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by Andreas Weihs
translation by Astrid Nolde-Gallasch
Chris de Burgh in concert: "On the road to freedom"
He is the king of tear jerking melodies and enthused with his "Road To
Freedom" tour on Thursday in the Kulturpalast with a solo evening of
a special kind: Chris de Burgh. Accompanying himself either on guitar
o rpiano, the singer surprised with a harmonious two and a half hour
program, that showed hardly any weak points. Some laugh about the
Irishman as a softie who found his spot with soft, fresh songs between
housewife pop and trash. The others are emotionally touched when he
sings with his warm endearing voice, wrapped into easy and harmonic
melodies, about love and heartbreak.
The interesting part about the evening were the slimmed arrangements
that opened completely new dimensions for the vocals. Even though de
Burgh used a lot of echo machines to make his voice fuller and put on
a melodic audibility, but it also showed why many of the songs became
hits: They work even on the campfire guitar or at the piano.
He did not have to cover up any deficiencies of his voice. It has
still been excellent even after 150 concert minutes. As big as the
stage voice, the "small man" from Ireland filled the room between the
last and first rows with his voice. And who thinks that ballads aren't
appropriate for emotional outbreaks would have learned better. With
the rhythm of clapping hands during "Natasha Dance" the singer even
got carried away to do a little dance in front of his audience. The
evening followed a dramaturgically polished concept and the audience
has been playing an essential part in it. That wasn't just about the
"la la la laaaa" in "A Spaceman Came Travelling" or singable word bits
in "Carry Me", it was also about the ever demanded clapping and finally
the getting up from the soft seats. Suddenly one realised how many
melodies have been lurking in the head - most of us have at least one
Chris de Burgh record in their cupboard...
Meanwhile the singer showed even his humourous side, coquetted about
his age and the starting forgetfulness, told that he would like to be
like Britney Spears who dances on the stage in a much too short t-shirt
without really singing. With a risky experiment he meant putting on a
headset: that is dangerous for your haircut, he warned, before he
grabbed his guitar to walk around the hall. During a hit medley the
singer walked around the audience and sang with some fans - undoubtedly
one of the highlights of the evening, rewarded with rompish mood and
stomping feet.
But Chris de Burgh did not only sing about the "Lady In Red" or "Tender
Hands". With songs like "Borderline", "Up Here In Heaven" or "Say
Goodbye To It All" he also had an opinion about war and violence. And
he thought about his friends in London that had been target of terror
attacks only a few hours before. When he sang the lines "How men can
see the wisdom in a war...", there is spontaneous applause.
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