Every fan is excited when he goes to a concert of his favorite musician, but this time I felt as if I had taken drugs – I was as high as a kite, even at 5:30 in the morning. When I checked my mails, there was one of Susanne, who had planned to come as well. Unfortunately her work mate had fallen ill and she had to work. Can you imagine her disappointment? Poor Susanne!!!! She had enclosed a poem for Angelo, so I printed it and made an envelope with greetings of some Bran.-ans. It was the least I could do!

I think, I mentioned before that I more or less grew up on the castle island and have learned and celebrated there for years. This made the concert something very special. During the last days I had prepared the poster and a scrapbook with all the paper cuttings announcing Angelo to have a worthy place for an autograph.

On Saturday I couldn’t wait to get to Bad Pyrmont and stroll through the city – full of hope to meet Angelo. After a couple of phone calls, Bärbel, Volker and I met for coffee and ice-cream. In the ice café we learned, that Angelo had really been seen in the main shopping street – just minutes after I had been there.

On my way to change at my parents’ house I stopped at the castle. From the high wall which surrounds the yard I could watch the musicians while they built up their instruments and did a sound check. Knowing the paths on the island like our back yard, I used a tunnel to have a look from behind the stage. And there was Davide, looking for something in his bag. If I had known that he speaks English, I might have talked to him. This way I just leaned at the wall, trembling and with a huge knot in my tummy. He turned and smiled at me!

When I was just up on the wall again, my heart stopped beating when I saw Angelo on the stage. He had arrived – he was really in “my” yard! After a photo of him doing a sound check I went down the tunnel again, but I was at the wrong corner of the stage. There was too much equipment and too many technicians between Angelo and my camera. When I had caught back my breath I went to the other wall and could watch Angelo being bored on stage. I kept my camera on him all the time in hope, he would look up – but he didn’t.

At 5:30 pm all visitors were asked to leave the island – to make sure nobody went into hiding and get a free concert. Finally I went to my Mum to change, collect my daughter Johanna and the poster. When we arrived back at the castle 30 minutes later, there was already a queue. So there were other fans coming as well! With the poster in my hands we easily talked to the surrounding people and I told them about our group. One woman was wearing a Caminando Caminando shirt and told us she only knew Sandra Bloh. Everyone was impressed by the many countries, especially the south Americans! Bärbel and Volker arrived and time moved on – making me nervous to get inside and get a good seat. The first row had been reserved for special guests, so we had to be fast! Just then I got an SMS from Susanne, as she didn’t know if I had got her mail. Yahoo must have hidden my return mail. I thought I could ring her during the concert to let her hear a little, but all mobiles had to be put out during the concert.

When the gates opened, it was like in East Germany when it was the DDR and they had Bananas for sale. Everyone was fighting for the front. As the people only went as far as the middle of the chair rows, I ran to the other side and got to the centre of the 3rd row. Johanna and I reserved seats for Bärbel, Volker and my sister Ulrike as well. It was just perfect. I think, 2 minutes after entering the yard, the first 10 rows were packed with people. Not everyone felt the need to be at the front and people kept arriving all the time. My sister thought, she would take away a front seat of a real fan, but during the concert she realized, that she was a fan herself and she was completely taken from the performance.

Usually we get searched when we go to concerts. No (plastic) bottles, food, umbrellas, folding chairs or even cameras are allowed. But not in Bad Pyrmont – we could have brought rifles, bombs, wodka bottles and all cameras with three-pods. I was stunned! I would have loved to bring a big bottle of water. But the caterers offering food and drink during the event want to live as well, so Johanna and I had a tiny bottle of water and a Brezel each.

At 7:30 pm the clouds opened and it started to rain. Some people at the edges opened their own umbrellas, but we, sitting in the centre, only heard the sound of the rain. They had put extra chairs to sell more tickets, but those got wet. Some people sitting on them just carried the chairs into free spaces under the big umbrellas. (When the umbrellas were built, everyone was complaining abut the costs and ugliness, but when they are open, it’s just magic and so much money gets spent unnecessarily for other stuff – it was money well spent!)

Suddenly there was an announcement: During the concert no photos or recordings were allowed due to copyrights. Our faces fell!  I resigned and decided to record the concert into my head, where nobody could take it away.