Setlist:
Going Blind
Baby Stones
Magic In Here
Surfing Magazines
Right Here
German Farmhouse
Heart And Home
When She Sang About Angels
--
Streets Of Your Town
Photos from the Berlin in-store: high res or low res
The KulturKaufaus Dussmann is more of a statement than a store; 4 or 5 floors of books, CDs, coffee bars, and other essentials to existence, it's sited just a short stroll from Checkpoint Charlie into the new-found glitz of the former East Berlin. Typically, the only thing out of place in the store was the window display advertising the Go-Betweens' appearance, but a concerned fan was soon to fix that with judicious use of a thumb-tack.
The stage was in a space on the ground floor, next to the coffee shop, with a delightful waterfall to one end, and a few fake plastic triffids on the stage to offset the metal-and-glass that otherwise surrounded the band and on-lookers. An even more bookish Go-Betweens audience than usual were treated to a lengthy (for an in-store) set, marred only by sound that was more than a little indistinct. Perhaps those triffids were real and had amused themselves by stuffing the speakers with mud?
Kicking off with "Going Blind" the band found their stride from the off, unfazed by the unconventional surroundings, and by the fact that they could actually see their audience for a change. "Surfing Magazines" was, said Robert, "the best version we've played so far on tour." German Farmhouse ("we are in a German Kaufhuas") rocked, and Pavarotti was more than a rumour, he was up there in the balcony. A little thin and cardboard-like from the side, maybe, but it was him nevertheless. A first-time-out for "Heart and Home" was a success, and the show wound up with "Streets of Your Town" - "our first-ever encore at an in-store."
Jonathan Turner 25th November 2000