Will Berlin be like Swansea?

I'm here safe in Berlin, spending most of my time at Flaming Squeegee, a t-shirt/merch shop run by Strobe and her buddy and business partner, Jens.
The first day I got here Strobe being Strobe had me guestlisted to a gig and booked me on a month's tour with her. Nice. I fly out to Helsinki, Finland on the 2nd May. The band's called Tragic Romance (have a listen to them on myspace, I reckon they sound sort of 'Gothly Crüe') and although I've only exchanged emails with them, they seem like a bunch of nice guys.
Tom told me to look out for a bar he'd drank in. Couldn't remember the name or where in Berlin it was but told me to look out for the metal dragon's head that breathes fire across the bar. Well, it's called Cafe Zapata and I found it... By accident. A couple of nights ago Strobe was lighting a gig and asked me to come along and put me on the guestlist (again, nice). By now my complete lack of bearings in Berlin had been getting on my nerves, jumping on the u-bhan to go underground and randomly surface somewhere else doesn't exactly get you the lay of the land. So I decided to walk from Flaming Squeegee in Friedrichshain to Cafe Zapata in Mitte via Karl Marx Allee and Alexanderplatz. Once I got there I was greeted with the news that I would be doing lights for the support band and that there was a fire breathing metal dragon in the bar. My first lighting gig in Berlin and of all the places it could of been it was the one place Tom told me to look out for. That made me smile.
I've also been trying to score a bicycle (or 'fahrrad') off Berlin's freecycle but my woeful German skills are not paying the proverbial bills. A bike is easily the best way to get around this city, the roads are pretty safe and there are no big hills to worry about so I'd better buy Jens a beer when we go to watch Liverpool inn a bit so he can be my translator/bike locator man.
Speaking of Liverpool, I'll finish this entry here or I'll miss kick off...
COME ON THE REDS!