[Gabriel]

First I would like to say that I have never been overseas until now. I have completely fallen in love with Germany. What an amazing country with amazing people. I did not know what to expect and Cologne and Hamburg have far surpassed my wildest expectations.

On to the shows.... Alter Bridge crushed these people. I'm not kidding. Cologne was off the hook. The crowd sang so loud in Broken Wings I just about dropped my camera in shock. They kept doing all these crazy chants in between songs. In Shed My Skin and In Loving Memory I could not even hear Myles sing becuase the crowd was singing it so loud.

It was funny because before the show started I was walking through the crowd feeling kind of freaked out. It was slammed packed and I was crushed between all these people speaking German which is gibberish to me. It was a weird kind of lost feeling and I reiterate that I had never been in that situation before. That lost feeling evaporated very quickly.

I started asking people if they spoke English and quite a few did. I spent the better part of an hour and a half, right up untill showtime, speaking with the fans, one by one, and really realized how music touches people regardless of your race or nationallity. What great fans they were!

I gave one guy a Mark Tremonti pick and he hugged me and kissed me! Yikes! It was so funny, I couldn't stop laughing. Another funny kissing story from that night... after the show the band was signing for the fans in front of the venue and this girl walks up to me and thanks me for letting her meet the band. She hugs me and then kisses me on my right cheek. She then comes back towards my face for another kiss so I plant one on her lips. She steps back and starts laughing. Im like "what?" She explains that she is Dutch and over there they kiss on both cheeks as a greeting. So basically she was going for my other cheek and I got her on the lips. Haha. I was so embarressed but she was cool about it and laughed with me. So, congrats Germany, you got me to turn 18 shades of red on front of a ton of people. Haha.

Hamburg was astounding as well. The crowd sang every lyric for every song. Truly amazing. I was taping in front of the barricade with my right ear facing the music and my left ear facing the crowd. The crowd was so freaking loud(way louder than the music and believe me it was cranked up)that my right ear is fine but my left ear(facing the crowd) is completely destroyed. They were so loud it really hurt. But I loved it. A small price to pay.

Another cool moment was in the encore during Open Your Eyes, the people in the front row unfurled this huge banner that was so long it took about 25 people to hold it. It said HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYLES! Here we are in another country, countless miles from home, and the fans go and do something special like that. Well, I'll tell you what, we WERE at home right then. It was magical. Myles was overcome with emotion as we all were. Even our awesome crew members had huge smiles across their faces. Myles then wrapped the banner around his body and finished the song.

After the show it was freezing and raining. We had to leave the dressing room right away because, the way the venue was set up, the crew had to load out through there. We all went straight to the bus and we were all stressed because the guys wanted to sign for the fans but because the weather was so crappy we were worried the guys would get sick standing outside.

We came up with a plan. We lined the people up outside the bus and brought them on board in groups of two to meet the band and get stuff signed. It took an hour and a half but I am proud to say that everyone who wanted to meet the band got the opportunity.

I know this was long but all I have left to say is that we can not come back to Germany soon enough. I can not wait until March. Take care everyone. England and Scotland....here we come!

Michael