Here we are again in the sunshine at Bundeskunsthalle , this time with Marcus Schinkel and Daria Assmus for musical company. It’s always been hard not to think of the Sommergarten concerts here as the epitome of Summer in Bonn. Music, sunshine, a cool drink all with a wonderful view of blue skies and puffy white clouds. So why is the Season now so short? The General Anzeiger only held three concerts this year. What a shame.
Still, here we are already at the last of those shows in mid-July and what a cracker it was. Wonderful Jazz vocals from Daria Assmus who later appeared at a jam-packed Kunstrasen with the full Beethoven Orchestra backing her. This morning Daria has a much smaller backing group _ but, as they say, size isn’t everything. Marcus Schinkel, master arranger and musician that he is, removed his Gypsy Jazz hat from the recent Unter der Zeder with Joscho Stephan and in place pulled on a classic Jazz hat. He even switched that for a heavy metal one when introducing Led Zepp’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’.
Daria was in safe hands with Marcus then. Plus, there’s no better Jazz drummer on the scene than Wim de Vries either, and add in on the button bass licks from the excellent Robert Schulenburg? I would happily have heard this combo at Dottendorf Jazznacht; if there was a complaint it was that the breeze and distance to the stage meant a lack of volume. Daria’s vocals particularly deserved to be heard better.
Having said that, the Sommergarten concerts have always been more than just the music. That whole atmosphere of peace, goodwill and sunshine on the rooftop, surrounded by people of all ages just chilling out. Ultimately, the music might easily become secondary with ‘Sitting on the Dock of the Bay’, ‘Come Together’, lots of familiar tunes to enjoy the ambience to. Marcus though isn’t going to let us forget there is great music going down below those fluffy clouds though and plays his keytar (a mix of guitar and keyboard) like Buddy Guy behind his back and waves it menacingly above his head like Hendrix. No, he’s not quite gone down the Pete Townsend road and broken it to smithereens on his amp – yet…!
It had looked like rain when I arrived. By shows end it was so gloriously hot that I found a deckchair seat and sunbathed for half an hour. The mesmerizing memory of a virtuoso version of Snarky Puppy’s ‘Gone Under’ and a starkly powerful ‘Bang Bang’ cstill soothing my soul. Daria had a break before heading down to the KlassikPicknick where she was to get thunderous applause singing the James Bond theme ‘Skyfall’ at a picknick that was, by all accounts, the most popular yet.
So that was it for General Anzeiger’s Sommergarten 2025. It seemed to have finished even before it had begun. Hopefully there will be more shows on the roof in the sunshine next year.
