The Hooters – Zeche, Bochum; July 8th, 2024
This time around, I didn’t wait 20 years to see The Hooters again. Merely six years after the last concert, I was back in Bochum to see them again and they even had a new album out. The show was just as much fun as I remembered and I had a great time throughout.
Didn’t get there super-early, but it was enough to score a nice front row spot – goal achieved. Now it was just a bit of waiting and chatting with the women next to me, who had already seen the band a few times recently. I should have gone then and bought the new album, because there was no time after the show, but didn’t think about it. Oh well.
Right on time they walked on stage and started the show with ‘I’m alive’ – it was perfect to get me clapping along and moving in my spot. What a great mood booster. 🙂 They continued with ‘Silver Lining’, a song that was either new to me or i didn’t remember. It was definitely fun and I loved watching them play. The band may have gotten older, but they have not slowed down.
We entered familiar territory with ‘Engine 999’ and when ‘Day by day’ rolled around, I was singing along loudly, having a great time. They greeted us and told us Bochum was one of their favorite places to play. We got a song from the new CD with ‘Why don’t you call me back’ – it had a slight reggae feel to me, I liked it.
‘Bother don’t you walk away’ followed with a great sing-along. I smiled happily, I have always liked that song. ‘Private Emotion’ was surprising, because Eric sang the second verse in German. Wow. What a beautiful song. Then they covered The Beatles’ ‘Lucy in the sky with Diamonds’, before going into greatest hits territory with ‘All you zombies’. It was awesome and took my right back to the first of their concerts I had ever seen, 30 years ago.
‘The Boys of Summer’ came as a surprise for me. It is a song I love, but had no idea they had covered. ‘500 miles’ was great too and I loved ‘Boys will be boy’ and ‘Karla with a K’. Ah the songs from ‘One Way Home’, my first THe Hooters album and still one of my favorites. After more sing-alongs with ’25 hours a day’ we got a brilliant drum solo.
Towards the end of the set came the biggest hits, starting with ‘Satellite’. ‘Johnny B. was another highlight and the main set ended with And we danced’. Throughout the concert, we did well at singing long and I loved seeing the guys smile and walking from one side of the stage to the other, playing close to us. Rob did some magic on the accordion at times and everyone else played fantastic as well.
The encores started with an amazing guitar solo by Tommy Williams, before the band launched into ‘Give the music back’. another song I really love. <3 Band and crew introductions followed and since it was one crew member’s birthday, they played ‘Happy Birthday to you’ with us singing along, mixed with ‘Birthday’ by The Beatles.
Eric told us they would play a few songs they had written for other artists and we got ‘One of us’, again with the second verse in German. 🙂 It was beautiful and ‘Time after time’ was even better. Next was a German song I can’t remember hearing before. It turned out to be ‘Pissing in the Rhine’, a The Hooters original – no wonder everyone but me knew the words. It was fun. The final song of the night was Peter Schilling’s ‘Major Tom’ – what a fantastic cover.! It was a great show throughout and I’m sure it wasn’t the last one I have seen.
Setlist
I’m Alive
Silver Lining
Engine 999
Day by Day
Why Won’t You Call Me Back
Brother, Don’t You Walk Away
Private Emotion (second verse sung in German)
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds (The Beatles cover)
All You Zombies
The Boys of Summer (Don Henley cover)
500 Miles (Hedy West cover)
Boys Will Be Boys
Karla With a K
Twenty-Five Hours a Day
Drum Solo
Satellite
Johnny B
And We Danced
Encore:
Guitar Solo Tommy Williams
Give the Music Back
One of Us (Eric Bazilian song) (second verse sung in German)
Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper cover)
Pissing in the Rhine
Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst) (Peter Schilling cover)