Back home from my 29 hours trip from Germany to London. Here my first short review.

Arriving in London, I immediately went into the Tower Records shop at Piccadilly Circus. The first CD I saw, directly at the entrance, was Jupiters Darling. They had 40 copies in the „new issues“ section alone .. after I left Tower, they had 38 left .

At the Monger meet in The Bloomsbury, I met Chang, TDHS, Lizzz (with exactly three z ), Sanny, Italian_Monger and his girlfriend, and Darren_UK. It was a great afternoon there.

Around 4:30 p.m., we went to the Hammersmith Apollo and met with the US Mongers (Connie, her sister, Bryan, Californiaboy) and Brigader. At 7:30 p.m., we finally went to the show – and nearly missed the most important part. The meet and greet for Darren, TDHS, Lizzz, Brigader, Sanny, NicoleEuroMonger, Mango, Darren, and me took place BEFORE the show – and not after, as announced before. But we have been just in time, and met Ann and Nancy outside. While signing with a golden pen, Ann detected a “wardrobe malfunction” at Nancy (Nancy’s golden coat had one silver button) and Ann tried to repair it with the golden pen. After 15 minutes of meet and greet and several photo sessions, Ann and Nancy said that they have to leave – the show beginning in 5 minutes. Then Craig came outside and looked for the troublemakers (the Mongers preventing Ann and Nancy from preparing for the gig). As we said, we have to hurry up to get to our seats, Craig wanted to go with us and leave the guitar playing to one of us instead. Okay, the solution taken was the best for the audience – Craig went back to play the guitar ..

Being a Heart fan from 1977 on, I never saw Heart live. Okay, there is always a first time …

At 8:15, the gig started with “Kick It Out”. After 10 seconds, 80 % of the ground floor has been standing, and dancing. The gig was great (setlist see below). The sound was EXTREMELY perfect. I have been sitting fifth row, right wing. I heard the sound directly from the main speakers to the right, and the sound technicians of Heart did a great job.

After moving to the very front after “Barracuda”, and before the first encore, the sound was bad. What a difference. Standing directly in front of Craig (I literally could kiss his shoes), I heard his guitar very loud, and the vocals had been not loud enough. But in front of the stage, where lots of people were now rocking and dancing and drumming on the stage floor, there was no inch of space left. Great atmosphere, great audience.

After the gig, several Mongers have been waiting outside (such as Cousin Vinny, Spotlight, VGHeart12, Shirean, and all the Euromongers and Nancy's Angels). We met Craig Bartock and Ben Smith, then Mike Inez and Craig again, and talked to them for a few minutes (or nearly half an hour?). Craig said he liked the London gig the most so far. Yesss, in London, the audience new, that “Even it Up” was not one of the new songs.

Thank you, Heart and the Heart management, the great gig, the great sound, to Ann and Nancy for the meet and greet, and to Craig, Ben and Mike, that they came out afterwards and talked with the mongers ..

Awaiting the next mini-tour in Europe – maybe 2005?

Setlist of the London gig: