Frida in Munich  - Matti Crocker Report

here is a fuller account of Monday 6 September @ Studio 9, Bavaria Filmplatz.

It had been a nerve wracking few days as I really didn't know how close I would get to seeing Frida perform on Sunday Night Classics. I started the day in an internet cafe near my hotel, still trying to get some tickets and which with my non-existent knowledge of German was getting me nowhere fast. I changed tack and tried to get hold of the production office at ZDF to plead, but the best they could do was tell me to go to the ticket office and try my luck for a cancellation.

I really had no idea how to get there, but on getting out my trusty Munich Guide, I realized the studio was in the Filmplatz complex, which is Germany's version of Movieworld, and not ZDF´s studios. In one of those weird ´six degrees´ sort of situations, the guide mentioned one of their attractions was a replica of ´Das Boot´. This was a set I was Supervising Art Director for some ten years ago on the lot of MovieWorld Gold Coast. I knew it was to be shipped to Germany, so imagine my surprise when I realised it ended up next to the studio where Frida was to perform that evening. Weird! This had to be a good luck omen...

I wandered toward the main entrance expecting to have to pay the theme park entrance fee, as I was there well before the audience gates opened. I just said I needed directions to Studio 9, and the guy happily pointed the way. Amazingly easy! I found the Studio which was surrounded by ZDF Outside Broadcast trucks, gaffer and grips trucks and tents for catering. Feeling quite at home I entered the office section of the studio. Only when I passed a door marked `Frida Reuss` did I realise I was probably stretching my luck. Roadies and PA´s were trucking in equipment and nobody seemed to care who I was. Walking out a side door I spoke to a PA, explained I needed a ticket and had been told to come down and ask. She seemed slightly bemused, but went off to talk to someone. She came back with the response I wasn't wanting- they couldn't help and I would have to wait until 6pm to see if there was a cancellation.

The ticket office was in a playground in the main park surrounded by screaming children and a McDonalds and not much else. It was a very hot 27 degrees so with large coke and Hamburger Royal (Quarterpounder), I sat down for a very long and tense wait. In a matter of minutes I got a text from ABBAMAILer Lex who had arrived with his friend Evelyn. He came and found me and I joined them under a tree by the studio with a clear view to the entrance. I was relieved to be with fellow fans, and we settled down for the long haul. Suddenly he got a text from ABBAMAILer Erik, who had found Frida's motel, met her, she was in smiling signing mood and was on her way for rehearsals. The tenacity of us fans never ceases to amaze me! Not for a million years did I think I would get to meet her, but here we were in prime position, ready to move in, and no one seemed the slightest bit fazed we were hovering nearby. I have to point out here again how amazed I was at the lax of security. Back at the studios on the Gold Coast, It can take me 10 minutes to get through the studio boom gates even when I'm working there and my car and rego is on the daily list. Even then the only access between studios and theme park in a hole in the fence hidden by bushes so the techs can sneak on the roller coaster at lunchtime! And yet here in Germany we could wander freely.

We edged closer to the door and mingled with various production personnel queuing for lunch and then the stream of black mercedes started to crawl in with various guests. By this time other fans had arrived, but nothing like the normal crush one expects at these sort of things. By the time Frida had arrived fans had appeared from nowhere. Lex got his photo signed before me, and then I thrust a copy of ´Djupa Andetag´ in front of her. (Luckily I'd brought it with me, but only to listen to in what I thought would be an uneventful 6 hour wait.)

She looked tanned and happy, and well...like Frida! Standing in front of me as a wall of pictures and pens and flashes surrounded her, ´Hi´ I said. ´I've come from Australia!´ Pathetic I know, but it was all I could think of. She looked surprised and said ´Oh! I haven't been to Australia for a ve-rr-y lo-ong time!´ in very low delicious tones, smiling and signing my booklet. ´Why don't you come back for a visit´, I said cleverly...`Oh, you never know´ and flashed me that very, well, Frida smile. I managed a few blurry photos and the security guards swept her into the building. And there it was, in a matter of minutes, I'd met her, for the first time in 29 years. Lex was just as overcome, as this was his first time. The others nodded knowingly, as they noticed our shaking and dilated pupils, ´They're Frida virgins!´

I still didn't have a ticket, but that paled into a blur as the previous moments washed over me. I needed some shade and a sit down, and so did Lex.

(Part 2 tomorrow, as I'm being kicked out of the Cafe!)

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Matti Crocker, Munich Germany.