This is the 2nd concert of the festival series Live at Sunset which I am attending. It’s been already 2 weeks since I’ve seen Naturally 7 and Mary J. Blige there. Thanks to a good deal we were able to afford a 2nd concert. Katie Melua hasn’t been very active lately and this is one of only 5 concerts this year.
To be honest with you I was very sceptical about this concert since I really don’t like her song “9 million bicycles”. I’ve realised now it’s because if I hear that song just once a day it will be stuck in my head forever!
For the 3rd song “Crawling Up A Hill” I decided to sit down and listen to the song with my eyes closed. I think it was a great idea so I could listen to her voice without any distraction. I did this because Seven asked us to do this at his set at the Gurtenfestival and I really enjoyed it so I had to try it with her too.
Katie explaining stories
Before every song she would explain the story behind it and this is something I really enjoy. So her concert consists of 21 little stories told by a silky voice. Katie Melua is one hell of a songwriter who turns a story into a song. She stood there with her guitar with 4 other awesome musicians and turned this into a wonderful quiet concert. (I was really glad since I had a massive headache that day)
After the “Plane Song” it started to rain or should I say pour down! So Katie said “Ohh has it started to rain? Should we wait until you put your ponchos on?” I loved that! We went to sit in the back because I wasn’t particularly keen on getting soaked since I’m battleing a cold anyway. As soon as I sat down I got a text by a friend telling me that Chester Bennington committed suicide and I didn’t know why but I suddenly felt really sad and Katie’s next few slow song increased that feeling.
Katie Melua with a beautiful sky
Luckily she decided to cover Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” and this lifted my spirit. I love this song and Katie Melua should be doing more up-tempo songs. It really suits her. I think this was my favourite song of the night. Then there was a little break so people could use the restrooms and stock up on drinks.
“Thank you Stars” is a wonderful song and my favourite of the 2nd part of the show.
Some call it faith, some call it love
Some call it guidance from above
You are the reason we found ours
So thank you stars
Aren’t these beautiful lyrics?
After “Perfect World” she sang her hit song “Nine Million Bicycles” and the audience “Ahh’d” and “Ohh’d” and I thought please don’t be singing this song 🙂 And of course this song stuck in my head all night!
Me and my guitar
For the two encore songs she stood alone on stage just with her guitar and her beautiful voice. She covered Shirley Bassey’s “Diamonds are forever” and sang “I Cried For You”. A very slow and quiet finish but it suited her and the whole concert. I enjoyed the concert but I don’t think I would see her again. She is a cute girl but I don’t particularly fancy her music even if I loved a few songs of her.
P.S: Have a look at the title of the set list. THE greatest set list ever!! Isn’t this too funny? 🙂
Katie Melua set list
How did you like the concert? Please let me know in the comments below!
Gurtenfestival is placed in the capital city of Switzerland in Berne on the hill called Gurten. A proper citizen of Berne would call it „Güsche“. Now thanks to the advent calendar of Ticketcorner I’m able to go to the festival for 4 days and have some VIP amenities available too. I didn’t know beforehand how grateful I would be for that special treatment.
VIP area
Day 1
This year the festival started on Wednesday instead of Thursday. But still so many people queued up to get their ticket changed into a wristband. After that they had to wait another 1 ½ hrs to get to the Gurtenbähnli to bring them up the hill. Lucky me I could jump the queue and walk straight in. The VIP area is really nice and on Day 1 there weren’t too many people there either.
Rag’N’Bone Man
First main act was Rag’N’Bone Man who sang again very well. Although I couldn’t really hear that much because of the chatter of the people around me. I really don’t understand how people can spend that much money and waste it on chit chat. We went on to see Nothing but Thieves who were good but I cannot put my finger on what was missing in their performance so that I cannot say: „Ohh I would see them again“.
Nothing but Thieves
Royal Blood was the next act on the mainstage but they weren’t my favourite either so we chilled in the lounge area. Unfortunately it was really cold and windy and very uncomfortable. So we were glad when we could walk over to the tent stage where we saw an amazing Jack Garratt. He looks like a kid who didn’t get what he wanted but God he’s good and he is really funny too! He started to play very famous songs by Justin Timberlake or Michael Jackson and then stopped. It was kinda frustrating but also very funny. At the same time Dabu Fantastic a Swiss band was playing the forest stage. Since I knew how good they were I preferred to see someone I haven’t seen before. We only heard the last bit when we had to leave the tent to be early for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
Macklemore
As always the two American lads put on a great show and the audience loved them. However I liked them better the last time I saw them at Hallenstadion when they had the full show going. At the end they held their traditional dance off with two random people from the crowd and wow they were really really good. Macklemore said it was one of the best dance off’s they’d ever seen and I have to agree. To finish the night we watched a bit of From Kid who were okay but couldn’t really catch my attention and so we headed home soon after.
From Kid on Waldbühne
Day 2
Pegasus
I was very looking forward to see Pegasus after I’ve seen them a week before on the ferry on lake Zurich. Again they didn’t disappoint. At 3.30 they had a lot of people in front of the mainstage and had them dancing and singing and waving and jumping. They are just an incredible live band! We then headed to a band from Zurich called Faber. They are Swiss but sing in German which is quite special. Next act on the mainstage was Lo & Leduc. I was really excited to see them in their home city at this brilliant festival. They were blown away by how many people turned up. They told us that they played one of the bars, then the Waldbühne, then the Zeltbühne and now the mainstage. It was an awesome 1 ½ hrs set until they finally had to make way for the next act.
