Beyoncé – The Formation World Tour Part 2

Ok, I’m not gonna say much, because this was the same show as Amsterdam, except for the addition of “Beautiful ones” as a tribute to Prince. BUT I really need to say something regarding the organization! While it was excellent in Amsterdam, it was horrible in Frankfurt! And I won’t go into any details, because there were a lot of things that were annoying, but I have to say this: I will never go and see a show in the Commerzbank Arena again if I can avoid it! We had tickets for Golden Circle 2 and as security was too lazy to arrange the different entries to the arena grounds correctly, we were expected to run three-fourths around the whole arena once they let us onto the grounds, because our entrance into the arena was on the other side. Why they didn’t send us the other way around or let us in through the general standing area is beyond me. But as if that hadn’t already been enough, there were no signs to guide us to our entrance and security was completely clueless and sent us and other people in all kinds of directions. We ended up running two complete rounds around this f-ing stadium, about 2,5 kilometers, because it turned out, you had to run away from the arena to get to the entrance – no chance to find this entrance without knowing the grounds, proper help or signs – and none of the above were available to us! Luckily other people had the same problems so we ended up in an ok place, but not at all where we should have ended up!

I said that a million times, but I’ll say it again: I don’t get why local organizers and security don’t understand or care why you are there early. Is it that difficult to understand that you want to get in first, be at the front? No, it’s not just for fun to wait in front of some venue for hours and hours! Dear security, believe it or not, there is an intention behind that. And if you guys don’t bother giving us the chance to get to the place we deserve, it’s as if you stole hours from our lifetime because we waited in vain, and you stole a part of the joy of a concert experience!  Don’t you realize that phrases like: “Stay calm, everyone is getting in!” are extremely stupid and rude? All I’m asking is that you do your job properly and not just use your position to act way cool and talk down to people!

That being said… Thank you, Beyoncé, for another awesome show that let us almost forget our anger! You’re such an inspiration!

Sarah Connor – Muttersprache Tour

My second concert on the Tollwood Festival this year was Sarah Connor. Apart from her Christmas Show, this was the first concert I’ve seen from her since 13 years. Some things change – some never do!

Things that changed:

• Her supportig act of course. Last time I saw her it was “Natural” – remember them? Well, at least one of their members, Marc Terenzi, right? This time it was Max Giesinger. We really enjoyed his set and everyone sang along to his latest hit “80 Millionen“
• Obviously, Sarah now mainly sings in German. Inspired by her participation in the German TV show “Sing meinen Song – Das Tauschkonzert” (imho the best music show on TV!), where she had to cover German songs from Xavier Naidoo, Roger Cicero, Andreas Gabalier and Gregor Meyle, she recorded her latest album in German and also did a lot of songwriting herself. There are some awesomely deep and beautiful songs on the album like “Das Leben ist schön” or “Augen auf“. A lot of people have preconceptions when it comes to Sarah Connor, but some may be surprised to discover her all anew on this record.
• This kinda “naughty girl” affectation is gone. It never really fitted her in my opinion, because I always saw her as this nice woman, who was very natural and open as a person. She did sing a medley of her old hits like “Let’s get back to bed, boy” and “French kissing“, but she did so with some humour. Only her mega hit “From Sarah with love” was done in a serious way but with a whole new arrangement.

Things that never change (hopefully so…):

• girl can still sang! 😉
• She’s still digging Michael Jackson. She sang a beautiful, slowed down version of “Rock with you” and her band and background singers did a very groovy “Working day and night” cover. As she did in 2002 and 2003 when I last saw her, she immediately asked to have our MJ-banner when she saw it during “Rock with you”. She showed it to the audience and danced around with it before giving it back.
• The interaction with her fans is still very intimate. She seemed to recorgnize several of them and really appreciates her followers. People who had bought a special boxset of her latest album where even given a pass and got into the venue earlier. We didn’t stay to meet her after the show this time, because we had just talked to her a year ago when she was in Munich, but I’m sure she stopped for her fans on her way home as always.

 

Jamie Cullum @ Tollwood Festival

I’ve seen Jamie Cullum before. It was in November 2006 in the Gasteig in Munich, home of the Munich philharmonics. I had a seat quite far away from the stage. Although I did enjoy the concert, it was not like one of those “I need to see this again, preferably tomorrow!” kind of shows. That’s why it took some time until I saw him again this week.

