It was nice to find the excellent Melchi Vepouyoum with Leonie on cello serenading the Christmas shoppers today. Elsewhere, sad to say, there was a distinct lack of music in the City Centre. I only managed to find this gent playing piano from his car boot:
PLEASE Bonn – let’s have a little more Christmas musical cheer in your streets!!!
Note: If you hear Melchi at the Xmas Market and like what you hear (which is very likely) He is playing a CD Release party at the Harmonie on 1 December
ZAZ (Kunstrasen 2015)
Major Bonn concerts at the Kunstrasen have been complemented by further top musicians on the tiny island of Grafenwerth in recent years, and top Bonn promoter E.L. Hartz has decided not just to continue this trend but to expand on it in 2022. At a press conference today Bad Honnef Mayor Otto Neuhoff, Sonja Schwalbe (Tourist Promotion) and Hartz announced the plans and the musicians we can enjoy in June/July next year.
There will be music, mulled wine, cookies, bratwurst, and a Christmas tree – KuKuG in Bad Godesberg will be waving it’s fairy wand and magically transforming the ‘Kleines Theater’ (Koblenzer Strasse 79) into a “Winter Wonderland Christmas Market”. With the support of Lichthaus Enzinger you can also expect a veritable sea of Christmas lights.
It starts on Saturday 27.11. with an Advent singing concert by Christian Meringolo from 4-7 pm. Corona regulations at the time of the events will naturally apply.
See the above poster for other dates/details
Jim Kerr at Kunst!Rasen in 2018Pre-sale of tickets starts today (12 November) for Simple Minds at Kunstrasen on 5 August 2022. It will be a third appearance for Jim Kerr’s band at the venue on a tour titled ’40 Years of Hits’. Strictly speaking, their monster hit ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ actually came out in 1985, but I guess Covid put the celebrations on ice for the last couple of years. German fans will be pleased to hear that ‘Don’t You…’ was actually written by Steve Schiff, guitarist and songwriter with Nina Hagen. The rest, as they say, is history, and Simple Minds have become one of Scotlands favourite Rock bands. CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
Other top shows scheduled for next year in Bonn include Lionel Richie (30.06.2022), Deep Purple with The Allman Betts Band (05.07.2022), Toto with DeWolff (14.07.2022)
‘Guitar Player’ magazine’ recently listed her as “One of the 10 guitarists to keep the blues alive & well for the 21st century” as if she was a teenager just breaking through. It’s hard to believe when you see how fresh and inspired she still is onstage though that Erja Lyytinen has been a major player literally in the blues guitar scene for almost two decades. She has also moved on from those pure slide guitar blues roots as Sunday’s concert at the Harmonie proved. What hasn’t changed however is the Finnish lady’s drive and enthusiasm for playing, so the show was certainly one to savor, and for Erja, and her fine band, it was also clearly a pleasure to be back touring Central Europe after a year and a half.
Continue reading6 November was the ‘Global Day of Action for Climate Justice’. As many of the world leaders met in Scotland to discuss climate change, this powerful and emotive song, accompanied by an equally compelling video, aims to get the message across with music.
Wille Edwards, lead singer and guitarist of Wille & The Bandits:
“Every time I look at my children and think of their future, I worry for them; that the world will be a very different place, one with more pain and suffering and I want to do what I can to help. Music is my way of trying to help the cause.”
The song features Wille’s dynamic voice stating that he wants his children “walking on solid ground” and for any parent bringing children into this world, there is always the anxiety of what world we are actually leaving for them to inherit.
On the face of it, this looked like an easy one to review. No Guest Star to research, just familiar musicians, early finish… but of course nothing at Bonn Folk Club is actually as it first appears. Guest stars have familiar songs and researchable websites at least, and it seemed in contrast that tonight, not a few musicians used the toned-down nature of this meet to be adventurous with their musical selections. Apologies in advance then for errors and omissions regarding tunes played, and if I missed the odd ‘fuge in D minor’ adjunct then ban me from the Beethoven Fan Club (I’m not a member anyway!)
With so many concerts ‘verlegt’ (moved) to 2022 this year it’s good to hear that it is still ‘green for go’ this coming Sunday (Nov 7) for Erja Lyytinen & band. For more about Erja HERE is an interview I did with her in 2018.
The Finnish guitarist/singer with the enigmatic smile and stylish guitar playing will also have a support group at Bonn Harmonie: Ivy Gold is a band formed from international musicians out of the UK, USA and Germany around singer Manou. I’ve heard of comparisons to Beth Hart vocally and she reminds me of Bonnie Tyler too, so I recommend getting to the show in good time! 3G rules for attendance apply of ‘Geimpft, Genesen oder Getsetet’ (Vaccinated, Recovered or Negative Test Certificate no more than six hours old).
Here is a taster:
Ticket and Time details of the concert HERE
