Nena has been around for ages and is still well known to everyone – especially since she did Sing meinen Song last year. That’s why the Volkshaus’ audience was very divers – Young children with their parents, girls night out or couples enjoying a date night. The sold out Volkshaus was boiling when I walked in to see the support Crimer.
Very Swiss – on time – Crimer started with his mixture of Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys. His dance moves are just incredible and because he was such a fitting support the audience was actually enjoying him and it was already a good atmosphere! I was very happy for him.
Just a little after 9 Nena and her 9 musicians took the stage to an already loud cheer of the audience. She started with “Indianer” and “Ganz oben”. I already realized that this crowd knows the lyrics very well and with “Nur geträumt” I even joined in. Lots of people were already standing and dancing to “Tanz auf dem Vulkan” and “Lass mich dein Pirat sein”. Nena continued her set with songs all the way throughout her career. “Einmal ist keinmal”, “Rette mich” and “Kleine Taschenlampe brenn” was next. This was one of my favourite moments when the people took out their phone and swayed to the song. Continue reading “Nena's Family Affair”→
Every P!nk fan has been waiting for this announcement and finally this spring she graced us with two stand alone concerts in Berlin on the incredibly beautiful Waldbühne. I was lucky enough to get two seats in the best category super close to the stage. All we had to then was wait until August arrived!
This past weekend we finally flew to Berlin – for the first time I might add. I had a completely wrong image of the capital city of Germany. I thought it was grey, dirty and the people were unfriendly but the complete opposite happened. At every corner you bump into something artful or historical, the streets are lined with trees and the people are so nice.
On Friday we left the hotel at 4 – an hour before doors open. It was mayhem when we arrived 30 odd mins later. No signs, no stewards so no-one knew where to queue and the lines were long. Fortunately after an hour in the Q with nothing moving we found a good queue and were in within a few mins. We were able to bring in a 0.5l bottle, cushions and a A4 bags. I was so surprised since the rules here in Switzerland are very strict.
After a quick walk I was faced with steep slippy stairs but in the end we made it to a perfect seat across the stage. Now the only thing we had to do is wait in pouring rain! Thanks to our new ponchos we stayed dry and right before the support act started the rain stopped.
James Gillespie supported P!nk. She discovered him on Spotify and invited him for the two concerts. I really enjoyed his 30mins set and couldn’t wait to hear his duet with P!nk! Please continue to follow this blog to read more about him this week.
“Let’s get this Party started!”
At 9pm on Friday P!nk finally entered the arena through the audience after a 4 year hiatus – which felt waaay longer! I cannot begin to describe how happy I was. I grew up with her and at her first concert in Zurich I was around 10 years old 🙂 No wonder I felt super emotional during “Who Knew” which was a highlight right around half time.
At 9.05 on Saturday she flew in from the top of the Waldbühne down to the stage. This was seriously BADASS and so P!nk! 🙂 The night before my concert buddy pointed towards them and said look at those wires do you think she will fly in? I guess she was right but the rain made it impossible on Friday.
P!nks View from Saturday Night
With “Get the party started” she literally got the party started with everyone already out of their seats dancing and singing! With “U & Ur Hand”, “Just like a Pill” and “Trouble” she covered most of the older hits. One of my favourite songs “Trouble” was followed by “Try” and the newer songs “Just give me a Reason” and “How come you’re not here”. P!nk mixed up her song “Funhouse” with No Doubts “Just a Girl” which I loved and she wasn’t sure if people knew it.
Finally James Gillespie came back on stage to sing “Don’t let me get me”. She said
As you know I don’t like that song but he made me like it again so we will try this!
P!nk & Justin
Acoustic Set
I enjoyed it on Day 1 and 2! After this new slower version P!nk and her guitarist Justin Derrico walked to the B stage and started the acoustic part. I just want to take a minute here to appreciate her incredibly beautiful voice! Even after 4 years off stage that girl can SING! With two of her own songs “Who Knew”, “Fucking Perfect” and two covers of Janis Joplins “Me and Bobby McGee”, Led Zeppelins “Babe, I’m gonna leave you” it was an unbelievably emotional soulful part of the show. While Justin gave an amazing guitar solo P!nk stepped into a airwalk balloon and rolled around the stage on the hands of her fans. This is soooo typically P!nk 🙂
Airwalk Balloon with P!nk inside
While she quickly changed into a new top her keyboard player sang on Friday Night Nenas “99 Luftballons/99 Red balloons” which I thought added a nice touch ‘honouring’ the German audience. During “Sober” her dancers gave a wonderful performance which she used to dance too but now decided not to. The next song was another cover “River” by a girl called Bishop Briggs. It has a super powerful vibe with gospel, country and rock elements.
Just Like Fire
After water comes fire so she sang “Just like Fire” and added fire elements all though she said she didn’t like them. On Day 2 it was clear why. She completely forgot them and was so close to one beam that she joked:
I already felt the end of my hair going up in smoke! Nobody told me that there was fire!
Erm yes! 🙂 I knew it and thought why the hell is she that close? She should be way down by the B stage. “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” had a nice summery feeling added with dancy salsa beats. The huge screen at the back of the stage had huge female voodoo dolls dancing in circles which looked super cute. Have a look at my video below. “Raise your Glass” blew the non-existent roof off.
On Friday Night we witnessed the live debut of “What About Us” as an encore. P!nk’s newest single of her record “Beautiful Trauma” which will be released on Oct, 13th. Due to the rain she had some problems with her in-ears and P!nk being P!nk she stopped the song after the first few lines and barked at her keyboard player Jason Chapman: “That sounds like shit!” But he’s been with her for 15 years and knows what a perfectionist she is. She started again and it sounded beautiful. We could see how nervous she was but to me she didn’t need to be! On Saturday she changed her set and sang it after only two songs with the words:
Hopefully it will be better than yesterday. Should we try it again?
After 90 mins she finished her gigantic shows with “So What” and a huge firework during which she already sneaked out into her car and was whisked off before the last spark burnt out. Me and 22’000 other fans were left with a warm fuzzy feeling after two brilliant shows in two days.
Now all we can hope for is a proper tour next year to promote her album! Were you at the concerts as well? I’d love to know what you thought about her two “comeback” shows! Please comment below.
