03.11.2022 Kaiserslautern Fruchthalle

[nanlmille]

Liebe Forum Freunde,     WILL PUBLISH SOON IN GERMAN

This may be a first on the forum--- a second-hand concert report. Because I had to cancel my planned fall trip to Germany, my daughter (age 36, married to German man, has child 20 months old) used my tickets for the AB concert in K-town. Diana attended the concert with her friend who is Brazilian. An American and a Brazilian went to hear a German acapella concert. Sounds international. They both speak German well. 

Diana and friend arrived frazzled on a rainy Thursday evening, Di because she had to leave a screaming toddler (in the capable hands of his Papa) and friend because she has long COVID and was having a bad day. But they persevered and found parking places, and slipped into their THIRD ROW CENTER seats as inconspicuously as possible after the first song.  It is not easy to be inconspicuous when you are a 6'3" female. Our family has a lot of tall genes. In German style, this concert began right on time.

Diana estimates that there were about 150 people in the audience at the Fruchthalle and that it was less than half full. Everyone sat in the floor seating; the mezzanine was not used. I feel sad that the turnout was not better, but happy that I had people in my seats. Although it was not a rabid hard-core audience, Diana said there was plenty of enthusiasm, especially during the second half. Her sense was that the songs from the Bunte Socken album were not as rousing for the crowd as the "greatest hits" that came later. Some of those "greatest hits" may have been WG hits. Once seated, the two ladies were immediately caught up in the atmosphere. The first song they experienced was "Bunte Socken" with the provocative ankle reveals in the choreo. 

Spoiler:

 Dän did a lot of the moderation, she said, which comes as no surprise. He talked about the challenges of the COVID era for live performance.  And he talked about the "new" member of the group who is just a kid but was a semi-finalist in The Voice--Germany. (Diana found that impressive; I told her to look for his performances on YouTube.) I told Diana that Friedemann is actually 33, she thinks he looks younger. She also commented that Dän seems old--older than in photos of him she has seen. She observed that his hair is nearly white, his belly is prominent, and his voice sounded strained. He told the K-town audience that he has a cold. She also commented that the choreography seemed difficult for him. She knows that he had a stroke, but she does not know the full Dän backstory. Her comments are interesting because she is seeing the AB as a newbie.

While I am in spoiler territory, Diana and friend were delighted by "Billig Jeans" and said that Ingo was the most expressive of the AB and a "star." They were impressed by Clemens' beatboxing demo and his performance on "Kleiner Terrorists" (a song Diana could definitely relate to). They also particularly enjoyed the 80's medley and "Deutsche Bahn." Overall, they said all the Jungs had excellent voices (except Dan with a cold), the songs were fun and the choreography was clever.

The concert wrapped up at about 10 pm. Diana and friend could not stay for the afterglow, so I have no report on that. 

Diana said she was very sorry I had to miss the concert, since she was sure I would have been thrilled. (Of course.) But I did take consolation in the fact that she and her friend had a very good time seeing AB for the first time.   

I will post this in German as soon as possible..

Nancy