Flora-Westfalica-Park, Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany25th August 2018
Fools Garden - “Feuer und Flamme - 30 Jahre Flora”
The open-air “Feuer und Flamme” (transl. “Fire and Flame”) around the music fireworks of the pyro specialists “Flash-Art” this year was all about the 30th birthday of the Flora Westfalica. Under the motto “Happy Birthday, Flora” the visitors were expecting a party mile with music fireworks, bands, walking acts and street food.
FOOLS GARDEN were the musical highlight of the evening. The band stormed the charts 23 years ago with the hit ‘Lemon Tree’ and earned countless gold and platinum awards. They played from 19.30 on the big stage at the “Mittelhegge”. After the fireworks there was another concert of THE MONOTYPE, a combo known for a wild show, perfect outfits, polyphonic vocals and driving beats as well as golden confetti rain. Covers from CHUCK BERRY, the ROLLING STONES or ELVIS PRESLEY were in the baggage. The 20-minute music fireworks with flashing gold streams, weeping willows, waterfalls and a sea of lights made of stars rounded off the evening.
A few hundred people gathered in the park to enjoy the FOOLS GARDEN acoustic concert before the announced fireworks would take place. Founded in 1991 by Peter Freudenthaler and Volker Winkel, the band from Pforzheim celebrated their worldwide success with their 1995 hit ‘Lemon Tree’. The album ‘Dish Of The Day’ stayed at #1 on the German charts for 36 weeks and sold more than 575,000 copies. Songs like ‘Wild Days’, ‘It Can Happen’, ‘Why Did She Go’, ‘Suzy’, or ‘Innocence’ were always again on the charts. With the song ‘Dreaming’, FOOLS GARDEN became superstars in Russia. After their cover album, ‘Flashback’ with hits from the 90s, their tenth studio album, ‘Rise And Fall’, was released this year. http://www.foolsgarden.de / https://www.facebook.com/FoolsGarden
Music & Performance
The guitarists Volker Hinkel (who also plucks the strings at M.I.И.E) and Gabriel Holz, sitting on bar stools, were greeted with still restrained applause. When singer Peter Freudenthaler entered the stage and started with the first song ‘I burn’, the first people got excited and came to the stage despite the onset of rain. 27 years of band history in acoustics were also a reason not to stay seated. The rest of the band was not included in this acoustic special, but can be seen in the upcoming tour this autumn. During the second song, ‘Wild days’ (the first song that was played on the radio), everybody started to sing along. The rain was forgotten and the music was now in the foreground. The next song, ‘Cook It A While’, was created in 2005 in the former holiday home of Peter Maffay and beard a similar emotional chaos as Maffay’s songs. The Spanish-style guitar solo emphasized this non-typical FOOLS GARDEN song. That this show would be a hands-on concert was clear from this song on and the audience also clapped eagerly.
This song was followed by ‘Shame’ and ‘New World’, which was an appeal that you can start every day new and create something great. In the meantime, the entire meadow was clapping and the steadily rising mood was not subsiding. Then came the 6th song which made the band stars in Russia. ‘Closer’ was meant literally here. In the relationship in which Russia and Germany are always moving away from each other, the people of all countries should move a little further and not be deterred. Now the audience was again invited to participate. For ‘High Again’, everybody should clap 8th notes in “crescendo”. The musical term only caused some confusion, but was perfectly implemented after a short practice. This was followed by ‘Welcome Sun’, ‘All We Are’, ‘Innocence’ and then the piece everyone was waiting for: ‘Lemon Tree’. FOOLS GARDEN think they have been given a gift that everyone in the world knows and can sing along with. The whole meadow filled up, everyone took out their cell phones to film the band and sing with them. Applause to the last corner! A thousand times heard piece still inspires. The song was also well placed, from now on, the area in front of the stage remained full to the end.
The last two songs before the encore were ‘Man of Devotion’ and ‘It Can Happen’. Unfortunately someone had turned on the controls here, as the guitars started to distort. However, the problem was fixed in the first song of the encore and probably not many noticed it anyway. The main set was followed by ‘High Times’, ‘Goodbye Baby’ and as last song, ‘Raise And Fall’ before the whole crowd went over to the fireworks with hurried steps.
Setlist
01. I Burn
02. Wild Days
03. Cook It A While
04. Shame
05. New World
06. Closer
07. High Again
08. Welcome Sun
09. All We Are
10. Innocence
11. Lemon Tree
12. Man Of Devotion
13. It Can Happen
---
14. High Times
15. Goodbye Baby
16. Raise And Fall
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
Comments powered by CComment