Milow – Musikzentrum, Hannover; May 16th 2011

If I had a brick for every word
That we forgot to say
Everything you never told me
Maybe I’d be building bridges now…

Lyrics like these make me like Milow, lyrics like these made me decide to give him a chance despite the rather sexist ‘Ayo technology’ he covered. After seeing him at a large amphitheater last year, I was wondering how his music would work at a smaller location and happily bought a ticket when club gigs were announced.

The Musikzentrum Hannover holds around 400 people and I was lucky enough to be one of them. I arrived quite late and was surprised to still get a spot in front row on the far left – good view guaranteed.

The concert started with a solo acoustic performance of ‘I ain’t scared’. The song was new to me, but I supposed the fans already knew it. I liked it, it set the mood for the show just right.

‘Rambo’ from ‘North and South’ followed, introducing the band, then the older ‘Dreamers and Renegades’. The fans in the middle sang along to everything, but overall the audience was rather lame. Not much singing or clapping where I stood, nobody seemed to really get into it until the hits were played. That, however, took a little while. ‘The Kingdom’ showed Milow’s bittersweet views about his country and ‘She might, she might’ and ‘Never gonna stop’ brought more songs from the latest album before he told us that “Four years ago I was having fun singing this song. I little later we were all having fun.” He played an extended version of ‘Ayo Technology’ that finally motivated all of the audience to sing along and have fun too. When it was over Milow told us with a grin that “5o cent never wrote back.”

The beautiful and funny ‘Move to Town’ followed with guitarist Tom and singer Nina doing the backing vocals. I was missing Martin and James though who sang the song with Milow originally. ‘Canada’ continued with the somewhat ironic streak, before ‘The Priest’ a song “about regrets” brought a more serious note.

Last year’s hit ‘You don’t know’ and current single ‘You and me’ had the audience singing again while everyone was listening during ‘KGB’. At some point someone yelled something about “marry me” and Milow asked “Was that you who wrote that on Facebook”. Yet another girl replied “No that was me” – laughter.

The encores started with ‘Out of my hands’ performed just by Milow and Nina. For ‘Building Bridges’ Tom joined them and stayed for ‘Stephanie’ “a true story that happened in Belgium”. all three songs were sung beautifully. For ‘One of it’ the rest of the band came back out and the night ended with ‘Little in the middle’.

All in all an enjoyable night with good and honest performances. I missed ‘Born in the 80ies’, but less than that the song selection was a good one. Milow’s way of playing and interacting with the audience is much better suited for a small club than a big stadium. The atmosphere was that of any good club gig, it felt almost as if they were playing in someone’s living room. Had the audience been more into it, it would have been amazing.

After the show there was a chance for autographs and a quick chat with Milow. I told him I’d been touring with Martin and James and sent their regards. He wanted to know how their tour was going and asked me to say “Hi” back to them. Will do. The most interesting part was the change that happened the moment I mentioned Martin and James. Before I did he seemed a bit distanced as I said I had enjoyed the show, but when I mentioned the guys his mask fell and he became really interested. It made me happy to see that he really cared.

Setlist

I ain’t scared (solo)
Rambo
Dreamers and Renegades
The Kingdom
She might, she might
Never gonna stop
Ayo Technology
Move to Town
Canada
The Priest
You don’t know
You and me
KGB

Encore:
Out of my hands (duo)
Building Bridges (trio)
Stephanie (trio)
One of it
Little in the middle