Quarter of a dream, coming true.

I doubt it, but maybe there are still people out there, who don’t now how big of an Beatles fan I am: Well, I just fell in love with those guys when I was around 11 or 12 years old. Their music was everywhere in our house and my older sisters had posters all over their bedroom walls featuring the four guys from Liverpool.

Early innocent questions, where followed by me literally eating up every book about the Beatles, sorting their albums chronological and listening my way all through them. Soon that wasn’t enough and I wrote down the lyrics of all their songs in a big folder, accompanied by drawings and scribbles and soon not only my school-books were covered in Beatles quotes but my whole room looked like a fab shrine.

Those guys were my first real music love. They gave me a reason for really wanting to learn English in school, they awoke my affection for drawing and painting and they taught me to play the guitar. I knew and still know all of their songs and can sing along to most of them. I saw all of their films and collected everything I could gather. I was member of the Beatles fan club, went to Beatles-Double-Group concerts and Astrid Kirchherr exhibitions. I lit a candle on John Lennons day of death every year and I found my longest and one of my dearest friends through my manic search for Beatles stuff.

These four guys were my life for a long time and still have a big part in it. I did everything a fan could do, I guess – but one thing: I never had the chance to see them live, beeing born 13 years after they split up and 3 years after John Lennon died.

But now the day had come for me to see at least one of them: Mr. Ringo Starr played the Arena in Vienna last Sunday, 17. July 2011, and I was there! And I can’t even begin to tell you how happy that made me. It was a dream, nearly as old as I am, coming true. I have to admit, that Ringo never was my favourite – there was always John Lennon first and after that Paul McCartney (like most of the Beatles fan would say, I guess). But it was nearly unreal for me to be in the same place like a guy that I, after all too, worshipped so much over the years. He was there. And he was so much alive and real.

My favourite bits of the concert of course where the Beatles songs he played, but also some of his solo or early stuff really rocked my world:

• “It don’t come easy” – Ringo Starr
• “Honey don’t” – Beatles, Carl Perkins cover
• “I wanna be your man” – Beatles
• “Yellow submarine” – Beatles
• “Act naturally” – Beatles, Buck Owens cover
• “Boys” – Beatles, Shirelles cover
• “With a little help from my friends” – Beatles

He ended the show the best way possible by giving a prayer out to John Lennon, singing “Give peace a chance”. I was really touched and it felt, and I know that sounds quite cheesy, as if Lennon was looking down on us. But, when it comes to the Beatles, I guess I am a bit cheesy…

The only thing that was quite strange and left the audience really unsatisfied, was that there was no encore. Ringo and his All Starr Band simply left the stage and that was that. But, however, this are two hours of my life I will never ever forget, with or without encore!

© all photos taken from Cremers Photoblog, derStandard

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