Saturday, June 27, 2015

Marit Larsen In Hildesheim 2015

I first met Marit Larsen in 2005 in a hotel in Oslo, then again in 2009 during a concert in Hannover. Now, I watched her concert in Hildesheim last night, on June 26 2015. And I have a lot to tell.


To me, going to a Marit Larsen concert is a weird experience. The reason for this is that I was very privileged when I first met her in 2005, which was 10 years ago. The special part about it was that I was, without a doubt, the biggest German Marit fan at the time, maybe even the only one. Also, she gave me permission to meet her in person and then walk around, sit down at a cafe and talk.I spent more than one hour with her then, and it's something you simply can't beat or repeat.

This is the reason why, whenever I walk into a situation where I get to see Marit perform, there is a lot of nostalgia in me. It makes me want to go back and tell her all the things that have been happening in my life because of her. For instance the fact that I met my wife only because we were Marit Larsen fans (and lived far apart from each other - Germany and Singapore!).

The first time meeting her was unbelievable. The second time was also very good. It was in a concert in Hannover, and afterwards, she took the time to talk to all the fans. Back in 2009, the venues were small because nobody knew she would end up #1 in the charts that year. So we talked a little, I gave her a letter stating that I was going to get married to a girl I met in the Marit Larsen chatroom, and she even said she might be playing at our wedding! Can you believe that? Well, it eventually didn't happen but hey, it's amazing we even talked about it and I got the chance to send my thoughts and messages to her and to let her know what kind of impact she had on my life.

But I also want to tell you about tonight, about Hildesheim and her concert there. It was great. It was for free. And you know what the best thing was? Although I went there without any expectations, knowing I wouldn't meet her in person again, she saw me and my wife! Let me tell you about it...



Before the show started, I had this feeling it would be useful to sneak around the stage and see if I can take a look into the backstage area from a distance. And indeed, there was a small gap in the fencing where I could look through. And there she was, tuning her guitar in preparation for the concert. Then it happened: In what felt like slow motion, she suddenly turned her head and looked at my wife, then me, and waved at us. I'll probably never know whether she identified me, saw a familiar face or simply thought of us as fans. What I do know is: She acknowledged us, because we were the only people looking at her in that very moment. Wow!

So that was more than I was hoping for. Of course it's kind of heartbreaking not being able to tell her the whole story... how things turned out. Last time (2009) I did manage to tell her I was getting married and that it was "because of you" in some way. But it would have been great to be able to say "hey, remember me? I'm still here".

At one point during the concert, Marit Larsen said that one song made all those German fans aware of her, and that it was "If a song could get me you". She also said that probably nobody in the audience knew her before 2009, which is of course wrong. I would have loved to make that clear. I've been her fan since 1999, and on that night, last night, there were at least two of us who were fans from day one. Let the world know this!

What is there left to say? Well, somehow it's still hard not being able to tell her what kind of inspiration she has been... I mean, to tell her that the impression is still lasting. After all these years. But you know... I'm half a year older than her, and as we both grow older, maybe there will be a time when all the hype, all the marketing and all the record sales will be a little more "moderate"... when things are a little more like they used to be... and if, by any chance, she plays at a really small club, maybe I'll be there. And who knows, maybe some of the other hardcore fans from the Phillipines and elsewhere will make it possible to let Marit know that " The first Generation"  is still around... the first generation of Marit Larsen fans...

Looking weird...

1 comment:

Ira Roslan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.