International Insanity: The Final Cut: Munich

So following from the previous post, I took another train from Berlin to München. Pretty expensive and long journey, but so cool and probably the best way to see a good swath of the German countryside. Once you get out of Berlin, you pass through a few other cities and then farmland, then mountains (where it was snowing in the forest), and finally the Bavarian countryside with cute little houses and every so often a castle! So cool!
Munich is Germany's third largest city (learned that on the tour...) after Berlin and Hamburg and it's more than 800 years old and it's a mostly industrial city. My hotel was almost twice as expensive as the Berlin one and was rated at 3.5 stars. At first I couldn't figure out why (other than the incredibly convenient location near the train station and across from the live sex show place...) but then I opened the bathroom door and realized that the bathroom was actually bigger than the main part of the room. Much like my hotel in Vegas several years ago....nice.
Anyway, my train got in late so I was once again rushing to get to the show on time. Plus I wasn't exactly sure where it was, though I fortunately had written down the address. I had to ask several people for directions until I finally got the gist of the German explanation (since I don't speak a word of German).
So apparently the rescheduling of this show actually resulted in them playing a much larger hall, which was good for everyone I think. I guess there were a whole lot of record industry people there. There was also a photographer with a Metal Hammer hoodie - don't know if he was from Metal Hammer or not and then later I forgot to ask. Anyway, I met the lovely Miss J who lives near Munich and gave me the lowdown on the local scene. We were right up front for the whole show and surprisingly no one even as much as bumped into me - no pushing or crushing, unbelievable.
Up first, once again, my new favorite Norwegians: JR Ewing. I still like them! Musically I guess they're kind of like a more alternative Killers or something. Yes, the singer's pants were unzipped - feel free to interpret this as you like.
Since the stage was so big, it didn't take long to set up for Coheed's set. Like I said before there were a bunch of 'industry people' there, including several pro photogs and Bride of Mic taking pictures in front of the barricades. I believe it was the same set list as in Berlin, except that Claudio actually sang and enunciated all the words to every song [not a complaint, just a statement of fact about this particular show - except 'Wake Up' which he was singing through clenched teeth or something....with the presh of every kish, my head upon your chesht...weird.] At any rate, Coheed was much more 'on' than in Berlin. Maybe because they had the previous night off because their bus broke down? Anyway, it was awesome and certainly ranks as one of the best shows I've ever seen by them (right up there with my Ottobar birthday '03, Las Vegas '03, DC II fall '04, and Pittsburgh '05).
After the show, the club cleared out pretty quickly (probably because it was Monday night) and I waited around like a common groupie to see what the plans were. Some tool was waiting to get Coheed to sign photos that he downloaded from the internet, which are probably for sale right now on eBay. Loser. Also, even with an envelope of 50 effing photos he couldn't tell who was in the band and who wasn't. Kwame and some other people went to some 'Milk Bar' which I was unable to find on my own. Finally I ran into JR Ewing and we finally did find the 'Milch und Bar' and were told that it was 'Members Only' - WTF? We tried a different place - which as soon as Erlend said 'Metropolis!' the lighted sign immediately went out. So, long boring story....walking....not getting into the bar...walking. After that I hung out on the Coheed bus where Travis, Gabe, and Dave had a couple of snake fights (really) and Gabe and Pete foisted some kind of iPod 'game' on everyone (and Claudio was trying to cheat by programming his first five shuffle songs). I finally got to ask someone (Claudio) about Sidekick service and I'll probably get one soon, as it apparently has good coverage worldwide. Then we rocked out to Led Zeppelin and then I got too tired and cold and left. Aw, I love those guys.
And now it's time for the pinnacle of 3 Ridiculous Questions - 3 Ridiculous Questions for Claudio (where I theoretically could have asked anything and only asked the following stupid questions):

1 What is the fartherest you've travelled to see a band?
-4 hours

2 What is your favorite German band? (don't be afraid to say the Scorpions)
-I guess I would have to go with the Scorpions because I can't really think of any German bands
(PH also thought of the Scorpions, Accept, Kraftwerk, Sodom, Rammstein, and what about Nena?)

3 Whom would you pair up with for a steel cage match?
-Travis
(which launched Travis into a scary pro-wrestler monologue, the likes of which couldn't not be adequately described here)

Danke schoen!