Up to now I had never actually seen the Boys up close (except Nick in Madrid on the NoN tour) and I knew the moment had to be taken advantage of. I managed to speak to Howie and give him a little hug- I was SO looking forward to meeting him, I also managed to tell Kevin how glad I was to see them back, though the poor man was explaining to us 'this is a live show, we have to go inside, but we'll be back later', very patiently...I said, with all my heart, holding his hand: 'we 're SO glad to have you back!' at which he paused for a second and smiled warmly at me. Brian was totally on the wrong side of me so....no hello, no hug, AJ was busy with fans back and forth and taking pics for Howie and another fan! I think they recognise some of the fans from other trips, and they go to the ones they know first. and Nick, I took out my imaginary magnet *lol* and brought him straight towards me, so he got a kiss and a hug (he did, get it? lol)and finally they all went into the studio. Not much more after that, just waiting for our friends to come out and tell us what a great time they had had..well after all, you must have all read how great that BSB Special was! We were lucky enough to watch some of it in the Viva studios café near the entrance. Next day was concert day...we got up full of energy and got the E-Werk studio nice and early so as to have a good place.

           

And so passed 10 whole hours, uncomfortable as can be, with hot sun in the morning and cold and rain in the evening: A little before it was time to go in, Tony Aguilar (our top DJ from Spain) came to see his Fan Club girls in the line, and I welcomed his warm hug like it was a blanket!! He had with him another 4 girls, competition winners from Spain who got tickets to the show and also an invitation to the sound check. They managed to get to the balconies, while we were down in the 'trenches' OMG I think I am too old for these concerts, my body will never recover from all the pushing, shoving and elbowing that goes with concert experences. Even though, I enjoyed the concert very much, saw pretty much the same kind of show the US fans got in the States, with the same 'Poster Girl' convo betweeen AJ and Nick ('not any more...') and I have to say ''Shout'' really, really impresses me. It's such a powerful song, especially sung live on stage, and I hope they do it in every venue they go to this summer! So as usual the Boys were fantastic, there is no other way to describe it. I loved every moment.

           

At night we had dinner in the Boys' hotel, as it was our last night and I had some things for the Boys and Nick, that if I didn't give them to them that night, I would have had to take them back to Spain. We were sitting having our supper in the bar, when suddenly our friend said, casually ""Great, here we are, having dinner, and here comes Nick." We thought she was joking so we just carried on eating! But soon we saw that she was serious about it! So at first we didn't want to bother him as he had just walked over to the reception desk (I think he was either going karting, or coming from carting, correct me if I'm wrong) but when we saw other fans starting to get pics with him, I slowly walked over with my hooded sweatshirt that I had been saving for him for over TWO years...I loved this sweatshirt because its pic is original ( a funny man at the back with his tongue out and a piercing in it) and mostly because it seems to have been in my wardrobe for ever!!! So my wardrobe looks so empty now...(just kidding) but it's really been part of my life for a long time. I'm sure some of you have been saving a gift for one of the Boys, and you get a strange feeling when you finally let it go....Well I gave it to Nick, he knows me a bit from BSBLatino so he hugged me and gave me a kiss and thanked me for the sweatshirt,and off he went with it upstairs!

           

I never thought he would come back again...but to our joy, he came back again to the bar...only after we had already had like 3 Sex On The Beach....and guess what ? He came in calling the Spanish fans, and taping everybody on his camcorder! He taped us for a while, saying, "Four Spanish Fans and me in Germany." Could he be recording this for the famous 'Nick's Corner'? By then I had lost my shyness and inhibitions, and you would never picture me saying 'Nick, would you like Sex On The Beach?' but I did...at least I heard myself saying that! He answered "Oooh you'll have to ask me that again later," and he stayed with us for a little bit. I had a CD in my bag of The Rasmus, which I showed to Nick and he was taping it on the inside and outside.

           

By then AJ had joined us; oh yeah, I must comment this: does it ever happen to you that when you go to the bathroom THAT's when the Boys choose to appear? Well, our friend Jenty, the huge AJ fan, had just gone to the WC..and of course, Nick had walked in, then AJ walked in! Anyway, I gave my Rasmus CD to Nick to keep, cause here in Europe they are extremely popular rock group, and I thought Nick might like it. He thanked me and asked AJ if he had heard of that group, but I don't know what AJ said because I was busy trying to get my act together inspite of the Sexes on the beach that were already working their way into my brain So anyhow, to cut a long story short, the guys were absolutely fantastic; they made a point of going to each group of fans in the bar and sitting with them for a little while and chatting. Nick was his usual adorable self, making everybody laugh and patiently taking pics while Marcus looked on seriously as usual. I love Marcus a lot, and he's been SO good with AJ during all these years, so I went and talked to him for a while, about AJ, about himself, and generally about tour dates.

           

Soon afterwards, Howie appeared alone in the bar, asked us "Uh...AJ and Nick?" and we pointed to the other side of the bar, where the other two guys were enjoying the company of some cute fans. By now it was three am, and there was only half an hour to go before my friends and I had to leave to catch our early morning flight back to Spain, so I let Howie talk to other fans and went and sat with my friends again. Next thing Nick came along and sat himself on the arm of our chair and started chatting to us. He showed him his sidekick, because believe it or not, I have never seen one before (they aren't very widespread over here). MY German friend asked him if he had enjoyed the chocolate that she had given him the day before....and do you know what he did? He said yes...and stuck him stomach out really far!!! I don't know how he does it, but he makes it look huge! I told him to hold it in again, cause he looked better like that...and in it went again. I asked him what he had done with the CD and the sweatshirt, and he told me he'd taken it all up to his room along with the camcorder, to keep them all safe.

           

I was sorry not to have met Kevin and Brian, but I know there will be another time. We were lucky enough as it was. Howie, Nick and AJ were enjoying themselves in the bar, but they were also doing fantastic public relations work by being with us for a while. They could have perfectly well stayed in their rooms just relaxing, instead of facing all of us. That is yet another thing that sets them apart from every other artist. How they try as much as possible to keep us happy, contented. I love them for that.

           

Hugs and backstreet love,
Ana.xxx

All photos are copyrighted to Ana and were used with permission.