Basler Zeitung - November 13, 2001
by Alexander Marzahn found by Lore Mueller translation by Astrid Nolde-GallaschMelting warmth over cool glaciers of the heart
Avo final: Soul massages by the Irish singer Chris de Burgh, cool-melancholical bombastics by the Basel group "Popmonster" You should only pay the ferryman, when you're on the other side, says an old Irish wisdom quote. The linguistic picture from Chris de Burgh's quill may be useful for some life stages - pop concerts follow other laws: First the ticket, then the crossing, risk goes along as chance, and it depends on the artist's form of the day, which harbour will be the final destination. This year the Avo session drove bravely forward the reduction of risks, studied thoroughly the general weather situation, cleverley played a trick on the unforseeable (see comment). With Chris de Burgh the personified AVO concept was on stage on this final evening: well-established pop, lovable, old-fashioned and at the same time refreshingly timeless, far from all escapades, far from its hour of birth, a safe value in turbulent times without nostalgic transfiguration. But this time it was nevertheless different. After the cool-melancholical pathos of the Basel trio "Popmonster", somewhere between songwriter tradition and highly technological pop ˇ§ˇčla Depeche Mode, it became truly warm. The announcement that the 53 year old Irishman travelled to Basel without his band may have given a second of fright to some fans: Almost two and a half hours alone at the grand piano and guitar, almost two and a half hours of soul massage in a wellness bath of ruffling evergreens, partly from his own repertoire, partly from the big pot of his personal favourites. In the end an ecstatic community of fans sang "Hey Jude", and if the gas in the lighters hadn't be used up yet, the sea of lights would have been undescribable. The solo unplugged concert might have easily gone wrong, but it went straight to the heart, without becoming one-sided: De Burgh captured the audience already with the first songs and announcements, he was well informed about the "Joggeli" and the Zuerich Swissair affairs, a charmer, secure, but in such a cautious-honest performance, that even the sweetest honey was received by the audience with a collective smile on their sugared lips. Add to that this characteristical voice, that lets the well-known become an event. Whether "Let It Be", "Pretty Woman" or "High On Emotion" - he sings them with an optimum of vulnerability, lets the audience sing themselves ("just do it") and lets them know that he is just one who sings - and somehow it is good, strong and fragile, intensive and quiet at the same time, especially because the big stuff is missing, especially because those few guitar chords could have been taken from a boy scouts book, especially because the lyrics give everyone what they are looking for, and they are so close to kitsch, that it's a pleasure. A young woman says that there is nothing better for ironing or crying than Chris de Burgh. The combination must be thrilling, and it isn't the only possible one.