A good concert and the horror of travelling
Somewhat belated entry, but still.
Robbie Williams was on tour in Germany, and it conspired (he might have transpired as well) that I got to see the show in Hockenheim (not far from Heidelberg). The arena is part of the formula 1 race track and fits about 90000 people, which apparently made their appearance, as well.
I'll cut it short. Robbie played many of his better songs and managed to get the crowd (which was pretty mixed, maybe 2/3 female) going. He acted a bit whiny, because it would be the last show in Germany but most of it was amusing or so outrageously flattering that it was fun anyway. All in all good entertainment.
What was not at all entertaining was the rottenly bad organisation of the Hockenheim people. The 'guides' standing everywhere had no clue at all where people would have to go, where shuttle buses to the train station (several miles away) would start of from (and I did ask a *lot*). People at the train station were entirely exhausted when they had to walk the whole way to the trainstation in the dark, some of them being sent that way despite of leg injuries. The evacuation strategy was the 'funnel'. Get thousands of people to press into a path that gets narrower and narrower - it was breath-taking. Not surprisingly people inside the arena phoned about 2am that they still couldn't get out. (Any idea what would happen in case of an emergency? I don't want to know!)
Parking-lot guides stood and claimed non-existance of a camping lot only 100-200 metres behind them.
And that's only the stuff I witnessed immediately.
So if you want to see Robbie Williams, go ahead. If he's having a good day it is a great show. But if you have the choice to see any concert at Hockenheim, my advice would be to just not.
Robbie Williams was on tour in Germany, and it conspired (he might have transpired as well) that I got to see the show in Hockenheim (not far from Heidelberg). The arena is part of the formula 1 race track and fits about 90000 people, which apparently made their appearance, as well.
I'll cut it short. Robbie played many of his better songs and managed to get the crowd (which was pretty mixed, maybe 2/3 female) going. He acted a bit whiny, because it would be the last show in Germany but most of it was amusing or so outrageously flattering that it was fun anyway. All in all good entertainment.
What was not at all entertaining was the rottenly bad organisation of the Hockenheim people. The 'guides' standing everywhere had no clue at all where people would have to go, where shuttle buses to the train station (several miles away) would start of from (and I did ask a *lot*). People at the train station were entirely exhausted when they had to walk the whole way to the trainstation in the dark, some of them being sent that way despite of leg injuries. The evacuation strategy was the 'funnel'. Get thousands of people to press into a path that gets narrower and narrower - it was breath-taking. Not surprisingly people inside the arena phoned about 2am that they still couldn't get out. (Any idea what would happen in case of an emergency? I don't want to know!)
Parking-lot guides stood and claimed non-existance of a camping lot only 100-200 metres behind them.
And that's only the stuff I witnessed immediately.
So if you want to see Robbie Williams, go ahead. If he's having a good day it is a great show. But if you have the choice to see any concert at Hockenheim, my advice would be to just not.