The Surprise

In my previous post, for Saturday I mentioned that my sister had given me a concert ticket for Christmas, and that she also had a surprise in store for me. It wasn't the concert as such, as I knew that, but it was who else was there.

So, last Saturday (18 January), I walked to Kullman's Diner opposite the train station, where my sister had suggested we grab a bite to eat before travelling into Stuttgart. On my own, I would not have eaten at that time, but it is always nice to share a meal, and since the concert was her present to me, I went along with her suggestion.

Rounding the corner to the entrance of Kullman's, I saw my sister standing there already... but she was not alone: Our two best friends from when we were six and seven years old were there as well, all three ladies grinning at me from ear to ear!

Let me quote from my own post about what was an important event for us in October of 2023: 

"When my sister and I were seven and six years old, we moved into the middle of three terraced houses here in Ludwigsburg. Next door were two sisters our age. The four of us became inseparable - we went to school together and spent most of our free time as a foursome. 

In our late teens, a rift went through our small, tight-knit group. I won't go into detail; let it suffice to say that while I kept in touch more or less regularly with one of the sisters, everyone went their seperate ways. This kind of thing sometimes happens when childhood friends go to uni, start work, have partners and start their own families. 

When [in 2022] first our Dad and two weeks later their Mum died [...], and was soon followed by my sister's best friend R, the idea of a reunion of the four of us was born. 

It took us a year to make it come true, and so on that Sunday, my sister and I drove to a small town nearby where one sister lives with her family (the other one lives in Switzerland). 

There was not a single moment of awkwardness, but instead, we picked up the threads that had been resting (in my sister's case) for over 30 years, as if no time had passed. We still share the same sense of humour and there were many laugh-out-loud moments, but we were also able to talk serious stuff such as the deaths we'd had to cope with."

So, imagine my surprise and delight to see the other half of our quartet! I guessed instantly that this couldn't be a coincidence, which was of course confirmed.

We had our meal at Cullman's and then boarded a local train to Stuttgart, followed by a short trip on the city tram to the concert venue.

The band was Heaven 17 - probably familiar to those of you who, like us, were teenagers in the 1980s. While we loved their music back then and had several albums and 7'' versions (all on vinyl, of course - this was well before CDs or online platforms), the band never performed live until well into the 1990s, by which time we weren't listening to them much anymore.

Not my picture; I nicked it from the ticket vendor's website.

Like many other New Wave / synth pop bands during that decade, Heaven 17 were from the North of England - from Sheffield (Yorkshire) to be precise, home of our esteemed blogging friend Neil a.k.a. Yorkshire Pudding.

On the way to the concert, the four of us kept speculating who from the old days we might spot there, and indeed we ran into someone from the old clique. He had not changed much and was easy to recognise, but when four tall ladies all of a sudden were towering over him, calling out his name, he was quite overwhelmed and at first could only stare and stammer "Ludwigsburg?!" :-D

We got drinks and positioned ourselves in the audience (standing space only) so that we would be able to see everything on stage and have the full benefit of the sound system without it being one-sided. 

The concert started, and we loved every minute!! Glenn Gregory was entertaining and seemed very much down to earth, really engaging with the audience. His way of talking reminded me a lot of my late husband (who wasn't from Sheffield but from near Barnsley, but his choice of words and sense of humour were very similar).

Martyn Ware didn't say much but made up for it with his flamboyant outfit. The lady at the other keyboard and the two background singers were as beautiful as they were brilliant.

All the old favourites were played*, and then some. The mood was great, the audience being totally "there" from start to finish, and we kept demanding more until the band ended up to give us five extra songs - and all that in spite of Glenn having a chest infection and being on antibiotics. Twice, he played only an acoustic guitar and sung unaccompanied. There were also tracks by The Human Leage (of course written by Martyn, who was a founding member of that other great band from Sheffield) and by David Bowie, whom Glenn cited as a big influence on his musical career.

Afterwards, we took the tram and the local train back to Ludwigsburg, where we chatted for a little until the husband of one of our friends arrived. We said our good-byes and all agreed that it had been a GREAT night out! Had anyone told us in our teens that 40 years later, the four of us would attend a Heaven 17 gig and meet R.B. from the old gang, we wouldn't have believed them!

*If you want to have a look, there are some videos on youtube from that evening:

Heaven 17 - live @ Im Wizemann Stuttgart 18.01.2025

This one is the longest, but I must say that in reality, the sound was tons better.

Here is a video of Let Me Go from that night, it is more close-up than the long video:

Heaven 17 Live - let me go, Germany Stuttgart 18.Jan.2025 Im Wizemann

Here is "Trouble":

Heaven 17, live Trouble, 18.Jan.25 Germany, Stuttgart, Im Wizemann

The four of us did not record anything - we just wanted to ENJOY, not be glued to our phones.