Sailor live in Luckenwalde 01/09/2007

Photos by: Katrin Wagner, Karsten Wagner, Malcolm Knowles, Susi Akinci, Thomas Wenzel
Videos by: Karsten Wagner

Videos:
Here's our little journey report of the SAILOR concert in Luckenwalde, Germany, on 01 September 2007... Check out an exclusive statement about the day from Grant, some marvellous extracts of the concert and some fan-fun: filmed by Karsten Wagner © www.sailor-music.com Follow Phil's instruction and join in to shout "HARBOUR!!!!!!!" at the right moment if you like ;-)
And another video-clip of SAILOR live in Luckenwalde, Germany, on 01 September 2007... Check out Oliver, Henry, Phil and Grant playing "The Secretary": filmed by Karsten Wagner © www.sailor-music.com

The songs that SAILOR played in Luckenwalde:

A Glass Of Champagne
Blame It On The Soft Spot
One Drink Too Many
Give Me Shakespeare
The Old Nickelodeon Sound
Vera From Veracruz
Traffic Jam
Stay The Night
Wooly Bully
Mack The Knife
Karma Chameleon
Panama
Harbour
The Secretary
Girls Girls Girls
La Cumbia

encores:
Grant's Moment
The Full Monty
Sailing
Champagne Reprise

The funny SAILOR table... with Katrin, Karsten, Thomas, Heiner, Susanne, Malcolm, Eileen, Susi, Hilde and Frank (and Uwe who took the photo)

SAILOR playing their own headline gig sounded just too good to miss so Eileen and I boarded our cheap Easyjet flight from Liverpool and headed for Berlin. Arriving on Friday afternoon, we met up with our good friend Susanne, and headed for the nightlife. After a nice meal and a few drinks in the pavement cafes, and after passing by some of the stunning "working girls" touting for business along the way, we retired for the night. Unable to resist a few hours shopping in Berlin on Saturday morning (and buying far too many CDs in Saturn) we then boarded the train to Luckenwalde (although not until we had faced some of the largest ice-cream sundaes I have ever seen!).
A stroll around Luckenwalde quickly revealed a number of things. Firstly, the town is entirely closed on a Saturday afternoon apart from one supermarket and one small bar (which did serve some reasonable food for us). Secondly, there was no sign of any publicity for the SAILOR gig. Thirdly, there only appeared to be one decent hotel which, thankfully, we were booked in to (unlike the band who were staying somewhere rather less sophisticated).
As the taxi took us to the concert the driver expressed surprise that anything was on at the Kulturkantine that night. She had heard of "SAILOR" but had seen nothing about this concert. We arrived a few minutes before the doors opened to find a short queue – with Katrin and Karsten at the front of course. From outside, you would never have guessed that this was a venue at all although inside was a different matter. The concert hall had a friendly, intimate feel and proved to be a fine place for the gig. I would like to pay particular thanks to the table waitress who thoughtfully offered me another drink each time I approached the end of my beer. "One drink too many" as someone once wrote… and you can see the results from the rather mad interview with me during the last 20 seconds of Karsten’s video!!
In the hours leading up to the band, we chatted to SAILOR friends old and new. It is amazing how well SAILOR fans can manage to communicate even when struggling with each other’s language. It was really great to meet Susi, Hilde, Heiner and Uwe – hope we’ll see you at some other gigs somewhere. During the hours before the band took to the stage the local DJ played a great selection of seventies music to which the local’s mainly danced disco fox. Although clearly popular in Germany (and I understand Switzerland and Austria) disco fox is not really known in the UK. However, we tried to give it a go and by the end of the evening were at least getting the idea. We will continue to practise and tell our friends – who knows, this may be the start of a whole new dance craze in the UK.
And so, at last, to the gig. The guys were clearly in good spirits and seemed to be enjoying every moment on stage, despite the modest size of the audience. This was my first chance to see Ollie in action and from the opening bars of "Champagne" I knew how perfect he was going to be. After Georg and Pete, Ollie has a tough act to follow but he was, in short, brilliant. The set choice was great – "The Old Nickelodeon Sound" was, as always, the highlight for me although "Blame It On The Soft Spot", "Vera From Veracruz" and "La Cumbia" all came close to being my song of the night. "Harbour" was a big surprise and even "Wooly Bully" (never one of my favourite songs) was great fun. I would like to have seen "Josephine Baker" and "Sailor" in the set but, hey, you can’t have everything.
"Sailing" added a fresh spark to the encores and, as the band left the stage, I found it difficult to wipe the big smile off my face (probably also something to do with all those beers). Make no mistake, this was SAILOR in impressive mood, still delivering the best fun music in the business to their faithful followers. Congratulations to them and my thanks to everyone who came along for making it such a wonderful and unforgettable night.
Malcolm Knowles

Where are we? or: The wild wild East... - A concert review by Katrin Wagner:

