We left at 5.30 am here in Nuremberg and met Joy at her hotel in Berlin at about 12:00 (talking, laughing...). Then we met Urs and went straight on to the Metropol to see what it was like. After changing clothes we went back to the Metropol and there was already a crowd!!
99.9 % girls (did anyone expect something different?). Nearly everybody was staring on Gin who was a man (what does he do here?). We met Helen there who saw them getting of the bus. Waiting, waiting, waiting and got in at 8:00 pm (the tickets said 7:00), got upstairs we saw the merchandise-man and Joy and Gin said "Hi Dan!" and he looked up very surprised, making a face like "Who the hell is knowing me here?". And then he asked "Are you the Email-people?", we said yes and ran straight on to the stage but couldn't manage to get a place in the first row as the way was blocked by, hm, let's say 15-year-old teenies saying "Canoe, Canoe, Dogstar, Dogstar, Robbie, Robbie" (Gin: they were definetely at the wrong concert, didn't they know, Take-That no longer exists ;) all the time, really annoying. And everytime somebody got on stage the started yelling - and so did Joy and I (but we screamed: look a technician!!!) ;) Donny came on stage and shouted "Hi Berlin (screaming girls), we proudly present from L.A., CA, DOGSTAR - SCREAMING - Billy Smith came out! Wearing wide grey pair of trousers with some kind of splint beneath, grey shirt, unshaved, and he had hair!! and was not looking thick at all.

The songs:

Breathe tonight
Forgive
Our little visionary
Nobody home
No matter what
Return
Honesty anyway
Bleeding soul
And I pray
Enchanted Goodbye

---Break---

32 Stories
Behind her
Denial (got an original song-list from Billy Smith's loudspeakers)
 

After the break Bret introduced the band and the bassist as "Billy Smith". He wasn't goofing around a lot, just looked up when a girl was holding up a heart saying"I wish I was Sharon Stone" - which confused him!!! We just got two or three grins (not a lot, though I like them so much). After the concert we were waiting for them in front of the bus (the only four who stood at the front door of the bus (Ya know, English bus!). Then they came out surrounded by bodyguards or something and crying girls after about an hour. The bus-driver, Trevor, pressed me away and Joy was still standing in front of the door - her story!!! That was the first show. We tried to follow the bus but were unlucky with the traffic-lights! Next day getting from Berlin to Dusseldorf after a night without sleep through traffic-jams all the time. We visited Urs' mother and got straight on to "Tor3" and got this radio-interview on the way, saying: "Billy Smith has now decided to become a rock-star and stopped making movies (bad rumor!). Some time ago, when he appeared it sounded like that - girls screaming - but after he said (!!! :( ) that he's gay, it got more quiet. We met Dogstar at the Hilton Hotel (he mentioned the hotel!) and that's what they said: We enjoy touring, bla,bla,bla... (nothing sensational). And here's the first single of their new album (Our little visionary)." Joy was really upset about what the radio-guy said and so was I. Again we were waiting in front of the entrance and Urs said quietly: "Look, isn't that Rob?". He was playing with a dog in front of the bus and nobody even recognized him. Gin and Urs met Dan again - photo! - while Joy and I reserved places in line. They opened in time and Gin managed to get a camera inside and we got in the second row! (Not Gin, he prefered having a talk to Dan!). Bad luck there were some security guys in front of the stage and so we just managed to take one (!) photo of the bass-player, then they caught the camera!!! Cause of some girls fainting along the concert I managed to get in the first row and the girls next to me was always screaming to Billy Smth and he was looking like "What do ya want" - confused again! Joy and I were always screaming Bret, Bret in the breaks and Billy Smith was looking down like "Who knows him?" and threw a plectron to me, I didn't get it, but he threw another - still got it!! At the end of the concert first Rob threw his towel and then Billy Smith did the same! I caught it, had it in my hands and thought ugh, a sweaty towel and threw it behind me where it was torn to pieces! (Ya know, sweat got nothing erotical for me, it's just old skin,salty water...) After the end Billy Smith came out on stage again, up to the micro and said "Ihr seid suess!" (You are sweet!) and he pronounced it in such a lovely way, can't tell it - will remember that for my whole life! Afterwards Joy, Urs and I were looking for Gin and there was Rob again, strolling through the hall not being recognized. I said "Hey Urs, there's Rob!". She went over to him and asked for a autograph - her pen didn't work but mine did and I got one (on the song-list), I asked him "Can I take a photo?", "No!", "Please (with bambi-eyes)!", "Ok!" and I took one! Waiting again at the bus, but they took a black van and we had a talk with Ian, the roady - photo! He told us that the bus will get to their hotel, too and this time we managed to follow it ("Gin, don't use the direction-indicators, he might see it!) We got into the Hotel Hilton, standing there and waiting (again!). Bret came down, got an autograph, too, but Billy Smith didn't come down and we went to the Wharfdale bus to have a drink with Ian (Corona and much fun!). We saw the guys' beds (didn't take the pillow), used their toilet, drank their beer, listened to their favorite CDs and ate their chips!!! That's the great end of a great adventure!

Additional photos (click the thumbnails):

And these are some remarks of myself:

As I promised here are some remarks about what comes to my mind when thinking of the Dogstar-concerts last week in Germany. Whatever there's to come in the following lines (I don't yet know what I'm going to write), don't take it too serious , or as Tina would call it "Don't give anything on his opinion, he's just male!". Well, ok, I won't tell ya anything about the concerts, everything is said by now, so these are just some points I find important to be mentioned.

- First of all, if anybody ever wants to feel exclusive here's what you got to do: Be male, be over 14 years old, go to a Dogstar-concert and say "I've come to the show because of the music (nobody will believe you, but just don't care). If you do so, you're kind of sensation! :)

- In the past I often asked myself where all the Take-That-fans would have gone, I now got the answer, they're hunting Dog*. It's a long time ago that I last saw this amount of 14 years old annoying girls wearing nearly anything. I hope nobody saw me there, this would be too embarrassing.

- For all who haven't met Joy yet (I did, hee, hee), she's even much more nicer than her emails seems her to be. Meeting her (and Urs) seems to me being the absolute highlight of that week.

- Dogstar definitely plays great music (ya know, I'm the one who came for the music), it was really enjoyable. Can't wait any longer for their full-length-CD!

- And now we get veeeerrrrryyyy serious, Billy Smith really made me being interested in bass-guitar-playing. I told a friend of mine who is a bassist about that and he really wanna have a try on teaching this to me (he doesn't know what he's doing) (still serious!). So, if I like this, I establish a band and if I become famous and will sometimes be the opening act for Dogstar I will give back-stage-tickets to all of you (Yes, Gin is really a good dog! :) ). But please give me at least fifty years time to get my performance on a sustainable level. I let ya know when it's time! ;)

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Last updated by Gin on 01.10.1996