Lo & Leduc with Manilio
We heard the last bit of Nemo who is a very young Swiss German Rapper but I really like his upbeat feel-good sound. It was finally time for Imagine Dragons. I’ve also already seen them at Hallenstadion like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis the day before and I also liked that concert better than this Gurtenfestival appearance. Maybe it was because I stood in the VIP area and not very close to the stage where I think the people had good fun. Funny enough after what felt like 20mins they turned off the lights completely on stage and for a very long time too. People thought it was already the usual walk off-walk on-encore part but I was like this is way too early. It turned out that it was some kind of power cut as the singer Dan Reynolds couldn’t hear anything in his in-ears. Few minutes later the show went on and like Coldplay’s bell I heard the drum sound in “Radioactive” really clearly for the first time.
Imagine Dragons
To round off Day 2 we decided to see Trust. This band has already very famous band members such as Stress and Gabriel Spahni from Pegasus. Stress was actually singing which is quite different to what he usually does. In the end the tired eyes won and we headed down.
Day 3
Lucky Chops
Unfortunately I had to work on day 3 so I only got up the hill for the 2nd main act Züri West. I thought the crowd would react similar to Lo & Leduc and create an incredible atmosphere but that wasn’t the case. The band didn’t interact with the audience and didn’t sing all their famous hits. Overall everyone was very disappointed. My concert buddy had the joy to see Lucky Chops before this main act. And she really liked them. They’re an instrumental band and good fun!
Casper
We also caught a bit of the performance of LP but we still don’t fancy her live voice a lot. Casper’s set must have been very good because when we reached the main stage the whole crowd did the usual rap/hip hop moves by moving one arm up and down. From my experience Hip Hop concerts have the best atmosphere. We headed to the tent stage next where we saw a German band called SDP. They had a punk rock feel and some very racy lyrics. I quite liked their performance and at one point they had huge beach balls bouncing off the audiences’ hands.
oznor
cof
To finish this evening Fritz Kalkbrenner sang behind his turn tables. He started with: “Hallo ich bin Fritz und ich fang dann jetzt mal an!”. I’ve never heard a funnier start. He continued being funny throughout the set and he seemed very down to earth to me. I realized that his music is not my kinda cup of tea but I did enjoy his set and many other late night party dancers would agree.
Fritz Kalkbrenner
Day 4
The day I was anticipating the most and it turned out to be my favourite day! Somehow there weren’t a lot of people anymore even though it was a Saturday or maybe we caught the best time to get food and found good spots at concerts. Anyway it was a very chilled fun day.
sdr
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We started front row with Saint Motel on the main stage. What an awesome band! They have good up-tempo music to dance to. The saxophone was great but my highlight was when the lead singer walked through the crowd to the sound tower on the other side and climbed up. It looked very funny. Another highlight and a speciality of this festival is the dancing security. You won’t find any grim unfriendly looking security here. They help you in any way they can and even start dance moves.
Veronica Fusaro on Waldbühne
Since Kate Tempest was late we decided to see Veronica Fusaro also a Swiss singer on the Waldbühne. What a wonderful setting. The stage is facing a steep part of the Gurten hill so people can sit down or even stand and everyone can see the artists down there. Veronica has a beautiful voice and good songs – perfect for the occasion, a hot sunny summer day. Close to the end we headed for Kate Tempest on the Zeltbühne – big mistake. We didn’t like her at all. She has a weird way of rapping and her songs seemed to me like she was trying to convince me to join a cult or something similar.
oznor
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Seven was absolutely brilliant. He made everyone dancing, singing and clapping. It was an amazing show by awesome musicians giving their all to us. They visibly enjoyed playing and this is automatically transferred onto the audience. 1 1/2hrs of pure joy! Thank you for that.
Beginner
Unfortunately we couldn’t see Asgeir an Islandic musician but he is supposed to be very good. Next up were Beginner a hip hop combo from Hamburg who have been successful for years. They created a beautiful colourful set on stage and also gave a 110% on stage. What I personally liked was that they were actually promoting the next act Marteria as well. There was no visible competition between them. My favourite words from Jan Delay was: “We need all your energy – oh wait no – you need energy for Marteria too. This is what you’re going to do. Give us all your energy, then load it up again with all those energy stations around this place and be ready to give all your energy to Marteria again.” Loved it J Death by Chocolate was too rocky for us so we went to see Walk off the Earth. Brilliant decision. They are an incredible live band. We loved their own songs and the covers they did. Awesome musicians who I would like to see again.
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Finally, the act I was waiting for, took the stage at 12.30pm. Marteria absolutely rocked the 20’000 people at Gurtenfestival. I have no words to describe this. Before every song he said “Alle Hände” and all hands went up. We danced, we sang, we rapped, we jumped, we enjoyed every minute of this 1 1/2hrs set. During his song “Marteria Girl” he asked the guys to take all the Marteria Girls on their shoulders. At that exact moment I knew I needed to find a tall, big strong guy who will join me for Marteria’s concert in Zurich on Dec, 9th 17! J During the last song it was total “Abriss” which you can translate to “Go totally mental”. Marteria took off his shirt and asked everyone to do so as well and swing it above their heads. (Me being a pro I took a scarf with me… Hello I’m still a girl ;-)) During the final final 20 secs he created a mosh pit and on his commando everyone jumped into it.