I wonder if it was due to the fact that I was too far away or if Jamie got so much better over the years, but without a doubt the show last Monday was a “I need to see this again asap!” kind of show!

Jamie started the show with the Jazz classic “I got a kick out of you” and he got me from the first note! He makes these songs sound so fresh, new and funky.

During his two-hour show he takes his audience from Jazz standards to his original material to covers of recent songs like Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” in an unplugged version. He sang many of my favorite songs like “These are the days“, “Not while I’m around“, “Get your way“, “Mindtrick” or “All at sea“.

The way he sings and plays the piano just seems so easy and natural. He’s like a big kid whose favorite toy is the piano. You know how kids can be totally excited and “in the moment”… that’s what he seems like on stage. And he gives that energy right back to the audience, so you can’t help but smile and sing along. I really hadn’t expected the atmosphere to be that good, but the whole venue sang, clapped along and jumped up and down.

Oh, and before I forget, an honorable mention to the supporting act, San2 & his Soul Patrol. I hadn’t heard of them before the show but since have listened to their albums and really enjoy their music. Frontman San2 especially impressed me with his Michael Jackson dance moves. I wonder if he had ever aspired to become an MJ double once. 😉

All together a musical evening that begs for an encore!

 

Beyoncé – The Formation Tour

She slayed

Full Stop

I guess, if you sell out Amsterdam Arena with a capacity of about 50.000 in just 20 minutes, it means you made it!

If you make people queue for you that early that if people arrives at 11 o’clock in the morning, there are about a hundred people in front of them at their entry alone…;

If people pay 600€ to be as close to you as possible during a concert…;

If you can make people organize through social media to bring yellow and black balloons to your show and blow them up to wave for a specific song…;

If people from non-English-speaking countries know the lyrics to your oftentimes quite complicated, slangy, fast songs word by word…;

– …it means you have the kind of fans that won’t abandon you anytime soon. Bey has all that!

And she deserves it because she’s working really hard and imho she’s one of the most creative artists around these days. Her new album “Lemonade” and the accompanying film are innovative, artistically valuable, interpretative challenging, musically versatile and thought-provoking.

Although the show is less grave and difficult to access, Beyoncé continues to innovate – at least I haven’t seen any water on stage yet: For “Freedom” the whole B-stage was turned into a wadable pool where Beyoncé and her dancers perform their choreography. Visually stunning!

But as always she excels at the good old entertainment-ABC as well. Her vocals on songs like “Me, myself and I” or “1+1” are flawless and her dancing skills seem to enhance with each tour. I could stand there and listen to her and watch her for hours!

Her last song is “Halo“, which this time she dedicates to the victims of the attempted coup in Turkey. And after having wondered, as usual, why we did this while waiting for so many hours, we are so happy that we’ll do this again in Frankfurt in two weeks! See you soon, Queen Bey!

 

Paul McCartney – One on One Tour

What a difference two days make! Two days after the Chris Brown show, there was another concert I hadn’t bought a ticket to in the first place (mainly because it was a seated concert and I hate seated concerts – I may have mentioned that already 1-2 times ;)), but this time it turned out to be so worth it, it would have actually been a sin to miss it!

Rewind: When I think about Paul McCartney, I think back to my days at high school, when a friend of mine, who was a huge fan and even ran a McCartney Fanclub, used to share stories, music and books with me. Actually, Paul and especially his wife Linda were a prime reason for me to go completely vegetarian at that time. And that’s, btw, what I meant with stars being a role model and inspiration in my last post. Unfortunately, I somehow lost track of Paul afterwards, although I was always glad to see that he’s still involved with PETA (attention with the video, heavy stuff).

Anyway, last Friday was a beautiful sunny evening in the Olympic Stadium in Munich, everyone was chilling and chatting along – and suddenly Paul McCartney stepped on stage. It was three minutes to eight. I wouldn’t have expected him to come that early without any supporting act – and it was obvious that many others weren’t prepared either, because they were not even on their seats yet. But what a positive surprise to get going without having to wait! “A hard day’s night” was a perfect opener to get everyone off their seats. From that moment we were on our feet dancing and singing throughout the show, which made the seating arrangement bearable.

