Winterstorm in Spring

At the end of summer 2011 I listened to an unknown band at a band contest during a huge festival in Bavaria. The guys of "Winterstorm" make fantastic melodic rock-music, sounding a little bit like film-music. Even before they finished their songs, I bought their CD. That was lucky as they didn't have enough with them. They won the contest and went back to that festival twice. 

In 2012 I enjoyed them again - at a huge old castle in Bavaria. They were well known by them.

After traveling to see them twice, they now came to our town. "Only" as support to a famous a capella band, but Winterstorm were my highlight of the night. Although "Van Canto" have filled huge concert halls and a huge crowd loved their music on Sunday night, their music doesn't make me feel confortable. Anyway - Winterstorm were worth the ticket.

Winterstorm in 2011

....and now

Bagpipes and Drums

Last week a friend invited me to a concert of her favorite band. She knows them all personally and told me so much about them (no secrets!), that it was a totally different experience than 5 years ago, when I had seen Corvus Corax for the last time. Bagpipes are not my favorite instruments, but these guys build their own instruments and make their own "costumes" and show so much power on stage, that I really enjoyed myself! 

As you can see on the photos they didn't just have bagpipes and drums, but other flutes and many exotic instruments. Most of them are copies of medieval instruments and their songs all come from past times from all over the world.

They have already played huge concerts in China, Mexico and Russia. So I felt a kind of awe to be so near to such famous musicians.

Luckily we could stand in the first row and I could take some nice photos. For the videos I had to go to the back of the hall, as the noise at the front was too much for my cameras microphone.

Have a look at one of my videos, click this link

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Nobody really celebrates this famous Irish holiday over here, some pubs in big city make it an event. Or concert halls, although Monday is not a perfect day for a party when everyone has to be back at work the next day. Some places have their St. Patrick's celebrations either at the weekend before or after the 17th of March.

Luckily a small concert hall about 50 km /30 miles from here had a concert with an Irish Folk band from Berlin last Saturday. The Cobblestones are already quite famous and often have concerts in our area. They always have time for their fans and  know many of them by name. It's nice to be welcomed with a hug when I arrive at one of their concerts.

They play all well known Irish tunes, make jokes and get everyone to drink plenty, by making everyone shout "Sláinte" after almost every song. It's ok to drink water to drive savely home.

Join the dance

Comforting harp sounds...

Last week I took my harp outside for playing in the sunshine - I just couldn't concentrate inside. It was such fun and I played until the sun disappeared behind the houses.

 

The next day the daughter of a neighbour visited me and told me that the sound of my harp has been wonderful comforting while she and her Dad sat with her dying Mum who had passed away that evening.

Because of this she wondered if I could also play at the funeral? I didn't hesitate to say yes. There's only one church song in my play list and that's a cheerful one. So we chose traditional melodies, played very slow. 

There were not many people at the service - but they all found the harp sounds soothing. It was a nice way to say good bye.

 

Great concert - appreciated by few

When I cecked the highlights of the upcoming week in our paper last sunday I found a name I remembered from 2 famous festivals: #Ally-the-fiddle. This violin player has long hair - down to her knees - and plays at a really mad speed on her instrument. She has played on huges stages all over Europe - and was now giving a concert with her own band in our youth centre! Well, the only times I visited the youth center was collecting our daughters, but this time had to go on my own.

It was a very wise decicion as it was a fantastic concert with real musicians, not just playing instruments, but having a rock show on stage. Unfortunately this concert was far from sold out, but the band played as if the place was packed. During the concert we learned, that Ally plays a new, special violin - this one has 5 instead of 4 strings. That means, she had to learn all songs new to play on it!

Concert for free!

Last week my husband had won 2 tickets for an Irish Folk concert at a dance hall in a little village, abkout 20 km/14 miles away. As I was working on Friday we only arrived a few minutes before the concert - but got seats at a table in the first row.

It seemed, that nobody in the hall knew the band before, neither did I, but I knew the old jokes they made between the songs. I loved the jigs & reels, but found it hard to stay on my chair. The flute player was brilliant, while the two men just made music - it wasn't a concert like I'm used to by the bands I know. 

The menu was funny - they had tried to translate the drinks and food into English, but didn't use a dictionary.  




It was a nice evening out for free. 

