Hey, who of you has been seeing The Script at Festhalle? Aren’t the Irish genius? It’s way too long again since ^^ I really have to tell you about that day 😀
A week before the concert, on Friday before, this tweet by The Script appeared suddenly in my twitter timeline:
“#TheScriptFamily in Europe. Want to join the parade at the start of our show? Sign up for Germany & Switzerland HERE:”
They were looking for people to take part in the preshow parade in Bern. I didn’t think twice and took part. I am not a The Script fan who knows their whole biography by heart or knows every single word of all the songs, it’s only been the 3rd concert after all. But I was looking forward so much to the show and thought, this sure would be a great and unique experience. And it definitively was!
Already 4 days later I got the confirmation that I could take part in the parade. That was almost too easy! I already watched a day after tour start the first videos and kind of knew how this parade looked like, but I was still so curious. The whole event was organised by Arcana Global Events. On the day of the show, meet up for all the contestants was at the main entrance of Festhalle in Bern at 3.30 pm. Johnny came to get us and we were 23 contestants, 2 guys among them. People from the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland had travelled here. So there were about more foreign fans than Swiss 😉 First we got explained the procedure and then we practiced outside until about 4.30 pm. Inside the soundcheck of The Script was on from 4pm.
Finally Johnny let us into the hall in a row and put us up a few meters away from the stage. I was thrilled to be inside the still empty festhalle. I’ve been there for concerts so many times. The band played the first song of the show, “Paint the town green”, for us. The concert started later on with it and so we could see, what we had to do at what point. Johnny already warned us that the three of them thought it was fun to throw plectrums off the stage. We were not allowed to move and should just ignore them – the risk of injury was too big. You might sure wonder – “What, risk of injury?”. First I wasn’t sure either, how serious he was. But, when the fans run for the plecs and hit their heads. Only if it was going to get stuck in nose or eye, we would be allowed to get it out 😉 Yes, and still – as soon as the first picks came flying, some jumped at them in a mad rush. Oh well. Johnny picked the single plecs up and gave them to the contestants. Danny threw one directly in front of my feet. Sure I claimed it for me – without fights 😉
Danny, Mark and Glen came down then to greet each one, shaking hands and I even got a hug by Danny 😀 Small chats, quickly taking a group picture and then back to the rehearsals. We did the whole parade again in the empty hall and to finish off, Johnny showed us the room with the flags and lights, where we had to go shortly before show start. And then they threw us out of the location again until the doors opened.
Doors opened around 6.30 pm and we could first watch some of the support acts, Colton Avery and Tinie Tempah. How did you like them? I loved Colton, Tinie not at all.
Colton Avery is a young singer/songwriter and did enthuse the audience at Festhalle simply with his guitar and his voice. With Tinie Tempah though everything is more electronic. He’s a British grime-rapper and MC from London and is obviously very successful esp. in UK. During Tinie Tempah’s performance we met Colton in the audience. So Tinie was totally unimportant for the moment 😉 Colton told us that he was from Phoenix, USA – from the desert and so he was freezing pretty much here in Switzerland. He also told us that he likes Tinie a lot and does listen to him every night from the audience. So the young musician makes not only good music, he’s super nice and cute as well 🙂
At 8.50 pm we all got together in the backstage area, right next to the stage. We got our flags and torches. There was a bit nervousness, but the anticipation was bigger. It probably was around 9.15 pm when we got ready behind the side door. Outside it became pretty cold and so they took us inside into the hall already. Esp. so Danny, Glen and Mark wouldn’t be freezing. Usually they play in bigger locations, where they have more space. We turned on the lights on the flags and the torches, and the heads of the audience in the back of the location did immediately turn of course. They started to whisper to each other excitingly and some already took pictures. We tried to focus on what we had to do one more time, before in the last seconds Danny, Glen and Mark joined us and got themselves ready in the middle. Actually our task wasn’t very difficult, but if you are nervous… 😉 The three of them were also quite hyper and ready to start. The countdown started: 10… 09… 08… and we were already down to 01. There we went.
I admit, suddenly the head was empty and we started walking like little Duracell bunnies. Everywhere were grinning faces, mobile phones and green lights. Screaming here and there. Concentrating on lines on the floor then? Whew! So, the band must kind of feel like this. Just the difference: they were used to it. And oops, we already stopped and arrived already in front of the stage. The band ran on stage, while it was turning around for us and back. But there was a little shock first! There were so many people behind us. Everyone had directly followed us and the gangway was completely gone. We’ve been warned before, but this wall was still kind of unexpected. Then again I also got the impression that all these people were as shocked as we were, when they realised: “They are coming back?!”. We did push us to the back, the outside row went around on the other side of the hall. I finally found my position and so we were standing there during the rest of the song, waving our flags. What happened on stage I barley realized. Then there were the drums for the first time, and already the second time – the green lights went off, it became dark. We turned off our flags and torches. And leaving. Quickly getting outside in the back, taking the flags and torches back and so everything was over already. As soon as the parade was finished, I would have loved to repeat it. We then could go and watch the concert.
It was a fantastic concert! But what would I have expected otherwise? Absolutely great visuals, cool lightshows, fabulous songs of a super band! Songs out of all 4 albums: After “Paint the town green” followed “Hail rain or sunshine” and then all their hits as “Breakeven”, “Superheroes”, “We cry”, “For the first time” or “Hall of fame”. They ripped it! Danny even went again through the audience, a camera with him. The concert was full of energy. I was so thrilled! And so far I also only heard good feedback from others! Just the whole thing was over too fast.
An incredible experience, super amazing having been part of this parade and the whole concert. All the people I met there and got to know. And just all of it… It was so much fun! And just wow! What a day!
The Script are at Paleo Festival in July by the way (unfortunately it was immediately sold out) and in August they are in Winterthur, for this there are still tickets available at Ticketcorner.
