Concert Review: Dresden, Germany - October 3, 2011
Andrea Lucas:
After a looooong drive from Trier to Dresden, I arrived in the afternoon of October 2nd and went off to visit relatives first. The evening was spent with friends and on the concert day I didn’t do much, more or less just enjoying the gorgeous weather outside. Due to family members living close, I’ve often visited Dresden as a child and up to now it never fails to amaze me, just how beautiful this town is!!! I do remember climbing on the ruins of the now re-build Frauenkirche as I was little and seeing the new church seems to be like a miracle. The concert was in the Kulturpalast which is an older building from the GDR aera. The stage was VERY close to the front row and rather low – I liked that!!! Comfortable seats too, which was really nice. The “Moonfleet Overture” started 5 minutes before 8 and even at the front were some empty seats. For sure they must have been sold, with people simply not being able to make it to the show. But of course after the intermission those seats were taken by people who saw they were empty. Obviously the songs were the same as before: “Light On The Bay”, followed by “Have A Care” and “Go Where Your Heart Believes”. While greeting the audience Chris mentioned that it was a public holiday in Germany (October 3rd is our “Re-unification day”) and how lovely the weather has been. He said that he walked up 285 steps to the Rathaus tower (town hall), instead of taking the elevator. I might be wrong with the 285 steps… At some time of the concert he also mentioned that it’s always nice weather when he plays indoors, while it’s raining at open air shows. Indeed it was quite cold at his last concert in Dresden, which was not directly in Dresden, but in the park of Schloss Pillnitz. “Missing You” started with Chris saying “Dresden, I’ve been missing you” and the next song was “Ship To Shore”. Then Chris talked about Footsteps 2 and sang “SOS” and “Seven Bridges”. As he introduced “Seven Bridges” and told the audience about this song originally been written by the GDR band Karat, people of course recognized which song would be the next and he got a lot of applause for that one. It was the same after he’d finished the song and of course “Seven Bridges” is quite appropriate on a day like that. In fact I had thought the audience would be more quite, but the atmosphere was really good from the beginning. The next song was “Spanish Train”, then one of my personal highlights “My Hearts Surrender” and three other “Moonfleet” songs: “Treasure And Betrayal”, “Moonfleet Bay” and “The Storm”. During “The Storm” people stood up and clapped and sang along. The last song(s) before the break was “The Leader” with the band solo at the end. The second part started with “When Winter Comes”, “The Road To Freedom” and “The Words I Love You” – another one of my favourites. A few people were gathering next to the stairs coming down from the stage, but Chris asked them if they could sit down again for a few minutes. Before he had – as always - mentioned that there would be a lot of dancing, kissing and cuddling later. I had the dancing, but where were the kisses and cuddling????? After “Borderline” Chris got standing ovations and he said that he had sung this song exactly 21 years ago at the celebration of the re-unification of Germany, when he was invited by Chancellor Kohl and how honoured he felt back than and now with singing this song. It was indeed very moving… “Why Mona Lisa Smiled” was beautiful as always, with the introduction about Leonardo da Vinci and the things he invented, like planes, parachutes (in case something went wrong with the plane…) and the washing machine! Introducing “People Of The World” Chris mentioned that especially people living in former East Germany must understand how it feels to finally have freedom and he talked about the “Arab spring” and Iran being very close to his heart. He got cheers from somewhere in the audience for that. The solo part started with a very nice surprise “The Last Thing On My Mind” from Footsteps 1 – another one of my most favourite songs!!!!! The next song was another surprise. Earlier in the concert Chris had told us that he was swimming in the river Elbe and he came back to that now, telling us he had lost his clothes and that a lady was offering to give him her clothes – some of her clothes… She was helping him to get dressed which was pure joy and “Pure Joy” was the next song! I wouldn’t have thought we’d get to hear this song live and it was really good. “A Spaceman Came Travelling” was next, introduced by Chris telling us it would be less than 3 months to Christmas now and how he would love the German Christmas markets and having his “Frühstück” there Well, he’s better not having a concert after several Schnaps, Glühwein and Currywurst before 11 o’clock!!!!! Maybe that’s the reason why the one we have where I live only opens by 11????? There was a lot of singing and “lalala” with that song and the next which was “Where Peaceful Waters Flow”. Then the band came back on stage, Chris introduced them in the usual funny way. David the “baron of the bass”, Nigel the “king of keyboards”, Al the “general of the guitars” and Tony the “duke of the drums” – if I remember correct… So far the audience still remained sitting, but as the first sounds of “Lady In Red” were played it got dark and those of us sitting in the front row simply got up and went one step forward and were standing at the stage!!! As there wasn’t that much space between the front row and the stage there was a lot of space to dance. A lady in a red ball dress was standing at the aisle and of course Chris danced with her. He also hugged a girl/lady (with a red t-shirt on) and she was over the moon!!! Did I mention before that I LOVE the start of the dancing part with “Africa” and “Everywhere I Go”???? It was simply perfect!!!! “Don’t Pay The Ferryman”, “Say Goodbye To It All”, “The Getaway” and “High On Emotion” were next. Then Chris and the band left the stage for a minute or two before coming back for “The Snows Of New York” and “Go Where Your Heart Believes”. He told us that he and the boys from the band enjoyed the concert very much and he was hoping we did too, “Dresden, you were a fantastic audience”. Well, I for sure did enjoy the show!!!!!!! Before leaving the venue I said goodbye to Jason and as usual the same fans were there too Jason’s got his own fanclub now!!! In a nearby Irish pub I had a drink with some friends before walking back to the hotel and going to bed. What a great day, thank you Chris and everyone else involved!!! You must be really exhausted after some weeks of touring (I am…, even though I was at home for a few days), but the concerts are always great!!!! Thanks for reading my review, I’m off to Erfurt now and back home tomorrow… take care, Andrea