Review - Vienna, September 30, 2009

By Claudia Yildiz

Vienna… where shall I start? These two days were simply too amazing to put them in the right words, but nevertheless I’ll have a try.

Actually I didn’t expect to see Roger another time this year after the wonderful concert in Nuremberg with the “gang”.  But as the tour dates on Roger’s page became more and more, I had the sense that I want to see him again this year and so my hubby and me decided to look for a concert which we could attend together with my dear friend Christine. It was a wonderful surprise as it turned out that Roger will perform in Vienna, in Christine’s hometown and we impatiently waited for the ticket sale to begin. Mick from Ireland decided to join us too and so we were again a little formation of the “gang” to attend Roger’s concert in Vienna.

The last weeks were somehow rather stressful for me and although I looked so much forward to the concert and to meet my friends again, I left the kids and our home not very easily…  and when the plane took off from Munich airport I suddenly felt so melancholic and broke out in tears.

The flight was very short, not even an hour, and when we landed in Vienna I felt much better and looked so much forward to the two days that were before us. Christine and Christian picked us up at the airport and it was so lovely to meet them again and there was a big hello and of course lots of hugs. It’s so wonderful not to feel like a stranger in a strange town but to have so lovely friends who welcome you so heartily :D

We drove to Christine’s home and had a coffee and an original “Christine-Sacher-Torte” which was delicious and I guess it was much better then the so-called “original” Sachertorte. :)

Mick arrived some time after us and the welcome was also very warm. Even if we all know each other “only” from the internet and met only one time in person I have the feeling we are really long-time friends and that is a wonderful feeling. We had a lot of fun and so the time passed by very quickly and soon it was time to set out to Vienna city.

Thanks to our “local heroes” we arrived at the venue safe and right in time. The “Wiener Konzerthaus” is an amazing building, as the other buildings around also are and you can’t do anything but looking with your mouth wide open at all these architectonic masterpieces.

In front of the venue we met Christine’s brother Sigi and Elke with her husband and their little son. We took some pics together and I was deeply impressed by Sigi’s photo camera and I thought that it would not be necessary to take some pics with my tiny little cam during the concert… thank you Sigi again for the amazing photos!!!

Some minutes later Linda arrived and welcomed us all with a great big hug and a gorgeous smile. Linda, thank you again for your warmness, you are really such wonderful person and we love you. :)

Linda guided us into the venue and we took place in the middle of the hall and waited for Roger. Aaron was already there and jingled at the piano. Some time later Roger arrived and welcomed us with “Hi guys” from the stage and of course we had a big smile on our faces. Roger started the sound check, but very soon he encountered some problems with the sound of the grand piano and they had to do a lot of things to solve these. Roger seemed a bit discontent which made me somehow a bit sad too and I hoped they would be able to manage these problems.

Finally Roger went over to his keyboard and started playing his new song “I knew it well” from beginning to the end… what a special gift for us!!! Thank you so much Roger, you are so amazing and so lovely to us and we really appreciate that so much.

After the song was over, Roger left the stage, waved in our direction and said “see you guys later”.

So we also left the venue and had a snack in a typical Vienna restaurant. Short before eight o’ clock we returned at the “Konzerthaus” again and met another two friends of Christine and Christian. Together we went into the hall which was already full up and we took our places in the first row… and wow… our seats were right in front of Roger’s keyboard!!! Amazing!!!

Linda looked from behind the stage and when she saw us, she had a big smile on her face and came up to us again and wished us much fun for the concert.

As a supporting act were two young musicians with guitar and vocals who were really brilliant, but honestly said I was so impatient to see Roger… I was so excited, I couldn’t wait…

When they had finished the promoter announced Roger and the audience started clapping and clapping and clapping, but Roger didn’t come out… I knew it is not Roger’s style to let the audience wait for him for such a long time and I really become nervous and worried if everything is OK… but finally he arrived with a gorgeous smile and I was relieved and I knew the concert would be brilliant!

He recognized us immediately and gave us so many smiles during the concerts and it was such a lovely gift for us that he contacted us this way all the time. As Christine wrote – it was definitely a “living-room” atmosphere.

Roger started with “Take the long way home” as always, followed by “Give a little bit” and “Lovers in the wind” which is always an absolute personal highlight for me… I love that song so much and it always goes to a very deep place in my heart and soul. I don’t have the set list and actually I don’t mind which song Roger plays at which time – I love them all and what I also enjoy very much is Roger’s introductions to his songs. He always finds the right words and he expresses them in such an amazing manner.

