Frida in Munich  - Paul Carter Full Report

I arrived in Munich several hours later than I should have done due to the incompetence of British Airways (unfortunately I had to travel with them this time due to the timings of the available flights - otherwise give me Ryanair any day!), and made my way down to the studios.

There were quite a few fans around. Frida had arrived shortly before I got there and had stopped for a while to talk before heading into the studio to get ready. I wandered around for the next few hours mingling with various groups of people waiting for the action to begin. There were so many different entrances to the studio that it was a bit difficult to know where we were supposed to go. Outside once entrance was Jon Lord, and me, Frank H and our little group had a short chat to him, when he confirmed the story about the Cologne concert.

I missed out on seeing the rehearsals which was a shame. It seemed to be that you had to be in the right place at the right time for that... oh well, never mind. Anyway, the security people decided that they wanted everyone out of immediate vicinity of the studio, and we were told to wait behind this one gate. After a while, we were told that the first 50 people through this gate would get a yellow ticket, which would allow us access to the red carpet to watch the guests arrive, and that we would then be escorted to the seats at the front of the audience. Unfortunately, the second part of this turned out not to be the case at all.

Anyway, the hour was drawing near and the gate was opened. There was a predictable stampede to get these yellow tickets, and I'm surprised that no-one was seriously hurt the way that some people were carrying on. After a while, everyone with the tickets went through another barrier to the red carpet. There was one lone security guard there, and I really had my doubts that he would cope with what looked as if it could happen when Frida got out of her car.

I think all the guests were already in the studio, so they were simply driven round the corner to the red carpet for the benefit of the cameras, which is presumably shown at the start of the program. Vanessa Mae and various other people arrived, and then Jon Lord ensam. He said that Frida was on her way. Frida did arrive this way, but not before we had been told that by the security staff that she had decided not to do so, and that we had to go in as the show was beginning. Needless to say, the seats near the front had gone, leading to a scramble for the remaining ones towards the back. Still a good view though!

I don't think by this stage it had quite sunk in that I was about to see Frida on stage. A program had been handed out with the running order, but this wasn't being followed, so we didn't know when Frida was due to come on stage. I can't remember much about the first few performers apart from Vanessa Mae who was pretty good, and a singer called Hayley(?) that I have vaguely heard of from New Zealand who sang "Wuthering Heights" with Jon Lord on piano.

I hope that I have got the next bits in the right order, as it is at times a bit blurry still.

Frida was introduced with some footage of "Money Money Money" and "Twist In The Dark" - she then arrived from stage left. Everyone cheered very loudly and she was wearing a cream suit, and holding a microphone. When she turned round you could also see that she had one of those radio transmitters things fixed to her jacket - how fabulous did this look! Then a lucky make-up artist came on stage to adjust Frida's hair and make-up.

The sound check happened and there seemed to be a few problems with Frida hearing the sound correctly. At this point we heard the vocals going without Frida, realising that it would be playback. This was when the unfortunate comment was made, but enough about that already.

It was time for Frida to begin, and lots of us gave her a standing ovation, which she liked. Then the song began, and I sat there quite transfixed, trying to take in every little gesture and movement. There were two big screens to either side, allowing you to see closer up. We will see it all on the TV broadcast of course, but what sticks in my mind is that Frida put her hand to her face for the phrase "like blossom snow"... bit difficult to describe, but it should all become clear.

When it was all over, we once again gave her a huge round of applause and cheers - I had been saving up all my energy for this one moment! This went on for a long time, and she appeared very happy. Then there was a short interview, which Erik has already recounted. Jon Lord was spot on about Frida's voice and we loved his comment that he loved her very much.

I stayed on in the audience, as I didn't know if Frida was due to come on stage with all the other artists at the end, but I soon heard that she had left, and she was understandably rather tired after the whole day. So I made my way back to the tram stop and found ABBAMAILer Rob Beuving and some others there, so we headed back into town together.

One other thing is that I think we have rather misinterpreted Jon Lord and what his music is about today. I wasn't aware of him prior to all this, and only vaguely aware of Deep Purple. He seems to be a bit like Benny, doing all sorts of instrumental stuff that isn't at all related style-wise to his previous career. After he had performed with Frida, he did this very good classical piece that he had re-interpreted into a Swedish folk style. Not really anything like what I imagine he has been doing in the past...

So that was it. I am so glad that I was there as I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I never thought there would be a chance to see something like that with Frida, so what a great event to have been at. She was very appreciative of the support from her fans in the audience, and I hope she will do more like this in the future.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Paul Carter London, UK