Manfred:

Well, since the early '80s we both have been in the concert business, first as ushers at local concerts in Munich`s Circus Krone, Olympic-Hall and -Stadium...

Manfred:

what a great concert that was! We were awestruck about the energy he and his E-Street Band were showing for more than 3 hours!! Many more concerts and festivals like "Rock over Germany" followed and we've been busy...

Manfred:

Yes; that was a great turn in my personal career! I had spent 7 years in one of the top summer camps in the US, North Star Camp in Hayward, Wisconsin, and the "orientation week" before the kids arrived for their 8-weeks summer, we, the counselors, were taught how to deal with these youngsters, the group dynamics and their concerns.

Manfred:

I believe, these summers in the US prepared me best for what was to come in this hospitality job I was about to enter in 1987 with Liza Minelli's tour. Not only did I learn to speak fluent English but also from the orientation weeks I learnt a lot about communicating and supporting emotionally stressed folks.

Today I know how difficult it can get for a musician at a set time having to get up on that stage and perform for thousands of people and how important therefor it is to have every detail before and after sorted out.

Manfred:

Yes, that's where we come in as part of the tour, being in close touch with artists and making sure, their time before and after the stage is enjoyable. It needs a lot of thought and preparation to fulfill this task. But we'll come to that.

Manfred:

... which was AC/DC in 1988. The boss of the promoting company Mama Concerts, Marcel Avram, liked how I was interacting with his artists and asked me to be one of the drivers on his tour with AC/DC. The entire year of 1988 I was on tour with several more artists such as Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen to name a few. My skills in finding hotels, venues and airports got better and better. Especially the procedures of picking up and dropping off for private charter planes, sometimes driving right up to the plane itself, was adventurous.

Manfred:

Yes, and in these early '90s I also had gone on a couple of tours all around Europe, with Prince and Rod Stewart. I then already recognized how important it is for artists to have the same people around them they can trust and who know the routine of daily life on tour. These tours took me all the way from Lisbon to Stockholm, Glasgow to Budapest etc. and I learnt my ways around in each of them.

Manfred:

That time is unforgettable and it was the first time that we were leading a bigger team of people working these events, which took place all over Europe. We planned and organized the technical production, ran the events on location and supervised the budget that was given by the sponsors.

Manfred:

...and had a lot of fun with all our crew and the people who participated in these events. Some of them became friends for life.

Manfred:

About 2 months before the beginning of the tour we started planning out the routing and interviewed potential drivers for 2 teams of 3 drivers each. A lot of thought was given to the "chemistry" of the teams, how they would interact amongst themselves and in respect to Eric Clapton, his band and his management, all going to travel from city to city on a private charter plane. We ended up sending 2 teams with 3 Mercedes vans each, one to Lisbon, where the tour started and the other one to Madrid, the second city on this tour.

Manfred:

While the tour was in the city before, the team in the next city was checking the routes to and from airports, venues and hotels and in some places to special shops where the guests were planning to go shopping. At the end of the tour we even were invited to send 2 drivers ahead to St. Petersburg and Moscow to organize and supervise the local drivers there. A great gesture and a great ending of our first journey with "stars & cars" all around Europe!

Manfred:

...and I met with the tour-manager in Chicago, while they were on tour in the US. We ended up driving with 2 teams and 3 Mercedes limosines all around Europe. This tour is one of the most challenging ones because there are a lot of concerts "back-to-back" with no day-off in between. The challenge was to get each team to the next city and allowing them to do the route-checks in time before the band would come in.

Manfred:

...and had so much luck in finding girls and guys who put so much effort in looking after our guests! We recruited from universities in Germany, had some law-, business- and phys-ed-students who enjoyed driving all around Europe in a short time and in great cars, being part of major tours with world-class musicians. We added quite a few more customers to our portfolio and also extended our service into the world of sports. The NBA had us look after their TV-Crews who covered the pre-season games of several of their teams in Europe.

Manfred:

...so after over 25 years in this business and working very close with various people from all different corners of the world we look back on great years with fabulous people, traveling all around Europe, knowing the ins-and-outs of over 200 cities on this continent...

Manfred:

Thank You to all who You have been with us on this trail! We look forward to many more great adventures and meeting wonderful people bringing joy and fun to their fans.

Manfred:

Carry on!