Hi there,

My wife offered me the VIP package, which has been a surprise for me until the day of the show. I was really anxious and got there on time with my other Satch-lover friends of the day. At first we had to wait for a good couple hours because the venue was behind on the organisation and Joe wasn't there yet either, blame it on a tight flight schedule from Warsaw. So eventualy we met Jareth (Tour Manager?) who filled us in on how it was gonna roll for us. He also informed me that I was the winner of the "aftershow" who turned out to be an extra invitation for the meet & greet. Since one of my fellow fanboys had a girlfriend with a ticket ready for the show, I got to be the good samaritan and told him to bring her in with us to meet the Master! It all whent great, Joe was very nice, but you could also tell he was tired and we were all on the watch. We got to take nice pictures (with the help of Jay, another one of Satch's team member) So very frustrating not to get the opportunity to spend a little bit more time with Joe! But hey, we get it alright, that's the way it is.. Then that one thing that really bothered me happened: A friggin' platoon of freebies and "friends of friends" who crashed our party last minute with a couple of press photographers to show off in the papers. You might think I'm envious or bitter, but when you know the average salary in Estonia and the price of the VIP package, and also that these guys probably didn't even paid for the show itself, well, it put things in a f*cking perspective. After we got out (again) to wait and cue (again), while most of the pre-mentionned f*ckers stayed cozy inside, there was this young girl waiting with her guitar. She was so enthousiastic and cute that I decided to give her the picks I received as tour merch, as she will certainly have a better use for them then I would, given I'm no guitarist. Finally the show. Waow... Last time I saw him live it was around 96-97. I didn't had fully discovered the last album yet and the first listening didn't drove me crazy.. But that was before. The energy, the set, Joe and his musicians, it was perfect. Time, Flying in a Blue Dream, Not of this Earth, Luminous Flesh Giants.. Souls of Distorsion? Time Machine maybe? Nah, I'm being capricious now, next time maybe. My girl told me that day "Tonight hun, you'll Surf with an Alien" Well, I sure did babe. Thanks Joe! (and also thanks to Jareth & Jay) Fred