Another exciting day

It was a very short night in Franconia last Sunday. After only 3,5 hours of sleep it was time for breakfast. Some other visitors of the Dunkelschön concert were staying in the same hotel and it was nice to talk about the past event during breakfast.

After packing I went to Schonungen again. I needed petrol for the way home - and had to collect my SDcard from the band to get my memories. By 1:00 PM I was on the road again and there was no hold up on the way.

Coming home at 4:30 PM I had time for a cup of tea and some cake before my sister arrived to drive with me to Hannover for another concert. Angelo Branduardi's music has accompanied me for almost all my life and I looked forward to this church concert very much. Due to all the travelling I had not bought a ticket yet, as a hold up on the motorway would have cancelled the concert for me.

We arrived on time in the city, but it took us at least 15 minutes to find a place to park the car! Still, we made it to the right church just in time. Can you imagine my face, when we were told, that there were no tickets left? NOOOOOO! That couldn't be - not after 400 km of travelling!!!!

The young man at the entrance was very strict and almost angry about my pleading for finding a way. While I still tried to comprehend the situatian, a woman asked the "gate keeper", if there were still seats on the balcony? She was told, that the sound wasn't any good, but there might be free seats. Well, I decided to follow her and have a look at the balcony. My sister was already upstairs and we found plenty of free seats with a perfect sight to the stage - and no one asking our business up there or if we had a ticket!

So we enjoyed a wonderful quiet concert, maybe with a less perfect sound than in the church itself, and I could take wonderful photos and videos to share with other fans.

Of course we are full of gratitude and donated money for other cultural events in that church.

To watch the videos click here

To see more photos click here

Dunkelschön's 10th Band Anniversary

It was nice to wake up on the day of a very special concert just 1 mile away from the event. I had a very long breakfast learning lots of bits from the hotel landlord. Then I collected all the more or less important bits and went to the next town with plenty of time to shop local specialities, like beer and wine. Franconia is famous for both.

Although the concert didn't start until 8 pm, plenty of things needed to be prepared and I arrived at the church just on time at 2 pm. At the beginning everyone was relaxed, instruments were unpacken and tuned and some last details were discussed. I prepared the "shop" for selling CDs, T-shirts and other mechandise like buttons, stickers, lanyards, etc. As the light and video help had become ill, I offered to do that job as well - nobody was going to buy anything during the concert. It meant giving up my seat in the front row. At least the husband of the cello player made some fantastic photos from my place. 

After some bread & cheese it was time to get dressed and to open the doors at 7 pm.

There wa a constant queue until about all 250 people were in the sold out church. It was exciting to meet so many friends again like every year at this church concert. This year I had asked a few to help me with the anniversary surprises, like writing into the guest book and getting others to write into it as well. One couple gave every visitor a sparkling light without the band noticing.

The concert was fantastic: songs from the very beginning, through all 10 years as far as new songs from the upcoming CD. In the back ground slide shows with photos from the past gave a nice view of many concerts. At the end all the audience sang Happy Birthday and lit the sparkling lights - and at the final the band and audience sang together a song about parting.....

Watch the video of the final (click here)

At the end the band got presents and a "Birthday cake".

Many fans wanted to talk to the band members and it must have been midnight until most had left. Some stayed to help making space for special photos for the next CD cover. Unfortunately the light wasn't enough and the session had to be repeated on Sunday. 

It was 3 am by the time I was back at the hotel.......and got an unexpected surprise. But that's another story.

More photos - click here

Holidays everywhere....

My boss already went on a holiday on last Friday. So my work-mate and I are back to working overtime..... At least we can look forward to holidays ourselves.

For me it's "only" a short trip to Bavaria at the weekend. Just for one concert and to meet many friends I see regular in the internet but not often enough in the real life. So it's going to be a very special treat. 

The concert is the 10th anniversary of my friends' band, so I'm busy to prepare some surprises. I'll tell about it after the concert.

Watch this snippet closely:
Video trailer for the concert

As it's quite a distance to travel, I would have loved to stay a few days more - but my work-mate will start her holiday on Monday, so I'm the only one left to take care of the wine shop.

On the other hand I wouldn't like to miss another very special concert on Sunday evening. Angelo Branduardi will give a church concert in Hannover. His music accompanied me almost all my life and I really look forward to it.

Watch a concert of him:
Concert of Angelo Branduardi