We Will Rock You – Colosseum Essen 28.06./29.06.2013

1. Friday, 28.06. 2013

Now I officially belong to that part of the Musical Fandom that calls the ticket organisation just less than 24 hours before the event, asking for a last-minute ticket for a show. It was a must-see for me, as I had deeply missed my favourite 2 main actors on stage 3 days before, and I couldn’t wait until the Dernière on sunday.

I don’t really remember if there was anything special this time, I just remember that it was a wonderful feeling to see Chris & Jeannine back on stage (again: I DO have the highest respect for Stuart & Jessica on tuesday, they were great, but just not my faves!), because I feel like the way they harmonize with each other is way more emotional; I always melt when during “Who Wants To Live Forever”, Chris embraces Jeannine so tightly from behind – no Galileo I have seen so far has ever done it that way, and I think it’s a very important little detail.
Anna Lidman being back as Ozzy was good to see – knowing that she was really getting better from her sudden deafness. And she was amazing, the best show I had seen from her. It’s always so touching when after “(No-One But You) Only The Good Die Young”, she turns away when she’s done singing, and everyone in the audience knows she’s crying; to know that she loves what she does so much that it’s really touching her soul is wonderful and an honour to be a witness of.
And the audience was wonderful! I feel like except for my 1st show at the Colosseum on May, 3rd, it got better and better with every show, they were really carried away with enthusiasm every single time, including long and loud standing ovations, cheerings and clappings – I’m very proud I’m a part of this fandom that was around in Essen!

After the show, of course, I went round to the Stage Door, where I was meeting Nurhan & Katharina (whom I had got to know 3 days earlier and already loved them 🙂 ), and we got to talk to Stuart for a while again, who was so lovely and nice, and then, Andrea rushed out of the door, being in a hurry, but still took a few seconds to stop, hugging me and telling me that sadly she hadn’t been on as Ozzy that night, but I just told her I didn’t care, because she was on stage after all, which meant a lot for me, anyways. The girls and me stood around a bit longer, and when Nurhan wanted to take a picture with one of the band members – Jamie Humphreys, a really nice person with an accent that kills me everytime *lol* -, I noticed Nikolas Heiber coming out. I told him I wouldn’t be calling him Madonna again, because I already recognized him a week earlier. He laughed, and I asked him if anybody has recognized him ever since, but he said no, but that it would’t be that bad. I can tell you, I really wanted to hug that one, feeling sorry for him…instead, I asked to take a quick picture (what a stalker am I?), and I felt his arm grabbing me around my waist tightly, and he pulled me onto him close, and we both did the “Rock-Gesture” – I really love the outcome of it, and of course, I liked Niko even more after that 😉

2. Saturday, 29.06.2013

Craziest day/night I have ever experienced, by far…not going into detail in public here, but if you wanna know, just ask. This show was one of my favourites of all the times I went to go see it in Essen. It would be the first and last time I’d finally see Tobias Bieri as Galileo on stage, and I had heard how fab he was. He was playing along with Jeannine Michele Wacker as Scaramouche, and isn’t it such a cute thing if you think about that these two are a couple?! Anyways, due to a promo thing in another city, the main cast wasn’t on that night, meaning that many roles were different this time: Brit would be played by David Michael Johnson (DMJ), who is a total legend for german WWRY fans, being the first ever Brit, Martin Werth would be playing Bap/Pop instead of Dieter Bohlen (dunno the Dominion version of the Bohemian leader right now, sorry :/), Nikolas Heiber would be playing Dieter Bohlen instead of Madonna, Nicole Malangré was going to be on as Killer Queen, and Marjolein Teepen, usually on as one of the Teen Queens, was going to be Ozzy/Meat.

The show was amazing, Tobi really surprised me. When I heard him in “Who Wants To Live Forever”, I was really impressed of how soft and at the same time strong his voice sounded; and with his version of “Hammer To Fall”, he simply blew me away. You gotta know I never got along well with the thought of a blond Galileo with curly hair; for me, it doesn’t fit to the role, for me he somehow needs to have dark, short hair (tell me why I’m so weird about that *lol*). But when I experienced him singing, especially the high and really powerful notes, I whistled inside, because he was so fabulous. And he has this special kind of acting that Chris does not have, something still really childish and cute, which fits him perfectly (should I mention how cute I thought it was that the Shirt that is worn in that role seemed way to small for him and always slided upwards when he raised his arms or moved alot? 🙂 ) And he and Jeannine harmonized SO goddamn well! I had never seen her that happy on stage (she had been very happy before, but I guess being on stage with your boyfriend is always really special 🙂 ), and you could see how much both of them enjoyed their last time together on the WWRY-Stage…they were both absolutely breathtaking, and I really regret that I never had seen them up there before. At the end, during the last few notes of “We Are The Champions”, the stage definitely was all Tobi’s: he encouraged the entire audience to sing along with him he shouted “Eeeeeeooohhhh…” more than once and everybody had to repeat it, and every time he did it, the notes got longer, until at the last one, – which was SO long that no one of us could actually hold it at all -, we all just stood there, laughing, and Tobi….he enjoyed this so much, it was amazing to see we gave him exactly that kind of last Galileo show that he must’ve hoped for. And Jeannine having tears in her eyes proved that she had loved it and was grateful for the audience once again.

At the Stage Door after, first one to come out was Marjolein, and she was so nice! I told her it was nice to see her in a different role this time, and she concluded with “…not so evil, right?” When I had first met her a few weeks back, she must’ve been in a hurry or sth, because she seemed so distant and impatient and kind of annoyed, and I was glad I got to talk to her once more to see that my first impression was wrong 🙂 Then I finally caught Martin Werth…gosh, I had waited so long for this, as I had never recognized him at first, or just didn’t see him coming out…only to see him on SO many of my Stage Door pics with the other actors, actually photobombing almost all shots *lol* I told him that I was really impressed because I hadn’t expected his voice to be so fantastic and good, and that he had really blown me away. After that, I saw Nurhan, one of the 3 girls I had met 4 days earlier, talking to one of the Ensemble Members, Austin Garrett, who played Axl Rose (who oddly looks EXACTLY like Joey Primo in “Rock Of Ages”!!!!), and he was so lovely and cute, I can’t even. He was so touched when Nurhan gave him a small present, and it was really heartbreaking seeing that he had been crying for a couple of minutes, that he actually had a hard time pulling himself together…and it didn’t take long until the poor Nurhan, not being able to see others cry, started crying herself. That was the first moment I realized that the Dernière the next day wouldn’t be a walk in the park – for none of us. If only I had known then HOW much it would be killing me.

After that, Tobi and Jeannine finally came out, and I walked up to Tobi, telling him how breathtaking he had been, that he had really impressed me and that I absolutely had loved his performance, though nobody could hold this last high note of his 🙂 It was so lovely to talk to him and Jeannine, seeing them together (seriously, they must be the cutest couple I’ve ever seen). When I first took a pic with Tobi and then one with Jeannine (I told her how breathtaking I thought Tobi had been, and she laughed and said “Go tell HIM that, he never believes me when I tell him!”), I actually really wanted one with both of them, and somehow, at first, Nurhan ended up taking a picture with ONLY both of them, and it was hilarious and cute at the same time 🙂 After that, I got my pic with both of them, and that one is actually one of my favourite of all pics I took over the past 8 weeks. It’s one more wonderful memory that no one can ever take from me 🙂