Heartland

here come the bold oldie
here come the Hizbollah

have fun!

have a S-T-O-N-K-I-N-G time!

looking forward to the reviews!

(and, if possible, a nice little recording)

PS - Andrew S, hope it all goes nice and smoothly at the airport

Have a great show tonight folks.
If it's anything like Monday night, it will be awesome.

To summarise:

Goog gig. Band all seemed fit and well thank fook. Sound was iffy near the front but better further back. Could hear the vocals well enough. Lights were incredible! Volume level was acceptable.
Usual setlist, with Something Fast replacing Romeo Down.
About 400 people there although the venue could hold many more than that.
Bizarre VIP section (complete with tables and chairs) on a raised area on the right hand side. What is this, the fucking BAFTA Awards? Apparently these tickets cost twice as much. I'd rather be in the pit thank you.
Beirut: Lovely city & great people - I will definitely be back sometime.

Floorshow?

Garbageman wrote:Floorshow?

No Floorshow or Dr Jeep but I think they played a slightly longer set than usual. Can't remember exactly what though The gig itself was great, so I'm bloody glad I went!!! As Scardwel says, the sound was a bit patchy in places (Flood II didn't have its usual impact) but generally fine. Visually, it was utterly stunning! The lights were probably the best I've ever seen - lots of rotating effects and images flashing on the roof and walls. The smoke enhanced the overall effect, so there was this eerie shadow of Von hovering in front of him. Nice dark stage with lots of lit-up rolling fog. This, combined with the size of the venue made me think of the gigs they did in the early 90s that people remember so fondly.

Needless to say, the band were in a great mood for this one. Not too much chatter onstage but clearly enjoying themselves. The Lebanese crowd were very enthusiastic but it took a while for them to get really into it - probably not so familiar with the newer stuff. Lots of shouting and clapping but not much activity, which was probably just as well given the dodgy rail.

Beirut is a wonderful friendly city and I really wish I had more time to spend here. Definitely a place for them to play again me thinks

thanx for reviews!

and to Andrew S: quietly envying... But if they'll promise Floorshow for next Beirut gig, I'll come, maybe...

Thanks for the reviews!

i'm still waiting for logic come back :rolleyes:

Beirut was a surprise! It is a beautiful city with a very interesting mix of old and new buildings, arab and european looking ones, very nice people, and totally different from what I expected. My experiences with anything "oriental" or "arab" are limited to northern Africa, Algeria in particular, so I somehow expected Beirut to be similar to Algier. And I was so wrong! I think Rob told me later, that the Lebanese neither feel related to the Maghreb, nor to their Arab neighbours, but more to Europe. Besides, 40% of the Beirut population are Christians, and we stayed in the Christian quarter. Of course that might explain the lack of "arab" cafés I had expected. These were to be found at the other end of the bay, in the Muslim quarter which we visited on Sunday. However, I felt very safe wherever we were, and Beirut seems very relaxed despite the heavy presence of security people and armed soldiers, a bit too European for my liking though. Where I expected a Soukh (sp?) there were Missoni, Fendi, Bulgari and similar shops, and there was the most beautiful Mosque (sp?) I've ever seen right next to the Virgin Megastore where we got our tickets. It was harder for me to find genuine Lebanese food than to find the Golden M... And I didn't feel any of the existing tension related to the elections that are due in about a month.

The concert in my opion wasn't particularly bad, but it wasn't anywhere near the highlights of this tour. First: the sound was a blur. It was loud, I could hear Von well, but the rest of it was just one wall of sound and I couldn't distinguish any of the musical details I love so much. That might be due to my position in the front though. Besides, the venue wasn't the best ever, and as it was larger than the (comparable one) in Athens 09, it must have been much harder to mix the sound in decent quality. Second, the crowd. I'll give them the credits that they didn't know what to expect, but there were no cheers, nothing. Yes, the people on the VIP balcony got up at some point but I didn't hear any enthusiasm coming from that corner either. The only "cheer" was a few non-Lebanese girls in the front middle, whose badly timed screams amused me at first, cause I thought the band would pick up on them, but the further into the gig the more out-of-time these screams seemed. The band did their best though as usual. And the lights were great.
But how could anybody expect Dr Jeep to be played? First, they haven't played it for ages, second they're certainly not going to mention the Hezbollah (sp?) in Lebanon! I mean, they're finally there for the first time, and nobody has a clue as to how anybody would react to this song. It isn't Europe or the States after all.

