Marian's first impression for the concert
place could be seen from his face actually. Seemed that he liked the place.
But, then told me that P.A.'s seemed to be insufficient for the place and
explained it to me a bit. In other words, the numbers of the P.A.'s had
to be more than that for such a concert place having a capacity of about
3000 people. He was still in a relax mood, however, and was wandering on
the stage, telling somethings to Andy and Eddy for a good sounding during
the concert. It was about 8.30 pm and, KP and Alp were talking about the
P.A.'s, lights, equipments, etc. Alp obviously seemed to had some experience
for various rganisations before, but it was his first to arrange such a
concert, and with Alphaville... In fact a good beginning point for such
a career but, the result might not be so good for him. As seemed that there
were still some technical and promotion related problems at that moment.
Then, Marian went into the caravan for relaxing mentally and physically.
Obviously Andy, Eddy and Phil were trying their best for a good sounding
during the gig and were doing many adjustments on the equipments. After
getting the suitable equipments and adjusting them finally, musicians came
to the stage and checked their instruments. This time Dave was there and
I saw this guy during the soundcheck for the first time. They were exercising
'Fools', 'A Victory of Love' and 'Ascension Day'... About 10 o'clock, people
allowed to enter to the concert place as the adjustments and soundcheck
had been finished succesfully. And, Marian and the band had already went
back to the hotel. After about an hour Marian, KP and the band were in
the concert place again, together with Andy, Phil and Eddy. They were joking
and drinking some beers a bit (of course, I was accompanying to them..
;-) The party music was playing loudly, but all the young people inside
the place came to see and listen to Alphaville there. So they were waiting
Alphaville in fact. Well, there were more than 2600 people in the concert
place (Alp informed me about that after the concert). And the place was
more or less full! So Alphaville were "Big in Istanbul!.." :) The time
was about 11.30 pm and the audiance were willing to see Alphaville... Marian
and the band were trying to concentrate themselves to the concert. So it
was a good point to start the show!!! A R E Y O U R E A D Y F O R T H E
S H O W ?.. ^_^
Musicians came to the stage at first and
then started to the show with an introduction to 'Fools'... And, then Marian
was on the stage!
"We waste our time, with big illusions
Talking to the walls..."
It was a really very good beginning. The
audiance were quite responsive and Marian was singing, dancing, wandering
on the stage and sometimes joking with musicians. We were all enjoying
and having fun... Marian seemed to be self confident on the stage. And,
I had never seen such an artist who feeled the songs while singing as Marian
as before! We could see it in his sparkling eyes and golden face while
he's singing...Well, at this point let me mention about the songs Alphaville
played during their live show in Istanbul (in an order):
F o o l s
A V i c t o r y o f L o v e
J e t S e t
A s c e n s i o n D a y
O n e S t e p B e h i n d Y o u
E u p h o r i a
J e r u s a l e m
S o u n d s L i k e A M e l o d y
A n d I W o n d e r
D a n c e W i t h M e
F o r e v e r Y o u n g
P e a c e O n E a r t h
I v o r y T o w e r
F o r T h e S a k e O f L o v e
B i g I n J ap a n
A p o l l o
I was taking some photos of Marian Gold
and the band. KP had turned on his camera to record the show. And, the
concert was being recorded by the cameramen of TV channel Cine5 to be shown
on TV, on December according to Alp. The lights, laser, smoke,etc.were
all very good and Alp had done a good job actually. AND, you should have
seen Marian's face during the introduction of E u p h o r i a together
with an amazing laser show... The show were going on perfectly and I was
really glad for being there! On the stage, musicians were in the same configuration
in all of the three concerts I went. I could see 'Peace on Earth' material,
Martin right on the platform and Robbie to the left. And, the platform
was big enough to allow Marian to wander freely. Dave was at the front
of the stage and on the left, Alex on the right. Marian had the songlist
on the floor beside the microphone stand and Andy had the same list as
well for the related adjustments on the desk. the show went on excellent
and closed with the beautiful song A p o l l o...
"This is the end of show,
I don't know was I wrong was I right..."
After the end of show we all congratulated
Marian and the musicians and took some photographs of them all together.
Then, all the fans were allowed to come to the back of the stage to meet
with Marian and the band. Marian seemed satisfied with the result of the
show and it could be easily seen from his face actually... KP and Alp were
in the same mood, too. Marian was signing some CDs, posters, T-shirts,
etc. for the fans and was posing with them. At that point, a boy came near
to me and said "Are you Kursat?"... Well, he was coming from Ankara too
and had some brilliant ideas in his mind to share them with me. He had
worked in a radio station previously and wanted me to help him for a possible
new Alphaville fanclub in Turkey! Naturally, we chattered a lot about our
band. Indeed he was a real Alphamaniac and I was glad to find such a fanatic
guy from Ankara... After the show the whole place was empty. And, Alp didn't
allow me to stay in a hotel so I would stay in his home. After drinking
and chatting up with Marian and the band, the clock was indicating, I don't
know exactly, about 3 o'clock or so in the morning... None of us wanted
to tire Marian and the musicians furthermore. So we would meet again in
the next day... Coming next: Another Alphaville concert in Istanbul?..
back to AV on
tour