Concert Review: Kassel, Germany - September 27, 2009
Sandra Pleyer:
I'm lucky to have a day off from work today and so there was enough time to write a review about my trip to Kassel yesterday. But let me say at the beginning that I enjoyed the concert very much! I hadn't expected such a fantastic concert. When the September concerts were announced at the beginning of the year, I knew that it would be hard not to go to any of these concerts. The concerts in Merkers and Kassel would be the nearest ones, just 1 1/2 hours away from my home. I had a closer look at the concert in Merkers and soon was sure, that I couldn't imagine to attend that concert. Trapped for a few hourse a few hundred meters under the ground. No, never. For sure a very special venue, but not for me. What about Kassel. I hesitated to buy a ticket for this concert first as the date on which the concert should take place has become special in a sad way for me. It's the birthday of my mother, who died last year. But I was sure that she would have wanted me to be at the concert instead of sitting sad and mourning at home and therefore I did buy a ticket. So I left home yesterday afternoon at 3 pm. And I was somehow glad that I could finally leave home and to have something to look forward to at that day. After a pleasant journey without any traffic jams and wonderful sunshine along the way I arrived in Kassel. Being quite early I could park my car just opposite of the venue. I called Anneke as we had planned to meet before the concert. She and her husband Rene were in a café nearby the venue. I went there and we had a nice chat. It was really nice to meet them again. Afterwards I had a walk around, okay nothing very special there to see, but after sitting in the car, it was good to walk for some time. Then it was already time to get into the venue. More and more people arrived. Among them quite a few people from the community and the mailing list. It's always so nice to be surrounded by well known faces during a concert. Anja from Russia came over to me. Really lovely to talk to you, again, Anja!! The venue was not too big, I guess, that about 1500 people fitted in. I was really happy with my seat in the front row directly in front of Al , but with a very good view at THE MAN himself as well. Lovley that the seats were so near to the stage and the height of the stage was still ok for me. The concert started on time, as usual with 'Last night'. One of my favourites and from the album which was my first CdeB album. Love this start of the show. But soon I realized that the two men sitting dirctly behind me wasn't interested very much in the concert. They were talking a lot - mainly between the songs - and made some derogative comments. I really was annoyed but decided that I won't let them spoil the concert for me. There was a big applause after the first song and in my opinion the audience was a good one. Not too much singing but they applauded a lot. And Chris seemed to be in a good mood as well. Ohh, he smiled a lot that evening. During the first half many flowers were brought to the stage and as well a cup obviously filled with sweets. Guess what was written on the cup?!: 'International sex god'. You could read it after Chris had placed the cup on the small table beside the micro. One of the highlights of the first half for me was 'The mirrow of the soul'. It's such a great song, especially live. Obiously the diamaond had been missing. Already before 'Breave hearts' Chris pointed to some crew members that he needed the 'diamond'. Later on it was brought to the stage. Amazing how attentive Chris seems to be at a concert. It also made me smile when - while standing at one side of the stage - during the second part of TMOTS he 'posed' a quarter of a second for a girl taking a photo of him. He must have his eyes everywhere!!! Another highlight was 'Without you'. During the song I got goosebumps. Because suddenly all the memories of the amazing Dublin concert came back. I missed the 'Dublin choir' but enojyed this song tremendously. After the song one man shouted 'Once more'. An Chris sang two or three lines again, a cappella. His comment afterwards was 'You can sing those high notes if you wear tight trousers.' After the intermission the accoustic set followed. For 'Moonlight and Vodka' Chris sat down at the piano, but then stood up a little bit again to look at the people directly in front of the piano as if to say: "I hope you can still see me." For me these little things make him so special! This song was great as always. Obviously the band is having much fun during this song as well and they all got an enthusiastic applause. During the band introduction a girl came to the stage with some flowers. At first he didn't see her, but then asked (I think this was without micro) "This is for me??". Of course the flowers were for him. When she went back, he said "See you later". She obviously was suprised... BTW, I had to laugh about Tony's 'Riverdance' during the band's introduction. Really funny. Chris - still smiling a lot or even more at the second half - started the solo part with 'In a country churchyard' which was a request by a beautiful girl he had met earlier this day and who had said to him: "You're Chris de Burgh". And he answered: "Yes, I know." Borderline brought a tremendous applause again and Chris looked so humble while the people applauded. I had hoped he wouldn't sing 'Carry me' that evening. But he did and I felt quite sad during this song. But somehow I got through it and was able to enjoy the show again after a couple of songs. And then after LIR it was time for the dancing part. I ended up directly in front of a loudspeaker. Gosh, that was very loud, but my own fault....But nevertheless I enjoyed this part very much. Had been looking forward to hear Africa once again live and wasn't dissappointed. The same with 'Bal Masque' and the other fast songs. And again I was impressed by Chris energy. That's amazing! Too soon it was time for SONY and Footsteps. And while the globe was flying around I thought of all the places I have been this year because of Chris' music and all the people from many different countries I have met because of Chris' music. Thanks, Chris! After saying good bye (and saying 'CU hopefully next year') to the friends I had met I made my way home and at midnight I was back home again. I'm glad that I decided to go Kassel and that I was able to enjoy the concert very much. This was my last concert for this year and it's a strange feeling to have no tickets for any concerts at home. Any advice how to cope with 'withdrawal symptoms' is appreciated...