Was it worth it?

The Pet Shop Boys (PSB) outing yesterday was quite the experience. Here, let me recap it for you now.

To start with, we left shortly after 3pm to get there, although the show didn't start until 8pm. No, it wasn't because Carsten was so giddy we had to leave as early as possible, or at least that isn't the reason he gave me. We weren't sure how the traffic would be, if we might run into construction, etc. Plus, it is already a 2 hour drive on a good day to the city where the show was. It was probably a good thing that we did leave early as once we got to Stuttgart, we got lost trying to find the theater. Even though we had directions, one thing I have noticed is that Germany is not big on street signs. Eventually we found where we needed to be and go to the theater with a little bit of time to spare. So, the doors open at 7pm and we we got in line around 6:30pm or so. You might wonder why get in line if we have a ticket. Well, because shows are standing room only and so if you are like Carsten, you want to be as close to the stage as possible, no matter how dang hot the room is going to be :) So, we waited in line until 7pm, got into the theater and close to the stage and then stood there waiting until 8pm when the opening act came on stage. As for the opening act, loved them!!! They were called Das Gezeichnete Ich. The lyrics were all in German, but it didn't matter. They sounded great, especially with the added string instruments. They finished playing shortly after 8:30pm and then the stage was cleared off and then set up for the PSB. At 9:15pm they finally took the stage and played until shortly before 11pm. Here is a list of the songs they played during the show, though some were only 1-2 minute samples:

1. Heart

2. Did You See Me Coming

3. Pandemonium

4. Love Comes Quickly

5. Love, etc.

6. Building A Wall

7. Go West

8. Two Divided By Zero

9. Why Don't We Live Together?

10. Always On My Mind

11. Left To My Own Devices

12. Closer To Heaven

13. King's Cross

14. The Way It Used To be

15. Jealousy

16. Suburbia

17. All Over The World

18. Se A Vida E (That's The Way Life Is)

19. Viva La Viva (A cover of a Coldplay song)

20. It's A Sin

21. Being Boring

22. West End Girls

So, the best parts of the show were the dancers and the set design. It was simplistic with the white boxes all over the stage, but since they were knocked down and rebuilt during the show they really became a big part of the act. And the dancers were just fantastic. The dancers during the last tour I found to be just awful and almost like a joke but these were spot on with their moves and energy. As for the downside of the show, the set list was not my favorite, as I like more songs form the CDs Very, Nightlife, Release and Fundamental, but with as many songs as they have it is hard to do them all! The other down side was the sound. This venue was not the greatest in terms of sound quality. I assume in a better venue the show would sound much better; at least that is my hope.

Now, to answer my question of was it worth it. Definitely!! However, after the show we still had the drive back home. We finally made it home a little after 1am (remember we left a little after 3pm). Crazy, huh?!?