I’d say I’m semi-literate regarding the Beatles, but I’m not very Wings- and Paul-literate. Still I definitely also enjoyed those songs I didn’t know! No, this does not go without saying, because sometimes I can get bored if I don’t know the songs. I guess it’s all a matter of quality – and of course mixture. And Paul made sure there were enough popular songs in his program to fulfil the needs of those who came to hear the big hits.

Ok, some highlights:

• “Blackbird” with the stage lifting Paul and his guitar up and becoming an LED-screen for flowers and waterfalls.
• “FourFiveSeconds” – sounds so good in his version (who was that McCartney guy again??? lol)
• “Live and let die” with the pyrotechniques – firefountains and fireworks – a truly monumental performance! (Where’s Roger Moore when you need him?)
• “Hey Jude” of course. That finish! In a stadium! With thousands of lights and voices! Could have gone on forever!
• The end. That Medley that actually ends with “The End” on “Abbey Road” was so powerful and at the same time so beautiful! I love that last line – and what a wonderful message it is to take home at the end of the show: “And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make”.
• apart from specific songs: I loved that he had learned some German. Actually a lot of German, he did most of his introductions in German – and in pretty good pronunciation! I also thought it was cute that he got four people up on stage who had painted different banners – shows a lot of respect for his fans. And they had come from near and far to see the show. There were even quite a lot of people from outside Germany! I always adore fan-craziness! 😉

After 2,5 hours of non-stop playing bass, guitar, piano, ukulele aaaaand singing, the show was over. (I hope I’ll be as fit as he is at almost 74!) Although there were some screens and fireworks, it was basically all about the music! I liked his little joking but telling comment when he pulled off his jacket: “This is going to be the only wardrobe change!” He just doesn’t need wardrobe changes…

And the moral of these 1,5 weeks with four concerts? The “old stars” are waaaaay ahead of most of those new wanna-bes! They sing live, they play instruments, they connect with the audience, they rock for two hours plus… We really need to cherish them while we have them! (- and I know that’s my constant mantra, but it simply is the truth!)

Chris Brown – One Hell of a Nite Tour

Sometimes I let people talk me into concerts that I wouldn’t have gone to on my own. A lot of times these shows turn out to be great and I’m happy that I went. Few shows are a letdown. This one was definitely one of them.

I don’t know too many Chris Brown songs to begin with and from those I know I only like 3-4. So one could say that’s not a very good premise for going to a show. On the other hand, I love those good old entertainment shows with a lot of show elements, singing and dancing, and I was sure that Chris Brown would put on something like that.

Well, he tried, but he didn’t succeed!

First off, his management or tour agent or whoever made it difficult to enjoy the evening from the very beginning. Imagine a V-shaped stage and inside this V, you have an area where people can stand. Best spots in the house for sure. Now, who do you put inside? Take a guess: a) people who paid $995 for a special package including a meet & greet, b) people who paid €100 extra to get in early, c) people who waited outside early to get in first, d) people who came shortly before the show started. Chris Brown’s management decided to let group a) (about 10 people) and d) (about 150 people) inside. Can anybody explain that decision to me? What a punch in the face of his fans!

Anyway, the show itself started with opening acts. FOUR opening acts, including Kid Ink and August Alsina. The sound was crappy and the pushing and shoving in the crowd didn’t make it any more pleasant to stand there and wait. Finally, at quarter to ten, the opening acts were over and a voice announced that the show would start in 15 minutes. 15 minutes later, that same voice announced, the show would start in 15 minutes… Well, at half past 10, Chris Brown finally made it on stage. At that point I had already thought about going home…

Now, he still could have changed course with a brilliant show, but unfortunately he lost himself in mediocrity (and that’s putting it mildly). It didn’t help that he lip-synched most of the songs – and badly lip-synched so you could easily tell. I would have understood, if he had had a lot of choreographies to dance to, but he hadn’t. I didn’t even think he could dance very well, which surprised me most, because I remember videos where he did dance well. I wonder if he has some kind of health problem because he didn’t look well, either, his cheeks even looked sunken. But maybe that’s just me…

As I was not absorbed in the show, I couldn’t help but listen to the songs and especially the lyrics, which didn’t make it better. Yes, I sometimes even enjoy some of them “gangsta”-lyrics, although they are shallow as hell, but Chris Brown’s lyrics are so plain and so stereotypical… It’s all about drink and fuck and hoes and smoke weed… I wonder what kind of an influence this has on teenagers – because the audience was mostly teens and twens. My demands may be too high, but I always feel that stars should be aware of the influence they have on their followers so they should be careful with what they sell them as desirable behavior and rather be a good example to give them the right ideals and a positive outlook on life. I should have known from his history that Chris Brown just cannot be a positive role model. Unfortunately, he also could not put on a good show.

