The last one: Berlin (DE)

Well…. this is it… the last one… We played in the Columbia Club. Just a few months ago Dream Theater played in the Columbia Halle, next to the club. It is a famous club, and a beauty! What an honour to play in such a place, with so much rock and prog history there!
After the soundcheck, we really felt that this would be the one! Some guys came with nice HD-camara’s to record it, Camiel was there to record it on 24-track, it all looked great!
But then came the first part. For me it was really a dissaster. At time of soundcheck, I had the most perfect mix on my in-ear monitors. It sounded great! But when we started, without touching the mixer, everything was gone, and I just had piano on my monitoring. AAAHHHHH…..
We tried to fix it, and during the first half of the show it got better, so I got more into the music. But it was still hard to play. There where many and very strange techincal things going on. The keys went on and off, guitaramps that started humming, monitors that cracked up. Really strange, up to now we still don’t know what caused this trouble.
But hey… that’s the technical part. You have to go on, there are people in the venue, that deserve a good show, so that is what you do then. Just play your heart out, and that is exactly what I did.
Later, after the show I heard that they did not notice all those monitor-problems, so I am thankful!
Playing the encore was very emotional for me, I almost cried during Wind At My Back, because it was the last song. And it was the last time we where on stage together with Neal, for this tour.
I know that we will be back, but this tour was simply to short for me, I could go on for another two weeks. But hey, you can’t have it all, they say…
I’ll keep you informed on what is going on with me, the band members and possibilities for other shows/tours with Neal.
Thank you all your fans out there, for showing up during this tour! It was sooo much fun!!
See you all some other time!!