Mettlach, Germany - July 11, 2004


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Lore Müller:

To go to this concert was not at all planned! But as I had won the 
ticket I "had" to go. And soon, first Doris, then Gabi and finally 
Silvia decided to accompany me. Gabi and Doris were the drivers..... 
so I was lucky I didnīt need to drive myself the 220 km.

Why we started our journey very early and why we wanted to be in 
Mettlach very early and why I donīt tell you everything we did 
before the concert... is, because it is a different story which you 
will be able to read later.

What I can tell you, is that Mettlach is a small place (town or 
village), famous for its china "Villeroy & Boch". Mettlach is near 
the historical Trier. The river Saar winds through the valley and 
makes lots of loops. In such a loop is the park which belongs to 
the castle Saareck and in this park the venue took place. The stage 
was right in front of the castle. The concert was unseated, only 
for the VIPs there was a seated tribune far far away from the stage. 
The whole afternoon people were there for there were other groups 
or bands and choirs who performed before the CdeB-concert. You also 
could eat and drink there and the smell of sausages hung over the 
park even during the concert. 

The weather this summer in Germany is very cold and rainy and the 
weather forecast for yesterday was not better. So we took umbrellas, 
rain capes, hats etc. with us in the car and a set of clothes to 
change everything in case we get wet. But, fortunately, we had a 
lot of sun, only a short rain in the afternoon and a very heavy 
rain the 10 minutes before the concert started. When Chris entered 
the stage, the sun was shining! But it was cold, so Chris wore his 
black leather jacket over a white shirt. We were standing only a 
few metres away from the low stage and so had a very good view of 
Chris. I counted 16 listmembers, but Iīm sure they were more, such 
as Sandra from Stuttgart who we donīt know yet but expected to meet 
there.

This was my second open-air concert this year after Bad Brückenau. 
But in Bad Brückenau Chris played the same songs as in the indoor 
concerts whereas here in Mettlach he had changed the setlist. So, I 
was happy to hear Sailor and In a Country Churchyard again but I 
missed The Rose of England. I must admit that I understand why 
Chris leaves out Songbird and Rose of England in these open-airs. I 
believe itīs because people start talking very much during those 
quiet songs, especially when they last about 5 minutes as Rose of 
England. 

Although this was my 5 th concert of this tour (have never done so 
many before!) I enjoyed the jokes he made between the songs. He is 
a real artist and actor. He talks as if these things just spring to 
his mind and so they sound really spontaneously, except the Britney 
Spears part, because very quickly, as if he could read Chrisī 
thoughts, the other Chris (a young man, a stage assistent perhaps) 
enters the stage with this headset. The Britney Spears part where 
he goes through the audience was a bit shorter than in the concerts 
before, he only walked a few metres away from the stage, for the 
people were standing so close together. BTW you couldnīt see him 
while he was going through the crowd. Why? :-))

When he sang The Words I Love you, I noticed that he sang it very 
emotionally, differently from what I remember. We know he sings 
about his own experience with saying the words "I love you" to his 
father. Maybe sometimes the song reminds him of this special 
situation. After this song he sang Lady in Red, once more really 
from his heart and with much feeling and so I liked it. I wished he 
had sung it that way during his last TV appearance which was 
playback. But we know that only very rarely is it possible to 
perform live for a TV-show. And the next song, Where Peaceful 
Waters Flow, wonderful! Because the audience sang so strongly that 
Chris could sing into this choir. You understand what I mean? I 
always like it very much when he invites the audience to support 
him. You can see how he really enjoys this. And what he enjoys, 
too, is, when we accompany the songs with our guestures like in 
Read my Name. "....lift your hands up to the sky..."  then we all 
raise our hands and move quickly our fingers. And ".....read my 
name...." then we point with long high up arms to our names on the 
wall of the stage. The same in Living in the World: we point to the 
stage with stretched arms when we sing ".... o o o-o..."   and in 
Nothing ever happens round here we do the same during  ".....no 
nothing, no nothing, no nothing...."    and during the ferrymanīs   
".... donīt do it...."
What I have never experienced before, is, that Chris repeated these 
parts of the songs more often as usual, when he sees we have so 
much fun doing the refrain. This is what he did yesterday and he 
really had much fun seeing us being happy. Once he asked: "Are you 
happy?" but hardly anybody seemed to have heard it, so there were 
only very few "Yehhh" to be heard. After Pretty woman he did these 
"o o o o o o o o s" in different melodies which we have to repeat. 
When we make mistakes he has fun and jokes like "he he he", but 
yesterday we were so good, he tried several very difficult melodies, 
but we made no mistake. I hope you all understand what I want to 
explain. 

I enjoyed this concert very much for one more reason. From time to 
time I go to concerts of other well-known artists. So some days ago 
my husband and I saw Bob Dylan for the first (and last) time. I 
donīt want to review his concert, but I would like to tell you that 
he didnīt care about the audience, he didnīt say hello and not 
good-bye, he didnīt look at the audience, he didnīt care for 
applause. After each song, you only saw his back, because he went 
to the back of the stage and the lights went out. All the time, 
during all the songs, he was standing at the keyboard, looking 
either on the keyboard or at a guitar player at the back of the 
stage. I felt like being air. So, how aware am I now of why 
-besides other effects- I enjoy so much Chris de Burghīs 
performance. I feel he does his concerts for people who love him, 
who he wants to make happy for 2 or 3 hours or longer :-)))  

The end of the show was extraordinary for he invited all the 
children (30 ? or 40 ?) to join him on stage for Hey Jude. It was 
such a lovely sight! 

After the show we had to leave soon for "Itīs such a long way 
home".


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File last modified on November 20th, 2004