A Weekend Frenzy II.
So I´m back and I have to say this weekend was everything I hoped for it to be. The trip to Brno was smooth even when weather was against us. We arrived there almost at 4p.m. and it was freezing, so we run to my favorite restaurant Charlie´s. I spent a lot of time there during my studies. After the delicious food we went for a walk around the center and I realized how much I missed Brno. It was already dark so it was a nice atmosphere but the freezing was really hard to take so we parked ourselves in my favorite Cafe soon. It changed a owner since the last time I´ve been there so they didn´t serve my favorite hot peach juice but it was still a cozy place. Then we went to the theatre, me being a little bit nervous about getting in. As told I found the supervisor and told her that we were from Mrs. Nykodymova. The name worked as a spell and we were told to come ten minutes before the beginning that she would know if she can get some regular tickets by then, if not we would sit on a stairs. We were lucky that someone didn´t pick up their reservations so they had two last tickets for us. The theatre and even the stairs were full. It´s nice to see that people love this theatre and it´s always crowded. Marketa Sedláčková played Elisa and Karel Jánský was Hradský (Higgins). This isn´t a classic My Fair Lady musical, it´s little bit modern version. The story is set in present day Brno. Brno has a specific dialect that you can´t hear in any other part of country so it works perfectly. Hradský aka Higgins teaches student actors how to talk at Janáček Academy of Performing Arts (my uni) and so on. Even the music is renovated a little bit, it has a jazz sound and let me tell you, it sounds fabulous. The play is called My Fair Lady (from Zelňák) and Zelňák is a square in Brno where the fruit market is. I´ve seen classic production in Prague but I have to say I like this one a little bit more cos it sounds fresh. oh, and Freddy is rollerblading on stage while singing On the Street Where You Live.lol. They played MFL in February for the last time and so you could see actors trying to find themselves, especially in the beginning. They even made up their lyrics a few times, that was funny but I think I was the only one to recognize it.lol. Markéta was good but I still think Petra Jungmanová is the best Elisa ever. After the performance I texted this message to Petra and she texted me back thanking me for a beautiful text message. Sweet. I think it was my last live viewing of this production. Sad. But I´m lucky to have it on video and even with Petra so I can watch it everytime I want or listening to soundtrack for that matter.
The ride home was a little bit dangerous, it was snowing like crazy and the highway was icy so we had to go slowly. Poor Vic, I dosed off on him for 20 minutes.lol We arrived home at 2a.m.
I woke up late on Sunday so I didn´t catch the train I wanted but luckily trains to Dresden leave every two hours so it was ok. Ele picked me up at the station and we went to her place so I didn´t have to carry my bag everywhere. We went to meet her friend for a coffee in the evening and it seemed we (they.lol) chatted about everything Gillian Anderson related. The second day was full of walking around city. It snowed the whole day, seriously, but it was nice, very winter atmosphere. We went to one pretty restaurant to buy a hot chocolate and it was very cozy. After that we were trying to find some christmas presents for our mutual friends but ended up empty. Then we decided we had enough freezing for a day and went back to Ele´s and watched several Friends episodes. We weren´t really in a mood to leave the warm room and go outside again but we had a concert to attend. Tram didn´t go where we needed so we had to got out somewhere else and search for the concert place. We searched for it for half a hour, it was freezing and snowing and I didn´t wear any hat cos I was told the club is next to the tram station. That wasn´t fun. The concert started at 8p.m. and we got there 5 minutes before. The club was far from packed but there was still enough people. We were shameless and made a beeline for the front rows and ended right in front of the stage. Jamie Scott and The Town played before A Fine Frenzy. We didn´t know him but it sounded great, just an acoustic guitar and bass guitar. He said he just came back from asian tour with Alicia Keys so yay. He was very handsome too. We liked him a lot and Ele bought his CD at the end. At 9p.m. A Fine Frenzy came finally on stage. The first song was Come in, Come out and we were little taken aback cos the drums were so loud that we almost didn´t hear Alison sing. I didn´t get the drums at all, she has such a intimate, slow songs and the loud drums ruined it. Alison tried hard to be heard over them. It got better at time but the first two songs were the worst which made me very very sad cos she played my the most favorites songs, Come in, Come out and You Picked Me. pout. I made a video of it and surprisingly It doesn´t sound that bad in the video like it was in real so I can enjoy the songs at least like this. Aside from the songs from their album they played two songs from the upcoming album and one cover from their favorite band Death Cab for Cutie (I´ve never heard of them). Alison played both a piano and a guitar. I have to say that Alison is the sweetest person ever. She was so shy everytime we applauded and even cried after our applause at the end of Almost Lover. She was so cute, fiddling with her hands everytime she sang and didn´t play any instrument. She said some funny stories too, one about walking through Dresden in snow without appropriate shoes and almost ended with frostbites. The concert was great and for an encore she came on a stage calling "Do you wanna rock n roll?" And this cute tiny girl started to sing Seven Nation Army by White Stripes. I stood there with my mouth agape. I so didn´t expect that. That made my day, it was so funny. Another addition was a very beautiful slow song from her past which sadly isn´t on the album. And last song was a new song from the upcoming album called What I wouldn´t do. It was a lovely optimistic song. I loved it. Sadly my camera didn´t have any free space anymore and so I couldn´t tape it. Ele did but the sound isn´t that great, but at least I have it. Can´t wait for the album. She said she wanted to meet us at a merchandising table after the concert and so since we had such a great opportunity to meet her we waited. Strangely they didn´t sell her album at the merchandising table only t-shirts. After a while she came out and fans were around her. She was so nice, she was giving autographs and was genuinely listening to story of every fan. We had only tickets with us so she signed them. Too bad I didn´t bring my album with me, signed album would be better, but how could I know I would meet her? I told her I came from Prague to see her and she said she heard Prague is beautiful. I confirmed and told her she should come one day. She said they will go near Prauge the next day (they were playing in Vienna) and so I told her she could give me a ride.lol. She was so sweet and she wrote "Thank you for being here tonight" on my ticket. Then we took picture together with her and Ele. I don´t like myself on it so I won´t post it here.lol I´m so happy I got the chance to be on the concert and to meet her. I´m sad they didn´t play Near To You, cos Im obsessed with this song lately, but the Seven Nation Army cover compensated it two times.
We spent Tuesday just lazily laying around and watching Guys and Dolls movie and bunch of Friends episodes. My train was leaving at 5:10p.m. And now I´m in Prague again. No snow here, btw.
Click to viewAlmost Lover, kind of dark video. Alison asked the audience to sing along with her at the end.
You Picked Me
This video isn´t mine. It´s A Fine Frenzy singing Seven Nation Army at the end.