Its hard enough to see the world as it is, and hold on anything.

Dido – Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Düsseldorf; May 19th, 2019

For years I had not thought about or listened to Dido when out of the blue I saw an ad announcing her new tour on a ticket seller’s website. Until that moment I wasn’t even aware she still made music. Each year I go and see at least one artist or band I have never seen live before so I got myself a ticket, even though I wasn’t sure about it. Long story short, the concert was amazing. Dido played a brilliant show and I enjoyed ever minute of it. She entertained me and she moved me and I left with a happy smile on my face.

It was a lazy and tired Sunday for me, still recovering from Friday night. When I arrived in Düsseldorf I briefly considered selling my ticket and just going home. However, I#d made it this far, so I got myself a coke instead and found my seat. Recently I’d listened to Dido’s first three albums again (i didn’t own more) and liked them so I thought I might like the concert too. The seat offered me a good view of the stage, the venue filled up quickly soon enough the lights went down.

First up was support Sonia Stein. I had never heard of her before and she walked out only accompanied by a keyboarder. With her first song she already blew me away. What a voice! The music was good too. I liked it already. The second song was not as good, sounding too much like the first at the start, but with ‘Drunk’ she had me listening again. Afterwards she delivered a beautiful cover of The Eurythmics’ ‘There must be an Angel’. She spoke a little bit about some of the songs and what inspired her to wrote them. I liked all of it and thought it fit in nicely with what was about to come. 🙂

Setlist

Party
Lover
Drunk
There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart) (Eurythmics cover)
Symbol
London Used to Feel so Good
Do You Love Me

The stage was pretty much set up already when Sonia Stein played so it didn’t take long to change it. I appreciated Dido for not making us wait an hour before starting her Show. At 9 on the dot the intro started and the band walked out. The Sound was perfect and I leaned back to enjoy. She started with a song I didn’t know, ‘Hurricanes’ from her latest Album. Her voice immediately drew me in. She is a brilliant singer. The Music was catchy, I liked it already. After onemore siong taht did not eel familiar she played ‘Life for Rent’. Most People got up out of their seats to Dance along. It was wonderful. This was the Moment I knew I had made the right decision. I had so much fun already. 🙂

The band was really good too and I only wished I could see more of them, but they were mostly blocked by four tall screens on stage that were used for projections. It was nicely done though, juts the right amound and not distracting from, but supporting the music. I liked the lighst in general too – good lighting adds so much to a show. 🙂 Early on Dido told us she’d had a day off the previous day and spent it exploring Düsseldorf. She spoke about Walking along the river and being talked at by football fans. “That was fun” she joked and she did not need to go into detail to make us laugh.

‘Hunter’, one of my favorites was next and she delivered it perfectly. It was pure joy hearing her sing and watching her walk across the stage, looking happy. At one point she mentioned how much she liked this and noted that she should not have waited 15 years to go on tour again. I didn’t know all the songs and didn’t remember all of the songs I do know, but none of that spoiled my enjoyment. It was nice to just sit there, relax and feel entertained. Had I been standing I might even have danced. 🙂

Before ‘Sand in m shoes’ Dido asked if any of us ever had a holiday romance. One person stood up, but everyone else kept quiet. She noted how she’d never known this was such a British thing until this tour. She also shared a little story from her teenage years when a green haired boy showed up on her door step after a holiday and wanted to see her again. The song was wonderful, but she gave us a word of waring that those romances never end well in case we wanted to try it now. She performed ever song brilliantly, some more quiet and others more powerful. People cheered loudly for ever song and there were clearly fans in the house who knew each one of them by heart. The biggest cheers though came for the hits like ‘Thank you’

‘Sitting on the Roof of the World’ was something her brother had said to her that turned into a song and she introduced ‘Quiet Times’ as a “nice song about depression”. It was so beautiful it moved me to tears. She and her guitarist sat on the edge of the stage during the performance. <3 About ‘See you when you’re 40’ she said that at the time she wrote the song she had thought that was really old and was meant as an insult, but meanwhile she had realized that it wasn’t an insult at all. 🙂 A little later she asked for the German word for “mad” and while I still wondered if she meant “angry” or “crazy” people had already told her it was “verrückt” and she announced “verrückte Liebe” next. The words “mad love” appeared on the screens during the song.

The evening seemed light-hearted and easy going mostly, but it had some depth too. I thought Dido was lovely because she seemed very much like the girl next door sharing and evening with friends, rather than a pop star. Everything that night was just right. The mixture of songs from new to older hits, Dido’s amazing voice, her good band and the way she interacted with the audience. I was really happy I had chosen to go to this concert. From the new album I liked ‘Hurricanes# and ‘Chances’ best, but enjoyed everything else as well.

She ended the main set with ‘Take my hand’. “This is the first song I ever recorded. You might wanna get up for this one” – most people did and many were swaying with the music. She introduced the band before they all left the stage and soon enough we had clapped and cheered them back. She explained how she did not tour for 15 years because she had a kid and she’d written a song for him, the soft and beautiful ‘Have to stay’. Last but not least she asked if we had any requests. People shouted different songs, but she picked up on ‘White Flag’ claiming it was yelled the loudest. Of course she could not send us home without that one. It was the perfect end to a perfect sow and a song where everyone sang along. I walked out smiling, bought the new CD and already know I’ll try to see her again next time around. 🙂

Setlist

Intro
Hurricanes
Hell After This
Life for Rent
Hunter
No Freedom
Grafton Street
Sand in My Shoes
Give You Up
Thank You
Friends
Sitting on the Roof of the World
Quiet Times
Here With Me
See You When You’re 40
Mad Love
End of Night
Take You Home
Chances
Take My Hand

Encore:
Have to Stay
White Flag

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