Fall Out Boy in Munich

During the spring of 2023, my brother’s wife, Linda Marie asked me if I would be interested in going to a concert with her. It was one of her (or perhaps THE) favorite bands, Fall Out Boy who were playing in Munich in October. Concerts are fun and so is traveling so I said okay and she managed to get tickets to the event. We then booked plane tickets, hotel and then waited.

Friday

October arrived and it was time. I got up at 7:30, had some breakfast, and put the last stuff in my bag. Took the airport shuttle from Kista to Arlanda and met up LM in terminal 5. Dropped my bag at the counter and then we went through the new security checkpoint. It is quite smooth, though I would like to be able to keep my belt on.

We went on to find our gate, just to realize the plane was delayed. While waiting we grabbed some second breakfast and boarded around 12. We ended up leaving the gate about 50 minutes late. Listened to the latest episode of USA-podden and watched an episode of Fubar, and then we arrived. I was sitting in the aisle seat and LM was by the window, with a girl between us. But behind us, there was an older couple where the woman was quite concerned, had opinions, and overall was quite BITTER. They were transferring in Munich and since we were delayed it seemed like they were going to miss their connecting flight. Upon debarking she was quite annoyed that it was going slow (not slower than usual), and plainly wanted people to just step out of their way because their next flight was leaving in two minutes. I didn’t say anything but since we didn’t stop at a gate, but were shuttled by bus, they had already missed their flight… A bit strange behavior though because it seemed like they had done a bit of traveling before.
Anyhow, we waited for my bag (LM didn’t have any checked luggage) got through customs, and found the train for the town. 40 minutes later we stepped out in the center of Munich.

On the way to the hotel, we passed by the restaurant we had booked for the evening to verify that they accepted credit cards as payment. I was a bit afraid after my trip to Berlin last winter when the restaurant we had a reservation for six people at, only took cash. My worries were unwarranted so we walked on to our hotel and checked in. A shower, a short nap, and then back to the restaurant looking up places to eat breakfast tomorrow on the way. We were about 20 minutes early but that wasn’t a problem. The more unusual thing was that we shared “our” table with four Germans. Not a problem, there was sufficient space and so, I just haven’t seen that before. We both took a turkey schnitzel which was quite large and good. The place itself was nice, all tables full and a bit noisy.

When we had completed our meal, we started to wonder what to do next. We looked at the possibility of doing an escape room on short notice. I found one but when I tried to book, the webpage crashed. I tried a second time with the same result. So we walked to another location to see if there were any openings. They looked through the computer but in the end, they gave us a phone number instead to some sort of central booking.
We gave up and headed into town to find an open supermarket to get some snacks when I got an email stating that our game would start in 25 minutes. At this point, we had a 20-minute walk to the site so I called the number and she asked if I wanted both booked rooms. So apparently the booking had gone through, but I hadn’t been able to pay for them. We walked quickly and got there with time to spare for a toilet break.
We did Wizard, had 50 minutes (the standard in Sweden is 60), completed it in 32. Huge plus for not a single padlock, but a couple of bugs. Overall a good experience. Went back to the hotel and tucked in for the night.

Saturday

The following morning we had breakfast at the cafe across the street. We could sit outside and eat a sandwich and a smoothie. The fall hasn’t really reached Munich yet.

Even though it’s not that physical I got quite sweaty. I guess the ventilation in the room wasn’t that good, which it usually isn’t. We left and decided to find some fika. Made our way down to the central station to see where we could store our bags on Sunday. Found the boxes which to our disappointment only took cash.

We kept walking and found a bakery where we also could sit outside and enjoy the weather and some sweets. On our way back to the hotel we walked along Neuhauser Strasse for a bit, a pedestrian street in the old town. Found myself a mug in a souvenir shop. I started to collect mugs when we were in Toronto in 2016, which was after we were here in 2014, so I didn’t have one from Munich.

Got back to the hotel for some rest and a shower before heading to the concert. I watched an episode of Fubar while resting my feet. We left the hotel at 15 to find some late lunch/early dinner and found a pub that was full outside but empty on the inside. We got a burger each and Afri-Cola. We left for the subway to get about 7 km north to the concert hall Zenith with a capacity just short of 6000 people. When we arrived 30 minutes before the doors should open there was a 300-meter-long queue. Unfortunately, they didn’t sell any merchandise outside. LM wanted a hoodie but we had to wait until we got inside. When the doors opened I started watching the important game between IK Sirius FK and IF Brommapojkarna on my phone. Hooray for the European Union and free roaming! About 30 minutes after “opening” we got inside and went straight for the merch booth. She got her hoodie and started looking for a good spot to watch the concert. We went about two-thirds into the large hall on the left side to not have the pillars in the way.

