I can't dance*

us and the leader singer.

- well I can, not brilliantly and my daughter** would (& does) cringe whenever she catches sight of me shaking my booty, but I do enjoy a bit of a boogie now and then, when the (rare) opportunity arises.

Friday night was one such occasion. Over the river and up the hill there's a one horse kind of place called Isenbügel (trust me on this, there is allegedly a store and a hotel, but no butchers, bakers or candlestickmakers) I have a couple of expat friends who live over the hill and far far away and last weekend was an event there called the Blotschenball. This is 200+ year old tradition which kicks off on the Friday with a couple of bands, then Saturday there's fun run for the children and on Sunday there's the "highpoint" of the whole event, the "Blotschentanz" - school kids in clogs, dancing...no idea what the history behind that is, we're not close to the Dutch border.

But back to Friday, apparently the ball used to be a full on ball, a black tie & party frocks kind of affair, but over the years interest in it waned until they reinvented it as a rock night.
I'm sure you can picture the scene; a large marquee (apparently in a carpark, but as it was dark when we got there I have to rely on my friends' information) with a wooden floor, a bar at one end, a few stehtisches*** and a stage for the bands. Outside there was another bar and sausage tent and a big enough area for people to mill about it if they didn't want to be in the tent with the loud music (although, quite why you'd spend 8€ on a ticket just to stand around in the cold and chat to your mates is beyond me.)

The first band on was the headline act.

the band

Bizarre huh? Normally the headliners come on after the warm up bands have got the audience warmed up, but either the band all had an early bedtime/curfew, the organising committee couldn't afford the late fee or maybe they thought that the main band should go first so that then people could slope off to their beds at a sensible time**** without feeling that they'd been short changed.


The headline act was a band called Bounce, a Bon Jovi tribute band no less, and they made a very good sound.

the motionless crowd.

We'd had a beer shortly after arriving and having finished it fairly quickly thought we'd go boogie.  We walked into the tent and my friend was alarmed, "there's no one dancing" she said. We wormed our way almost to the front of the crowd, stopping 2-3 rows of people back where the movement started. I say 'movement' because I hesitate to use the word 'dancing'.  There was a bit of swaying on the spot and shuffling of feet but actual dancing?   That might actually be aerobic exercise?   No.  Didn't stop us though!  We had a great old boogie.

The second band, "Thunder and lightning" or something like that, are there every year apparently and do Celtic rock, involving bagpipes...we decamped to ExpatEmmas for coffee and a night cap shortly after they started up - German bagpipes I think I can live without!

All in all it was a fun evening, although Si told me I was overdressed in my pink sparkly top but that was a very conscious decision of mine, there was no way I was going to wear dull black when everyone else would be, although whether Si even realised it was pink*****AND sparkly I don't know!



* A Genesis track from eons ago (showing my age).
** Teenage son would ensure he wasn't even remotely in the vicinity.
*** A high table that you stand at with your drink, no chairs & yes, the plural of Tisch isn't tisches but it looks better this way!
**** Germany remember, very sensible.
***** He's colour blind, shades of red and green are wasted on him.