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!

 

Bruno Mars – The Moonshine Jungle Tour

As my friend talked me into getting a ticket for Bruno Mars, I saw my next concert sooner than I had originally planned. So this Tuesday it was like: “Hello, again, Olympiahalle!” Of course it was damn cold again during waiting time. Isn’t it always? We were happy to spend some warm, cozy moments in the entrance hall of the Olympic swimming pool in between. Anyway, the wait again paid off and we were the very first inside and so got the best spots right in front of stage.

Supporting act was Mayer Hawthorne. He brought a really tight band and some great songs. I especially liked “The Walk“, which has a real cool old-school flair. I listened to his albums yesterday and found that he has some more songs like this one (e.g. “Hooked“), so he is a nice new discovery for me. Unfortunately I don’t think his stage presence is the best, but his band makes up for that.

Then it was finally time for Bruno Mars.

Favourites:

• I loved his performance of “Treasure“, one of my favourite Mars-songs.

• It was awesome to hear ten thousand people sing songs like “Just the way you are“. I just love that! And just imagine what it must feel like when you have written a song in your bedroom and suddenly people from all over the world sing it back to you!

• He really impressed me with his drum solo at the beginning of the encore.

• His brass section is killer.

• His vocal performances on “When I was your man” and “If I knew” (together with his bandmate Philip Lawrence) were ace. BTW: Phil also has released a solo album recently called “Letters I never sent“, also worth listening to!

• His moves were smoooooth and pretty Michael Jackson. 😉

Not so favourites:

• Security was really strict with cameras – well, at least in the first five rows! Nobody was allowed to take any picture or video, not with a camera and not with your mobile. I haven’t experienced this since many, many years and I’m not sure what to make of this. Rumour had it that Bruno had just returned from the EMA’s in Amsterdam and was “a little bit under the weather” and that’s why he didn’t want any pictures taken. Dunno… but I thought it was quite unfair that those at the front were not allowed to take pictures and everyone else was because security couldn’t reach them. So unfortunately, I cannot post any pictures this time.

• The show was pretty short, only about 70 minutes. Apparently for the same reason mentioned above. He didn’t even sing “Gorilla“.

• Security also really put up a fuss after the show. We waited at the backstage entrance, as we had a present for Bruno and just wanted to say hi. There were about 20 people there. I have been waiting at that entrance for hours and hours already and it was never a problem. But this time they suddenly declared it as a construction area and asked us to move away. They made us walk all the way back up to the Olympiahalle and roped off the area. I really wonder who gave that order, but as I’ve never experienced anything like that there, I assume it must have been Bruno or his management. Anyway, all that kind of leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

But in the end it was a great show, worth waiting for and we had a lot of fun! So to make up a little for the missing pictures, at least here is a  video by some youtuber, which gives a good impression of the concert imho, especially as it was filmed just a few rows right behind us.