Going Abroad

This is Annie’s report from Prague:

Since we had tickets for seats, we didn’t come to the arena sooner than 19:30. The doors had opened at six, which from what I heard was a bit chaotic as they didn’t properly label which door was for GA and which was for standing in the fanzone in front of the stage. The arena itself was built in the 1950s and wasn’t upgraded that much, so when it came to the hospitality, I was a bit disappointed. Many people, including me, were also disappointed that no themed cups were sold there either.

We were seated in the first row on the left side, with almost no elevation from the standing area, which on one hand was nice, as we were quite close, and on the other a disadvantage, as some people preferred to stand on the sides right in front of us.

Phantom Vision started on time at 20:00 and delivered a good performance. The sound was nice, and the band managed to warm up the audience – even in the literal sense as it was quite cold even inside the arena. Aesthetic Perfection performed, well, perfectly, and managed to bring the people truly to life.

When both bands performed we had not even realized that it took longer than scheduled, with Aesthetic Perfection finishing right at 21:00 when the main act was supposed to start. The twenty minute delay slowly had more and more people hollering loudly, demanding for the show to start. When it finally began, the crowd erupted.

Compared to the Düsseldorf show that I attended, the sound was much better, and I could finally hear Till’s singing. The Prague show was the 8th one, and you could easily see how in sync everyone had become. After Zunge, Till ‘welcomed’ us by screaming ‘Praha!’ at top of his lungs, immediately after continuing with Schweiss.

The band enjoyed its presence on the stage just as much their audience did. Danny, Constance, Emily, Jes, and Joey all absolutely killed it, and we could clearly see them having fun; be it while playing or fooling around, like throwing cakes into the audience, helping Till with the fish cannon, or jamming it out during Platz Eins, when Till was being carried/walked through the people together with Constance. People have really welcomed the new fish cannon, as the fish now flew all the way into the General Admission, giving even people there the possibility to catch an unusual souvenir.

No huge wardrobe changes happened, all of them wore clothes we’ve seen before during previous performances. No major hiccups happened during the show, with maybe the little exception of Till having troubles with his mic, and at one point you could see he had playback on, as he moved it away from his face but kept ‘singing’.

During the last third of the show the audience really came alive, almost over-singing the singer himself, especially during songs such as Steh Auf, Ich hasse Kinder, or Fish On. People did not have to wait too long for the encore, as the unending screaming brought the band back shortly after leaving, delivering the last shot of adrenaline with wonderful precision. At the end of Ich hasse Kinder Till kept repeating/screaming ‘mein!’ at the audience, which I found hilarious.

The entire show was traditionally finished with Skills in Pills, with the audience once again gladly joining in, not only for the chorus. While the band was taking their bow, Till thanked the audience in Czech, English, and German.

22.11.2023

1. Zunge
2. Schweiss
3. Fat
4. Altes Fleisch
5. Allesfresser
6. Golden Shower
7. Tanzlehrerin
8. Ich weiß es nicht
9. Sport frei
10. Blut
11. Praise Abort
12. Platz Eins
13. Fish On
14. Gummi
15. Steh auf
16. Knebel
17. Ich hasse Kinder
18. Skills In Pills