Marteria is on FIRE
The party went on all night until the sun greeted us with an amazing sunrise which looked like painted by Bob Ross. The clouds turned purple and Marteria’s biggest hit so far “Wir bleiben wach bis die Wolken wieder lila sind” came true. Just a brilliant finish to a wonderful 4 day Gurtenfestival in Berne with amazing weather. I have to say thank you to Ticketcorner for this incredible prize and to Gurtenfestival for these many special moments with great artists and to my lovely concert buddy.
For weeks I was excited to see this wonderful band of 7 singers aka musicians at this beautiful venue at sunset. So when the time came instead of sunshine it was pouring rain. But as soon as they took the stage the sun came out and it was magical.
Live at Sunset
We know what to expect but it is always interesting to see how people who don’t know Naturally 7 react to them when they hear them for the first time. After just one song they had the whole audience cheering. Everyone loved them! This happens every time we see them and it was brilliant to see that even in a posh venue with expensive ticket prices people react the same way.
I was basically dancing on my seat and already the 2nd song was my favourite “Jericho”. What makes a Naturally 7 performance so great is not only the mesmerising vocal play but also their performance. They are not just standing there like a normal a cappella group. They have proper dance routines and what makes it incredible is that they are imitating the instruments. So you see and hear what normal musicians do but there are no instruments!! Every sound is created by their voices. Unbelievable.
“Wall of Sound” and “Feel it (in the air tonight” followed and by now they gained a few new fans of their incomparable sound. Then they talk to you and explain why they sing songs and you feel like you get to know them just a little bit. So three of them are born in England which makes the next song perfect: “Englishmen in New York”. They mix a little “New York” by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys into the song and the two Jamaicans bring some reggae “One Love” by Bob Marley to the table.
Naturally 7
Two weeks ago I was able to witness “Fix you” by Coldplay and yesterday by Naturally 7 and both versions are brilliant. Unfortunately after an hour they had to finish their set to make way to Mary J. Blige. Little did I know that the best part of the evening was over.
I tried my best to describe this bands performance but only if you see them live you really understand what they are about. Lucky for us they are on tour this fall to promote their newest record “Both Sides Now” which will be released October, 13th. I will be reviewing the album on this blog in the new music category. After a few US shows they tour the Netherlands and France and yes! also Zurich, Switzerland again. Check out their website for US, France and the Netherlands dates: Naturallyseven.com . Tickets for their show in Zurich on Nov, 7th at Kaufleuten are still available. Follow this link: kaufleuten.ch
new album coming out soon
Naturally 7 have agreed to give me my first interview for this blog. I am so grateful to them and I was really excited to meet Roger Thomas, musical director, and his brother Warren, drums. Yesterday’s venue was quite special. What was your most special venue you’ve ever played in? Roger: This is a hard question. Things are special for different reasons. About six years ago we played Montreux for Quincy Jones’ 75th Birthday. What made this one special was that we were scheduled to sing only one song. All the people on the show were his friends, Legends Herbie Hancock, Patti Austin. He didn’t know who we were. We were there because of Claude Nobs. During the performance of Wall of Sound Quincy got up and you could see he was so excited “Who are these guys?” and right after we finished he came on stage wanted to know who we were and where we came from and how do we do what we do and we became friends from that point on. So I think that was a nice day. Warren: Yeah, that was really special. Places that we performed that were special are of course Madison Square Garden because that’s home. It is always special to play there because it’s a legendary place. In London the Royal Albert Hall and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. When people ask us around the world where are some of the better places you performed we always say Zurich and I’m not just saying that because that’s where we are now. But anytime we played like Kaufleuten or Club x-tra there is always a good energy – as you know. We get that in other places too but it’s always consistent in Zurich. It’s one of those places when you see it on the tour calendar that you look forward to. Really? Usually Swiss people are quite reserved. Roger: That’s what they tell us. But for us – we’ve never seen that. Yes, your show is special for example yesterday it’s quite a posh place and you rocked it. So people we’re like hold on who are they? Roger: Yes, because they don’t know us. For us it’s always fun to play a show like yesterday where the majority of the people are probably not that familiar with us. It cost a lot of money so maybe they don’t respond the way Zurich usually does but that’s never the case. So you do realise on stage when people are mesmerised by you when they see you for the first time? Roger: That’s our goal when they hear us for the first time. That’s why we played with Michael Bublé. We knew that people did not come because of us and didn’t know what to expect – some guys who sing prior to Michael. Our job is not just to warm up the crowd but take you away as fans. So you say I like those guys and I want to see them after the show. That’s what happened to me. I knew you but I didn’t know how good you are live and every time you come here now I go see you. Roger: And we appreciate that. So from stage we do realise that people turn their heads sideways and go what exactly is going on and by the end of the 2nd/3rd song they go like “I like them”. We try to make sure that we give the best performance we can possibly give. One guy next to us was exactly like that! Warren: For someone like you who’s seen us you say to people like that wait till you see them. So the same thing that you do is what we do. We know that people do that as well. You changed your formation quite a bit over time. How did you manage to stay a unity on stage? Roger: Well five of us are still the same so really it was the two positions that changed twice. So three people have sung the bass and the guitar. So the fact that the base is still the same keeps that same sound. But it’s hard to find a bass or any position and do what we do. So we feel blessed that we found the right people all the time. So to me it’s quite special because the bass does sound more or less the same every time I see you guys even though the people changed. Roger: We knew Kelz from