P!nk – Rheinenergiestadion, Cologne; July 9th, 2023
“You are wonderful!” someone in the audience yelled, somewhere mid-concerts and summed up perfectly what we were all feeling that evening. What a treat to be there and see P!nk perform. This was my fifth P!nk concert since 2009 and worth every cent I spent on it. A fun, moving. powerful and simply incredible show. It certainly won’t be my last.
It was a super-hot day in Cologne and the weather report promised thunderstorms all evening. As if that wasn’t enough, there were problems on the subway going to the stadium and I was already running later than I had planned. i got there eventually and scored a place by the back railing of the pit, with a good view of the catwalk – or so I thought. As more and more tall people filed in, it became partly obscured by their heads and I wondered if the stage had been higher five years ago or if that was my imagination. Maybe seats next time? Needless to say the amazing show made me forget all about that.
The good thing about arriving after the doors open is a lot less waiting time. Around 17:45 DJ Kid Cutup started his set. it was alright and he chose good songs, but DJs at concerts bore me. I’d rather do without them. It did help pass the waiting time for the real bands and he seemed to be having fun so it was all good.
First up was Gayle. I had never hear of her before and liked her immediately. she rocked the house, seemed to have a liking for orange and played somewhat punkish songs. Great entertainment all around and we even got a sing along, or rather, shout along part during ‘abcdefu’. She ventured out to the catwalk a few times so I got to see her up close and managed to take us along for a nice ride.
Setlist
everybody hates me
ur just horny
leave me for dead
You Oughta Know (Alanis Morissette cover)
snow angels
i don’t sleep as good as i used to
don’t call me pretty
abcdefu
There was some more of Kid Cutup after this, where he urged the crowd to sing and clap along. it did worked, he made good song choices.
For ‘Nothing’ (I think) he asked for someone to dial an ex and hand him the phone. A brave woman did and not only did he talk to the guy on the line, he asked him to stay on and sang to him with our help. At the end he instructed us all to shout “bye asshole”, but it remains unclear if he hung up before that or not. It was fun for us, but I really hope we didn’t do any damage to a friendship there. The next song, ‘If you could see me now’ was played on the main stage and dedicated to their former guitarist, who had passed away. It was a slow, moving song. I really liked it.
After that, the band was up to full power again, with the singer running around all over the place and the audience clapping and/or singing along. Of course they ended with their hit ‘Hall of Fame’. I had a blast. Perfect concert so far.
Setlist
Superheroes
Rain
The Man Who Can’t Be Moved
Paint the Town Green
Nothing
If You Could See Me Now (dedicated to Mark Sheehan)
For the First Time
Breakeven
Hall of Fame
The crew got busy changing the stage and the stadium filled up. I felt slightly sorry for the people who had missed the support acts. They were fun. When everyone right at the catwalk got up, I moved forward to be closer to it. That proved a mistake when the show started, because the view had been better further back. So after a few songs I moved there again.
At 20:30 P!nk appeared on the screens greeting us and counting 42007 people. The summer carnival was officially opened. The band and dancers came out, the big red mouth at top of the stage opened and to the sound of ‘Get the Party started’, P!nk appeared up there, coming down to stage swinging on ropes, held by two dancers (It’s probably not called ropes, but I have no idea of the exact technology) – it was amazing. I have always admired her for doing all this aerial work and still singing flawlessly. Until she landed on stage, my eyes were so fixed on her, I have no idea what else was going on. 😀 Everyone was in colorful clothing and with big beach balls on the screen it looked like a beach party.
‘Raise your Glass’ started with some of the dancers rolling up to the catwalk riding on giant plastic flamingoes. That looked like fun! The song also included a lot of jumping and unexpectedly made me choke up, because i felt seen and therefore really moved. One of my favorites, ‘Who knew’ was beautifully choreographed and pure joy to watch. I loved everything about the show already. ‘Just like a Pill’ was fun, try had me sing along and ‘What about us’ brought me to tears, all while moving in tune with the music and admiring the choreography. The dancers and the band were all amazing. 😀
Next we saw one single dancer and a heartbeat line on the screens with a spoken word part “Breathe. What do you see? What colors? Look around, look at me. What can you feel? Get low. Touch the ground, touch the rug, touch me. What can you hear? Can you hear the birds, hear the wind, hear my voice? Now breathe. Breathe. Blow out your candles. Breathe…. You are not alone. You are with me You are safe…” During the spoken words P!nk came walking back on stage and the dancer left.