The first supporting act was called nothing,nowhere which I didn’t really focus on because it was during the second half of the soccer game 🙂 However, what I could hear through my noise-canceling headphones, the music wasn’t really my thing.

When the second supporting act, PVRIS, took the stage our feet were already hurting. Even though we had walked more than we were used to during the last couple of days, I guess standing still didn’t help. This music was better than the first one, but still probably nothing I would keep listening to on Spotify.

Before the main act, the whole purpose of this trip, Fall Out Boy, took the stage I went to the bar to get some drinks. 7€ for a Coke or water. The plastic mugs were quite robust and they had a deposit system so if you returned the mug you got 2€ back.

The concert began just before 21 and it was great! Good music, the crowd singing along, a spectacular stage decor. Not just an LED screen, but physical objects (quite large) that were switched out during the show. Suddenly one of the artists showed up at FOH on a platform playing guitar just a few meters from us.

After about two hours it was over. People seemed happy with the performance and after a visit to the toilet, we left the venue and headed back to the hotel via subway. It was smooth and when I got to my room I had to wind down and watch a bunch of clips from the Sirius-victory.

Sunday

The alarm went off at 7. It was still dark outside so opening the curtains didn’t have any effect. We left the hotel about 30 minutes later, walking to the central station. Found a locker to store our bags in but needed coins. LM had gotten some yesterday but only had €20 bill and the money changer only took €5- and €10 bills. A gentle store owner couldn’t use his register without a purchase but he had two €10 bills in his wallet and made the exchange. Now we discovered that the machine didn’t work anyway. So we went back to the same store again and I bought some snacks. However, I forgot to ask for coins only, so LM had to go back in and buy a pack of gum to get more coins so we could pay the €6 to store our bags.

It felt good that we had taken out large margins so we could sit down at a coffee shop and have some breakfast. I realized that there were a lot of shops selling sandwiches all over Munich. And good fresh ones in different sizes as well, not just tiny ones in plastic bags.

At 8:40 we entered the office of the tour company at which we had reservations. Our guide Hein gathered everyone at nine, did a roll call and we then took off to the train station for a short ride to Dachau. We stopped several times to verify that everyone was keeping up. When we got to the town of Dachau we timed the bus perfectly and then arrived at the welcome center outside the concentration camp.

I was here with my father in 2014 and I recognized the buildings and the environment. But different guides tell different stories so it was very interesting to hear Hein tell us about everything that happened. A weird mix of feelings. Captivation of the scale, efficiency, and well-thought-out structure. The horror of the terrible things that they did to their prisoners. Starvation, torture, killing.

All of the barracks have been torn down but they reconstructed two for demonstration. Then they put down foundations for the remaining 30. When you pass by the first two and see all the foundations, then you realize how big it was! The tour ended at the gas chambers, so clinical, efficient, and horrendous.

We went back to Munich by bus and train and said our goodbyes a the station. We went looking for someplace to eat a quick lunch since we were going on a guided tour about the Third Reich which started in about an hour. We ended up at McDonald’s, it was at the right place, at the right time and we weren’t too keen on walking anymore 😛

At 15 we were at the same office as in the morning, waiting for Hein to once more take us out on a guided tour. We started off with a subway trip and then walked through the old town hearing about when the nazi party was founded, how Hitler came to power, and what they did with the power they got. Unfortunately, there was some overlap with the tour to Dachau, especially in the end. And our feet were hurting all day and we took every chance to sit down when the opportunity came upon us.

When the tour was concluded we walked back to the central station to get our bags and then find the train to the airport. We bought tickets but we weren’t sure which train we should board. We asked three different staff with DB-branded clothes but they just said they didn’t know. Surprisingly lack of effort to help. Just pointed at the information booth (with a quite long line). A civilian approached us and asked if we wanted help and together with him we managed to find the right train and got on board. 40 minutes later we stepped off at Flughafen München. I changed shoes and socks during the train ride and it was a great feeling.

Checked in my bag, went through security (LMs bag got an extra check), and had some dinner. Found pedestrian conveyors which was unreasonable joyful. Got some snacks and drinks for the flight and then waited at the gate for boarding. It felt like the boarding to quite some time but was completed well in time for departure. After an episode of USA-podden and the last episode of Fubar, we landed about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Got my bag, said our goodbyes and I took a taxi home. When the driver called the switchboard to get the fixed price to Kista he didn’t impress on me. When he seemed to have trouble reading the display as well I was wondering if he really should be driving at all. But, during the trip, he grew on me and was a quite nice man who liked what he was doing for work.

I entered my apartment at 00:30, greeted by my lovely cats who my dear neighbor Ebba had been so kind to look after. Quickly unpack and straight to bed.

Thanks, Linda Marie for asking me in February if I wanted to do this! I had a lovely weekend!