Herbert Grönemeyer – Dauernd Jetzt Tour

The last 1,5 weeks were peppered with four concerts, the first being Bryan Adams. I couldn’t find the time to keep up with writing about the other three and uploading pictures. I’ll try to do it this weekend, starting today with Herbert Grönemeyer, a German singer and songwriter, who has been successful for thirty years now. He’s very well-known in German-speaking countries but, I guess due to his German lyrics, almost nowhere else – which is quite unfortunate, because he has some wonderful songs and meaningful, poetic lyrics.

The concert took place on the Königsplatz in Munich, which is usually just a square with even a big street passing through, but sometimes it is closed down and used for concerts. With two neo-classical buildings framing it, it is really a beautiful venue.

We arrived at the Königsplatz at half past four and there were already quite a few people at the entrances – I’m bad at guessing, but I’d say maybe 150. But when the gates finally opened, everyone went for the B-Stage and we were kinda the only ones going for “the corner”, you know, that spot where stage and runway meet, which usually is the best spot in the house. We were really irritated but it turned out we had gotten the right place.

Unfortunately, it started to rain right afterwards, so we spent the hours waiting hiding under umbrellas and rain capes. The opening act “Me & Marie” played in the rain as well, but a few minutes before Grönemeyer came on stage, it stopped and the sky even turned blue and the sun came out, so we could enjoy the concert without getting wet.

Grönemeyer and his band played songs from his current album “Dauernd jetzt” as well as many of his hits – from the hymn to his hometown “Bochum”, to the hurtful “Der Weg” to his big soccer-song “Zeit, dass sich was dreht” and his new soccer-song for the current European Championship called “Jeder für jeden“. He has so many hits, he can’t even fit them all in one show, although he played for almost three hours already.

In spite of all his success, Grönemeyer is not taking himself too seriously – when he jokes about his hair-do, or his dancing skills and then swings his hips like Shakira with that lascivious, not-of-this-world facial expression. But the most beautiful thing is, that he is just completely absorbed in his music. You can truly feel that he loves what he is doing and he’s having so much fun himself, it’s addictive! You just love to sing for him and to cheer for him because it’s obvious that this makes him happy. And you want to see him happy because that makes you happy in return. Sounds corny, but that’s the way it feels! And in the end it seems that he doesn’t want to leave, the same way the audience doesn’t want him to leave. He plays one encore after the other. Finally, he ends with his version of Claudius’ “Abendlied” all alone on his piano.
And because he reminded me how beautiful that poem is and because that one verse got stuck in my mind and now somehow is closely connected to that concert, I’ll end with it, as it’s so true and should always guide our thinking and actions:

Seht ihr den Mond dort stehen?
Er ist nur halb zu sehen
und ist doch rund und schön.
So sind wohl manche Sachen,
die wir getrost belachen,
weil uns’re Augen sie nicht seh’n.
(Do you see the moon up there?
You can only see half of it,
all the same, it is round and beautiful.
The same goes for many things
that we laugh at without hesitation,
just because our eyes don’t see them.)

Bryan Adams – Get up Tour

What can I say? It was Bryan Adams – time again in the Olympiahalle! That’s basically all there is to say, because with Bryan you get what you expect: an excellent rock show with all the hits to sing along plus some new songs – this time from his “Get up“-album. I love the atmosphere on his concerts, because it sounds so beautiful when a few thousand people are singing. I love how he and his band seem to have a really good time on stage. I love how he can rock full out with his whole band for songs like “Kids wanna rock” and in the next second sing one of his beautiful ballads like “Please forgive me” only accompanying himself with his guitar. I love his covers of songs like Elvis’ “Stuck on you” or Eddie Cochran’s “C’mon everybody“. But most importantly I just love his own songs! And if he comes to Munich again, then of course, I’d love to go!