She walked over to the piano and introduced Jason, explaining that every night he plays a mystery song of hers and if she recognizes it, she gets candy. She gleefully continued telling us that she actually eats it, because she is on stage and her kids can’t get it. Jason played and she guessed ‘But we lost it’, getting Lindor Kugeln. she ate one and passed one on to someone in the audience Then she sat down at the piano explaining she’d ben trying to learn for 5 years and there where a few songs she wished she had written, one of them Boby Dylan’s ‘Make you feel my love’ which she played for us. It was lovely.
Jason returned to the piano and started playing ‘Just give me a Reason’ which P!nk sang for a while right there at the piano, before moving back to center stage. Nate Ruess appeared on the screen, singing his parts. Next. we got a great sing-along for ‘Fucking Perfect’ and afterwards P!nk was up by the drum, starting ‘Just like Fire! She had parts of Pat Benatar’s ‘Heartbreaker mixed in with the song and it involved some real flames too. 😀
With all the backup singers on stage she did a gorgeous acoustic version of ‘Please don’t leave me’, just accompanied by guitar. <3 Then she spoke about the song that just came to here “when we all thought the world was ending” and told us how she found it while learning garage band, played it to Willow and Willow liked it so she asked her to sing on it, which happened for exactly one take. 😀 We then learned that her kids were back home and she had to do it on her own, with Willow’s part coming from tape. It was really sweet and we heard how much she misses her kids and that she needs to mother us now.
P!nk walked along the catwalk, accompanied by Justin and picked up presents on the way. One was a frog hat that she immediately put on and joked about people still telling her she looked great. There was another frog too. I guess I missed the memo on her liking frogs? Once at the front, they sat down on barstools and she told us they had to cut one song, because her security crew did not deem it safe and didn’t want her to die. Therefore, she was going to play us a cover song she loved which turned out to be ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ – awesome. I later learned it was ‘Turbulence’ they cut, which included an aerial number. I’m assuming it was due to the thunderstorm warning we had that day, Either way, this was a great replacement. 🙂
Someone gave her a rainbow armband she put on immediately and she also signed some stuff. It might have been then that she explained she was afraid to bend over because “there is so much to see, I’m sorry” – he skirt was short, but I can’t imagine it being that bad. 😉
‘Kids in Love’ was wonderful and then she said she was going to play a song for all our loved ones we have lost and played a sunning version of ‘When I get there’ that brought me to tears. Then more o the band joined P!nk at the catwalk and before “losing her mind to”, I.e dancing about wildly to ‘I am here’ she took her shoes of. They had really high heels too. It was the perfect song to jump and dance to.
After that she got more presents, among them a frog mask and a rainbow bow that she declared a shopping bag and put everything else in. At one point a bag of Cheetos was thrown on stage for her and she exclaimed “I’d do anything for Cheetos” and then it was the spicy kind too. All she had to do in return was sign an autograph. 😀 I loved how she appreciated everything she received and had a friendly word for everyone. <3
“People call me a lot of things,” she started, telling us all the stuff people call her online and how she gets into fights about it. One of the things people apparently say is that she might be a man. She looked down on herself and was like “I don’t think so”. People also tell her to “shut up and sing” and that she is irrelevant. So of course she wrote a song about it and played ‘Irrelevant’ for us, with all sorts of images of protests and crazy shit happening on the screens. “Girls just wanna have right, so do I, do we have to fight?” the singers chanted. It was powerful.
For ‘Blow me (one last kiss)’ the dancers were wearing costumes that made the look like big red walking lips. I love how creative the show is. 😀 The song was used for band introductions. ‘Never gonna not dance again’ followed and was used to introduce all the dancers, each one of them dancing up the catwalk. To great cheers they all danced walked off the stage, but we all knew it wasn’t over just yet.
While the drums sounded through te stadium and everyone was clapping along, P!nk came out again wearing a harness and walked up the catwalk where her crew was holding the ropes for her and hooked her up to them. “Nananananana” she started and we all sang along. With the chorus of ‘So What?’ she started flying and somersaulting across the stadium, all the way to the back and to platforms on each side. She was right above my head at one point! While she was flying there was confetti everywhere. It was glorious. Once back on stage, she waved a final goodbye, thanked us and left while the band was szill playing. What a fucking great finale! I clapped along until the music stopped, then stood there in a daze for a while, not willing to leave yet. Thank you P!nk. I will definitely come back.
