Stimmflut - 1st A Cappella Night in Lingen
October 3rd 2008 - Theater an der Willemshöhe, Lingen, Germany
A couple of weeks ago, I found out there would be an a cappella night in Lingen. That's not so far away from home, so I ordered tickets and started counting down to a new a cappella event! When we arrived in Lingen, we discovered there were again many German people in the theater ;-)
Stimmflut is a tour organized by Viva Voce. They invited Vocaldente and LaLeLu and together they are visiting four cities in Germany. On Thursday the three groups played in Stade, today in Lingen, on Saturday they will play in Wolfsburg and on Sunday in Einbeck. In Stade my friends Lena and Nina visited the concert and Nina wrote a very detailed report about it (in German). You can find it here.
The theater is sold out and I'm astonished because there are so many young people in the theater. Visiting concerts in Germany is so different than visiting concerts in the Netherlands. Last year when we visited an a cappella night in the Netherlands (report can be found here), there were so many empty seats. I still can't figure out why there's such a difference.
Vocaldente
The first group tonight is Vocaldente. The five men are from Hannover. After the first song, we are told they are not just from Hannover, they are from "the beautiful Hannover"! They prefer to sing without microphones. I like this, because it's pure and there are no technical additions and effects to their voices. Tonight they only have one single microphone standing in front of them. They start with A Thousand Miles which is beautiful. Their timing is perfect and because it's unplugged you can hear perfectly well how good they know each other and their voices. I realize that standing around one microphone during the complete performance might make the group very static. It could make it hard to do choreographies. But during Let's Misbehave they prove that standing still doesn't mean they are boring to watch. They're very funny! The following songs, Faith and Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht are also very funny to watch. The expressions on their faces and small gestures make the audience laugh time after time. Vocal percussion without a microphone is also very cool and Johnny is a master in it. I love Emotions, which is so straight and looking at Martin, who is sitting next to me, I know that not just one, but two new fans are born.
To look more like a boygroup, Vocaldente decided they needed a dance coach and so they practiced for days, weeks, months... two years to be able to perform a boygroup medley with splendid dancing: I got five on it. We laugh a lot, for instance when Ansgar acts like his back hurts a lot when he's getting down on his knees. Mama Mia, a song from a group from Sweden, "we don't tell you from which group", is wonderful to watch and hear. The small funny gestures and looks are fantastic and the arrangement has a very unexpected ending.
Vocaldente is very proud to be from Hannover. They ask us to imagine the map of Germany as a body. The body's feet are in Stuttgart and München, the hands are Berlin and Cologne, its head is Hamburg, but its heart is in... Hannover!
During Thank God I'm a Country Boy and Juegalo they clap to add some more rhythm and the audience joins in. Also during the extra song, Footloose the audience is very enthusiastic and rewards the singers with a big applause and lots of shouts
Conclusion: Great performance!! Wow, I didn't expect such a group as a start for this night. Sublime vocal qualities and perfect small gestures to keep the audience's attention. The few 'bigger' choreographies are nice and a good variation, but not necessary. The interaction with each other and the audience is good, the moderations of the songs well thought-out and because of the absent microphones their sound is very natural, pure and clear. They perform their songs with a lot of humor. Love it!
LaLeLu
We know LaLeLu from other performances, but today we hear songs from their show "Große Kunst" for the first time. They start with Brazil, with samba sound and lots of smoke, and after that Sören wants to welcome everybody personally and he starts shaking hands in the first row. Then he tells us that Sanna, who joined the group in the beginning of 2008 (she follows Sonja Wiltz), has fallen in love with somebody quite recently. The next song is about that person, it turns out to be one of the men Sören has just shaken hands with in the first row. Der Mann in der ersten Reihe makes many people laugh.
