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.

 

Xavier Naidoo – Frei Sein Tour

Yesterday I learnt again that spontaneity is a very good thing and often results in beautiful experiences. I decided last minute to join my friend to go to the Xavier Naidoo Open Air in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. I didn’t have a ticket and I was not sure if and how to get one, but I felt I should just go. And fortunately getting a ticket turned out to be easy.

The city of Rothenburg is a beautiful one with a lovely medieval city center and wonderful nature around. But we didn’t have more time than for a short stroll through the city to get my ticket at the tourist information because we had to queue. The concert took place on the Eiswiese outside the city, the place where next weekend the “Taubertal Festival” starts with acts like “The Offspring“, “Materia“, “Beatsteaks“, “Farin Urlaub”, “Madsen” and more.

Supporting act was Daniel Wirtz. He became widely known recently for his participation in the TV-program “Tauschkonzert”. Some may also remember him as the lead singer from Sub7even, a German band whose song “Free your mind” with En Vogue brought them international success as well. Now Wirtz performs as a solo artist. His songs are honest, deep, dirty and they just rock! So it was a great start into the evening. Favorites: Keine Angst, Mon amour and L.M.A.A., which he wrote for all the music critics who picked his first album to pieces. I also love his version of Yvonne Catterfeld‘s “Du hast mein Herz gebrochen”, but unfortunately he didn’t play it.

BTW: Xavier himself introduced Wirtz! I thought that was a beautiful gesture, because often supporting acts are just fill-ins. Xavier gave him a respectful frame.

Then finally the singer whom some call “Dr. Ton” entered the stage for his own set. He started off with a cover version of Edwin Starr’s War and followed up with “Frei” together with Wirtz, his own “Frei sein” and another song about freedom, which will be on his new “Nicht von dieser Welt 2” album. Of course some of his hits were a must and the audience sang along to “Bitte hör nicht auf zu träumen”, “Ich kenne nichts” or “Dieser Weg”. The encore set was a bit unusual. While most artists end their concert with their biggest hits, their sing-along-songs, Xavier started with two covers of slow and sad songs (“Amoi seg ma uns wieder” – Andreas Gabalier and “Mitten unterm Jahr” – Christina Stürmer), then a slow, political song “Europa” and ended with two album tracks “Hört, hört” and “Zeilen aus Gold” – despite the fact that there were quite a few of his big hits that could have ended the show and hence were left out completely. But considering that Naidoo is a very conscious artist, I guess that it must be seen as a statement. Looking at the title of the show could be a hint that he wanted to defy conventions, to free himself from them. Adding the fact that Xavier is known for his attitude to emphasize the message and to be critical regarding typical popstar behavior and adoration, it makes sense. It might not meet the audience’s expectations but I totally admire his courage to free himself from them and to kind of free himself from his own material as well and not let it chain him into everlasting performances of the same old stuff. But that’s just my humble interpretation…

Despite the five hours on the road, the milelong walk to and from the parking area to the venue, the eight hours of waiting, the unfortunately only “almost-meeting” with Daniel Wirtz, whom security told to leave exactly at the moment that it was our time to get our picture taken with him, the odyssey to find the freeway after the show because of milelong detours and later the odyssey to find something to eat… it was all worth it and we had a wonderful, fun day! Unfortunately it seems we often tend to forget how to act spontaneously the older we get. But yesterday I made a vow to become more spontaneous again!

Söhne Mannheims – 20 Jahre Jubiläum

Söhne Mannheims are a German band, which was founded in 1995 in Mannheim. Their most famous singer is Xavier Naidoo. For it’s 20th anniversary the band celebrated with a concert in front of the baroque palace in Mannheim – a beautiful location. A lot of former members took part as well as some special guests like comedian Bülent Ceylan.

The whole show was filmed and part of it already aired on channel SWR (and can still be watched here). It was a bit awkward to be in the audience because you constantly felt like being watched. But of course it’s a great memory! Anyway, as they say “pictures say more than words” (and videos even more than that), I will just let the pictures and video speak for themselves this time and not waste more words.

Xavier Naidoo, Amy Macdonald & Haindling – Sommernachtstraum

The “Sommernachtstraum” in Munich is primarily known for its choreographed fireworks. But due to its success over the last ten years, the supporting program has become an event of its own. This year, the Olympic stadium hosted the Bavarian band “Haindling”, Scottish singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald and German soul singer Xavier Naidoo.

Starting at half past five, “Haindling” played some of their biggest hits like “Du Depp“, “Spinn I”, “Lang scho nimmer g’sehn” and of course “Bayern”. They also brought a Bavarian folk dance group on stage who did the “Schuhplattler”.

Amy Macdonald was second. She had a hard time. It seemed there were not too many people who knew her songs (maybe except “This is the life”) and only a few people who were willing to at least clap along. So instead of being a second headliner, she was degraded to a supporting act for Xavier. You could tell she was not satisfied with the audience’s reaction – and she said so as well. I have to admit that I enjoyed her cover of Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and higher” most. There is no doubt she’s a great singer, but hers is simply not my kind of music.

And then… it started to rain. Right on time for Xavier! – and it only stopped exactly after he left the stage. Luckily, the atmosphere did not suffer and the audience was with him from the first song “Bei meiner Seele” to the last “Ich kenne nichts”. His choice of songs was a great mixture of some of his new songs from his latest album “Bei meiner Seele” as well as his dubstep album “Mordsmusik” and some of his greatest hits. His unique voice was able to capture every emotion and even make songs like “Danke sagen” or the Andreas Gabalier cover “Amoi seg ma uns wieder” come alive on an evening like this. But most of all, it was so much fun dancing in the rain and singing “Wo willst du hin?” or “Dieser Weg”. We were soaking wet – and I mean SOAKING like jumping into a pool fully dressed! But that didn’t matter! Xavier promised to sign all of our sick certificates and wished us a heartfelt “Get well soon” at the end of the show.

The awesome 35-minutes fireworks after the concert was a perfect ending to a wonderful day!

Happy new year

Looking forward to 2014???

Hell yeah! 😉