Setlist
Act I
Intro Montage
Get the Party Started
Raise Your Glass
Who Knew
Just Like a Pill
Try
What About Us
Act II
But We Lost It
Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)
Just Give Me a Reason
F**kin’ Perfect
Just Like Fire
Act III
Please Don’t Leave Me (Acoustic)
Cover Me in Sunshine
Me and Bobby McGee (Kris Kristofferson cover)
Kids in Love
When I Get There
I Am Here
Irrelevant
Act IV
Smoke (Interlude)
No Ordinary Love (Sade cover)
Runaway
Are You Gonna Fall? (Spoken word interlude)
Trustfall
Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
Never Gonna Not Dance Again
Encore:
So What
Silbermond – Tanzbrunnen, Köln; July 1st, 2023
Nachdem ich die Silbermond Frontfrau Stefanie Kloß 2017 bei Sing meinen Song gesehen hatte, stand die Band auf meiner langen Liste derer, die ich mir mal live anschauen sollte. Fünf Jahre später war es dann so weit und es war ein wunderbarer Abend. Gute Musik, schöne Momente und begeisterte Fans.
Mit einem relativ frisch gekauften Ticket in der Hand, begab ich mich am 1. Juli zum Tanzbrunnen nach Köln, um mal wieder eine für mich neue Band zu sehen, noch dazu eine, deren Musik ich nur wenig kenne. Die Wettervorhersage war alles andere als gut, aber das hielt die Fans nicht vom Schlange stehen ab. Ich stellte mich also hinten an un war froh, dass es erstmal nicht regnete. Der Einlass begann pünktlich, war aber in unserer Schlange unerträglich langsam. Dennoch fand ich einen guten Platz in der Nähe der B-Stage. Jetzt hieß es warten.
Pünktlich um 19:00 Uhr war es Zeit für Support Pola. Es war nette Musik, die man sich gut anhören konnte, aber es war nicht mehr, zumindest nicht für mich. Ich fand die Melodien eingängig und hab mitgeklatscht, aber ein Funke sprang nicht über. Trotzdem: nettes Programm und als warm up völlig OK.
Nach einer halbstündigen Umbaupause ging es dann endlich los. Silbermond betraten die Bühne und wurden sofort abgefeiert. Mit ‘Auf Auf’ ging es los, auf Anhieb gingen alle Hände hoch und die Fans sangen jedes Wort mit. ‘Kleid aus Hoffnung’ gefiel mir besonders gut. Was für ein schöner Song. Sängerin Stefanie begrüßte uns, sichtlich berührt davon, dass sogar die neuen Songs schon mitgesungen wurden. Sie lobte Köln und erklärte die Band habe nach heir eine besondere Verbindung.
Gleich am Anfang regnete es schon Konfetti, was die Stimmung noch mehr anheizte. Schlag auf Schlag spielten sie weiter, und obwohl ich nur sehr wenige Songs kannte (die Radiohits halt), war ich sofort mitgerissen von der tollen Stimmung. Überall um mich herum nur glückliche Gesichter und Menschen, die aus vollem Halse mitsangen. Die Band klang super und hatte sichtlich Spaß. Wir lernten auch, dass sie jetzt einen echten Kölner an den Keyboards haben und seitdem die Verbindung zwischen Köln und Bauzen noch enger geworden ist.
‘Meer sein’ fing die Stimmung genau ein “Doch da steh’n Leute um dich rum die sind dir ähnlich” – ja, so fühlt sich das an und in diesem Moment, wenn man merkt, dass man Teil von etwas größerem ist, erscheint wirklich einfach alles möglich. “Laß uns ein Meer sein.” In diesem Moment wußte ich, dass ich alles richtig gemacht habe. Genau hier gehörte ich an diesem Abend hin. Mit allen anderen sang ich “gib mir was, irgendwas, das bleibt” und versuchte all das hier in meiner Erinnerung abzuspeichern. 🙂
Zu ‘Verschwende deine Zeit’ kam die Frage, wer zum ersten Mal auf einem Silbermond Konzert ist, und ich war bei weitem nicht die einzige. Es gab aber auch massenhaft Wiederholungstäter*innen, die mit Ende des Songs angewiesen wurden, sie wüssten ja, was jetzt käme. Stefanie erklärte dann, sie wollte zur B-Stage, würde aber nicht laufen, also hieß es zusammenrücken und sie bewegte sich crowd-surfend dort hin. 😀 Unterwegs verlor sie ihren in-ear Monitor, der dann angereicht wurde. Auf der kleineren Bühne angekommen, legte sie sich erstmal quer über eine dort stehende Box und kam dann langsam hoch. Plötzlich war ich ganz nah dran.
