The Stadtgarten Season at Alter zoll is well underway now and, if the number of picknickers assembled on the lawn is a measure, must be in line for being the most popular Season yet. It was certainly a brainwave to move the stage parallel to the grass making an extra ‘stand’ at the back. The picknickers had an interesting evening too – Lemonsun, Soelna and Crimson Bloom were a disparate group of musicial styles for sure.
This evening’s musical choice was put together by create music NRW and die Kulturstation Bonn. A veritable mixed chocolate box as Forrest Gump would have noted. Lemonsun from Bielefeld had a very laid back style of synthesizer pop that was almost too laid-back for my liking when the warm temperatures were taken into account. Pleasant for the time of day – background atmosphere for those arriving, which rapidly increased with ever decreasing spaces between picnic blankets. Rather like listening to the waves at a beach – restful music to snooze to.
If anyone did fall asleep on the grass bank listening to Lemonsun then I’m not sure if they would have been awoken by Soelna. The lady from Münster’s bio promises pop ballads aplenty for ‘broken hearts and deep feelings’. In my youth that would have been Everly Brothers territory. In 2025 though the fickleness of teenage love is played out to synths and guitars delivered via backing tapes. The only other person onstage during Soelna’s performance was a videographer who was within touching distance of her for pretty much the whole performance – indicating I guess that the social media aspect of live shows is becoming more important than the show itself. In any case, it made me as part of the audience feel devalued.
To her credit, This was, I believe she said, only Soelna’s third concert and the audience was a lot bigger than she was expecting. Put a real band behind her and play to the physical audience in front of the stage and things will be much better. Even if the lyrics were not my thing, she certainly has a good voice. The whole presentation wasn’t aimed at my age-group or sex of course. I’ll probably find she has a million Facebook followers after writing this. Well done handling such a big audience at such an early stage though and with a bit of polishing there may well be a diamond here for younger listeners.
The final band this evening, Crimson Bloom, however, despite their age did everything right to my eyes and ears. It’s not just my opinion either. Only three days previously the Indie Rockers from Krefeld took part in the German heat of an international music competition ‘Emergenza’ and were the winners for Germany – quite rightly too on tonight’s performance. It’s a long time since I saw such a young band playing from their very first note with the confident attitude of stadium-hardened seasoned rockers.
The band have to date only released two singles, but I can imagine that back in the day record companies would currently be eyeing them with great interest, and possibly even greater advances. The single ‘Too busy to Love’ captures what I hope will become their signature sound. Dynamic playing with punchy bass, busy drums and a chunky guitar sound from a guy already clearly style conscious with baggy trousers and bright red belt. Channelling all the cool energy of a young Mick Ronson. Loved the singer too, with an explosive presence.
With so few own songs there had to be a fair number of covers. Even these got a distinct band treatment. I especially loved their take of ‘Message in a Bottle’ taking the song back to it’s original reggae-punk days. Can you make a song young again? These guys certainly did. Harry Styles’ ‘Only Angel’ also got the explosive treatment, as did Arctic Monkeys’ ‘When the sun goes down’.
With a current row running regarding the over-run of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Kunstrasen concert recently there was no chance of letting the band play beyond 10 pm even though I’m sure most of the audience would have stayed. Truth to tell the band didn’t have anymore material to keep going with – an encore of the earlier played ‘Too busy to Love’ had to suffice. That lack of material is the band’s only weakpoint right now. Hopefully they can put together a full release soon – to make full use of the energy and enthusiasm that they currently have. I’ve certainly pencilled in Crimson Bloom as ‘one to watch’ in the coming months.