before. We all come from a church back ground where we know different singers. But everybody can’t do it. To be honest if we loose a member we first are afraid because you will always loose something. It’s not like you are having a bass or guitar player and when the new guy comes he just plays the same thing. Even then it’s not exactly the same but with singing even more so. Nobody sings exactly the same. And of course his personality is important. We all live together and I spend as much time with the group as I do with my real family – if not more. So we feel truly blessed that the 7 guys you see on stage really get along. We are like a family so we have our ups and downs and fight about this or that but most of the time everything is very good. Us fans we do realise this on stage. Roger: Yes, you can see it. It’s hard to hide. People try to hide those things on stage but you can see it. We really like each other. Warren: Also the outgoing members. They didn’t leave in a fight. They left because of family reasons. We still talk to them, they are still our friends, we still see them from time to time. They live in the same community as we do. So we understand if they leave because they want to spend more time with their family. If we are in town we tell them to come to our show or we call on them – which has happened before – that our old members filled in for the new ones. We still have a good relationship. That is great! So I’ve read a few things how you founded the group but how did you come up with this special idea to play instruments with your voices? Roger: We started in church and sang harmonies together. How do you make yourself different from the next group. Warren and I are brothers and our father was very instrumental. When we were watching Marvin Gaye he taught us what made him different or Michael Jackson – this is what makes him different. So as a group we were looking to do something different. You know because we are from the Bronx, New York, Queens all these different sections. We like hip hop. Let’s combine the things we like beat boxing that type of thing with R&B, Gospel and Pop. All the things we know and then Jazz too. It’s the Bobby McFerrin’s of the world and Jazz that imitates instruments. What if we bring all those things together. It’s no different than a chef. A chef brings all those things together and you taste something for the first time. Really is it something new? No it’s not. New as in they made something up and in bringing things together that you haven’t tasted together before. Warren: They add a little mint to the steak. Never had mint to a steak and then you go: Oh that actually works. Very good comparison. Roger: So this is what we did. We brought these things together over the years and once we found out Warren can do the drums we can build a foundation – we realised we need a bass. Don’t just sing words we need instruments. Little by little we evolved. We can all be part of this band and imitate instruments. So that became the goal to this point where can we walk on stage and somebody has never ever seen us before goes: “Ohhh” *Surprising sound*. We sound like a band and that’s the goal. Like you saw last night I don’t know how many hundreds of people have never seen us before but how long does it take for them to go like this. Warren: Towards the end of the show you want them to actually forget that we are doing it all with our voices. We want to enjoy themselves because we are almost competing with a real band that’s there. They figured out what we are doing, sounds great, now can they just enjoy the music. Roger: When we sing Englishmen in New York we want them to just enjoy the song. We’ve already established that we’re a band and now enjoy the song. We feel like we’ve accomplished this and it’s taken time and we are going out of our way to make it look easy because that looks good. Warren: It takes time and hard work and talented people and voices. If you compete with the sounds of a band you need to make sure that the person who’s mixing it can make that come across. Thank you for doing this interview. I am so very grateful.
Die deutsche Konzertkritik fängt gleich nach der englischen an. Siehe unten.
International readers might not know Pegasus but after this post you will want to see them live. They are a Swiss band founded in 2003 and since then became one of the best and biggest we have in this country. They released a new record on June, 9th called beautiful life with a big bright sun like on the cover shot.
Pegasus under the morning sun
So when Radio Zürisee had to decide on a venue for their newest showcase they obviously chose a location where the sun is shining bright. This morning at 8am (!) on a ferry on Lake Zürich I witnessed one of the most special concerts I’ve ever been to. Only 300 lucky winners were able to enjoy this wonderful gig which lasted a little over an hour.
We started off in Horgen when Noah Veraguth, Gabriel Spahni, Stefan Brenner and two other musicians took this special stage at the back of the ferry Meilen. Two songs of the new album “Get over you” and “Lost to be found” were performed and with the first few chords of the guitars they had everyone going. This special venue and those wonderful human beings and musicians made it very easy to enjoy this concert.
Up on the balcony
The next two songs “Rise Up” and “Technology” kicked off their career. It was so nice to see that they loved this gig as much as we did. Only smiles were to be seen around the ferry Meilen. Next up were “God knows” – a song written by Noah and Gabriel in London – “Fragments” and “Streets of my Hometown”. During “Skyline” – a proper stadium song on which everyone can sing along – the lead singer walked through the crowd and up to the top part of the ferry. With the crowd’s “oh oh oh” he came back again only to go straight to next song “Last Night on Earth”.
Singing “Oh oh oh”
“I take it all” and the encore “Beautiful live” were supposed to be the last songs. But no-one wanted to go back ashore so two song wishes from the audience “Digital Kids” and “Man on Mars” were played. Eventually the captain lead us back to Horgen and everyone was able to get signatures and pictures with them. Roger Rhyner, head of music at Radio Zürisee, found the best words: We will tell our grandkids about this gig! He was right.
Seit der Gründung von Pegasus in 2003 mauserten sich die drei “Bieler Giele” zu einer der grössten Schweizer Bands. Am 9. Juni erschien ihr neues Album Beautiful Life mit einer riesigen gelben Sonne auf dem Cover.
Looking up to the sun
Als sich Radio Zürisee für ihr neuestes Showcase einen Veranstaltungsort aussuchen mussten, wollten sie eins bei dem die Sonne im Vordergrund stand – passend zum Album. Heute Morgen um 8 Uhr (!) durfte ich eines meiner speziellsten Konzerte auf einer Fähre auf dem Zürichsee erleben. Nur 300 glückliche Gewinner kamen in den Genuss dieser wundervollen Show.
