König-Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, Germany5th March 2014
James Blunt & Anna F.
JAMES BLUNT is holding the world record for the highest concert in the world: on board of a private jet he was playing a show once in 41,000 feet height. Now, the Brit takes us much higher… ‘Moon Landing’ is the name of his fourth album, being seamlessly connected to his previous ones. His name is connected forever with an absolute mega hit - ‘You’re Beautiful’ reached the top charts position in ten countries, among those also Great Britain and USA. The song sold multi-million times and was the starting ramp for the career rocket. With his new album Blunt also proves that he is not just a one-hit wonder but one of the most fascinating song-writers of our times. Now, the artist is on big tour leading him on 5th March to Oberhausen, where he played in front of about 9,000 fans.
Anna F.
Austrian singer/songwriter ANNA F. is making Pop-Rock / Folk music, every now and then with electronic elements. Already in her childhood she started singing. When she met drummer and music producer Alex Deutsch in 2005, she started to follow a musical career. She became finally known after her song ‘Time Stands Still’ was used for a commercial. Afterwards, the song was played in radio a lot and reached position 38 in Austrian charts. In summer 2009, Anna supported LENNY KRAVITZ on his European tour. In 2009, she released her first album, ‘For Real’, and a live album, ‘Live from the Mushroom’.
Since 2013, ANNA F. is signed to Polydor/Island (Universal Music) where she released a first song, ‘DNA’, from her new album in August 2013. Her new album, ‘King in the Mirror’, was our on 28th February 2014. On tour, she is supported on stage by a full band. It was short before 20:00 when Anna and her band entered the stage. Nearly all attendees already found their seats and so, the Austrian artist playing in front of a full arena. The set she performed was rather calm, just like the music that would follow afterwards. Only here and now a little more tempo was added. The biggest surprise in the show was probably the cover version of the EMF hit ‘Unbelievable’ from 1990. http://www.annaf.com / https://www.facebook.com/AnnaFofficial
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10
James Blunt
British singer/ songwriter James Hillier Blount, better known by his stage name JAMES BLUNT, got known in 2004 with the release of his debut studio album ‘Back to Bedlam’, before achieving worldwide fame with the singles ‘You're Beautiful’ and ‘Goodbye My Lover’. Already the debut album sold worldwide over eleven million copies and made it to top of British album charts. His second album, 'All the lost Souls’, was even more successful, topping charts in over 20 countries. In 2010, his third studio album, ‘some Kind of Trouble’, followed. 2013 saw the release of his fourth and most recent album called ‘Moon Landing’. It was preceeded by the single ‘Bonfire Heart’ which peaked at position four of UK single charts and receiving extensive radio airplay. Currently, BLUNT is surely one of the most successful artists. He sold more than twenty million albums worldwide and has received several awards, i.e. he won two Brit Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and besides he received five Grammy Award nominations. On tour, he is usually supported by his band consisting of James Blunt himself (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Paul Beard (piano, keyboards, backing vocals), Ben Castle (lead guitar, backing vocals), Malcolm Moore (bass, backing vocals), Karl Brazil (drums, backing vocals) and John Garrison. http://www.jamesblunt.com / https://www.facebook.com/jamesblunt
Music & Performance
JAMES BLUNT just released his new album ‘Moon Landing’. And the album’s name was the visual headline of the evening. The band entered the stage wearing astronaut uniforms. The pianos, drums set, bassist and guitarist were placed on podiums looking like moon-landing vehicles. And the screen in the back showed, besides some live footage every now and then, mostly space related videos, like the start of a space shuttle, the moon and alike. The topic of the album was perfectly transported to the live setting. Blunt started the set behind the piano with ‘Face the Sun’ and ‘I'll Take Everything’, both rather calm. ‘Blue on Blue’ saw him changing over to the middle of stage and grabbing his guitar. Still, the mood of the show was rather calm. But this was immediately changing after James greeted the audience, of course in German, receiving loud applause. Following ‘Billy’ was a more up-tempo and poppy track. People jumped up from their chairs and clapped along to the music. Also James on stage left his place in the middle and moved across the stage when playing his guitar, animating the audience.
Of course, the show was mostly about the music and not about the show effects, except a well-arranged light show spicing anything up. Blunt pulls the audience’s heartstrings, he is popular and anyone knows his songs from the radio. So it is no surprise when people loudly sing along. First time on that evening you got such a goose bump feeling was when during ‘Wisemen’ the passage was sung “Got to ask yourself the question, Where are you now?“ What a good sounding choir in the arena! Especially the “radio” songs are loudly accompanied by clapping and singing. For ‘Carry you Home’, the refrain was sung be the fans alone. Contrary to the up-tempo songs, the silent, acoustic ones showed any little mistake when singing. But mostly, Blunt managed the difficult passages perfectly. For ‘Miss America’, a song James dedicated to Whitney Houston, he changed back to the piano. With ‘Sun on Sunday’, another piano song followed. ‘Postcards’ saw James changing back to guitar again, but now it was a tiny little one. Kind of funny to see this small thing in his hands. But still it sounded great. Bluesy ‘High’ was a song “to sing with you”, as Blunt said to the crowd.
‘Goodbye My Lover’ proved, that James does not even need a band backing him up on stage. He presented this one all alone on piano. This was really an evening of big emotions. Lyrically, the songs mostly deal with heart pain, dreams, mostly moving to tears. Are they full of pathos? Often they are. I read somewhere something like “would pathos be a weapon, Blunt would win any war”. And yes, sometimes you get this impression. But he is a really great singer and his songs stick in your mind. With his first big hit, ‘You’re Beautiful’, we nearly reached the end of the main set. This one was accompanied with excited reactions. ‘So long, Jimmy’ was the last song and the band left the stage. But not for good, of course there were some hits missing, like the current hit ‘Bonfire Heart’ that was of course presented within the encores. Finally, the band said goodbye with ‘1973’. If you haven’t had enough of JAMES BLUNT now, let me just tell you the artist is returning to German stages on autumn!
Setlist
01. Face the Sun
02. I'll Take Everything
03. Blue on Blue
04. Billy
05. Wisemen
06. These Are the Words
07. Carry You Home
08. Miss America
09. Sun on Sunday
10. Postcards
11. High
12. Goodbye My Lover
13. Heart to Heart
14. So Far Gone
15. No Tears
16. I Really Want You
17. Same Mistake
18. You're Beautiful
19. So Long, Jimmy
---
20. Stay the Night
21. Bonfire Heart
22. 1973
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 8.5 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.black-cat-net.de / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
Comments powered by CComment