Another personal highlight for me was that Roger played “The Awakening”. This song is so spiritual and meditative to me, and it will always remember me at Nuremberg…Thank you Roger for that wonderful song!!

What I enjoyed most during the concert was that Christine sat next to me… it made me so happy to smile at her and to enjoy, to sing and to whistle together. :D

Roger and Aaron were in a brilliant shape - as always and it amazes me that they are always performing each song with all their heart and soul – even after such a huge tour, the songs never sound like “singsong”, but so fresh and new as if they performed it for the first time every evening. That is really outstanding and I venerate that deeply.

During the intermission we had a look at Roger’s merchandising desk and signed his guestbook.

The concert passed by way to quickly and I enjoyed every single minute… When Roger started “Dreamer”, no one was able to sit down any longer and the whole hall was clapping, dancing, singing and I could only see happy faces everywhere around. I imagined if this hall ever saw such an enthusiasm and what the emperor, who built the “Konzerthaus” then, might have said if he were amongst us. :)

“Fool’s Overture” was the brilliant ending of the concert and Roger and Aaron left the stage, but of course they came back for an encore and played “School” and “It’s raining again”, and the atmosphere in the audience was fantastic.

Aaron is getting better every time I see him – he plays the piano with so much joy and enthusiasm -  it’s so great to watch him because he really seem to have a lot of fun.

After these two final songs the concert was really over and it was hard to let them go and in my mind appeared “Don’t leave me now”…

We waited quite a white in the hall after the concert and soaked up the atmosphere and headed very slowly to the exit… Somehow my belly told me not to leave the venue now, but to stay near the stage entrance and to wait… so we stood there near the stage entrance, but the “charming” security guys of the venue told us in their nice Viennese dialect (it’s not possible to translate how they said it, but the dialect is a mixture between coolness and sweetness and I simply love it) that it is time for us to leave now. So we did so with a heavy heart…

As we all were dead tired we drove back to Christine’s house and everyone immediately fell asleep.

The next morning we had “Breakfast in Moosbrunn” and still were up on that cloud and wallowed in memories of another wonderful concert.

After breakfast we prepared for heading to Vienna city again for a little sightseeing tour, but we decided to have a short sight into the web before…and there was a mail from Linda where she asked if we were still there and that Roger would like to meet us… but the mail was from the night before and so our disappointment was very big, as you can imagine… Whysoever it wasn’t meant to be… But we all agreed that even if didn’t meet Roger in person, he contacted us so often during the concert and we spent an amazing evening together. It really touched us a lot and we felt very grateful that Roger invited us for the sound check and recognized us during the concert.

So we spent the day with sightseeing in Vienna and enjoyed being together for some hours. Christine, Christian, Mick and Ali and me had a lot of fun together and it was a wonderful day.

I need to mention that we came across a wonderful quote in the “Hundertwasser-Haus”, which fitted perfectly to Roger and to all of us. It is a quote from the artist “Hundertwasser” and it says “The right to dream is one of the last human rights”.

Yeah, the right to dream… I always was a dreamer and sometimes dreams are coming true and it is so true: no one has the right to forbid dreaming, so keep on dreaming, all you dreamers in the world… it can really keep you alive life when you undergo hard times.

The farewell from my dear friends was the hardest thing… when Mick left us, we all hugged and he turned round and said “I go before I cry” and he put on his hood, turned round and went away…Christine drove us to the airport then and we both had tears in our eyes and gave us a great big hug when it was time to say goodbye. I hate farewells…

What I most experienced during these two days, was “Love”… and when I say “Love” I don’t mean it in the sense of romantic or sweet. I mean it in the sense of something very deep and very touching, something very honest and respectful, something you can rely on and you feel very grateful for…

These two days in Vienna were very intense and full of emotions… I needed sometime to digest all the impressions.

I feel very grateful that I had the chance to attend three wonderful concerts this year.

Thank you Roger for all these wonderful moments, thank you for bringing so much love in my life through your music and through the way you are: a wonderful human being.

I’d like to finish with a quote from Roger, which is getting more and more important for me and which says it all: ”Love is all I have to give, it’s all I need to live…”