Noch in Horgen betraten Noah Veraguth, Gabriel Spahni, Stefan Brenner und zwei weitere Musiker diese besondere Bühne am Ende der Fähre Meilen. Zwei neue Songs des neuen Albums “Get over you” und “Lost to be found” wurden performt und mit den ersten Klängen der Gitarren hatten sie bereits alle in der Tasche. Diese einzigartige Lage und diese tollen Menschen machten es sehr einfach, das Konzert zu geniessen.
“God Knows”
Die nächsten zwei Lieder “Rise Up” und “Technology” starteten die Karriere von Pegasus. Es war schön zu sehen, dass auch die Musiker Spass an diesem tollen Showcase hatten. Man konnte nur lächelnde Menschen auf der Fähre Meilen sehen. Als nächstes waren die Songs “God knows” – welcher von Noah und Gabriel in London geschrieben wurde – “Fragments” und “Streets of my Hometown” dran. Während “Skyline” – eine richtige Stadionhymne, die zum Mitsingen animiert – lief der Leadsänger durch das Publikum auf den “Balkon” der Fähre. Während wir weiterhin “Oh oh oh” sangen, kam er zurück auf die Bühne, nur um sofort das nächste Lied “Last Night on Earth” zu spielen.
“Mached mal öppis!”
“I take it all” und die Zugabe “Beautiful Life” waren eigentlich die zwei letzten geplanten Songs. Aber niemand wollte zurück nach Horgen und deshalb nahm Pegasus zwei Musikwünsche des Publikums entgegen. “Digital Kids” und “Man on Mars” rundeten dieses wunderbare Konzert ab. Letzten Endes fuhr uns der Kapitän nach einer kleinen Ehrenrunde zurück zum Steg auf der linken Seite des Zürichsees. Natürlich konnten sich alle Autogramme und Fotos bei Pegasus holen. Roger Rhyner, Musikchef von Radio Zürisee, fand die besten Abschlussworte:
Wir werden noch unseren Enkeln von diesem Konzert erzählen!
Und wie recht er hat 🙂 Wart ihr auch dabei oder habt zugehört? Gerne würde ich eure Meinung lesen mit dem unten angehängten Formular.
For years I didn’t like Coldplay at all. I changed the radio station as soon as they would come on. But recently I had a change of heart. The new music from their album “Kaleidoscope” I really love and last year when they performed at Letzigrund Zürich I went to have a look outside the stadium which actually impressed me. Then I found out that Chris Martin, lead singer, is actually funny. So two weeks ago on a silly little whim I asked one of my concert buddies if she fancied going to Frankfurt to see them. Luckily she was crazy enough to say yes. After a four hour train ride we arrived at the beautiful Hotel Le Méridien close to the main station. This left us only a few hours until show time.
Supporting Acts
Coldplay had two supports for their gig at the Commerzbank Arena formerly known as Waldstadion which usually hosts Bundesliga football club Eintracht Frankfurt. First up was Femme Schmidt who’s a German singer famous for her first single “Golden”. She performed okay but couldn’t get the crowd going.
Tove Lo was up next and had a great 45min set. She sang her two hits “Stay High” and “Talking Body”. She did a brilliant job and got me dancing and singing. I will definitely check out her record since I liked the other songs too. During the following break someone started a mexican wave which just wouldn’t stop.
Intro
Finally after a 15min delay opera sound started to fill the stadium – a very unsual intro. A video which showed where they’ve been with this tour and two fans from Sweden, their latest stop on the tour, sent their love to Frankfurt, Germany and again two fans appeared bearing a German flag wishing us a great show.
THE SHOW
The crowd was incredible and thanks to Coldplay’s brilliant idea of giving each fan a Xyloband around their wrists – a light which they can control – you could see each and everyone. I was mesmerized by it. They also lit a few fireworks and blew confetti in the air during the first song… some artists finish like this.
Chris Martin told us that it’s going to be the last German show for a while so we should better be enjoying ourselves. I think we all did. We gave them everything we had and they did as well. It was a 2+ hour show full of energy. Which I also liked a lot was what he said next:
I appreciate you coming here. I understand the hassle of travelling, queuing and paying outrageous prices for a drink but you still show up. Thank you for that!
After a few old songs like “Paradise” and “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” and “The Scientist” Coldplay changed to the B-stage in the middle of the stadium. A small minus was that a lot of people couldn’t see them there because the pillars for the lights were in the way. Luckily we were able to change our position to see them better.
“Magic”, a favourite of mine, “Princess of China” and “Everglow” were performed there. When they changed back to the main stage I really needed a break! 🙂 My resting didn’t last long though. After an hour and 10mins they played the song I liked most “Hymn for the Weekend”. The creative team did this brilliant song justice and we saw flames rise to the top and while Chris was running down the runway coloured confetti was blown up which looked like a lovely rainbow. To calm down “Fix You” was next.
Hymn for the weekend
They started “Viva la Vida” but stopped it after a few seconds. Chris then asked us to put our phones away for one song and just enjoy the atmosphere, the song and the moment. It was the first time I heard that famous bell clearly. It was a revelation and the song was over way too quick. They followed it with the song which made me fall in love with Coldplay “Adventures of a Lifetime”. The colourful interactive show got even more playfull when they released big balloons which got thrown up by the standing crowd. It looked incredibly fun and makes me want to be standing at the next Coldplay concert.
