Concert Review: Oberhausen, Germany - November 4, 1999
Astrid Nolde-Gallasch:
Well, what can I say.... I know everyone's waiting for my review *g*
In one word, it was GREAT !!!!! The new show is such a fresh difference to what we have seen lately. The band is getting better every time that I see them, and Chris certainly was in top form, enjoying the concert as much as everybody in the audience enjoyed it.
Ok ok, I'll start at the beginning. :) I arrived at the Arena around 6 pm. There were not too many people there yet, and most of them were very familiar faces. I've been told that Markus has entertained them all with his singing since around 4 pm... :) There was one particular face that I knew I had seen before, but didn't know where to put him... until I listened in a conversation that he explained to someone he was from Havixbeck, that's when I remembered! He's the guy who was on TV the other day in that game show, being questioned about Chris! I complimented him on his singing there, which was really good. :)
Dani and Rüdiger arrived shortly after and we had a good time joining in with Markus's singing and making the time pass quicker until they opened the gates. When they let us in, the first thing I tried was to talk to some security guards about how to contact Kenny... no chance! I talked to lots of people, but none of them was even remotely willing to deliver a little note to the backstage area. *sigh* So much for planning CCCC last night.. ah well, there's still Dortmund next Tuesday, let's hope I have more luck then...
So Dani and I finally went inside the arena and found our way right to the front . The hall was filling slowly, and I was waiting for Thomas to join us and hoping he'd find us there at the front. Well, he did finally but since he is so tall he didn't want to upset the other people at the front so he enjoyed the concert a bit further back.
Something funny happened before the show. I was chatting a bit to the people around me, when this woman next to me mentioned that she had visitors from England for the Cologne concert. Now that struck me, and as I remember that Sheila and Alan are staying with Corrie (who I know by name, I have talked to her on the phone, just never met her..), I asked her if she's Corrie. Indeed she was! So she asked who I was, and when I said my name, another guy turned around and said "You are Astrid???" Well, that was Sven, who is new on this list. Whoa.... talk about a small world!!! Corrie is going to contact you about CCCC this weekend, Sheila. :)
Right from the start, the show was different than the previous concerts. He started with the whole band, rocking away to When I Think Of You and Living In The World. Then he welcomed the audience, said that it was his first time in Oberhausen (it was too funny how desperately he was trying to pronounce Oberhausen correctly.. *g*) and that we'd see a mixture of new and old songs. Next came Love Of The Heart Divine which was really done great live. He continued with some older songs: Sailing Away, Love's Got A Hold On Me and Oh My Brave Hearts. Then came a breathtaking version of The Same Sun followed by St. Peter's Gate and A Woman's Heart. The way he introduces A Woman's Heart is really something else... "My friend Peter spent a night in a ladie's toilet.. and he told me that you women always think about sex!!! Is that true?? Well, we guys better believe it, or our women are off with somebody else...." He was singing the part of the backup singer himself, which really wasn't the same as on the album, but still.. a great song!
Continuing to say how much he was influenced by the Beatles (made us sing Nowhere Man, Here Comes The Sun) and the Eagles, so next came Hotel California. By that time some girls behind me really went crazy and were yelling their lungs out. Guess that's what they were waiting for. :) He then sang a really fast version of Missing You, followed by the obligatory Lady In Red and a really great version of Revolution. Then they rearranged the stage a bit and all band members sat in the middle with the drummer sitting in front of some congas and everyone with an accoustic guitar, it looked like those MTV unplugged jam sessions. They played a fantastic version of My Lover Is (he was joking about those congas being made in Germany, so they were German beef not British... which lead to the joke that the drummer was from Wales so he was a farm boy, knowing all about beef and sheep... which then lead to the statement that the drummer loves sheep, and the next song is called "My Lover Is A Sheep".. he was laughing so hard about that, he could barely start to sing.. lol). They also played Snows Of New York that way, and it reminded me of the way all of us BBBB'ers stood in a circle after the Bonn show, singing exactly this song ... wonderful memories!
Then the band left the stage, so it was time for the solo part. He was asking for requests, a lot of people shouted Patricia but of course he pretended not wanting to play it.... when he finally tried to play something, he found that his guitar wasn't working!!! So while some sound engineer was fixing that problem, he improvised with a beautiful a cappella version of Tender Hands. Then he got his guitar back and of course played Patricia (with lots of lingerie thrown on stage, one of them had a phone number written on it which he was reading out loud...). He also played Spanish Train and then, on the piano, Borderline.
The band came back and started the second part of the show with an overwhelming version of Quiet Revolution. I hadn't liked this song that much before on the CD, but the live version is really wonderful!!! It was followed by Natasha Dance, which I have to say, I liked better in the piano-only version which he played in Fulda. Peter Oxendale on the piano put some strange harmonies into that song that sounded a bit weird to me. The audience was dancing away to Nothing Ever Happens Round Here and I Want It (And I Want It Now). Both great songs to dance and sing along to!!! And by the time he played Don't Pay The Ferryman there was no stopping the audience, everybody was dancing!!!
Chris said goodnight and they left the stage, of course only to come back for two encores. The first was Say Goodbye To It All and High On Emotion, the second was Where Peaceful Waters Flow and Hey Jude. It was a fantastic concert, and I am definitely looking forward to the next show on Tuesday in Dortmund. To all of you seeing him in Rotterdam tonight, in Bielefeld tomorrow or in Stuttgart on Monday - have fun!!!
On the way home I turned on the radio and - much to my surprise - heard Chris playing LIVE "The Same Sun" !!!!!!!!!! I am not sure where this recording came from, maybe even from that same night??? Anyway, it was on WDR 2, Roxy, a "special" with live songs and interviews for about half an hour or an hour (not sure how long this was already going on when I tuned in), did anybody per chance get to record it?
So - that was it for now. Hope you enjoyed to read it, as much as I enjoyed to write it. See some of you in Dortmund, and many of you in Cologne!!!! Can't wait!!!!!!
Daniela Braun:
I think I can make this quite short because Ruediger and Astrid have already mentioned the most important things. Well, I'm dead tired as I couldn't fall asleep yesterday, all the songs kept spinning in my head and I sort of relived the whole concert. But I must say, a concert the night before works wonders for my teaching...
The people working at the Arena weren't very friendly, and we had to hand in our tickets before we could get near the stage. We were allowed to take a ticket when we left, but that's not the same, I've collected all my tickets so far, and now I have someone else's, urgh. But that's about the only negative thing I can say about last night.
The concert was very different from what we saw last year, no violins, lots of power, the band was great, it was really fast-paced and we hardly had time to catch our breath. The people around me were great, too, no stupid remarks about our singing, and the tall guys even let me pass so that I could see everything that was going on on stage. And that was just great!! After last night, I can well understand why so many people love "A Woman's Heart" and "Natasha Dance". And I really loved "St. Peter's Gate". It's always been my favourite on QR, and the live version is a killer!
The concert went on for nearly three hours, and two or three songs "on request" would have made it even better. But anyway, I'm still on cloud nine and high on emotion, and I can hardly wait for Tuesday in Dortmund!!!! What a night!!