Stuttgarter Nachrichten - April 4, 2011


by Gunther Reinhardt

translation by Astrid Nolde-Gallasch


For the heart is always right


Stuttgart - He sings about smugglers and pirate ghosts, and turns the search for a diamond treasure into a journey to find yourself. 
Instead of being the uncle of tear jerkers, he rather wants to be the storyman again. He only manages from time to time during his 
concert on Saturday in front of 8000 fans in the Schleyerhalle.

A stormy-rough sea rages over the video screens, the band on the blue shimmering stage plays a cantankerously excited sea 
voyager polka called "The Storm", which sometimes appears to be a rocker, sometimes a conversion of the shanty ""hat Shall We 
Do With The Drunken Sailor". And at the front of the stage, seemingly untouched by the raging storm around him, Chris de Burgh 
sings about how great the taste of the salty sea breeze.

Earlier, an ouverture introduced into the smuggler ballad, which is the centerpoint of the three hours show on Saturday night, while 
the stage curtain is still closed. And already during "Have A Care", when Chris de Burgh sings about the beginning of the 
adventurous journey of the 15 year old John Trenchard, 8000 listeners, among which supposedly is the leaving prime minister Stefan 
Mappus, present the song euphorically clapping a stomping beat.

Wonderfully old-fashioned

The current Chris de Burgh album "Moonfleet & Other Stories" is a wonderfully old-fashioned record, a concept album, that tells John 
Meade Falkner's novel "Moonfleet", decorated in a rocky folklore way - and that obviously has gotten its name because it is similar to 
the classic "Spanish Train & Other Stories". This best of all Chris de Burgh records is from the year 1975. That he has been making 
music for so long, is reason enough for the 62 year old Irishman to make some jokes: "I have given concerts here in Stuttgart, when 
many of you were not even born yet.", he says. 

The live production of the new songs somewhat sound really as if they were from these earlier times, when Chris de Burgh still made 
folklore and wasn't best known for his tear jerkers. There is the mellow waltz "Moonfleet Bay", the rocky "Treasure & Betrayal", the 
hymn "Go Where Your Heart Believes", in which Chris de Burgh announces, that the heart is always right. But even in his new songs 
he can be really schmaltzy, like he presents in "My Heart's Surrender", where a synthesizer has to replace the orchestra.

The cheesy moments, which were always part of de Burgh's work, have become more obtrusive during the years. Pop has replaced 
the folk. The affectionate, mawkish, pathetical, comtemplative dominates meanwhile even the louder tracks. And even during the mini 
rock opera "Spanish Train", which he tried to interprete close to the original, Chris de Burgh doesn't completely manage in Stuttgart 
to imitate the drama, that was the center of the ballad around the devilish game of poker during a trainride between Guadalquivir and 
Old Seville.

Soft, swaying, schmaltzy

Even when the rocky numbers like "The Getaway" or "High On Emotion" appear to be quite loud in the final: The soft, swaying and 
schmaltzy aspect of Chris de Burgh's song interpretations is stuck. It becomes most obvious during the tear jerker "Lady In Red", 
when Chris de Burgh walks during the encores through the audience and gets hugged over a hundred times.

It would have been exciting to experience how de Burgh produces his Moonfleet story live as a concept work. But since he didn't 
want to wait with his hits until the encore, he tatters the story, removes the dark-romantical atmosphere, and gets lost in the 
meantime during the "Missing You" foxtrot, sings in "People Of The World" an anthem for peace, and gets standing ovations for his 
lyrical line "I will never know how men can see the wisdom in a war" in Borderline.

"Only when you really believe in what you sing, you can provoke something", he says afterwards very moved, but then he has to 
interrupt the show again, because the fans, who still believe he is a schlager singer, bring flowers and presents to the stage.