"The bank robber seemed like a nice bloke. Said he had all my albums": The story of the wild tour that sent Joe Cocker over the edge

This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock 181, published in March 2013. (Image credit: Future)

The Hotel de Rome, in the former East Berlin, is situated in the plushest part of Germany’s most sophisticated city. Once headquarters for the Dresdner Bank and high-ranking Nazi Party staff, it bears shrapnel scars from Allied bombing.

The building opens onto Bebelplatz, where the SA, SS and Hitler Youth burned ‘un-German’ books during the ‘Säuberung’ in May 1933. It’s only a stroll to Checkpoint Charlie, passing plenty of brutalist architecture and the Jewish Holocaust memorial.