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Smell of the Crowd by Maddy Bell
Copyright© 2022 Madeline Bell
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Pink Flamingo
The only person who clocked my new hair colour was Anna Louise who I joined in reception to wait for the lads, Misty having spent our 'free' time sorting me out was doing her own quick gig change.
"You've dyed your hair., its very, um, pink.”
"Yeah,” I allowed with a sigh, "The Perücke are okay but they get a bit warm.”
"I can imagine.”
"So how did you know, no one else has spotted it.”
"Simple really, there's no way you could style the wig how you've got it tonight, which I have to say, looks awesome.”
"Misty's work, I think she's a frustrated hairdresser,” I chuckled.
And indeed my flowing, er pinkness, has been thoroughly tamed, whilst its been braided and coiled before, this iteration is pretty ornate. It took best part of an hour to do, five scalp close braids run back from around my forehead to join the main body of hair at the crown of my head. At that point Mist made two more loose braids which have then been coiled into a cone, all held together firmly with a lot of grips and half a can of lacquer, add some artificial flowers that were lurking in the bottom of my vanity, et voila.
"Well it looks amazing,” Anna Louise suggested.
"I just hope it survives the night.”
My hair might be dressed to the nines but I'm not, yeah, I know what I said about the changing facilities at Speicher but if I change before we go I'll look a right noodle wherever we end up eating and I don't really want to get mayo or the like on my stage costume. Hair I can manage but the rest, well I prefer to not look like some rocker chick wet dream when I'm not on the stage. My compromise is to put on my underwear and hose for the show but travel in jeans, a sloppy sweatshirt and trainers, I'll don the dress and heels closer to show time.
Idstein had 'Popeye's', Bad Homburg has 'Bosporos Kebop', honest, thats what it says across the front of the shop. It's of a similar takeaway cum café arrangement, a bit smaller and with a shorter menu, 'kebops', fried chicken and pizza. To be honest I wasn't overly enthused by anything on offer, I could've murdered egg and chips but in the end I settled on the four piece chicken set meal with a side of 'barbi q' beans – I kid you not, these guys really need a language audit!
"Different look Erd,” Little Jo observed.
"Don't want to be called boring,” I told him between scarfing Pommes and fried chicken.
"No one could ever suggest that,” Animal stated.
"Away from this I'm just a simple management student.”
Little Jo assumed a deep voice, "By day she's a mild mannered student but by night she transforms into Erdbeer, rock vixen!”
That of course resulted in some laughter and broke my slightly gloomy mood.
"Give over.”
"Well that cheered her up anyway,” Mist told the assembled masses.
"Something up?” Stefan asked before tackling more of his 'kebop'.
"Not really.”
Mist butted in, "She was talking to Max earlier.”
"Problems?” Little Jo queried.
"Nah, just missing him.”
"Its only been five days Gab,” my 'friend' pointed out.
"So?”
She rolled her eyes, "Whatever.”
She's right of course, it is only a few days since I last saw him and we've been on the phone every day. In fact i've talked to Max more than my Rents, so its not so much missing him but hearing him all the way up in Rech, well sometimes a girl just needs a cuddle – not that I'm admitting that to the BlauHase collective, especially not in the Bosporos Kebop.
I think I mentioned that Speicher is actually in part of the Bad Homberg bahnhof complex, the auditorium is actually in the roofspace of the main building which is a bit weird to say the least. As a result the changing facilities and so on share the floor below along with the public bar and so on, there is a lift that we used taking the gear up this afternoon but this evening we'll be using the stairs cum fire escape. Why do I mention this? Well said stairway is quite steep, oh I'm sure it passes the regulations but heels and stairs, especially steep stairs, are never a great combination, add in a restrictive skirt...
But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself again.
We finished our meal and started walking, the Bosporos is only a street away from the bahnhof so the bus and our stuff is already at the venue. Of course most of our gear is already inside, there's really only my stage gear and Misty's box of makeup to go in so after the briefest of stops we were soon inside. I hadn't however expected the venue to be open yet, the support doesn't go on till eight thirty and here we are at not even half seven with a goodly crowd of 'music lovers' in a very open bar.
Why? Well the door was open and it seemed like an easier option than going around to the stage door and the back stairs. If everyone in the bar was here for the gig, there'll be some very surprised people in the audience, I'm not being ageist or any other sort of ist but there were some as old as my grandparents and wearing, well posh going out type stuff. Lets be honest here, BlauHase is best described as grunge punk metal with a bit of rock thrown in, our fans, that sounds good huh, our fans wear denim and leather and not a few studs through them as well as their clothes.
