Siegerlaender Wochenanzeiger - July 9, 2003
translation by Astrid Nolde-GallaschNo "Lonesome Cowboy"
Chris de Burgh cast a spell over almost 4000 people at the start of his tour in Siegen Siegen. Every note sits where it is expected. When Chris de Burgh sings, everyone automaticlaly sings along. Even when you don't really know his songs, you always know what they are about. After all they are "earworms" since two decades and in some years there probably wasn't one radio day without one of his songs. Start of the German Tour 2003 Therefore 4000 people were "High On Emotion" when they heard about the tour start of the singer with the big voice in Siegen and they thought: Let's go! The presale was a sell-out, and the organizer had the pleasure last Saturday to seat the Untere Schlossplatz for the 4000 visitors in Siegen. Accompanied with a bit of weatherwise worries. Not at all distant Then it was evening, the sky was clouded and the friendly little man from Ireland entered the stage on the Schlossplatz. On a long sommer evening no light barriers separate the people in front of the stage from those on it. May that was the reason to make it clear from the start: Chris de Burgh sings his concert with his audience and not over its heads. The next stop on the tour schedule is Freiburg, concerts in Karlsruhe, in Berlin and Bonn follow. Chris de Burgh performed the tour start in Siegen all alone on piano, with his guitars, his voice and many of his well-known songs. He performed "A collection" from his 16 albums. As usual with these occasions, the biggest of the big hits came off best: "Don't Pay The Ferryman" or "Lady In Red" and "Borderline". But there were even some sound samples: Chris de Burgh played bits from three songs for a new album on the piano. Apparently he first finds a melody and then the lyrics for it. Because sometimes the lyrics seemed to be missing. He sang "Kiss me from a distance", and when the words were missing "nananana". "Lebanese Night" His love songs are tragical and sad and this is because he involves the circumstances of the love in his songs. During a trip to Lebanon he asked himself how it would be to grow up during war. And that lead to "Lebanese Night". Friendship is another theme of his songs, but it is always about emotions with much emotion. Dialogue with Rubens The female hearts on the court yard seem to beat fast towards the stage. And Chris de Burgh received the liking in a friendly matter. The Irishman is funny but not arrogant. Chris de Burgh seemed to have enjoyed the story about Rubens and his place of birth. "And who are you?", he asks a plush bear that entered the stage as a gift from fans. "Rubens", replies the bear from Chris de Burgh's stomach and explains that he is a painter, but doesn't like naked ladies on pictures. To the question, whether he wants to watch the rest of the show, the Rubens bear simply answers: "No". Favourite Songs The fans wanted encores, and they got them, until after two hours the concert had to end. At the end Chris de Burgh played a few songs that he likes: "Hey Jude", "It's A Hard Day's Night" and "Pretty Woman". And until the very end the most magical about this concert was that only one single musician alone on stage cast a spell over 4000 people in front of it.