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Published: December 8th 2008
Me & Nils
In front of the Dom in CologneOkay, so let the Germany blogs begin, but let me preempt this blog by stating it will be of more particular interest to former colleagues as its "work-related", and may bore the rest of you. The only thing of general interest perhaps would be that I got to see Alicia Keys live in concert, which I will go into more detail about later. Suit yourself....feel free to read on, skip to just the pictures, or bypass this blog all together if you wish.
OBER-WHERE? Oberhausen. A city in the Northwest region of Germany and a 2-hour train ride from Amsterdam. Oberhausen isn't exactly the place that travelers frequent, but nonetheless has a worthy industrial history to Germans in once being a steel mill and coal mine town. My reason for visiting: SMG, my former employer at Long Beach Convention Center and at The Forum also manages venues internationally, including the Konig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen. The city was on my travel path through the rest of Germany so before I left the States I took a shot at contacting the facility to see if I could pay a visit. To my luck, Svenja (Sven-yah), the Director of Event Services, responded
to my request and was open to my arrival.
MY CS HOST Nils. Before I even met this guy, I was amazed at how accommodating he was going out of his way to make arrangements with his parents to let me into his flat since he would be occupied with Univeristy until the late evening of my arrival. I arrived on a Monday night to a town that was quiet without the hustle and bustle that I had left behind in Amsterdam. Gone were the narrow streets and row of townhomes as I was now surrounded by single family homes with front and back yards and driveways for people to actually park their cars. I arrived at his parents, Heinz and Monika, who kindly let me into Nils flat as he had arranged.
His place was stacked with CD's, guitars, and a drum set - I had a musician on my hands. When he finally arrived he fit the profile wearing a black leather jacket, black pants and shirt, metal studded belt around his waist, and wild red locks flowing from his head - the rocker/biker type. But his hard exterior was softened by his big smile and
Event Managers Isabella & Anja
I feel left-out without a radio... friendly hug. He showed genuine excitement to have company as his CS requests were rare living in Oberhausen, plus I was his first American CSer. I was honored. He made gnocchi for dinner and we sipped on wine getting acquainted. Nils confirmed his love of music but his instrument decor was only just that. As far as his studies, he recently graduated with a Bachelors in mechanical engineering but recently decided the profession wasn't for him and is now he's back at school studying philosophy. During my three day stay, we didn't get much time to hang out, Nils was more than helpful making my stay comfortable and accommodating. Nothing but nice things to say about Nils.
KONIG-PILSENER ARENA I wasn't due to visit until Wednesday, but during the day on Tuesday I stopped by the building to introduce myself to Svenja and to get the necessary details I needed for my visit the next day, i.e. dress code, arrival time, etc. I arrived at the Arena via tram stopped conveniently at the front of the venue. There weren't any signs around indicating SMG offices, so I stopped at the box office for help. Svenja came around the corner
and greeted me with a friendly smile. I didn't want to take up more than a minute of her time, but before I could even get a full sentence out, she was already showing me great German hospitality and offered me to come inside as she had about 15 minutes before going into a meeting. How nice of her. It was even more nice when she immediately offered me a cup of coffee made in an instant by the press of a button of an automatic machine with options for espresso's, latte's, cappuccino's, and hot chocolate. Awesome.
I was given quick introductions to the people we walked past and I immediately noticed that everyone was dressed in jeans, including Svenja. This prompted me to ask if i should be concerned in my attire, but Svenja confirmed that wearing jeans would be just fine. Phew...that saved me a trip to the mall and money in my pocket
happily having no business casual clothing in my backpacking wardrobe. 😊 I then got a quick peak inside the bowl and just before getting on my way, Svenja extended a grand gesture in inviting me (and a friend) to stay after my official
tour to watch Alicia Keys who was performing in the evening. I was of course delighted and jumped at the offer. I left looking forward to my return the next day. The rest of the afternoon was spent window shopping at CentrO, one of the largest malls in Europe across the way, which in distance from the Arena is equivalent to the Dubliner from LBCC. If I were working at Konig it would be nothing but trouble and an empty bank account for me.
