Wise Guys in Wesel
November 30th 2006 - Niederrheinhalle Wesel, Germany
I'm driving home from work and I'm feeling extremely happy. Tonight we're going to see the Wise Guys again! When I get home, Anja has just arrived and Martin is cooking us dinner. When we finish dinner, we leave the dishes, and like always we hope it'll be washed by our house ghost before we get home again. I can already give away: it wasn't. The road to Wesel is getting familiar, but this time it's foggy and there's a traffic diversion which takes us through the middle of nowhere. But we arrive, just as planned, at seven. Anita is having a traffic jam and eventually arrives at a quarter to eight, and we're all feeling relieved when we see her.
Quickly I'm greeting some people I know and then we have to sit down. The concert is almost starting. We're on the first row, on the right. They're not really perfect places, although they're in the first row. We have to turn ourselves to the left and right in front of us are the boxes. But there are no people in front of us except for the Wise Guys themselves, and they are the ones we want to see.
I don't feel like making many pictures tonight, and because the angle isn't great either, I leave my camera in my bag during most of the songs. The concert starts and when Eddi starts to sing during the Opener A, I can't help grinning because he's already acting like he has just heard the best joke ever. When Sari joins him and they both break down into laughter after the 'crazy faces', I know: this is going to be a night to remember :D
The Opener B brings everybody in a good mood and they really get the party started. Sari has been ill, but I don't think people will notice. Ferenc, again, isn't wearing his pink shirt, and I'm glad ;) I always love to see how much they enjoy singing and dancing and being on stage. They continue with Denglisch and later during the break I'm being asked why the Wise Guys are called "Wise Guys" when they sing a song about the Anglicization of German language, and moreover: why do they have an English name when they are just so very German. It's an always returning question haha. But of course I have the answer. It's time for the "Zuschauerbefragung" and the lights go on. The audience is very diverse. Young, old, from far and from nearby. According to Dän there are not enough people who bought the cd "Radio" yet, and that should change tonight. They continue with Mädchen lach doch mal, an old song, and actually a song with little content. As if when a woman smiles, everything is perfect. Through the years, they've learned relationships are far more complicated. Therefore, nowadays their current songs are better and more realistic. Sie bricht mir das Herz is a good example of such a song ;) Sari's voice sounds a little hoarse during the song, but somehow it also suits the song so I don't care.
After this it's time for an 'oldie', and it's Wie kann es sein. The audience is quiet and after the song it also takes a second before the applause breaks out. It's a beautiful song and I'm really happy it's in the show. Clemens introduces 9Live, and first I don't know which song is coming. But when they line up I recognize the choreo and I realize I didn't expected this song to be still in the show. After the song, Dän tells us we shouldn't make fun of 9Live actually. It provides a lot of people work, people who wouldn't find a job somewhere else. Therefore, they're busy writing a follow-up song. Dän is thinking of a name of this song: "Und es heißt öhm... 10... öhm..." Eddi: "aufgenommen!".
Dän tells us about the silver wedding of Clemens, Sari, Eddi and himself last summer.
Because they know each other for such a long time, they know when one of them isn't feeling well.
Last summer they all noticed Sari was having a tough period in his life, and at once all the
joking was gone and they were there for him to help him through it. I love this story, because it's
really making people think something serious has happened. Their serious, almost sad faces seem
so real. The song Klinsi is so much fun to hear. Most of all because
of the people in the audience who don't know the song yet, and who hear in the first refrain it's
about Jürgen Klinsmann. The reactions in the audience are so funny. The part where Sari
is talking in dialect and then switches to "kannst du noch in den Spiegel schauen" is really
great, because it's like Eddi is snapping Sari from "hypnose-dialect-Klinsi" back to
"Sari-sings-a-song".
It's time for the cartoon Buddy Biber. I love it and admire their creativity so much. They continue with Wo der Pfeffer wächst. It's one of my favorite songs and tonight Dän sings it really good. During the refrains he's really angry and during "dahin wo der Yeti wohnt" he's looking at us and I think of Osnabrück, when I wanted to make a picture of his Yeti-imitation but didn't succeed. And now I'm not making pictures, stupid me... Before we hear the final song before the break, Sari disappears from the stage. I've got a slight idea what he's up to, and I'm right. Dän is telling about Misereor and about the cd's and other things you can buy in the back of the hall. And then, Sari appears and acts like walking on the cat walk, showing us the merchandising: scarf, gloves, cap, backpack, etc. Great, haha. Then it's time for the final song before the break, Schunkeln, and we start right from the beginning. Clemens is directly looking in our direction and he's really angry. We schunkeln and after an "Ellbogen-Check", the woman sitting on my left joins in as well haha.
