Vocaldente - DVD recordings
June 20th, 2009 - Balver Höhle, Balve (G)
Today is a special occasion, a special day and we're on a special location. Vocaldente invited all their friends and fans to come to a cave in Balve, to celebrate their fifth birthday. This cave, the Balver Höhle, is often used for concerts and parties. Inside, there's a constant temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, so we are warmly dressed. Today the concert will be recorded by five cameras and next autumn the first Vocaldente DVD will come out.
When we enter the enormous cave, which is a great experience itself, we find a quiz paper and a glow stick on every seat. At 8 o'clock we are given some instructions and information about the coming night. There will be a short break after 40 minutes, during which we should all remain seated, because it's mainly there to change tapes in the cameras. During the second break, which is longer, we can get out of the cave to warm up a bit, get a drink and hand in the quiz papers. During the third, short break, we should remain seated again and Vocaldente will pick a winner. The woman explaining us all this, is funny in the way she explains everything and the audience is already laughing out loud because of her instructions.
The quiz contains three questions. Two are not hard to answer, but the third question is a bit tricky. It describes four pretty unlikely stories about Vocaldente on tour. Three of them have actually taken place, but one is made up. We're thinking it over together with the people sitting next to us and some friends a couple of rows behind us. Eventually our answers turn out to be correct, but we don't win the gift coupon for the DVD. Doesn't matter, we'll buy it!
The cave is huge and it's beautifully lit. On stage there are several lights with round, white light shades, which makes it look like illuminated mushrooms. When the concert starts, it gets dark in the cave for a second. Lights from the back of the stage suddenly show us five silhouettes behind the stage. Ansgar, Tobek, Micha, Johnny and Tobi mount the stage and are welcomed by the audience with a great applause. It's a great view, no theater can beat it! The first song they sing is A Thousand Miles. I can see a little tenseness in their faces and I hear it in their voices. They must be a bit nervous. I would, with all these cameras around! Two cameras are standing steady in the back, one camera is swifting on a rail from left to right in front of the stage, a camera crane is hovering over the audience and stage, and there's a mobile camera man running around to catch everything else on film. I sometimes get distracted myself, because of all these "extras". But the five singers don't seem distracted and the little tension I noticed in the beginning is gone very soon. Vocaldente continues the show with many songs from their first album Let's Misbehave, their CD single ...dann ist Sommer and their brand new album Gold 'n' Delicious.
You can click the pictures for more informaton about a specific CD.
Personally I think they do best during the "old" songs, like Let's Misbehave and Maple Leaf Rag and during the humorous songs, like Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht, Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor and the Boyband medley. I really hope all the small, funny gestures and looks are caught on film in the right way, because they characterize Vocaldente. Sometimes I'm not sure if the camera crew is informed well enough about the choreographies, such as during Mama Mia, which should have a focus on Ansgar and Tobek most of the time. It seems to me the camera crew is filming routine shots over and over, without focusing on the funny and important details. But maybe I'm wrong - what do I know about recording? I'll just wait patiently until the DVD release and I trust it'll be a great DVD.
I discover tonight, that Vocaldentes strength is also their (only) weakness. Their sometimes complicated arrangements need absolute concentration and focus and their performance is fully choreographed into every detail. Everything matches and their moves and looks are accurate. But, this perfectionism leaves little room for spontaneous actions which could loosen up the show a bit. Only Ansgar or Johnny succeeds in talking in a more spontaneous way, which results in a more relaxed atmosphere when they introduce the following song.
I lost count in the number of beautiful songs Vocaldente sings tonight. Definitely worth mentioning are Sie sieht mich nicht and Hide and seek. And I love the accompanying voices during Rosanna, Walking on broken glass and When you say nothing at all. Crawling is a totally different kind of song, and I must admit that I have to get used to it. Unlike most other English songs, in this song the English pronunciation is too German, which doesn't really bother me (I think it's rather charming ;)), but it could be improved.
At 23.45 the concert is over. Only one song has been sung twice! The performance tonight really earns respect! To sing so many songs without the need of doing some parts over again is amazing. Despite my warm clothing, I'm getting cold during the final part of the evening. But I don't care at all and I enjoy the music and the beautiful acoustic and scenery. If it was for me to decide, they could continue for at least another hour. On the other hand, it's good just as it is now. And they really earned the beer (and wine for Johnny, of course) afterwards. Cheers to the new DVD!