I arrived back at the Arena the next day just before doors opened. I was solo as Nils wasn't able to accompany me. Svenja gave me the full tour, introducing me to her Event Services team: Anya and Isabell, I also met others like Wolfgang (SMG Catering), and Stephan (Marketing Manager) & JJ (Executive Director). I had a chance to chat with Stephan who shared with me his recent visit to Los Angeles and attending a Dodger game which he enjoyed, but was suprised at how high the price was for food and drinks. I took notice of the venues concession menus and to my surprise, food and beer were no more than 3.50 Euro
($4.50 US Dollars). That's unheard of in the States. But Stephan explained the low price on food and drinks offset the high price of tickets that are considerably higher compared to the US. Interesting. Svenja sent me on my way with Isabell to finish the tour heading backstage and other areas back of house, i.e. kitchen, backstage lounge, loading dock, security, etc. The tour ended being escorted to SMG's company suite where I enjoyed appetizers, free drinks, and again, an automatic coffee machine.
In the suite I was befriended by a few interns. I took an interest to one in particular young man named Lam, as he was the Event Services intern. But "manager" mode kicked in as I wondered why he was hanging around the suite instead of helping Svenja out on the floor (you trained me well D). But I was wrong to assume, it was none of my business, and I was nobody as far as he was concerned, so I kept my mouth shut...well sort of. I loosened up my thoughts and started asking him questions like where he went to school, how he liked his intern experience, what he's learned so far, what he
The Pit Crew
Eric & Lonnie, where are you? did that day, etc.. At first, he was open to responding, but I gradually observed his facial expression change from enthusiastic to annoyed and this notion was confirmed when he asked, "Why are you asking me so many questions?" I backed off. We'll see how long the young grasshopper lasts.
THE SHOW There were four opening acts before Alicia Keys, but none I knew of except for Solange Knowles (Beyonces sister). I wasn't interested so I took this time to observe Front-of-House operations. No barricade at the FOH mix nor in front of downstage, just stanchions. But considering this was Alicia Keys, it was floor seating, it made sense that the barricade wasn't necessary. Isabell confirmed the use of blow-through barricade for shows that warrant the use of such, but in Oberhausen, a "T"-barricade isn't required by the City (for my LB peeps). 😊
Finally, Alicia made it on stage. I had seen her perform live back in '04 at a show at the Forum. But I was working then and she only performed a few songs, so it was nice NOT to be working and to see a full performance. I turned my attention away from
"work mode" (a hard task) to fully enjoy the show. A phenomonel performer live and I would recommend seeing her in concert to anyone who is a fan. It was a good show, even if it was spent by myself 😞. Svenja and her team were amazing and absolutely hospitable. If any SMG peeps should be passing through Germany, look Svenja up.
ARENA FACTS- Capacity - 12,500
- Built in 1996
- Owned by the company the built the CentrO Mall
- U shaped - limits capacity, a challenge when dealing with sightlines and seat kills
- Contracted Security - Special Security Services (SSS) - Don't worry Eric, they have nothing on the SPG's...😊
- BOH staff - a crew doubles up as Operations and Stagehands
- Housekeeping is separate department.
- No meeting space, but a backstage lounge with a capacity of ~300 . Good for meet and greets, VIP pre- and post- parties.
- Vacation time - 3 weeks for employees
- Konig-Pilsener SMG staff also manages the Loreley Amphitheater in St. Goarshausen, 2 hours south of Oberhausen
Oberhausen/Konig-Pilsner Arena Pics ----> click here
Oberhausen Pics Where in the world is Lynn? ----> click here
Lynn's Twitter Page
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Al
non-member comment
Ober here
Alicia Keys! Im jealous.