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by Andreas Herkens
translation by Astrid Nolde-Gallasch
Little expenditures, big effect: Chris de Burgh in Aachen
Aachen. On Thursday the Irishman Pat Cox receives the Karl Award. Almost as
a prelude to this event, Chris de Burgh who lives in Ireland (he was born
in 1948 in Argentina), presented Aachen on Saturday night with a two and a
half hour solo appearance to an audience of 1600 people in the sold out
Eurogress.
And he showed - somehow appropriate in times of cost-cutting policies and
empty wallets -, how you can have a big effect with little expenditures.
Chris de Burgh pure.
No band to support him, no sumptuous arrangements (with an exeption of the
conserved strings during the melancholy "Snow Is Falling" from the new
album "Road To Freedom). Only the bard with his songs - sometimes with
guitar, sometimes at the electrical piano or grand piano.
All that in front of a simple, but very effective stage scenery. Spots mark
colourful light areas, from time to time some fog makes white light cones
look more vivid. All very atmospheric.
He throws chocolate
Of course the charisma of the 55 year old in his white shirt and black
pants plays an important role in this context. The charmer knows exactly
how to deal with the audience.
At the beginning he declares Aachen again as the center of Europe. He is
very modest, thankful, very relaxed, smiles, wags his eyebrows, takes
presents (a rose, a bottle of wine), as if it were the first of his life.
To the song "Living On The Island" he uses a mobile microphone headset (but
he emphasizes that he is not Britney Spears) and walks singing down from
the stage into the hall. Later he even throws chocolate to the audience...
He plays many titles from his new CD, but also goes far back, for example
with the ballad "A Rainy Night In Paris" from his enchanting 1977 album "At
The End Of A Perfect Day".
Of course hits like "Don't Pay The Ferryman" or "The Lady In Red" aren't
missing. Ballads like "Where Peaceful Waters Flow" are still strong in this
reduction.
But Chris de Burgh is really powerfully rocking, especially towards the
end (where during the encore of "High On Emotion" the power of a band is
somehow missing).
The fans are joining in right from the start, clapping, singing multiply,
finally all the lines of chairs are standing up. Chris takes the ovations
with a smile, and shakes lots of hands at the end of two and half hours
without a break. Well done!
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