Emma and I drove into town (Wellington) Friday morning (the day of the show), in time to park my car at the airport and catch our flight to Auckland. When we got to the airport we took a shuttle to my brother's place and caught up with him. I convinced him that he should come to BDO, despite him suffering from a gastric infection at the time.
He then handed me the key to his wife's Audi TT Star (gorgeous, little, bright red sports car - thank you!), and Emma and I made our way, in the most dashing fashion, to our seedy little motel to get gussied up. The motel was all I could get, because most of Auckland was booked solid for the show. Emma did me up with the most gorgeous makeup (she's a whizz with the warpaint), we had some food, and ended up running quite late.
Emma is a rather a smoking hot Australian (music industry body guard/security consultant by trade) I met on Herzeleid, who is currently seven months pregnant. Also, I presently have a ruptured disk in my back, so we decided we would just go for a couple of shows, so we didn't tire her out or do any damage to me.
We got to Mount Smart Stadium, by cab (a move I now regret) very close to Rammstein's kick-off, only to find that the guest-list was not at the gate. Emma had bought a ticket, but I was on a guest-list. After being sent to various gates and security teams it seemed I was going to have real trouble getting in, as my connection with the show was tied up working, and I was unable to get through on the number of the tour management guy, which he had texted to me. I sent Emma in (she almost wouldn't go, until I promised I would find her), and sent and received a flurry of texts, and was standing there, wet, miserable, and really sad to miss Rammstein after all I had paid and gone through to be there.
In the end the security lead on the main gate offered me shelter from the intensifying rain under the security marquee, and I walked in. As I was walking in I turned to thank him and saw him gesture to the security team inside to let me through. The lovely man had taken my efforts to get in seriously and decided I was for real, so I was waved through the second security gate and got in in time for Waidmanns Heil! I started off at the base of the stadium to the left, alone, and getting no responses to my texts, then glimpsed Emma's tall frame through the mob of very young, short-short-wearing Eed up girls and gorgeously black-adorned boys, and made my way over to her.
The whole time we were in the crowd she looked after me. I had my own professional body guard, and she was incredible! I felt so safe, despite my awful back issue, and though I love her company I had reason to be otherwise grateful for her companionship at the show. I can see why rock stars employ people like her to look after them. It's awesome :)
We placed ourselves at a fence about halfway back (at the base of the flying fox, for those who were there, to avoid her baby and my back being injured, and enjoyed the show. I've posted her
pictures,
set-list, and
videos on LILT.
After the show I arranged to meet my guy and he got us into a hospitality area backstage, where we could drink hot, fresh coffee, dry off somewhat, and catch up. We talked shop for a couple of hours and enjoyed the peace, after the madness of the BDO masses and noise, and it was lovely.
When the hospitality area started flooding we decided to brave the rain and the mob and try and get back to our motel. My friend had to work, so we left him outside the gate and started walking with the crowd away from the stadium. We ended up sheltering in a Chinese takeaway, where a lovely old man made us a hot meal, and we sat, steaming gently, chatting with other revellers, and starting wondering how to get home. Cabs were being aggressively flagged and taken, and Emma's pregnancy made walking the nine kilometres to our motel unfeasible.
In the end I called a cab, and we waited for an hour. I had to defend the cab when it came, as people tried to steal it, but let two nice Canadian boys share it with us, and got Emma home.
Emma and I managed to catch up with my friend for more coffee the next day, and saw him off to the airport, then we visited with some friends of mine in Auckland, dropped off my sister-in-law's car, and went to the airport. On the plane we met a nice chap, who promised to visit LILT, as he had become a new Rammstein fan after the BDO show. I hope you're reading, dude!
I promised him I would find and post a video of the cock cannon from the northern shows for him, and I will...
A lot of you won't know a damned thing about Rugby, but tonight I gasped, screamed, groaned, and held my breath with a mob of perfect strangers in a pub, while our national team became Rugby World Champions for the first time since the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. It was incredible, and driving back home through town we had to move at a snail's pace, because the streets are full of jubilent Kiwis, madly celebrating our victory. Every driver has their hand on their horn, every window is open with people hanging out whooping it up, every cop is on duty and carrying it out with a grin on their face, as they gently herd hysterically happy citizens out of the traffic, and it couldn't happen to a nicer country. 
