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by Oliver Georgi translation by Astrid Nolde-Gallasch Irish castle festival Chris de Burgh in Mettlach At the latest since his world hit "Lady In Red" he is defined as the embodiment of soft pop: the Irish singer Chris de Burgh. On Sunday night he put on a special atmosphere on a for him rather small stage: in the park Saareck in Mettlach. Mettlach. The dark walls loom rather defying into the air, venerable and full of moss. High trees surround the building, the air smells spicy like fir trees, it has just rained. A park like everyone else in Germany - wouldn't there be the smell of sausages and steaks in the air. And something else is different than elsewhere: In front of the picturesque backdrop of Schloss Saareck there is an ashlar black stage. In front of it are beer stands, barbecues and about 3000 people who brought their camping chairs. In the VIP tent they are keeping with the style and slurping their champagne. Then, while everybody is still biting into their sausage, suddenly a small man comes on stage with a guitar and waves, almost modest, into the audience. Chris de Burgh had promised an "intimate evening" to his guests in Mettlach, unplugged, only with guitar and piano. How appropriate that he grew up himself on a castle in Ireland. And while a few late ones arrive on the tribune with their champagne glasses, he starts without big fuss. The singer has many songs from his new album "The road to freedom" in his luggage, but also some older ones that haven't been heard for a long time in the bigger halls. "Sight and touch", "Last night", "A rainy night in Paris" - campfire feeling with beer and bread rolls. For the first time there is such a concert in the park Saareck - by invitation from Brigitte von Boch and her foundation "Mentor" against drug abuse, that gets part of the proceeds this night. With an accentuated guitar and dreamy piano chords de Burgh indulges himself on stage in ballads, lets the audience sing along, jokes. It's still amazing how such a small man can have such a voice - clear in the heights, full in the middle, well changing between cuddly timbre and rougher intonations. Even when some high notes are a bit wobbly: "Borderline" gets the sparklers out of the bags, "Lady in red" lets the spartanic stage look like bathed into red velvet, and during "Living in the world" the whole park roks. "This is not a concert, this is a party", de Burgh shouts, obviously happy. So he adds a Beatles medley as an encore and gets a couple of dozen children on stage for "Hey Jude". Everything feels so familiar as if Mettlach had always been a festival place. A modest one though. But even Woodstock started out small. |
File last modified on August 26, 2006