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by Rainer Heubeck translation by Astrid Nolde-Gallasch Soft feel-good program Weißenburg. The rush was enormous - Chris de Burgh noticed that as well. The world star had been caught up in a long traffic jam with hundreds of fans from the autoroute 13 up to the parking lot underneath the Wülzburg. That the world star appeared in time on the festival area and could prepar himself for the concert is due to the Weißenburg police. A car patrol ordered by organiser Thomas Schneider finally opened the way for the Irish pop singer through the masses of people. So nothing came into the way of his guest performance at the biggest open air music event between Nuremberg and Ingolstadt. Chris Davison (his civil name) was rather unimpressed by such inconvenience after three decades of stage experience. And he even could smile about the rain that started at the beginning of the concert: "In my country this will be a beautiful day", he joked in front of a not really summerly backdrop. Enthusiasm for the world star Meanwhile the almost 3000 fans in the courtyard of the Wülzburg could hardly applaud or clap along with the rhythm - with an umbrella or a protecting canvas cover in hand, that was rather impossible. But fortunately the rain shower and the wafts of mist had the festival at the Wlzburg on Friday night under control for a short time. It cleared up and when Chris de Burgh came down from stage after one hour and walked singingly through the audience, enthusiasm raised. Friends of disco music had also packed their good mood. They had a swinging summer evening on Saturday during the show "Abbamania" (read our report on page 4). And on Sunday for the final of the five day festival, which attracted about 7000 music fans, there was the musical theater "Der Watzmann" written by Wolfgang Ambros and others (a report follows tomorrow). The piece has already received state of cult and recently was completely sold out for several performances in Klagenfurt. Mostly sold out The visitor magnet of this year's Wülzburg festival was undoubtedly Chris de Burgh's performance. The seats for this top act had been sold out at the internet box offices from Weißenburg since several weeks. Before the performacne on the Wülzburg there were only some standing tickets left. The singer who was born in Argentina and is living in Ireland has a true fan community in Germany, much more than in his home country - and they travelled from Rosenheim and Wrzburg in order to experience and celebrate their star in spite of wetness and coldness. Well-known hits At the beginning rather cautious (which was also due to the rather less known songs of the album "The Road To Freedom") the audience became louder when Chris de Burgh intoned his hits "Lady In Red", "Don't Pay The Ferryman" or "High On Emotion" - those were really known by everybody in the audience, which consisted of people of all ages. The folk pop musician who follows in Simon & Garfunkel's footsteps in many of his tracks, offered a perfect show in Weißenburg, that really was worthy of the world star. He is an excellent musician, handles guitar as well as the piano, and knows of course how to entertain an audience - for example with short episodes about the love in France and the rather unromantic German counterpart. He virtously also received several gifts by fans from pictures to red roses. And he soon had so many flowers that he wanted to resell them as "used flowers" again. Chris de Burgh didn't need an accompanying band or background singing during his tour, which will lead him to Mainz and Salem during the following days. Knowingly he dispensed with accompaniment on the album "The Road To Freedom" which was released last year. During the concert on the Wülzburg everything was reduced to himself, his excellent, but in some passages seemingly a little inflated voice and his songs. Perfect mixture Like on the new "Live in Dortmund" CD Chris de Burgh cleverly mixed cuddly songs with rocky tunes like "Revolution" or that "Read My Name", in which he even conveyed party mood with a fast beat and earthy guitar riffs. Not just the mixture of newer and older songs was perfect, the sound was as well. But that could have been expected regarding an artist of world format and according entry fees. The messages of his music are popular - against violence and exclusion, for peace and love. He courts to "amour" not only in the short chat breaks, but especially in the selection of his music. A dozen of emotional ballads from "Carry Me" up to "Sailing Away" raised the cuddling mood in the courtyard of the castle. A soft feel good program for souls in love. |
File last modified on August 26, 2006