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LE GRAND JOURNAL

Paris 2 March, 2015

When the alarm rings at 3am and I begin to get some movement in my body, I find myself in my car 30 minutes later to drive over to Kimberly’s. What are we planning on doing? We are heading to Paris for one day to witness the interview with Madonna, she is a guest at Le Grand Journal.

The drive went well and when we get to Paris there is some traffic, but thanks to our good navigation system we arrive around 10 in the morning at the studio’s. After asking where we can park our car (otherwise we need to put money in the parking system every two hours), we get to park the car in the garage beneath the studio’s.

hans1Fred is on his way and we decide to go and get something to drink. A good cup of coffee awakes me a little again. Unfortunately the WIFI here didn’t work, so we cannot check Madonna’s tour dates and where she will start the tour. This will be the USA and Europe starts in November with a visit to Amsterdam on December 5. For the first time in all these years Madonna will go on tour in the Winter time…brrrrr

After a very tasty lunch with Fred we took a walk and made a visit to a shopping centre in Paris. The weather doesn’t know what it wants and we get some rain every now and then.

When it’s finally time to enter the studio’s (leaving behind your ID, coat and phone) we get to wait until M finished her soundcheck. This takes a while, but we are inside and it is warm. A lot is happening in front of us, crew members passing by, dancers etc. When we get to enter the studio, we get amazing seats, everything is nearby. After everyone has found a seat, the show starts almost immediately with Living For Love. It’s a remix. I notice that the sound isn’t that loud so I can’t fully hear M singing, but she looks stunning!!

After Living For Love that is done in one take, she leaves to change her outfit. She returns for Ghosttown, wow this has got to be a single it sounds incredible! Unfortunately Madonna forgets the lyrics halfway and sings something different. Afterwards she says that our applause got her out of her concentration, of course Madonna we did it again ;) When she performs Ghosttown a second time (she has to hurry as the live show is about to start), the minutes are ticking away but Madonna is now satisfied.hans2

Le Grand Journal starts with Madonna, our seats are so good that I look into her eyes constantly. Too bad that everything that Madonna says is being dubbed in French immediately, making it hard to hear her. In between the beraks a few people come on stage for touch ups. Funny thing was that a lady that tried to fix Madonna’s outfit (necklace straight, outfit tight) M was fed up with her and said STOP IT, the lady immediately runs off stage.

When the show finishes we were told to stay in our seats. This is what we do. The security had a different opinion and wanted to get rid of us asap. A lady standing there told us no and to stay put. Security again does not agree. This ritual repeats itself in the next couple of minutes. Kimberly and me decide to stay put no matter what security says. The lady tells us to stand where we are and makes a phone call, she was told it only concerned two people (me and Kimberly), but Fred and Alex are there as well (a case of being in the right place at the right time). When we follow her security stops us again, we do not have wristbands and are not on the guestlist so  we are not given entrance. Before we know it we finally get our wristband and then the realization hits us ‘what in the hell is going to happen?’, when I think about it, my stomach gets upset and try to remain calm.

And so we go backstage.. we see Guy Oseary who greets and hugs us both…then we get to leave the area again and are placed in the hallway. Here we are told to go again and are placed near the locker area, here are some competition winners as well. Suddenly M and her entourage passes by, small and on huge soles. We are all in complete shock and are unable to move. We get to go in first. We enter the room again and a photo studio has been created there, we are told to go to the red cloth. M gets another touchup and I can’t believe my eyes, I am looking at the tiny lady that I have been a fan of for the past 30 years. When her touch up is done she walks up to the two guys beside me (I think these are competition winners), they introduce themselves. Then it is my turn, I introduce myself ‘Hi I’m Hans, I’m from Holland’. Funny when M tries to repeat my name it sounds more like ‘haaaaaans’, ‘well you made a very long trip’, ‘ yes we did’ . She walks over to Kimberly and when she introduces herself, she is being pointed at Kimberly’s arm saying she signed her arm last year. She showes it to her and M was impressed. I want to show her mine as well, but need to take off my shirt for this. When I try to do this in the most civil way possible I get stuck, thankfully Kimberly helps me. She is impressed WOW great! Fred then shows his Maverick tattoo, M must’ve thought how crazy are you people??

It is time to take a pic with Madonna, I stand behind her and she almost touches me. When we are told to get even closer, the photographer takes his pictures. The last photograph is one with a crazy look, unfortunately we will probably never get to see this one. Then it is time to leave when we walk by I thank M and say see you on tour, to which she replies ‘we will’

In a daze we walk to the foyer where I thank the lady that helped us getting there, with a smile from here to Tokyo I drink coke and eat cake.

The exhaustion is gone, I am filled with adrenaline. Knowing we have a five hour drive ahead of us, we go to the car talking like crazy. Kimberly immediately calls Dirk as he appears to be the one to have arranged all of this. If I am thankful to someone it is Dirk, amazing how he managed to do this!

I phone Peter and want to scream the story to him but knowing that the call will be expensive, I keep it short…he is very happy for us.

Our way back goes smoothly again, I drop Kimberly off in Amsterdam around 2.30. When I go to bed at 3 in the morning, knowing my alarm will ring in only 3 hours for work, it is hard for me to find my sleep.

Another bizarre 24 hours.

On to the Rebel Heart tour!

Hans

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