Sie sprach davon, dass sie ihrer Mutter viel zu verdanken habe und jetzt viel mehr zu schätzen wüßte, wie oft diese ihretwegen zurückgesteckt habe. Dabei war sie so gerührt, dass ihr die Tränen übers Gesicht liefen. Es folgte ganz wunderbare Version von ‘Hey Ma’. Am Ende des Songs kamen Gitarrist Thomas und Basser Johannes dazu, um sie bei ‘Das Beste’ zu unterstützen. Die Menge war textsicher und laut! 😀 Bei ‘Krieger des Lichts’ schließlich, kam auch noch Drummer Andreas dazu. wie schon bei den anderen beiden, hatte ich nicht gesehen, dass er sich durchsPublikum bewegt hatte, aber anders kann es nicht gewesen sein. 😉
Stefanie erzählte, wie sie ganz am Anfang ihrer Bandkarriere, eingeladen waren in Köln im Underground zu spielen und überraschenderweise sogar Leute kamen. Danach wurden die Auftrittsorte immer größer, aber kurz bevor das Underground geschlossen wurde, spielten sie noch einmal dort. Es sei schade, dass so viele kleine Clubs, die jungen Bands eine Chance gegeben haben, nicht mehr existieren. dem kann ich nur zustimmen. Um an die Zeit zu erinnern, spielten sie ‘Unendlich’, bevor sie wieder zur Hauptbühne zurückkehrten.
Nach dem cover ‘Engel’, gab es dann zwei Songs, die selbst ich kannte, erst das wunderbare ‘Symphonie’ und dann der Hit ‘Leichtes Gepäck’, der wieder den ganzen Tanzbrunnen in ein Meer aus winkenden Armen und klatschenden Händen verwandelte. Wie man auf Kölsch sagt, wenn etwas total großartig ist, wird der Keyboarder gefragt und antwortet prompt “Das ist Weltklasse!” Passt! 😀 Mit ‘Durch die Nacht’ wurde es nochmal etwas ruhiger, bevor bei ‘Nie wieder schlafen’ noch einmal alle mitsingen. Dann verläßt die Band die Bühne, aber nicht für lange.
Mit viel Applaus und Geschrei, holen wir sie zurück zur Zugabe. Passend singen wir alle “Lass uns bleiben, wenn’s am schönsten ist, lass uns einfach noch nich gehen!” und meinen dabei jedes Wort. Es ist einfach viel zu schön! am Ende, schnappt sich Stefanie zwei Drumsticks und trommelt mit Andreas um die Wette. Wahnsinn! Für das Finale gibt es Anweisungen, etwas zum Wedeln bereitzuhalten. Dann, bei ‘Bestes Leben’ singen wir nicht nur mit, sondern gehen auch alle in die Hocke, um dann auf Kommando aufzuspringen und mich Tüchern, Kappen und Jacken zu wedeln, damit sich die Konfetti noch weiter verteilen. Ein letztes Mal singen alle mit, jubeln und verabschieden die Band. Was für ein Abend! Mit einem breiten Grinsen im Gesicht, bewege ich mich langsam in Richtung Ausgang. Danke, Silbermond, es war gigantisch!
Setlist
Main Stage
Auf Auf
Kleid aus Hoffnung
Verletzen
Meer sein
Irgendwas bleibt
Sophie
Indigo
Verschwende deine Zeit
B Stage
Hey Ma
Das Beste
Krieger des Lichts
Unendlich
Main Stage
Engel (Montez cover)
Symphonie
Leichtes Gepäck
Durch die Nacht
Nie wieder schlafen
Encore:
Wenn’s am schönsten ist
Bestes Leben