Geezers!

The next time I mention that I'm thinking of buying tickets to some band's reunion tour...just take away my credit card...and whack me upside the head with the stupid stick.

We went to see Genesis at the Stade de Suisse in Bern last night, and...

...it was the concert experience from HELL!!!

First of all, the tickets were expensive (over CHF 300/$250 for two tickets)...

Google Maps gave us a driving time of just over an hour, and the drive ended up taking us nearly THREE HOURS because of the horrific concert traffic!!!

Once we got to the stadium, traffic bottle-necked to two lanes, and then the lady directing traffic allowed about ten cars from one lane into the parking lot, stopped that lane, and then allowed ten cars from the other lane to enter the lot. Some of the Euro 2008 games are going to take place at this stadium next year. If last night's concert is any indication of how the Swiss authorities handle large crowds, then my advice is to...AVOID GOING TO EURO 2008!

The concert started at 7:30 p.m., and we arrived in the lot at about 8:15 p.m. (after paying our CHF 10 parking fee). Then, we had to walk about a mile (in the rain) to the stadium.

Upon arriving at our entrance gate, the security lady checked Mrs. TBF's purse and told her that she could not bring our umbrellas into the stadium. We told her that we had reserved, covered seats, and that we would not be using our umbrellas. Cut to the chase: the umbrellas went into a big pile outside the entrance, and then we retrieved them on our way out (amazingly!).

We eventually almost made it to our seats (stood in the vestibule), and saw that the band members looked like ants. The stage was at one end of the field, and we were at the other end.

We watched giant video screens for a couple of songs to see that the band members appeared to be glued to the stage. I'm talking ZERO movement, and ZERO excitement. GEEZERS!!! Hell...I could buy a DVD of their concert and create a lot more excitement watching it with Mrs. TBF on our sofa!

We started thinking about the Hell we had gone through getting to the stadium, and then we realized that it would be double-Hell leaving the stadium right after the concert. So, we each decided to make a quick trip to the bathroom and...get the HELL OUTTA THERE! Total time in the stadium? 15 minutes, or so! I told Mrs. TBF that they were the most expensive pees we had ever taken.

The drive home only took about an hour. We had a light, late dinner, popped in a DVD (The Big Lebowski), and watched it in bed. At some point, I turned off the DVD player and went to sleep. It was a short sleep - I had to drive Mrs. TBF to the airport this morning at 5:30 a.m.

Here's my advice if you're contemplating going to see Genesis in some other city: DON'T!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG! BORING!!! There was absolutely no excitement, the band seemed to be going through the motions, most of the songs were done in a medley format so that they could squeeze in all of their hits, the light/stage set-up was gimmicky, and...probably a zillion other negative things I would have noticed if I had managed to tough it out for more than fifteen minutes.

And...I'm a Genesis fan!

Phil Collins said they weren't doing it for the money...because they are all already loaded.

My opinion? They're doing it for the money!

Save YOUR money! By the DVD (that they're not putting out just for the money) when it comes out, and save yourself a hundred bucks.

What a disappointment!

In order to not sound totally negative, I guess I should try to come up with something positive....

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OK...the stadium was really nice - very clean and safe!

Time Stand Still...

I went to the BASELWORLD Watch and Jewelry (BTW...the Brits spell it "jewellery"...Wankers!) Show, and OH...MY...GAWD was it boring!!!! Had I known how boring it was going to be, I would have saved the CHF 45 ($35 U.S.) one-day admission fee and just checked out the watches on the internet. Save yourself the money and just go window shopping in downtown (...insert name of big city here!).

I showed up at 15:00, and I thought I could last maybe two to three hours. And? I barely lasted one! MAJOR...LEAGUE...SUCKAGE! I left at just after 16:00, and I would have just given my ticket to an enemy of mine (if I had one) just to subject him/her to the torture I had just endured, but there were big signs warning people that the tickets were non-transferable, and anybody caught giving or selling their ticket to somebody else was subject to "a fine"!

Oooooooh...I'm scared!!!!

By the way, I'm sure most non-German speakers don't know that the German word for jewelry is Schmuck! That's right, like when Americans are calling somebody an idiot by calling them a schmuck. However, the Germans pronounce it more like shmook. It always cracks me up to walk around Basel and see the signs that say Schmuck in big, bold letters.

But, getting back to the show...

There were only two highlights for me. The first highlight was that, for whatever reason, there were A LOT of Finns at the show. I heard Finnish being spoken all over. About five minutes after entering the show, I overheard three Finnish guys (who were obviously in "the business") dressed entirely in black, with long shoulder-length straight hair, soul patches, and crazy-ass Euro glasses talking complete SHIT like they were important or something...so I followed them.

Yes, I'm talking some serious stalking here.

I pretended to be seriously interested in whatever watches they were looking at while I listened to them droll on...and on...AND ON in Finnish about chronometers, Swiss movements, mechanisms of various sorts, profit margins, etc. Just when I was becoming rather impressed with my stealth, I noticed that they had stopped talking, and...

...ALL THREE OF THEM WERE STANDING FIVE FEET IN FRONT OF ME...AND THEY WERE STARING RIGHT AT ME!

Busted! I'm not really sure what tipped them off, but when I looked at their faces, let's just say that I did notice that there were certain similarities in our facial features. I think they had recognized me as a Finn. It was time to move on...

The second highlight was the Rolex exhibit. I picked up a Rolex catalog, and Mrs. TBF will be happy to know that I've picked out my next watch. Allow me to present...the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date GMT-Master II!!!! I'm not sure yet if I'm going to go with the "F-YOU Corporate World/Pepsi Can" colors, or if I'll opt for the safer black face/bezel with silver/gold band. However, I'm pretty sure that this is the watch for me because I'm geeked about the fact that the "rotatable bezel, 24-hour hand and independently adjustable 12-hour hand allow simultaneous use of any two time-zones."

Come on...that's important stuff!