I can't quite follow the next story Sören tells us. He's talking too fast for me. Tobi has disappeared from stage and returns with a big baroque wig on his head. The other three sit down on three chairs and play a classical orchestra, and Tobi represents Georg Philipp Telemann who sings about his single advert: Der Kuschelbär. I like the song, it's funny, but I miss the context, probably due to not understanding Sörens story and because this song is part of a bigger show. The next song, Grüner wird es nicht, is a cover from Enrique Iglesias' song "Hero". I love this song a lot, because it has very funny lyrics and Jan plays a fantastic role as Enrique Iglesias. The stupidity of the song is brilliant. After the audience has laughed a lot, LaLeLu surprises me with the beautiful song When I fall in love, which is sung very calm and seriously.
Lobet die Herrin is a funny song about several German politicians. After that, Tobi imitates several politicians and he's a master in switching to different voices. Not knowing much about German politics makes me liking this part of the show a little less. The audience loves it and laughs a lot though.
LaLeLu ends the show with the first part of their Mega-Medley which in its full length would take almost 20 minutes. The medley has many, many well-known songs, unexpected transitions, sing-along parts, funny voices and a funny choreography. After a huge applause from the audience, LaLeLu sings Umbala, unplugged. During the song they walk through the audience, to the exit. Time for a break!
Conclusion: Keywords for LaLeLu are without doubt humor, satire and parody. They are hilarious and we laugh a lot. The political jokes are hard for us to understand, because we're not from Germany. But the German audience loves it. LaLeLu chooses to be funny, and therefore their vocal qualities sometimes have to suffer a bit. But I don't mind about that, I really enjoy hearing and seeing LaLeLu perform.
Viva Voce
After the break, it's time to meet Viva Voce. I don't know the group and I'm pretty curious. When they start, it's dark on the stage and all we hear is their voices. They're not singing words but only sounds, they're slowly increasing the volume and tension in this intro and it's exciting! Then they sing Let me entertain you. During the "now scream" I yell out loud ;) but it's not loud enough and the audience has to practice several times before Viva Voce continues the song. I really have the feeling I'm looking and listening to a real boy group now. During the song Volare we have to sing along. We don't really know the text, and we're told that it doesn't matter at all (Quote: "Scheiß an den Text!"). We just have to sing "lalalala" if we don't know the words. Viva Voce succeeds in making the complete audience join in and it's a lot of fun singing along with them.
Tach, Herr Chef explains us how Heiko lost his job and started singing with Viva Voce. After that, Heiko and Jörg tell us about the vocal percussion and the bass and together they show us how they make rhythms. Although I know how it works, it's always fascinating to hear this. Wow! Then, they tell us Viva Voce is from a part in Germany called "Franken". They sing a hymn from Franken and a song called Fräggae (Fränkische Reggae). We have to sing along again. Actually I'd like to hear some more songs from Viva Voce and I don't want to sing along every time. Luckily my thoughts are heard and the next song is the beautiful Du.
Because radio stations seem to have a competition every year about who dares to play the first Christmas song, Viva Voce thinks it's time to sing a song about Christmas. Although I really don't want to hear Christmas songs yet, is Wir schenken uns nix a very funny song about the madness of people buying presents for Christmas.
Viva Voce asks us if we want some Rock & Roll. Oh yes, we would love it! They sing Mama Lou but somehow it doesn't really convince me. I still don't know who Viva Voce is. Their repertoire tonight is so very divers and I can't find something I really, really like. They end their performance by asking the audience which music style they want to hear. And so we get You're my heart - you're my soul sung in five different styles: Opera, techno, blues, reggae and German schlager.
Conclusion: I don't think I've heard Viva Voce at its best. Somehow the songs and also their voices didn't seem to fit together. They're a real boyband but only act like it during some of the songs. They try to be funny but it's not the kind of humor I like. They know really well how to involve the audience but I missed the balance in it during their performance. Listening to their songs on their website makes me more enthusiastic than having heard them live... Maybe I get the chance one day to see them again to change my opinion.
All together now
To conclude the night, Vocaldente, LaLeLu and Viva Voce sing Stand by me together. It's fun to watch and hear this. They're having fun together on stage. It was a great night with, according to me, the best group at the beginning.