Adventures of a Lifetime
Even the people at the back got to see them closely when the band changed onto the C-stage for a few slow songs and for us to take a break and breathe and just enjoy the brilliant musicians without any distractions. I really liked when Chris Martin introduced the other members of the band and made some jokes about them.
oznor
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Coldplay finished the phenomenal show back on the A-stage with their latest song “Something just like this”, “A Sky Full of Stars” and another slow song “Up&Up”. Martin sent us home with the words:
Thank you for coming, safe journey home and God bless you all
On our way home I still could see all the lights when I closed my eyes. If you haven’t seen them live, go do it! An over two hour gig with beautiful songs, amazing appreciative musicians and a wonderful show is not easy to find these days. So hats off to Coldplay, they know how to play live and to make us happy! Visit their homepage Tour for dates. Have you been to one of their shows? Let me know how you liked them in the comment section below.
Yesterday Depeche Mode brought their Global Spirit Tour to Zurich’s Stadion Letzigrund. The three british musicians – Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andew Fletcher – sold over 100 million records worldwide and are one of the most popular electronic bands ever.
So we spontineously decided to go see them live on a beautiful summer evening. Luckily we found tickets outside the stadium and first sat down where the posh seats are situated. Big mistake! The people around us were very arrogant and nitpicky. In the end we weren’t as close anymore but had the better audience and much more space to dance and sit.
One silly little crowd story I have to tell you because it’s so funny. This one guy didn’t look very drunk but apparently he was. He was seated in the middle of my sector and at some point he decided to go down to dance. With a beer in his hand he tried to walk down the stairs unfortunately he lost his balance pretty quickly und stumbled down. Amazingly he didn’t fall at all but his beer was empty when he arrived at the bottom. Poor guy! 😉
At quarter past 8 the first synthie sounds echoed around the stadium. The next 60 minutes were filled with newer songs and they did have a good rhythm but weren’t spectacular so I decided to have a closer look and so I was able to walk easily almost to the front. The lead singer – Dave Gahan – has amazing charisma and his smile is adorable.
The second part of the concert was filled with hits and dancy songs. “Wrong” and “Enjoy the Silence” were my favourite because the whole stadium – 30000 people – started to dance and wave and sing thanks to Dave who stood in the midst of his fans and orchestrated us to his gusto. The show didn’t need any fireworks or a lot of light effects.
The 5 encore songs were mostly slow ones and showcased the beautiful voice of Martin Gore. The synthie pop band closed their show with one of their biggest hits “Personal Jesus” after two hours of pure joy written on everyone’s faces including the band.
I might not have been born yet when Depeche Mode hat their biggest hits but I had the best time at yesterday’s concert. Like Guns N’ Roses you could feel that they love what they do and they have been doing it successfully for years. It is like the say: Oldie but Goldie! 🙂
Have you been to Depeche Mode at Letzigrund? Let me know what you thought in the comment section below.
Capital FM’s Summertime Ball returns to Wembley for the 7th time. Roman Kemp announced all 26 artists during his breakfast programme. Unfortunately two days before the concert Maroon 5 cancelled their appearance due to double booking. ( As always! My advice: NEVER book a Maroon 5 concert in advance ) They were replaced by Sigala and Liam Payne.
Before the Ball kicked off a black and white screen appeared and read the following message.
TODAY IS DEDICATED TO MUSIC
TO MANCHESTER
TO LONDON
TO FANS
TO FUN
TO PEACE
It’s a touching tribute to the victims of the two terror attacks. It gave me time to send prayers to the angels in heaven and to hope that everyone will be safe today.
After this moment of silence Bruno Mars kicked it off with style – dancing and singing guaranteed. “24k Magic”, “Treasure”, “That’s what I like”, “Runaway Baby”, “Locked out of Heaven” and finally his “Uptown Funk” got everyone to their feets. It seemed like he didn’t want to leave the stage and I love every minute of his set. When he finally finished I couldn’t believe that we still got 7 hours of this ahead of us. Surely it couldn’t stay this good.
Bruno Mars
Zara Larsson took the stage and I was really disappointed. The sound was awful and her voice sounded so bad. Stormzy followed and I loved his three song set. If you don’t know him follow this blog for more info to come.
Olly Murs was glorious! He seemed to be in a great mood and you cannot beat his sassiness on stage. “Wrapped up”, “Heart skips a beat” (I forgot how much I love this song!), “Kiss Me”, “Unpredictable” and Louisa Johnsons first apprearance, “Dance with me tonight” and his final song “Troublemaker”. After Olly finished Louisa came back on and also her sound seemed very off.
Clean Bandit claimed the stage and all I could look at was how incredible Grace Chatto looked! Dressed in white with fringy trousers and little mirror pieces in her hair. The current voices of Clean Bandit were amazing and again Louisa Johnson appeared to sing her song with them. The highlight of the set was when Sean Paul and Anne-Marie came on to sing “Rockabye”. Both are scheduled to perform some more songs.
Clean Bandit, Anne-Marie and Sean Paul
Martin Jensen DJed one song and left. Something to forget. But this girl Dua Lipa she totally surprised me. Her voice was incredible and the only one who had power behind it. Louisa and Zara had nothing on her. Her hits “Hotter than Hell”, “Be the One”, “Scared to be lonely” and finally her new song “Blow your Mind” made you dance and sing! Well done! Her set was followed by just one song by Jax Jones & Raye.
A lot of girls (including me) have been waiting for Shawn Mendes to come on and he started with the same song ” There’s nothing holding me back” like he did his concert in May at Hallenstadion Zurich. For the concert review please go to the concert section of my blog. Of course the set wasn’t complete without “Stitches”, “Ruin”, “Mercy” and the “Castle on the Hill/Treat you better” crossover. Good times!
