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.)

United Against Poverty

With the G7 meeting right around the corner, several NGOs put together an event in Munich to ask the heads of governments to act on the issue of poverty. Their declared goal is to end extreme poverty unit 2030. To make people, and especially the decision-makers meeting in Elmau, aware of their demands, the event was supported by German and international politicians and stars, who came together on the Königsplatz right in the heart of Munich.

Unfortunately, the event was very badly promoted. I only heard about it through a friend about a week before and I believe that many people did not know about it at all. I guess that was the main reason why, instead of the 17.000 people the organizers expected to be there, there were only a few hundred, which was very sad, especially with regards to the cause!

Still the event went ahead as planned with German comedian Michael Mittermeier and host Shary Reeves presenting, Austrian singer Claudia Koreck or German TV-star Jan Josef Liefers’ Band “Radio Doria” playing and people like Mandela’s grandson Kweku Mandela, German actor Katja Riemann or Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf talking. There were also video messages from Bono of U2 and Herbert Grönemeyer. In-between these more famous people, all participating NGOs presented their missions. Some also brought people with them who had been helped by their organization and could talk about the conditions they had faced in their country. Although we all know stories like these, it is shocking again and again, especially if you hear these accounts personally.

The highlight came with Usher arriving on stage. Unfortunately, he did not perform but talked about his charity work. Through his “New Look” foundation, he fights for the education of children. He’s also involved with Global Citizen. At the end of his speech, Shary Reeves challenged him to do a rap with her, so Usher did some beatboxing and Reeves rapped. Afrojack finished the show with some DJing.

Altogether, the event was a great cause, although the burning sun didn’t make it easy to stand for hours. However, there was one fact that irritated me a lot: As the event already started at one o’clock, at some point you needed something to eat. All we found were two food trucks, one selling hotdogs, the other one was a grill. There was not one option for vegetarians, so I had to leave the grounds to get something to eat in a nearby bakery. If I fight against hunger in the world but only offer people meat, then this shows a huge error in reasoning! I really wonder why so many people are still in denial that eating meat is not only an ethical and a health choice, but that it also affects the environment and world hunger. Go look it up if you haven’t! I think whoever really wants to fight poverty and hunger has to be aware of these facts and act accordingly. Although this left me wondering, I have to emphasize that I really admire the work these NGOs do, as well as all the volunteers who spend their time and energy to help others! It always makes me realize that we all should do so much more!