Altusried Newspaper - July 26, 2004


Albums

Songs

Concerts

Press

by Christian Gäsler

translation by Astrid Nolde-Gallasch


A star without allures

Chris de Burgh is mainly celebrated by the ladies

Altusried. The Allgäu has rarely experienced such a performance. 
There he is, the small man with the big voice: Chris de Burgh looks 
tiny on the broad open air stage when you look down on the world 
star from the nearly sold out tribune seats. 

But an evening with the Irish bard is an absolutely intimate 
experience. He performs his timeless pop pearls like "Lady In Red" 
and "High On Emotion" solo this time, so they are reduced to a 
minimum. The softrocker meets his audience with a disarming 
warmheartedness. 

Especially the ladies celebrate the 55 year old. He constantly had 
to go to the edge of the stage to receive flowers and gifts. After 
one hour the audience abruptly leave their seats. Chris de Burgh 
unexpectedly stepped down from the stage into the audience. The 
flashlights of photographing fans don't disturb him.

De Burgh sings, picks his 12 string guitar and walks calmly through 
the rows. The Irishman is a star to touch, completely without any 
allures. He is also very funny and has a refreshing openness that 
you only rarely meet in the tough rock business. The current album 
"The Road To Freedom" is designed so that the songs work "live" 
without a band.

De Burgh does consciously without the acompanying band, for the 
pieces unfold their intense effect just in their trimmed form. 
Purely acoustical, only with guitar and piano, the singer can live 
his romantical bent up even stronger. And it never becomes soppy.

Colourful stage picture

Subtle lights conjure up a harmonical, colourful stage picture. 
Everything concentrates on this man and his impressive voice. 
Several old hits lure hordes of cheering fans from the tribune to 
the front. Although four new titles follow, de Burgh manages 
cleverly to keep their mood. During "Don't Pay The Ferryman" the 
soft cuddly voice suddenly turns into a raw rock singer. Therefore 
de Burgh remains silent partly during "High On Emotion". Probably 
out of amazement, for the fans take over the chorus.

This isn't a concert, but a party, de Burgh is pleased and after 
two hours he happily starts a series of Beatles hits. Incidentally 
Chris de Burgh's son Hubie celebrates his stage debut in Altusried. 
He may accompany his father at the guitar for one song. With his 16 
years Hubie is already taller than him, but daughter Rosanna is 
even taller, de Burgh announces proudly. Rosanna became "Miss World" 
in 2003.




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File last modified on August 26, 2006