Sigala a DJ was next – time for a toilet break – thankfully I came back just as Ella Eyre surprised us. She is one of my favourite female voices and I’ve never seen her live so this was my personal highlight of the evening! Sigala’s last song surprised even Capital FM when Craig David appeared. JP Cooper followed Sigala’s DJ set with two feel good songs. If you want to see him live in Zurich he will be here on 14th November 2017 in Papiersaal ( Get tickets via Starticket ).
James Arthur – who I’ve seen live before – sang 4 songs and yes he has a gorgeous voice but he always seems very arrogant and annoyed and he didn’t sing his biggest song which is a mistake. And another – very cute – DJ followed James Arthur. Zedd played his biggest hits including “Break Free” by Ariana Grande. I sent another little prayer up to heaven. During his last song “Starving” Hailee Steinfield came on. After that a band called 5 after Midnight who I haven’t heard of sang and danced. Apparently they came 3rd on X Factor. Time to check Twitter and Instagram…
Charlie Puth was blown away by us – 80’000 people – singing back to him. His reaction was just so adorable and kept going “this is amazing” and shaking his head in disbelief. I would go see him live now after his 4 song set (Marvin Gaye, We don’t talk anymore, See you again – goosebumps guaranteed, and his newest song Attention). Unfortunately he is touring the US at the moment so dates for Switzerland anytime soon.
Charlie Puth
Finally Anne-Marie sang her “Alarm” and “Ciao Adios” hits. Since she supported Bruno Mars in May in Zurich we thought she had to jet off to Lisbon too but apparently not. Bruno was long gone and she was still here and did a brilliant job! Liam Payne – the first 1D boy of the night – performed his only single “Strip that down” – veeery sexy.
The best voice of the evening Rag’N’Bone Man shone bright with “Human” and “Skin”. Wow each time I am so amazed by his voice. It is just incredible. If you haven’t seen him live – GO SEE HIM! He plays a few festivals this summer only one in Switzerland (Gurtenfestival) though. Julia Michaels had no chance after this guy.
Rag’N’Bone Man
For the final hour Capital prepared three highlights! First up was Sean Paul who we have seen a little sneak peak of during Clean Bandits performance. Now we had the full 30mins of Reggae to enjoy and boy we did. He is Mr. summer hit song since 2012 with “Get Busy”. Of course this was the perfect way to kick it off. “Cheap Thrills”, “Baby Boy”, “Breathe”, “Trumpets”, “Gimme the light”, “Like Glue”, Got 2 Luv U”, “No Lie” – Hello Dua Lipa again!, “Body” and “Temperature” followed. Let me tell you my thighs were burning from dancing and it took my last energy. After 6 hours of screaming, singing and dancing I was exhausted but so so happy!
Sean Paul
Niall Horan – 2nd 1D boy of the night – took the stage and gave us a perfect rendition of his first solo hit “Slow Hands”. Phone lights came up and this song stuck in my head for days.
Little Mix had the honour to close the show. The biggest girl band at the moment brought the sassiness back on stage. After “Touch”, “No More Sad Songs” and “Wings” Sean Paul was brought back and for the first time ever they performed “Hair” live. They finished with “Black Magic” -one of my favourite songs -, “Power” and “Shout out to my Ex”.
Little Mix with the Wembley Arch
To sum up my favourites were Bruno Mars and Sean Paul because they made us dance and sing and enjoy the moment. Dua Lipa surprised me the most and had the best female voice. After the Ball finished we walked to the tube station but we had to wait since there were too many people at the station already. So someone started “Wonderwall” by Oasis and everyone joined in. Ariana’s “One last time” and Oasis’ “Don’t look back in Anger” was sung too. I had goose-bumps. To lighten it up a boy shouted “Oggy oggy oggy”, the crowd replied “Oi, oi, oi”. The brits are just the masters of concert entertainment! 🙂
Last night the Rock Legends Guns N’ Roses brought their “Not in this lifetime” tour to Zurich. It is the first tour in over 20 years where Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan are reunited after their fall out in the 90’s.
I’m not overly familiar with the songs but they are Legends so I had to see them. Unfortunately the tickets were super expensive and I thought I’d gamble and try to win tickets or go to the stadium and buy them there. Luckily it paid off! I’ve found two tickets for myself and my friend which are way below the official price. I am very grateful to the two men selling them. Rockers have a good genuine heart!
It was announced that the security will be ramped up due to the Manchester attack two weeks ago. Only fanny packs or small A5 bags for women are allowed and basically everything is banned from the stadium. They already apologized for a possible waiting time. When I got there it looked like a lot of people but I was inside the venue within a few minutes. It was organized brilliantly.
First thing I noticed once inside is that every second person was wearing a Guns N’ Roses shirt I’ve never seen so many band shirts at a concert in my life!
On time at 7.45 the gunshots announced that the show is about to start and there they were. Guns N’ Roses put on an amazing show from start to finish. Slash’s guitar skills are just incredible. I am not an expert on guitar solos but even I saw that this is not easy and he must be Guitar God. Axl Roses voice was very high pitched at times and mostly just screaming but surprisingly I liked it. I loved the whole concert even if it isn’t my music I listen to every day. They are Legends and they proved it yesterday.
Slash
They played every hit in their three hour show and made everyone happy. “Welcome to the Jungle”, “Sweet Child o’ Mine” ,”November Rain” and “Paradise City” were all on the setlist. They also performed a few covers such as “Live and let Die”, “Speak Softly Love” (from the Godfather) and “Wish you were here”. A wonderful tribute to the late Chris Cornell with “Black Hole Sun” and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Doors” got everyone to stand up and sing a long. As the whole stadium was lit and around 50’000 people sang that well-know chorus I had goose-bumps and loved every minute of it.
