'Smells like ... '

currently available (sort of): The DVD bootleg of the Guided by Voices show at Gebäude 9 in Cologne, Germany (KöLN!!!!) on 06. September 2002, the only German date on the excellent 'Universal Truths and Cycles Tour', and also the only German date in 7 (!) years at that point. It's the whole show, plus about 20 minutes of hilarious aftershow footage. Unfortunately the audio of the show footage is really bad, though one can sort of hear the songs and you get used to it after a while. It's mainly filmed from the Nate side of the stage and it rocks, visually! It's unlikely another audio version turns up, so this is it, pretty rough soundwise but otherwise awesome!!!

What you can see above is a pizza carton, signed by Bob and everyone else after the show. Allegedly it once held a pizza consumed by Bob Pollard and Guided By Voices! :-) It now stands on our mantlepiece. I think it was my idea, but Simon basically went around and realized my vision, talked to Bob for a bit and got him to write his love on it in big fat marker, and got everyone else's signature too, not just the band but the support band Gary (big GBV fans, led by 'movie star' Robert Stadlober), as well as the other assorted hot freaks still hanging out much later after this great show on this beautiful September night. The Gebauede 9 is a pretty laid back venue in an old industrial complex on the edge of town. There was a backstage room but it was open to the courtyard so everyone was hanging out afterwards.

It was one of the magic shows, the band was on and the audience went completely nuts, there were people from all over Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands present and especially the front rows just went wild, from start to finish. It was beautiful. One of the last times I went completely crazy at a GBV show. One of the last GBV shows I saw with Tim Tobias, before the Toxic Twins (Nate & Tim) got separated. I completely lost it during 'Universal Truths and Cycles', the song, which is kind of an underrated gem I think, and actually kneeled down on the beerstained floor and started wigging out. Thankfully I'm largely absent from the footage ;-))

anyway, this is cool, especially the euphoric second half of the show and I'm happy to share this around a bit by snail mail, "just say the word".

Now, 'GBV Cologne', what would that smell like, hmmm??