Anyhow, Anna Louise told us she was getting a drink so we left her in the bar and made our way to the artiste area where Robert was chatting to some suit.
"Here they are,” he announced spotting our arrival, "Bonn's finest, BlauHase, guys this is Arnold the events manager.
"Nice to meet you all, I heard you on Britta the other day, great set.”
Okay maybe I'm doing him a disservice calling him a suit but to be fair, he is wearing a shirt and jacket but his lower body is sheathed in denim.
"Nice to meet you Arnold,” Stefan offered a handshake, "You start early here eh?”
"Early?”
The rest of the band exchanged the greeting even as Stefan continued his conversation.
"Out in the bar, plenty of early arrivals.”
"Ah, got you,” Arnold allowed, "There might be a few but I think mostly they are folk meeting here before going on elsewhere.”
"That would explain the posh kleid and suits,” I chipped in.
"You must be Erdbeer, nice to meet you young lady,” Arnold offered me his hand.
"Please, its Gaby off stage.”
"Gaby it is then, so Robert was telling me that you are Radrennen Weltmeister?”
I gave our manager a look to which he just shrugged.
"Under eighteen road,” I admitted.
"I had a dabble in my youth, the mountain bikes, not that level of course but I did okay I guess.”
What are you supposed to say?
"I wasn't always the champion.”
"This, the music is a different direction for you.”
"Yeah, thought I should give it a go while I can.”
"So you have stopped the cycling?”
What is this, twenty questions?
"Hardly,” Mist opined from behind me, "She's got her bike at the hotel.”
"Thank you Misty, Dad insisted, i've got a race on Sunday on our day off.”
"You must be very wicked,” there was a glint in his eye, "To race even on Tour.”
I did the optical rolling thing, "Tell me about it.”
We finally escaped, the guys set off to get in a last soundcheck with the venues technician whilst me and Mist claimed the 'band room' to finish preparing the Ahrtal Diva, aka me.
Our support tonight is supplied by local band Freizeit, a four piece with Kraftwerk aspirations, well they don't have any guitars and even their drums are electric things. Its not really my thing, Electronic but they seemed to go down well with the audience. To be truthful, I haven't really heard the support at the previous venues, we've been tucked away until it was time for us to start but tonight, well those stairs.
I mentioned the stairs before and the heels and tight skirt, well its not any one of these that saw me backstage sort of listening to Freizeit, rather its the combination. So I'm reasonably practised in climbing stairs in heels but these are quite steep which means you need to step up more, which is fine except my outfit has a fairly tight skirt which means you can't take much more than pigeon steps. Thats okay on the level but throw in steep stairs, ut uh, not gonna happen.
I discovered this after getting changed, I thought i'd go take a look in the auditorium before things kicked off and got as far as the bottom tread. The solution was to free my thighs from their tight embrace by hoisting my skirts to my waist, there wasn't anyone about so that was fine. Coming back down was slow but at least I didn't need to do a lingerie show again.
Of course, when I told Misty, she thought it was hilarious.
"What am I gonna do when its time to go up? I'm not showing my underwear to everyone.”
"You did last night,” Mist replied soto voce before going on, "Use the lift?”
"Can't, weren't you listening earlier, according to the technician guy it makes too much noise so it can't be used during the gig. And I didn't know everyone could see.”
"Well only the first couple of rows.”
"Thank you, I feel so much better, tonight?”
"Get Little Jo to carry you up?”
"Not happening.”
Look he's a nice enough chap but I'm not being manhandled up a set of steep stairs by someone I don't know particularly well.
"Only other way is through the auditorium.”
Which is how I caught most of the Freizeit set. Of course, going up before things kicked off wouldn't've been right so I picked my way up the public stairs which are much shallower then had to wait for the lights to go down. A further wait until the audiences attention was on the music and I scuttled through the dark and slipped backstage.
It might be a smaller venue but the stagehands were pretty slick, Freizeit finished their set and, as there is no break tonight, the swap of instruments was undertaken in the half darkness of the unlit auditorium. A few people snuck out, I guess for the facilities or a quick tobacco break but we were ready to start in well under ten minutes. The interval track faded down as the rest of the band took their places on the stage, I got off the bar stool i'd been perched on and stood with Mist ready to make my own appearance.
