Wise Guys in Osnabrück
September 8th 2006 - Stadthalle Osnabrück, Germany
Finally the long summer holiday is over. Time for new concerts, and there's no better way to start a new series of concerts with the Wise Guys. By the way, if my first concert would be a Montezuma's Revenge concert, I would have written "There's no better way to start a new series of concerts with Montezuma's Revenge". Or if my first concert would be a ... etc. You get the point, don't you? Anyway, this would be the first time I'd be going to Osnabrück, and I was going there together with Mareike.
I have been so busy lately that I hardly had any time to count down to this concert. But this week I slowly got more and more excited about today as I realized I would see the Wise Guys really, really soon. And thanks to Skype, Mareike and I already share our excitement on Thursday evening and after an hour speaking in German, my brain is already set to German. Schön! I'm feeling more restless with the hour and because I don't have to work on Friday, I try to fill my time with finishing things from my "101-things-to- do-list" to make time go faster. Why does the clock seems to slow down today? Eventually I decide to spend the afternoon doing "Der grosse Deutsch Test" (to see my results click here). This takes some time and it causes the fact that I'm starting to think in German, which is just perfect for today. And then, finally at 5pm, I allow myself to leave. First to Nordhorn, and from there to Osnabrück!
I really missed a cappella during summer. Not that I haven't been busy with e.g. the new fanclub from Montezuma's Revenge ;) but I missed the concerts. After a concert I always feel totally recharged, and the smile on my face lasts for days. Right now I really need some energy and with high expectations we drive to Osnabrück, where these expectations are surely going to be satisfied.
Note before I write any further: Please forgive my Denglish words or sentences in this report. It's pretty hard to write in English about a German concert when you are Dutch. And some things / words just can't be translated properly. And I also notice my mind is sometimes so messed up and confused with all these languages. Maybe I should decide to write Wise Guys reports in German in the future. I'm getting to a point I think I could manage... but today in English again.
We arrive too early and have to wait for half an hour before we can enter. Then, when we search our
places in the second row, the second row turns out to be the first row. Ok, so we're right in front of
the stage! Cool!
I love Osnabrück ;) Again we have to wait for half an hour, and we're nervous.
We agree it's silly to be nervous and excited, but still we are. Please, let them begin!! I can't wait any
longer! haha. The concert is sold out for months already, and slowly the hall fills itself with people.
At 8 the music stops and Ferenc' voice tells us it's very uncool to have your mobile phones on,
and that it's even uncooler (and forbidden) to film or record sound during the show. It gets dark and
Eddi appears in the spotlight on stage.
The Opener (A + B) are great. These songs are not on the album, and hearing them again makes me realise again how much I love these songs. When Eddi and Sari sing "Und darum sind wir froh dass wir nicht nur zu zweit hier stehen, sondern das wir hier gleich neben uns den Clemens sehen" they both look to the right to watch Clemens appears on stage, but he's quick and already standing on their left. Eddi and Sari have to laugh and it takes a short moment before they continue together. When all five Wise Guys are on stage the party begins. It's great to see them again, dancing and singing. I notice Dän has had a haircut, some people in the forum were already complaining about the length of his hair last week ;) I'm leaning back in my chair, enjoying every note, every movement. I almost can't believe I'm here!
They continue with Denglisch, a song for which they received an award last week. The "Kölner Verband des Vereins Deutsche Sprache" is fighting against anglicisms and promoting the German language and the Kölner dialekt and this year the Wise Guys received the "Lehrer Welsch-Preis" for their song Denglisch. After the song it's time for the well known "Zuschauerbefragung". There are so many people visiting a Wise Guys concert for the very first time. It's always like that and I'm amazed by it. Today, Dän also asks about our age, and there are a lot of people between 0-20 and 20-40. After the questioning they sing Mädchen lach doch mal. Although this is a very old song, it still works and they enjoy singing it. And I enjoy listening to it. The audience is also great, from my point of view. The atmosphere is really good!
Of course, only smiling is not enough in a relationship. Relationships are far more complicated and Sari knows all about it. Sie bricht mir das Herz tells us about his experience in a certain relationship. I love this song when it's sung live, I love it much more live than on the album. Today it's quite slow, which is beautiful. Next song is Romanze and the story Dän is telling us before the song starts really makes me laugh. It's about boys taking their girlfriends to a Wise Guys concert, expecting their girl will be in a very good mood afterwards because of the concert, and then experience a pleasant and easy evening together. Or, with other words: The Wise Guys are the foreplay and ... well, you get what I mean. But these boys should really be careful not to make the mistakes Clemens is singing about in Romanze. After the song, Clemens on the other hand warns the women not to leave such boys too quickly, because they're probably just science students and later on they might become a singer in an a cappella band, just like Sari. Sari, who is just walking towards the table on the side of the stage, turns around when he hears his name mentioned and laughs. The audience breaks into laughter and when they calm down again, Clemens adds "or me". He tells us more about women, and in some way (I can't remember exactly how he got there) he gets to the point where 9Live is introduced.
According to me, the moderations between the songs are very good tonight. They are always good, but maybe it's because tonight for the very first time, I seem to understand everything that's being said and every joke that's being made. A great feeling :)
Dän tells us about an interview they just had. One of the questions people often ask them is "What's the best thing of being an a cappella group?" One of the great things of being together for such a long time, is the fact they're really friends. And when one of them is having a hard time, the others can help him through it. Sari tells us about such a hard time in Warum hast du das getan. It's one of the new songs and I can't/won't tell anything about it, because you should just hear it yourselves.
