Frida in Berlin

Seems like I was the only ABBAMAIL "correspondent" at Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin on Wednesday. It took some time for me to write it all down - partly that's because I wasn't too enthusiastic anyway about my very first encounter with Frida, I'm sorry to say. Although I was very excited and really nervous BEFORE. I mean - Frida in my city! I never thought a subway ride might be enough to get to see her for the first time in my life... Of course I had no ticket for the show (and I still haven't seen her performance yet). I just wanted to take my chance and maybe get my personal "Frida moment" outside the theatre.

I arrived at Friedrichstadtpalast at 1pm. There was a small crowd of people waiting at the stage entrance and it seemed like most of them were just there to meet ANY celebrity - no ABBA or Frida fans. At 3pm Frida finally arrived for the rehearsals, together with Jon Lord. I'm afraid no-one paid any attention to HIM at all. But maybe I just didn't notice, because, naturally, all my attention was focussed on Frida. She was dressed in black and looked like a very normal person.

When she started giving autographs she politely said "but I'll give only one for each person" in German with a very cute accent, while several members of the Friedrichstadtpalast staff started acting hectically, announcing she had no time and had to go straight to the rehearsal. Unfortunately, even though there was really only a small crowd and people acted very patiently and well behaved, these staff members deemed it necessary to start pushing people away from her. It was only THEN that people started to get pushy, because they feared they'd miss their chance. Which meant that *I* did not get an autograph, as I'm never pushy enough... As Frida was about to enter the building, one fan managed to get one last autograph by stumbling and falling on the stairs right in front of her (on purpose, I'd guess). Which of course prompted Frida to stop and ask if everything's alright (at least that's what I read from her gesture). "Oh, I'm alright, and can I have an autograph please?"

The annoying staff behaviour was repeated when Mireille Mathieu turned up. After that some staff member commanded us to leave the Friedrichstadtpalast property, "otherwise we'll stop this completely". What a cunt (<--- Graeme's definition)!

Then it was two more hours waiting for her to come out again. I left for a while. On my way back I met a friend and told him I was hoping to meet Frida - to which he had the nerve to reply "who?". I'm afraid I'll have to erase him from my address book ;-) Anyway, after two hours it was only Jon Lord who left through the stage entrance, informing us that Frida had already left. At least he did get his share of attention this time...

After that I went back home - but only for little more than half an hour. Then it was time to return and wait for Frida on the red carpet. I felt like a real snob amongst all those people who seemed to be all excited about Frida, but at the same time hardly knew who she is or what she looks like. At least they did know she's blonde now, which meant that whenever a blonde woman turned up, everyone would go "Is that her? No, that's a young one. Frida's an old one". What a mob ;-)

The end of the story is: She didn't turn up. In fact, none of the performing artists showed up on the red carpet, only the price nominees and celebrity guests. I actually waited until they started to clear away the red carpet... must have been a pretty sad sight. While I waited there someone said Frida's staying in the Maritim hotel near by, so I decided to try my luck there instead of once again waiting at the wrong entrance for her to leave. But unfortunately afterwards she didn't turn up at the hotel either. Another fan was informed by a friend that she was having dinner somewhere and that she was "just sitting there and eating". How exciting ;-) That was at about 11.30 and by that time I decided to give up and go back home. I wasn't happy at all. I mean, I had spent ten and a half hours waiting for her in the cold autumn wind, just to get little more than a short glimpse of her. I did catch a cold, however...

As for that tiny little moment with Frida: Unlike most of you and contrary to my own expectations I did not get very emotional. In fact, I saw so little of her that now I'm not quite sure it actually happened. Did I really see her? Also, I must say I didn't find her that attractive and radiant. Instead she looked a bit old and windswept... And what happened to her green eyes? Is she using blue contact lenses to make them match her blonde hair? Something has changed, don't you think?

So now I'm looking forward to Jon Lord's Cologne concert. Hope I have better luck there. Who else will be there, btw?

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Elmar Winterberg, Berlin, Germany