like" "We now play some song that WE like") and the last encore was "Only so many songs can be sung with two lips, two lungs and one tongue". Between the second and the third verse Tom proved his guitar skills and his humor ;-) I was completely messed up and unbelievable happy! This was definitely the best nomeansno show I've been to! Back at the bus Alex asked: "Ob wir mit 40 auch noch so drauf sind?"

nomeansno in Bielefeld (Germany) 29th October 1998

With her help we arrived quite early and we had enough time to drink a few beers. The band before nomeansno was "Something like Elvis" from Poland. They made a good warm-up for our favourites. After that we used the short break to get in front of the stage. They started with "Obsessed" and we flew away... Next was "Humans" which is not in my personal top ten and the cool "Disappear" from their new album. "Wiggly worm" and "Angel or devil" were two other loud and speedy songs good for dancing and singing. After Rob was telling us about the permanent voice in his head (:-) they started "I can't stop talking" followed by "Two lips, two lungs and one tongue". At that time my clothes were already completely wet of sweat. After "Who fucked who" I needed a little break that I used for pissing and taking a little breath (I had forgotten how fresh air smelled). I missed "I'm an asshole" which I heard a little too often the last weeks. Back at the stage they started playing "Valley of the blind" (lucky me). "Dark Ages" and "It's catching up" followed. A lot of raised hands at every "I'm fucked!". My favoutite song from the new album is "Give me the push" which followed and drove me completely mad. What a show! I was not able to calm down because they played "Real love" in the real long version. Everyone including the band was totally exhausted. But nevertheless we cried for a an encore. Well I tried to shout, but I had nearly lost my voice. Even now (two days later) I am more queeking than speaking. They did "Rags and bones", "Big dick" and the title song of "Love boat", a TV series that I had seen a few times and isn't very popular in Germany, I think. Funny. We were not able to get them out again after that. My body was at its limits, but my soul wanted to hear more.

Of course, we missed a lot of songs, but to avoid this they had to play about 100 songs :-) and that is hardly possible. They were only three, leaving Ken the second drummer at home (John told me they lost him :-) Naturally they hadn't played "River" and "Joyful reunion", songs that really need ultraloud drums. The concert convinced me that Tom really is the ideal partner for the Wright brothers being a fine guitar player and singer. Hey, and I met Craig, the man in the backgroud mixing the sound we all love. I can only tell that I enjoyed the show and it seemed the band enjoyed it, too. nomeansno is absolutely a great live-band. Rasta-bad!!!

The rest is quickly told: Two Mr. Happies lost Anke, walked a lot in stormy weather, met two nice policemen and one nice taxi driver and fell asleep smiling. Next morning: "Es geht nicht darum zu gewinnen. Ihr sollt das verstehen!"

Cheers, Andreas

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