Unfortunately the band had arrived late; in fact only just before they were due on stage, so there was no time to arrange a spot. Nevertheless they fixed it up for our heroes to dance to the crowd outside. And so, just a few minutes before the show started they slipped out through the back door, formed up, and processed for about half a mile around to the front of the Stadthalle, just in time to see the crowd disappearing rapidly inside; still they managed a ten minute show, which produced a bag of 3 marks, 2 cigarettes, and 4 security guards. So they hurried back through the front door (guests, see) to see the show, and answer an English man's question:
“Who are you, lads?”
“Earls of Essex, Manor Park, England.”
“Oh, great, do you know Dave Roberts?”
“NO!!” (Unanimously).
There was quite a large number of Brits in the audience who approached our heroes to ask when they were going to perform, so after a while John and Mick obliged by putting on a show of their own at the back of the hall, starting with ‘Panama Canal’ and going on to the great beaker smashing contest. This activity made the pair rather thirsty and hungry so they made for the bar and the beer and sausages. Their eyes fell on a bottle of schnapps as they realised that during a week in Germany they hadn't once tried the famous national brew. They wasted no time now though by soon ordering several rounds of ‘Zwei Bier, zwei Schnapps, zwei Wurste.’. They were only interrupted by John K's morris jig, as, having forgotten to bring his bells (on a world tour!) he had borrowed Len's (they were last heard of in America).
In they went, to be treated to another spectacle of Teutonic efficiency. The large
hall was totally devoid of furniture, and the rapidly-