My last.fm profile might be confusing for some folks, because there are very different artist on top of the list. Yes, I actually do like this variety of music. Best proof for that, were the two very different concerts last week.
I had a great time at the Ingrid Michaelson concert in Cologne on Tuesday. There are so many “artists” around, that need a large band and a huge production on the stage (with dancers and lights) to cover up the fact that the sound of their music is very much artificially manufactured in the studio with the help of programming and computers and such. Just like last year Ingrid was only accompanied by a female background singer, who also played the guitar on a few songs. Ingrid herself played keyboards and her ukulele and that was it. And it was awesome. Can you imagine any of the Idol or Superstars casting show winners to enter a stage with just her/his own voice and one simple instrument? Of course that would imply that these guys actually can play an instrument.
Ingrid can not only sing and play instruments, she’s also a very funny person on stage. Kind of crazy sometimes, but very funny. She definitely enjoyed being up on the stage and it’s always a plus during a concert to see that the artist actually enjoys what she/he is doing. One of the highlights was “The Chain” in which she asked for a third female singer from the audience, because the song is a round [“Kanon” in German] and needs three singers. She told that in the US usually there a dozens of volunteers, but it would be important that you really CAN sing, so noone should volunteer if she didn’t feel capable. Of course no girl volunteered after that remark ;-) There was a guy though who did and he got up on the stage and he was awesome! I think neither the audience or Ingrid herself expected him to be that good, so it definitely was a highlight of the show
Greg Laswell was the opening artist (just with guitar and keyboards as well). I knew a few of his songs from last.fm and Grey’s Anatomy and I enjoyed his performance very much as well. Just like Ingrid he is a great singer and musician and doesn’t need more than one instrument and his voice to capture an audience. And he was funny too. I’m still grinning, when I remember his tiny story about the spinning toilet seats at the restrooms along the German highways.
Thursday night meant a different venue and different music, but equally enjoyable concert. A friend and I saw Sunrise Avenue in Dortmund and had a great time. I have to admit that I’m really bad when it comes to Sunrise Avenue lyrics (except for “Fairytale Gone Bad” and the chorus of most of the other songs). It was fun to sing along and dance along anyway. They let the audience sing quite a lot actually. They had some funny stories to tell and stuff to act out as well, which was very very entertaining. I will definitely go and see them again on a new tour some time in the future.