A spotlight came on to the side of the stage illuminating a figure which turned out to be the manager chap, Arnold.
"So everyone, I know you enjoyed Freizeit but its time now for the main event. I had a quick chat with the band earlier, this is their first Tour, they usually play around their native Bonn but they've already made a mark here in Hesse with a brilliant set on Britta Bursche just yesterday. I'm sure you'll join me in giving a good Bad Homberg welcome to our headline act tonight, BLAUHASE!”
There might only be a couple of hundred peeps tonight but as the stage returned to darkness they gave a rousing cheer before settling back down.
A spotlight flashed on illuminating Little Jo then went out. The same but with Marcus highlighted then repeated until, still without a note played, all five musicians were illuminated. Animal started a slow beat, the others joined in with the baroque parody, exactly the same as at the previous shows.
The illumination then cut until just Animal was left, tapping out the beat for another couple of bars before stopping and the stage returned to full darkness. A sudden brightness swept the stage and when the individual spots re-lit I had taken my place as if by magic.
'Where the mountains meet the sea
And lights spit stains on the scenery
And the air is heavy with a sticky unease
I wish for my world of make believe
And the rebel in my soul says go'
And we were off.
'Oh Debora, oh Debora
Da da da da da da da
Deboree-deb n' deboree-de-bree-deb
Da da da da da da da
Na na na na na na na na na na
Shh'
The audience were enthusiastic to the last, as the last notes of the Bolan classic died I for one was high on adrenalin. Why did we play the Bolan? Not to be too much of a diva, we ran out of songs – well ones which we'd practised at least. An encore is pretty much expected of course but tonight the crowd were still baying for more when we finished our rehearsed set and we did do Debora on HR3.
"You changing here?” Mist enquired as I dabbed myself down with a towel, having manouevered the back stairs to the changing room.
"I'll do,” well we were only going back to the hotel, quicker I'm ready, quicker I get to bed right?
“'kay, I've already taken my box downstairs, I'll give the guys a hand if you're alright taking your stuff down?”
"Sure.”
I was just about to head out to the bus when Anna Louise appeared at the door.
"There you are, change of plan girl.”
"Oh?”
"There's a sort of after party in the bar, leave your stuff here.”
"I dunno.”
"Oh come on unless you want to sit in a cold bus?”
When its put like that what's a girl to do?
The Speicher's bar was buzzing with conversation over a soundtrack that sounded very much like that CD we cut after Bonn last year.
"Lets get you a drink,” Anna Louise enthused.
"Just lemonade,” I told her as I followed towards the bar.
"Erd! Over here,” Stefans voice called out.
A quick scan of the surrounding bodies located our lead guitar stood with that Arnold chap and a couple of others. I diverted in their direction and squeezed my way through the throng towards them. Even with my heels I'm barely a metre seventy so navigating through the crowd was more by dead reckoning than sight which is how I found myself approaching the group from the opposite direction having overshot.
"There you are, you got a drink?” Stefan asked waving his bier.
"Anna Louise's getting me one.”
Arnold leant over to be heard, "Great set, liked the Bolan at the end.”
"Its not usually in the set,” I told him.
"Here,” a glass was thrust into my hand, not sure by whom but I did need a drink.
I'm sure a lot of the conversation was just BS, I seemed to have the same exchange over and over as people came and went from the group. I must admit that I was no better, conversations about stuff I know nothing of with people I don't have a clue about. The only constant seemed to be my hand clutching a glass which never seemed to empty.
"Great party eh?” Misty suggested when we crossed paths in the ladies.
"Er yeah. I need to throw up.”
"You, Gaby Bond, are drunk,” she stated.
I waved the glass I was still clutching, “'s lemonade.”
Mist pulled the receptacle from my fingers and sniffed at the contents, "And vodka.”
At that point I made a dive for a sink where I was promptly sick.
"Nice,” Mist mentioned.
"Urgh.”
"Lets get you cleaned up.”
I've no idea what time we got back to the hotel, or indeed how, after losing my stomach contents, the glass was exchanged for a bottle of water and I was at least not feeling quite so woozy.
I was awoken far too soon after hitting the sack by my room mate flicking about.
"Ah, it lives”
"Time is it?”
"Just after eight,” she replied all too cheerfully.
"Urgh.”
"You got any more washing, I'm going with Anna Louise to the laundromat after breakfast.”
Maddy Bell © 23.01.2022