Bottom line: For me the trip to Beirut was well worth its money, but not necessarily for the gig.

Thank you all for your reviews of the Beirut concert

I was this close to seeing both Mideast gigs, but other things and Sisters saturation came in between

I'm not surprised about the enthusiastic words about Beirut as a city, and I'm not surprised to hear there was a VIP balcony (and I wouldn't be surprised if someone on that balcony payed privately for the whole event...I'm sure nobody earned any money on this concert with 400 people attending.)

Question: Were there any special T-Shirts on sale, or just leftovers from Mechanised Europe?

Good to hear you had a great time, Eva and Eggi !

euphoria wrote: Question: Were there any special T-Shirts on sale, or just leftovers from Mechanised Europe?

Yes there are. White print on black shirt: On front, same logo as the tour shirt 2009, on the back:
T W O T H O U S A N D N I N E
L E B A N O N
I S R A E L
B R A Z I L (or Argentina - whatever comes first)
A R G E N T I N A (")
M E X I C O

nice reviews folks! thanks.

if the sisters were to ever play on the fucking moon you just know andrew s and eva would be there ...respect.

Eva wrote: Yes there are. White print on black shirt: On front, same logo as the tour shirt 2009, on the back:
T W O T H O U S A N D N I N E
L E B A N O N
I S R A E L
...

Hey, that must be one cool shirt! Needless to say, that print was certainly more provocative in Lebanon than if they had played Dr Jeep.

Probably should have gone then - 5 hours flight just for a shirt

Eva wrote:The concert in my opion wasn't particularly bad, but it wasn't anywhere near the highlights of this tour.

I hate myself for thinking this way but to me it's a bit like a kind of a relief of some sort.
*ducks*

eastmidswhizzkid wrote:
if the sisters were to ever play on the fucking moon you just know andrew s and eva would be there ...respect.

Wasn't the moon gig postponed due to influenza as well?

I guess "Occupied Palestine" wouldn't look quite so cool on the back of the tour shirt!

you know it, mate.

_emma_ wrote:

Eva wrote:The concert in my opion wasn't particularly bad, but it wasn't anywhere near the highlights of this tour.

I hate myself for thinking this way but to me it's a bit like a kind of a relief of some sort.
*ducks*

You're forgiven! Besides, you wouldn't have liked the flying at all. I mean it's all harmless and everything, but the plane starts in Beirut towards the sea, and due to the different temperatures land/sea there are rivalling airstreams, which make for a shaky and rough take-off. I didn't like it at all, and I'm still grateful to the unknown gentleman right next to us on the plane who explained everything and its consequences to us so calmly that we could relax. Apparently these planes can even fly through a hurricane without problems, and what we experienced this morning (and even a hurricane) wouldn't cause more reaction on a pilot's face than a tired smile...

Geeeeezus. Respect to those pilots.
Well, in such a case I'm really glad that I spent the Saturday in a local spa centre where I had jacuzzi, champagne and various beauty masks and stuff, all that with peacocks wandering around.

Personally , I had a blast !! I've never ever imagined that i will one day see the Sisters of Mercy live , and my dream has been realised. Thx alot for making this happening.

The only problem is that this venue is really big. They do Techno concerts with more than 10 000 attendees at the forum the Beirut. Surely they could have done it in a big quality pub (like Tantra Kaslik that holds for 1000 or a little more persons.)

Overall , I really enjoyed it. Beautiful.

Another person's dreams fulfilled - brilliant! And welcome to you, AlexHawie - enjoy the madhouse that is Heartland!

Eva wrote:But how could anybody expect Dr Jeep to be played?

I was being flippant Eva!

AlexHawie wrote:The only problem is that this venue is really big. They do Techno concerts with more than 10 000 attendees at the forum the Beirut. Surely they could have done it in a big quality pub (like Tantra Kaslik that holds for 1000 or a little more persons.)

Yes a smaller venue would have been better and far nicer than the Forum, which bore more than a slight resemblance to my local conference hall - big and ugly with crap accoustics. As I'd already seen the photo of the venue, I didn't expect particularly good sound and didn't feel any disappointment. The only time it really struck me was during Flood II, which sounded unusally weak. On the plus side, I think the size of the venue helped with the lightshow, which was stunning.