 

Mariah Carey – Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour (Take 2)

I always love to see good concerts twice. The first time you are usually overwhelmed by all the show elements, the setlist, the dancers, the artists, the audience. You try to take in everything at once but of course you can’t. So the second time is a lot more relaxed and you can really enjoy and remember the different parts of the show, you can pay attention to details and enjoy the presence of one of your favorite stars.

There was no difference this time and although the seats were in the way and the people behind us were bitching, we danced and sang throughout the show. We enjoyed ya, Mariah, but:

I really looked forward to “Against all odds” and “One sweet day” this time, because she hadn’t played them in Luxembourg and I was sure that was only an exception owing to her delay. But I was deeply disappointed: She skipped them this time as well, while also cancelling on “I’ll be there”. Shortening an already short setlist is ridiculous, especially if you look at the prices people paid: 235€ plus Live-Pass was ours in the 3rd row, first row was something like 400€. She sang those songs the day before in Cologne, so why strike them now? Yes, she was late for her show again, although we saw her driving in quite early, so she could have made it on stage on time. I guess they were not satisfied with the turn-up in the Olympiahalle. Not only was half of the empty venue hid behind a black curtain, but also the top-level blocks were covered. We saw her manager shaking her head and rolling her eyes when she saw it. Yes, this is sad and I couldn’t agree more, but if that really was the reason, then why punish the people who were there and did pay for the show? We were the last responsible for unsold tickets! Anyway, although Mariah sang like an angel again, this really left a bitter taste and I kinda felt personally offended because for both concerts I went to the setlist was shortened. Not nice! 😦

Mariah Carey – Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour

Yes, we were there – and she was there, too! Luxembourg was well worth the trip. Not only for the concert but also because it’s a beautiful, very interesting city! The capital of this little country has a lot to offer and quite a few UNESCO sites!

As Luxembourg city is the only bigger city around, we were so sure that the concert would be taking place in the capital that we didn’t even have a look where exactly the venue was until a day before the show – just to find out that it was NOT in Luxembourg city but in Esch-sur-Alzette. Luckily the train connections were good and so we managed to get back and forth without any bigger complications.

The Rockhal is not a very big venue with a capacity of 6,500 people. Thanx to an Early Entry Ticket, we were able to make it to the front row easily. At half past seven, a DJ started to play for 1,5 hours. According to official information, Mariah was due on stage at 21.15. But it got later and later and the show didn’t start. Finally at a few minutes to 10, Mariah’s voice sounded through the hall – but only to tell us, that she had just arrived, delayed due to heavy rains in London. She asked us for another ten minutes to put on her ensemble and get ready. Well, of course she needed twice as long, but finally the show started with “Fantasy“.

This tour is a greatest hits tour, so unfortunatly there were no songs from her newer albums like “Me. I am Mariah“, which I like a lot. They tried to squeeze in as many hits as possible, ending up with a long medley of “I know what you want“, “Obsessed“, “It’s like that“, “Shake it off“, “Loverboy” and more that you couldn’t even breathe deeply – especially if you sang along as loud as we did in the first rows. Of course she also gave us some of her trademark ballads like “My all” or “Hero“. For “I’ll be there” she not only duetted with her traditional partner Trey Lorenz, but also let little Michael Jackson sing one of the verses while showing his videos and pictures on the screen. A second moving tribute was done for Whitney Houston for their duet “When you believe“.

Unfortunately, some songs that were part of her program during the UK leg of the tour like “One sweet day” were omitted – maybe because of the delay. But that way the show became really short. “Without you“, which probably was supposed to be an encore, was just played without a necessary encore break and the lights in the arena were switched on bascially the second Mariah was off stage after just 75 minutes. Good concerts always are too short but for this one I had the feeling I was just getting into it and then it was over again. I wish she had taken a little more time!

I could listen to Mariah forever because her voice is so unique and versatile! She never ceases to amaze me live with her vocal abilities. I wouldn’t even need these show elements during her concerts, she could just stand there and sing and that would be enough! Her songs are among my all-time favorites. I basically love all of her songs and some of them have accompanied me through difficult times. That’s why I think she’s really underrated as a songwriter because most people don’t even know she writes most of her songs herself. She’s one of those rare talents that we have so few left today, these legends that people start taking for granted until it’s too late… I’m soooo much looking forward to see her again in Munich in 2 weeks!