Keeping in mind the first golden SAILOR rule "Expect the unexpected", Karsten and I drive to Luckenwalde, South of Berlin, to check out the first and only proper German SAILOR headline concert since the 70s. We really don't know what to expect when we arrive at SAILOR's hotel (well, a very small hotel) and check in there in the afternoon. The boys have already arrived and are catching up on some sleep at the moment, while we explore the area and meet roadie Mark. Dressed up and ready for the concert we also meet the boys a little later and decide to follow their car to the concert hall. Henry asks the guy who appears with a van: "Are you our driver?" He replies (in German) saying that he doesn't speak any English. Meanwhile Phil sums up the situation perfectly, welcoming Karsten and me with the words: "Well, we always meet in the most glamourous places, eh?!" Er... yes.
The venue seems, as Grant explains during an exclusive interview for our camera (see video above) to be some kind of railway siding. But fortunately the little club looks a lot nicer on the inside than on the outside. While SAILOR are busy with their soundcheck we meet another SAILOR fan, Frank, who has been waiting there for a couple of hours already, having come all the way from Osnabrück. He says that he has read about the concert on some "Marinero" website. Well, hello...
Later we are joined by more fans - surprisingly coming from many far away places all over Germany and even England... Heiner is there, as well as Malcolm and Eileen, Susanne, Thomas, Susi and Hilde. And the funniest thing happens once we are inside the concert hall and sit down at the official SAILOR fan-club-table: Another fan named Uwe joins us who comes from the town which is next to our hometown Kassel. What a strange coincidence, especially considering the number of people who are at the concert hall in total: about 50.
While we wait for the concert we are all slightly worried about the number of people who have come here to see the show. But we calm some of the others down: The boys WILL be on stage and they WILL have (and give) a lot of fun. Let's all just enjoy it as a little private concert.
And that's what we all do. SAILOR start their show at 10.20 pm and play their usual long set plus two rare songs: "Stay The Night" and "Harbour". The funniest bit of the evening is certainly Phil's instruction to shout "HARBOUR!!!!!!!" somewhere in the middle of the song to justify the song's name which - as Henry explains in quite a long announcement - has nothing to do with harbours. (Apology from webmaster to Mr. Marsh for shouting "shut up!" at some point during this announcement. Really, just kidding!! And maybe one drink too many too! ;-))
What more could I say? We enjoy one of the funniest little gigs ever with a lot of great music and great people all around. What more could a SAILOR fan want?
After the concert the SAILORs are available for photos, autographs and chats. I find myself being presented with an unexpected gift... Henry's original accordion (now halfway broken) which has been used on all the original SAILOR recordings. Time to open a SAILOR-museum at my new flat, I guess!?
A little later we say goodbye to the other fans, leave the "Kulturkantine" in Luckenwalde and drive back to our hotel for an outdoor after-show-party. In this case it's "expect the expected" because - knowing there would be no hotel bar - we've once again bought some drinks and plastic cups.....
After a very short and cold night we get up very early because the SAILORs have to leave at 7 am. Karsten and I say goodbye to them, have breakfast and then drive back home too. About time for some website updates...
Katrin Wagner, 06 September 2007

SAILOR solo concert in Luckenwalde. Well, good lord, where on earth is Luckenwalde? There's a lot we would do to see this great band. We, that means Hilde and me, decided that we had to get there. When we ordered the tickets Hilde was told that she was the first person to call. Well, only the early bird catches the worm! Then we booked flight and hotel. A hotel in Luckenwalde wasn't available any more, all booked up. At that time we didn't know how big the town is. The closer the 1st of September came, the more nervous we became, and then the day finally came!
Early in the morning we flew from Munich to Berlin-Schönefeld, got to our hotel and had a look around Berlin. Then back to the hotel, shower, dressing up and off to Luckenwalde. Earlier we had already looked up the best train connections and bought the train tickets. At the railway station in Luckenwalde there was nothing except for calm and tranquillity, not even a taxi. Never mind, we walked to the Kulturkantine. Except for one other woman with a dig we didn't meet anybody on our way, and we started to wonder whether we were at the right place. But then we found the place of the event. Passing completely ramshackle halls and houses we finally met other human beings: Hooray, Katrin, Karsten and Frank were already there and we were very happy. A little later Susanne, Eileen and Malcolm arrived in a taxi (well, where did they get this taxi then). With some more fans we could listen to the rehearsals and were very very happy, despite being at this strange place.
Then we could finally get in, and spontaniously the "fan-table" was formed and we could order drinks. At this place warmest thanks to Malcolm who bought Hilde and me the first drink of the evening! We hope we can return the favour soon!
Quite a while and several drinks later it was finally time for the big event!
The rather manageable number of people in the audience "rushed" to the front to welcome "our boys" in an appropriate way. I can only say: It was an incredibly great "private concert". SAILOR were gigantic and in the best mood ever, I think they also had a lot of fun.
For me, as usual, "The Old Nickelodeon Sound" was fantastic and "Harbour"- a very funny surprise. "Blame It On The Soft Spot" and "La Cumbia" really heated all up. For me it could have gone on like this for a few more hours, but also a great evening like this came to an end.
Thousands of thanks to SAILOR who brought us such an unforgettable and wonderful evening in Luckenwalde!
PS: Many thanks to Thomas from Hamburg for accompanying us back to the railway station and ensuring a funny journey back.

in Luckenwalde, Germany - 01 September 2007

The songs that SAILOR played in Luckenwalde:

in
Luckenwalde, Germany - 01 September 2007