During the break, I buy the songbook from Radio. Actually I don't know if I need it, but I just want to have it and I'll intent to use it as well. We also get ourselves a drink and then the break is already over. Time's flying when you're having fun. They're starting with another 'oldie', Das wärs gewesen. Another beautiful song and again it takes a second for the applause to burst out. Without another word, they continue with Radio, and when the first tones are sung, behind us some girls are heaving a sigh as if they are almost fainting from desire... Please girls, come on... I also love this song very much, but they are just exaggerating. Dän is a little hoarse sometimes as well. I guess in this time of the year, with so many concerts, it's pretty hard to stay 100% healthy. The power of this song lies in the charming sweetness of the strophes and the energetic convincingness during the refrains. I love it, though the backing vocals are not always in tune today. Oh, sometimes I dislike being so critical, haha. Dän gets a huge applause after the song, and he seems surprised by it himself a little.
Dän has got something interesting to tell us. Women have a bigger vocabulary than men. It's just a fact, nothing to be proud of. But a woman can talk for 10 minutes and still not be clear. Men talk less but are far more clearer. All in all, it's just very Relativ. It's still a pretty new song and I love it. Today I hear it for the second time in concert and while writing this report I remember the melody, it's still spinning in my head.
Next is Das bedeutet Krieg. During this song in
particular, we notice how close we are to the boxes. The bass tones are so loud and because we're on
the far right, the balance is not perfect. But Eddi aims his gun at us, so we don't complain about it.
I think I've found a new favorite song, and it's Paris. A song with a tango
rhythm, both German and French lines, Dän singing the lead, a surprising choreo (with lighters that
represent romantic car fires in the streets of Paris), it's just perfect. I wish I could remember the
complete text... Das Allerletzte is the next song and I'm always stunned by the vocal
percussion. Although... today we are very close to the boxes, so we can feel every beat from head
to toe.
Ohne Ansage: Sing mal wieder. *copy comment from the SN-report* and *paste* ;) After singing along, we only get a short remark from Eddi, we've all been waiting for him: Ferenc! Tiefgang is low and the tones vibrate in our bellies. After Ferenc' moment of fame, it's already time for the final song of the regular part: Schiller! I heard the song for the very first time in Bamberg and it was really hard for me to understand the text. I don't know if it's because in the meantime I've read "Die Bürgschaft" (I read every line three times... ;) ), but today I understood it all. Wow, I love it! The choreo is great, but I also love the arrangement and the part where Ferenc is speaking "Zu Dionys, dem Tyrannen, schlich Damon, den Dolch im Gewande..." and then this laughter of him, haha, just great.
The concert is over, but of course, there are three extra songs. First
Nur für dich, and it is still great to see Clemens singing this. The final two songs
are a big party, first they sing Jetzt ist Sommer and then
Ruf doch mal an, where Martin and I jump together like we haven't
jumped before (ok, maybe we did in Tanzbrunnen, but not in Wesel haha).
The afterglow is really nice this time and there's some time to talk to Eddi and Dän.
And so we find out exactly what we have to do next time to make them sing a song during the
afterglow (of course, I won't give it away here - else it won't work anymore), we hear how
many mistakes Dän made today during the choreo of Schiller
(just one, at the end), and we receive an apology for the Dutch joke when Eddi hears we
brought two other Dutch people. (The Dutch joke? Yeah, there was a Dutch joke, but I don't
remember exactly what it was hahaha - as I said, I didn't make notes).
There's an a cappella quartet participating in the Afterglow-Challenge and some girls baked Chocolate Chip Cookies. Dän has just had a beer and doesn't feel like eating cookies, so he hands them out and we are lucky. A very nice and - for what I'm used to - long afterglow.
And then we go home again. It's late but we're still very awake and in the car we discuss the differences between the Dutch and German audiences. It's really a funny phenomenon. I should write an article about it ;) But personally I really prefer the German audience. As long as they don't sing out of tune *sigh* ;)