Wise Guys - Tanzbrunnen
May 31th 2008 - Köln, Germany
It's amazing and astonishing to be in such a big audience: 14.000 people visited the open air concert today. The Wise Guys popularity is growing and today their Tanzbrunnen concert is sold out for the very first time. Although Martin and I are very busy at home, because of a huge choir festival we are organizing in the city, we decided to "take a day off" and join the mass of Wise Guys fans in Köln. We leave in the morning and when we arrive in Köln at 1pm, it's raining. It's not raining slightly, it's raining heavily! We park our car, unpack our rain coats and walk towards Tanzbrunnen. Despite the rain coats we get pretty wet, it's not like I imagined it to be. But rain can't and won't spoil this day! Because of a woman giving us wrong directions, we take a wrong turn and end up wandering around. But after the detour we find Tanzbrunnen.
Standing line for a couple of hours is not our favorite thing to do, therefor we tried to be in Köln as late as possible, still being able to end up in the front part of the audience. Our timing turns out to be perfect, because although there are already a lot of people, we can still wait under the sheds and we don't get wet. There's heavy rain and thunder for a while and people arriving after us are not so lucky: they can't stand under the sheds anymore and they get wet. On the other side of the fence, there are many boxes with free rain coats and after a while the security decides it's about time to start handing them out. Rain coats are flying through the air and the people in the back are very happy if they catch one. It's a very funny sight, but of course that's easy for me to say, because I was under the shed ;)
When the gates open, it's a madhouse in the crowd. I'm glad we're in the front part of the crowd, so we can get through pretty quickly. The pushing and squashing is no fun. The rain has one big advantage though. As everybody is wearing raincoats (ponchos), there's no possibility to check bags at the entrance. I'm happy with it, because now I can smuggle our food and drinks inside easily. As soon as people get through the gate, they start to run. And now, I'll tell you a little secret how to get good places: When you run into Tanzbrunnen, you arrive at the right side of the stage first. When we got there, there were many people standing there, presuming these are the best places they could get. Running a little bit further, around the crowd to the left side of the stage, made us ending up almost in the front!
The waiting continues, because it takes a while for 14.000 people to enter. On the big screens a new video is being showed, from the song Es ist nicht immer leicht and there are pictures, texts, commercials for new Wise Guys merchendise and other videos to entertain the waiting fans. The Wise Guys Weather Forecast tells us there will be 0% rain and 100% sun and everybody laughs out loud. Luckily the rain and thunder have stopped and the sky turns brighter now.
The support act for today is a Brazilian percussion group called Sambacabana. Over twenty people clear themselves a way through the audience, making the audience dance and clap with their catching rythms. I love percussion groups, because with their rythms going faster and louder, the tension and enthusiasm in the audience increases.
The audience counts down from 60 to 0 together and the deafening screaming that follows when the five Wise Guys appear on stage is a real adrenaline shot. Wow! A huge choir of voices joins in when the Wise Guys start singing. Female and male voices, good and bad voices: It doesn't matter, this concert is a big party and everybody can sing and dance as much as they like. Dän explains to us this will be the final Tanzbrunnen concert for Clemens, who will be leaving the group at the end of this year. Therefor, there will be many "Clemens-songs" today. A new thing is the little "catwalk" in front of the stage, which makes it possible to get closer to the audience. I love being here again and I enjoy every minute.
Unfortunately I can't give you more details, because I finished writing this report months after the concert, due to a lack of time. But I can give you many pictuers and a setlist:
The Wise Guys-weather-forecast:
Sambacabana:
First part:
Am Anfang
Relativ
Es ist nicht immer leicht
Die ersten warmen Tage
Wir hatten eine gute Zeit
Du kannst nicht alles haben
Jetzt und hier
Sonnenschein
Seemann
Jeden Samstag
Meine heiße Liebe (Quote Dän: "Für die Langsamen unter euch: Es ging um Kaffee.")
Das Wasser
Radio
Deutscher Meister
Second part:
Was für eine Nacht
Wo der Pfeffer wächst
Mädchen lach doch mal (with Sambacabana)
Langsam
Paris
9Live
Quäl dich fit
Tekkno
Alles in die Luft
Nur für dich
Sing mal wieder (with Eddi stage-diving)
Thriller
Zugaben:
Romanze
Schunkeln
Ohrwurm
Jetzt ist Sommer
Ruf doch mal an
