08/03/03 - DONAUARENA, REGENSBURG

Review by Roberta De Silvestre:
Regensburg was quite a sudden decision - a couple of weeks before the gig we realized that we could go... so why not? ;)
It was a fantastic weekend, which started at Munich airport where we met up and got a car to drive to Regensburg...

Once at the Donau Arena, we could put a face to many names! :) We met Petra again, Claudia and her friends, and Sandra from the webboard. We also met Isabella and Flavio, whom I hadn't seen since the last Italian tour... Cheers everyone!
It was a freezing day and the venue was right next to the river, which didn't help with the temperature! But once inside, we soon get hot... VERY hot, actually!
The venue was PACKED, not a single space was left empty - actually it looked overcrowded! The security (and this was the only negative thing) was awful and clearly didn't have a clue of what to do... From when we were waiting at the gates to during the gig (no water at all...) and after it (it took us about 20 minutes to get out of the venue, people were climbing everywhere to find a way out!), I really wouldn't recommend them to anyone!
But as I said, this was the only negative thing, and once the gig started, frankly, we couldn't care less! ;))

And then it was Bryan time... since the very beginning, it was clear that the guys were in a great shape, full of energy and in a very high mood! :) They kicked it off with Here I Am, which sounds better every time I hear it... then a series of rockers: Can't Stop, 18TID... and of course Summer Of 69! Here the audience was amazing, everyone was singing along word by word, so that Bryan let us sing much more than the usual first lines.

(Above) Bryan calls Keith over to the side of the stage

(Below) Keith joins Bryan for a jamming session!

Everything I Do was as touching as always and got very loud cheers from everyone... when I turned back to look at the audience, I saw a dark sea pointed of hundreds of lights, it was breathtaking. To introduce It's Only Love Bryan said: "This is an old song I used to sing with Tina Turner... Tonight we don't have Tina here, but we have KEITH SCOTT!!!" :). Big cheers followed... Keith's solo was VERY long and fantastic... we were all amazed. Even Bryan - there he is, standing back and enjoying it along with everyone else, a big grin on his face :).

The first real surprise of the show was Let's Make A Night To Remember! I hadn't heard it since 1997 and I couldn't believe my ears... it was even better than then, so sweet and sexy. It was welcomed with screams of joy by everyone :).
Other special songs were Back To You, with Bryan starting it on his own on the acoustic guitar... Heaven in the new, up-tempo version, which I love, I'm Ready, emotional as usual... Loads of them! This camera guy never left us alone, and seemed to have fun following us everywhere like he did in Berlin... Argh!! What have we done to deserve him?? ;)

The When You're Gone girl was quite... er, interesting! Once on stage, she said she wanted some water otherwise she could't sing! Bryan was baffled but gave her a bottle, and, while she was drinking, asked her "Is there anything else we can do for you, while you're here?" :)). He seemed to be quite happy about her performance, though... Keith was laughing his head off during the WYG moment :))!

(Above) It's b-stage time

The b-stage was even more fun than usual, with Keith scratching his bum on the mike during Poison Ivy (it took a good minute to Bryan to stop laughing and go on with the song!!) and Bryan doing a very, VERY sexy "Elvis" voice on She's Only Happy.

Then it was time for Cloud #9, with thousands of arms waving to the ceiling... And Run To You, as loud as ever! And then, Bryan pointed to an imaginary watch on his wrist and asked "Don't you think it's time to go home?"... "NO!!!" we replied, so he shouted... "You got it!!"The Best Of Me! When we saw Bryan sitting on the stage, we knew what was about to happen, as we had seen him doing it in Berlin... but this time it was even better! Bryan jumped off the stage, starting from the other end of the stage and slowly coming towards us... taking pics of the audience between one line of the song and the next! When Bryan arrived next to where I was, he jumped on the fence and let everyone hug him :)... then he moved to the right, and did the same... he leant forward to sing in our faces... Then he jumped off and seemed to be going back...

But right after I took a pic he stopped, looked at me with a smile, and jumped up right in front of me :). I put my arm around him to hold him up as he seemed to be in a very unstable position :)). Everyone was going crazy... so much fun!

The final was breath-taking, and the second BIG surprise of the evening. After TBOM, Bryan thanked everyone, waved and left with the others...everything went dark... until we saw Keith moving towards the centre of the stage, all by himself, with an acoustic guitar. He started an AMAZING spanish solo, which lasted a good while. Everyone was listening in a total daze:)! Then the spotlight moved to Bryan who started singing Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman with the sweetest voice ever. At the end of it, Bryan said something like "Muchas gracias! Keitho Scotto!" with a mock Spanish accent! :)) We laughed so much that he turned to us and laughed out loud, too :)). It was a fantastic performance, and the perfect finale to a wonderful show!

Bryan was clearly VERY happy and called us a "fantastic" audience... He didn't need to say more, with such a smile on his face! :)

The guys had to leave immediately after the show for the long trip to Karlsruhe, but we did meet Keith and... I also got to chat with Johnny from Vega4 when he came out of the venue (he was the last one to leave)... which was really, really nice :). What a lovely guy he is! Another highlight added to the night for me :). So it was the end of another great night. The day after, we toured the historic centre of Regensburg and realized what a lovely town it is! I especially loved walking on the Stone Bridge, over the river Donau... a perfect way to slowly get back down to earth. :)
A special "cherry on the top" was listening to the radio while driving back to Munich... and realizing that they were playing last night's gig! Wow, it sounded so great... and felt so good to know we were part of it :).

 


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Pictures by Roberta De Silvestre

Bryan on guitar

Keith waved at us several times... here he stopped in front of me, smiled, gave me a wink, and waited for me to take the picture! :) Cheers k-man! :)

18 Til I Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!

Keith laughing during WYG!

Singing 'HYERLAW?' on a single mike with Keith on Spanish guitar

Handclaps during 'HYERLAW?'

Taking flowers after the show