It's time for Eddi to tell a story. I'm laughing my head of because of his stumbling and stammering. He is so funny and his story is completely chaotic, which makes me unable to repeat what he said exactly. It's about a request to write a musical and an opera, about animals, and then there's this beaver, and a forest ranger, and then there's Buddy Biber. And after a long, long story, when we finally think he's finished talking because he's walking to the other four, he turns around and adds "Oh, and one more thing...", but the audience is laughing so loud, he says "... well, never mind." Buddy Biber is great to watch, as always. The choreo is so extremely good.
Right after Buddy there's Wo der Pfeffer wächst. It's one of my favorite songs. I'm trying to make a picture of Dän during "dahin, wo der Yeti wohnt", but every time when he's coming close, he's seems to be looking directly to me, which causes a freezing effect and therefore I still don't have a good picture of his Yeti imitation, haha. Pity... Dän tells us about the "Kirchentag" in 2005, where they performed in front of 35000 people. It's one of their greatest concert experiences. In 2007 this "Kirchentag" will be in their hometown Köln, and they have been asked to write a song about the theme of this day. That song is Lebendig, kräftig, schärfer. A nice song, but I can't tell much more about it. Or are you interested in the fact that I've been wondering about the emphasis of the word "lebendig". The emphasis is on the second syllable and not, as I thought, on the first. But well, that's my silliness to notice this and wonder about it;)
Luckily, when you are in a group, you don't have to agree on everything. Some of the Wise Guys are innovative,
tolerant and open to new things, and the other part of the group is called Clemens. This means it's time for
Schunkeln! This is also one of the songs I prefer to hear live. When I hear the cd
I sometimes skip the song, but to hear and see it live is a pleasure. The choreo is great and
it makes you laugh all the time. After the song it's time for a break. We get ourselves some drinks and chat
about the songs and the guys. Time flies when you're having fun.
After the break, they start with Mad World. First there's still some noise from
people finding their seats. I try to ignore it and listen to the beautiful harmony.
Without saying a thing, they continue with Radio. I just love this song, and during the concert in Tanzbrunnen this year, it gave me so much goosebumbs. Today it doesn't give me that feeling. Probably because nobody is singing along during the refrain, and therefore the song is a little less powerful. After the song, Dän tells us a story about Eddi and his continuous ideas which are often absurd and crazy. The other four have to stop him and sometimes even protect him for his thoughts. For instance, when Eddi had the idea to yodel on stage. And, last summer during the "Insel Tour" (Islands Tour), Eddi came up with the thought of giving a concert with a stage on a platform in the sea and the audience on the beach. We clap and cheer, apparently the audience loves this idea and Eddi smiles thankfully. By the way, actually it's not even Eddi's idea, because Jesus already had the same idea and that point is indisputable. Slowly we're getting to the song Einer von den Wise Guys. I love the song and the performance on stage, but it has had its best time I guess. If it were up to me I'd put the song on the list of 'soon-leaving-the-program'. Although Clemens is still great, pretending to be the kid and walking after Eddi :)
In the next song, they sing about the conflict between generations, Das bedeutet krieg. The choreo is great, the lighting is beautiful. The growling sounds in the song are also great. It gives the song a completely own sound. After the song, Dän tells us there will be an afterglow after the show. During afterglows people often ask him how he writes the songs. This is a very hard question, but he'll try to explain it now to avoid the question later during the afterglow. Or actually he isn't going to explain us, he will demonstrate it to us. And there he stands, thinking, considering, pondering, "hmmmm...." and then there's a relieved "AAAH!". So that's how it works! Thanks for demonstrating Dän ;) He tells us it's important to be interested in everything that happens in the world, be open to other cultures and have a lot of far holidays. That's how the next song came to life: Paris. A beautiful, funny song with a French tone. It's another new song, so I won't tell more about it. After the song, Clemens also demonstrates a "hmmmm.... AAAH!", but he's just pretending. He tells us he can't write songs, he's got other qualities in the group. He's the man to bring emotions in the songs. Nevertheless, he does have problems expressing his emotions. That's why he's very happy they finally have a song which expresses exactly how he felt about 15 years ago about the instructor of the military service. To him he dedicates the following song: Das Allerletzte. I love this song, because it's so strong. The mouth percussion is the best and Ferenc is dancing like I've never seen him dancing before.
Right after Das Allerletzte they continue with Sing mal wieder.
The part where we have to sing along is too short today, if you ask me. After the song, Eddi says: "Und jetzt:
Ferenc Husta!" and they start singing Tiefgang right away. The audience cheers exactly when
it's supposed to do and after the song there's a big applause for Ferenc. And then, it's time for the final song
of tonight. They will show us how important it is to be together by singing Jede Stimme
zählt. Great song, in which they one by one disappear from stage. Dän doesn't sing his final sentence,
because everybody can rhyme and knows he's got to go to the toilet asap. Eddi is left all alone on stage and he
uses this time alone to demonstrate his yodel qualities. He isn't given much time, Sari drags him backstage.
Sari, Eddi, Clemens, Ferenc and Dän come back to receive the applause and standing ovation. There are three extra songs. First Nur für dich, and Clemens makes the others sing the intro twice, because he's got to laugh and he can't start yet. The song is great, "durchgelesen" is sung with most disgust you can imagine and there are a lot of people in the audience that sing along. During Jetzt ist Sommer and Ruf doch mal an everybody stands up and sings along. We cheer and clap and hope for more (some people start singing the Ohrwurm, but I'm so glad they're not singing it anymore). The "Abspannmucke" starts playing and that means the concert is really over. Oh what a night :D Unfortunately we can't stay for the afterglow this time, but we think it would have been pretty crowded anyway. In the car back home we both have a huge grin on our face and when we look at each other we have to laugh about it. It's so nice to be a Wise Guys fan hahahaha :D