Hurricane Tour 2010, Oberhausen

5.30 am ... In the car and on our way to Oberhausen to be a part of the 30 Seconds to Mars show! It ended up beeing an hours drive when it should've been 40 minutes, but when we arrived at the venue at around 6.40 am we where plesantly surprised to see only 6 other people there! We sat in front of one of the doors. YES! Frontrow for us! Us is my little brother Jamie and Echelon sistah Nancy!



It was cold!!! It was freezing a little but we where prepared! Lots of clothes and blancets and we brought chairs. So no sitting on the freezing floor for us!



We also brought enough to drink and eat to last the day. But the good thing was that there was a shopping mal nearby and it openen at 8.30 am. Every hour and a half we went inside to warm ourselves up! It made the day a lot easier.



Suddenly, at around 10 am we where told that where we were sitting, was the seating tickets entrance! O_O
We had to move and ofcourse, where we were supposed to sit all along now was filled with about 30 people... The 3 of us, and the others that followed were not amused! No more frontrow for us... :-(

Though I don't like whine, especially warmed up, we bought ourselves some Gluhwein (we where in Germany afterall) and I must say, it heated us up! Also, throughout the day, people from the venue where serving us hot tea. A very welcome bonus, since later in the afternoon it started freezing again!

As always, the line got bigger and longer as the day went by. We stept out of line real quick to put everything in the car that we didn´t need anymore, like the chairs and blankets. We´d still love to keep them, but there where too many people now and the pushing started already! 3 pm, the venue wouldn´t open ´till 6 pm and people started pushing and trying to make it to the front of the row already!!! That was aweful!



As I got back from the car, my dearest sistahs had arrived (they had seating tickets) And Patti (bless her creative boyfriend) brought her Giant Glowing BLUE Triad!!!



I needed to get back in line, to where my brother was standing. Lots of pushing, lots of comments on one another... Is this really the German Echelon spirit? Never had I seen this happening before...
An our before the show they brought us some more tea. We eventually even turned it down, they brought us that much!

6 pm ... TOTAL CHAOS! I was being pushed up against the fence and couldn't move... I'm sorry, but I had been there for nearly 12 hours and I wasn't gonna let this last hour ruine my chance on a good view! I used my elbows a little and strugled my way in! Met up with my brother, who was able to fight through the screeming pushers and he was standing second row... Luckily the girls in front of us where shorter then us, so I guess, it was okay...

On twitter, we had communicated to bring Christmas hats as a surprise for the guys! In the end there where quite a few who brought one and it made the venue look pretty!



No more shivering for us! Still 3 more hours of waiting, but we where inside.
Support act, I had never seen before, but must say was really good! Carpark North shared some of their songs with us. I think we all enjoyed it!

Then, as I thought, the stage was covered in a huge curtain! We all knew what that meant! A little longer and our heroes would be there!!!




As you get tired, more tired then you where before and the waiting becomes a pain in the ... you know ;) The anticipation is building higher and you know it's only seconds before it starts!

Then...
The lights go off... We hear those ah-so-familiar monks humming and we get an energy rush like never before, all our waiting was gonna be worth it now!
We hear Shannon drumming to "Escape" and then we hear Jared...

As the crowd joins him loud and clear by screaming at the top of their lungs "THIS IS WAR" the curtain droppes, and there they are!
Tomo right in front of us on the left side of the stage, Shannon on the right behind his gorgeous kit and Jared, crazy as always, with his blue hair and coolest sunglasses! Behind him, the biggest glowing triad I had ever seen! It too, was blue!








"Night of the Hunter" was the next song and it got us going CRAZY! A little too crazy maybe, this crowd was very pushy and aggresive unfortunately, so very soon people where fainting and beeing pulled out of the crowd. More then I had ever seen...

"A Beautifil Lie" was the next song! Followed by one of my all time favorites "Attack!"

Next came "Vox Populi" and although we know our part, the clapping and the stomping, there was simply no room to do just that! We where all too much pressed together!



"This is War" was ofcourse followed by "100 Suns" and we all had our little prayer when "Closer to the Edge" was introduced to us by Jared!





Shannon kicked off "L-490" and was joined by Tomo and Tim.

Ofcourse most of us knew, that this was the point where the acoustic set was gonna take place. I for one, becaue of all the pushing, was thinking about walking over to the soundboard since mostly that's where Jared will pop up to do some songs, just him and his guitar and us as background-vocals. But there was no stage and I could still see Jared, so I decided to stand my ground!

"From Yesterday" , "Alibi" , and "Bad Romance" where part of the acoustic set and Jared started off with "the Kill, but was thankfully joined by Shannon and Tomo to make it a full band version! And as always, this was the point where Jared got a little closer to the crowd. Unfortunately for me, again, not where I was standing. But it was great nontheless!

Jared took a pic of the crowd, and I had hoped he would've posted it somewhere, but for whatever eason he didn't. Maybe soon..??!!
Shannon did some freestyling, only as he can do it! Damn, that man is good.
All three of them where showing their consearn when a girl fell down in the crowd and they made sure she was okay before the show continued! How sweet!




My surprise of the evening was "the Fantasy"! Never heard them play it live before, so this was a moment to rember. It was for the believers as Jared said, and I for one sure feel like one of those!
It was also my first time to see "Hurricane" live! What an amazing moment, especially with the video released not too long ago!

Then, the moment I had not been waiting for, "Kings and Queens" since this means the end of the show! Jared hand-picked all the people from the crowd, and he even invited me AND my brother on stage... But security didn't help us, so we never where able to fight our way through the crowd... I gotta say, it was a painful moment for me. And I felt it for a few days...

I was sad it was over, Shannon handed out some drum sticks, one got very close, but for those short girls standing in front of me... And Jared thanked us for coming out. It still took a while before I could move again. Finally some air!
In the end, it sucks that the show was over, but in this case I was glad it was, since it meant that people where walking away and I could move again!

We met up with our Dutch Echelon family at the soundboard and outside the venue and talked about our experience. Sad it was over, but very tired we said our goodbyes and went to the car. Thinking if maybe we should hang around to see if the guys would show up, but we where cold and tired and just ready to go home! I did see a new Echelon sistah on my way to the car, and had a quick chat with her again. You meet the most amazing people through this band and for that, I'm forever thankful!

It'll be a while before I see them again I'm afraid, but I truely hope it'll be somewhere in the next year! I miss them already!

And for those who haven't been to one of their shows, you're missing out! Try it and be in the moment. MARS will take you to a place you've never been and you will like it!