The 2nd last song “Whole lotta Rosie” was an AC/DC cover which Axl dedicated to his recently passed away dog. Of course this song is not new to Axl Rose since he helped out AC/DC last year when he filled in for Brian Johnson who had to take a break because he suffered from a hearing loss. The concert finished the way it started: WITH A BANG!
Finally I got myself a Guns N’ Roses T-shirt and fitted perfectly into the crowd. An audience who were very laid back and friendly and who just wanted to see their favourite band live again. I love Rockers! 🙂
Last night in Manchester the benefit concert was held for the 22 victims and the 119 injured. Let me be honest I was completely against this concert and that it was held so soon after but I have to admit now that I was wrong. It was a very moving and appropriate night where hearts and souls were healed. Not only of the girls who were at the concert but also of Ariana Grande. The songs were well chosen and fitted the event.
The concert started with a moment of silence and with Marcus Mumford singing a very sad but accurate song. Manchester’s own Take That performed „Shine“, „Giants“ and „Rule the World“ and they introduced their brother Robbie Williams who was very moved already. He came on stage getting the crowd to sing: „ Manchester we’re strong, we’re strong, we’re strong. We’re still singing our songs, our songs, our songs“. After that he sang „Angels“ and Ariana’s fans held up a sign „For Our Angels“. I was moved to tears and very sad.
Pharrell Williams and Miley Cyrus sang happy which to be honest I didn’t like. After Take That and Robbie Williams they seemed less affected and more carefree. The tone got even lighter when Niall Horan former band member of OneDirection performed his two songs.
Little Mix took the stage and they „were happy to be there“. This sentence stuck with me. I don’t think they understood the purpose of this evening. They shouldn’t have been invited.
Scooter Braun, Ariana’s Manager, came on stage and sent a message from an injured boy called Adam „Don’t go forward in anger, love spreads.“
Finally Ariana Grande made her first public appearance after the attack two weeks ago. Like her the audience was close to tears and it was hard for her to perform but she wanted to give her fans strength. Throughout the evening Ariana came on stage and sang her hits. She said that Olivia’s Mum told her to do so because that is what Olivia would have wanted. Olivia Campbell was a fifteen year old girl and is one of the 22 victims. After this announcement it felt like it was OK to enjoy the concert.
“Where is the love?” by the Black Eyed Peas is still – 14 years after its first release – very current. Ariana Grande replaced Fergie and together they sang this song with its powerful message.
The wonderful Katy Perry spoke to Manchester and to us on TV and said what everyone thought. It is hard not to feel anger or fight against terrorism with Love but all we can do is try. She then continued with a heartfelt „Part of Me“ and made the crowd „Roar“!
The surprise of the evening was Justin Bieber. The often-critized singer stood there alone and played the guitar. His sang „Love yourself“ and Cold Water. During his song the TV showed a policeman dancing around in a circle with little kids. Very touching. Justin left the stage almost in tears after a powerful speech.
Coldplay rocked the stage as always and they had their moment with „Fix You“. Since the Gallagher brothers won’t perform with each other anymore Coldplay stepped up and sang together with the Mancunian crowd „Don’t look back in Anger“ to Ariana Grande. If she couldn’t have both Oasis guys at least she got Manchesters son Liam Gallagher who came on with a loud cheer.
Her 2nd last song was „One Last Time“ which was her encore just under two weeks ago after which the attack happened. She hugged all the stars on stage and held onto her boyfriend Mac Miller for support. Ariana finished the concert with „Somewhere over the rainbow“ and again everyone was moved to tears including me watching on TV.
This incredible young girl put on a show within a week which was exactly what everyone needed. At first everyone was sad and during the course of the evening the audience started to break free and enjoy the concert. It was a cure for everyone!
I you want to donate to the victims and to the families affected please visit https://uk.onelovemanchestershop.com
Proceeds of the sale will be donated to the we love manchester emergency fund.
The three Followill brothers and their cousin are performing at Hallenstadion Zurich as part of their “Walls” tour. This is their 2nd concert in this venue after they first made a halt in 2014.
They started by showing a heart and hearing its beatings at 9.05. They played song after song and the half empty Hallenstadion was quiet because no-one knew the songs. Finally after 20 minutes Caleb Followill graced us with a few word: “Thank you very much. We are Kings of Leon”. I’ve been to so many concerts and this was one of the worst starts ever. Eventually “Sex on fire” came on and the audience loved it. Unfortunately they broke this momentum up by an accoustic set. Make no mistake I really loved the accoustic part it’s where they showed that they are superb musicians but its timing was completely wrong.
After an hour the whole stage was revealed and other musicians joined them to play “Closer”. This was the first of many hits that followed within the last 45 minutes. Pyro, Radioactive – and of course – Use Somebody which they dedicated on Sunday at the Radio1 Big Weekend Festival to Manchester. The gig ended with their newest single “Waste A Moment”.
I was immensely dissappointed not only in the structure of the concert but also in the band itself. I paid a lot of money to see them and they didn’t want to be here at all. Their attitude seemed to be “let’s get this gig over with and enjoy our two days off”. It is their job to do a good show and make us happy and we pay good money for it, so I really don’t understand singers or bands that couldn’t care about their fans. I spoke with a few friends who were there as well and some felt the same but others liked the concert a lot. So please if you were at the Hallenstadion on Tuesday share your thoughts in the comment section below.
