John Harrison’s opener on the day that Folk Club Bonn celebrated it’s 15th anniversary could not have been better chosen to interpret the first half of the evening: Edgar Guest’s poem stating:
“There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done… Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it!”.
As the 154th edition of Folk Club Bonn will also be the Club’s 15th Anniversary (it first premiered in
February 2010) the evening will be run in a different way than usual, rather like how it was
run at the 10th anniversary in February 2020.
John Harrison informs me that “The theme for the evening is “Migration, Celebrations and Delicacies” however, that’s not mandatory. What will be mandatory on Friday though is that all appearances outside of the guests for the evening, will have a maximum two minute slot!
Performers can send an “Email of intent” to the normal Folk Club address: playrequestfolkclubbonn AT gmail DOT com, but the list set out on the evening for all performers to sign upon arrival, will be the only basis for the running order of the evening. Variety will certainly be the spice of life!
As mentioned, in the first half of the evening songs will be timed out at a maximum of two
minutes for each song. There will be two lists for each of the two stages, so this
will allow a smooth transition from one act to the next on both stages – creating what should be seamless performances throughout the evening. IN SHORT – IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PERFORM: Don’t forget to sign yourselves in when you arrive in one of the two lists for performers available at each stage!
The evening’s special guests will be top local Klezmer band Tangoyim, who, instead of doing two spots in each half, will be doing the second half alone in a one hour spot after the break.
7 pm to c.10 pm – Admission Free – but buying CD’s is permitted 😉
Address:
Dotty’s Sports Bar
(Bonner Tennis- und Hockey-Verein – BTHV),
Christian-Miesen-Str. 1,
53129 Bonn-Dottendorf
It’s under a year since Larkin Poe took home a prestigious Grammy Award for best Contemporary Blues Album with ‘Blood Harmony’. Little more than a couple of weeks since they appeared with Ringo Starr and played live on the Jimmy Kimmel Show on US television. Mere days ago they were on the legendary Grand Ole Opry stage in Nashville. Today (27 Jan) they’re appearing on a tiny stage at Xperion (behind the Saturn store) in Cologne, in front of maybe a hundred invited guests. “Why?” I asked Rebecca (the dark haired of the talented sisters). “Because we like meeting people!”.
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It’s not so long ago that I was writing about the Kulturzentrum in Dottendorf as an ‘insider tip’. After visiting the opening Dottendorfer Jazznacht concert of 2025 featuring top jazz vocalist Jeff Cascaro it’s clear that those days are now gone. All 190 tickets were sold out well in advance, and the same is also true of next month’s appearance by Jakob Manz & Johanna Summer. If the quality of Jeff Cascaro’s appearance is a sign of things to come, then I suspect the quantity of tickets is the only bad news for Dottendorf’s Jazz lovers.
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It was bound chronologically speaking to be the best Folk Club Bonn Meeting so far in 2025, but that the January meet could also go down in the record books as having the all-time largest attendance was not something I had anticipated when I arrived at Dotty’s in Dottendorf at 6 pm. However, as the minutes to ‘Ladies and Gentlemen,…’ ticked down, things began looking unusually hectic. First of all, people just kept coming in. Then, they started coming in with chairs from the bar. Finally, they started actually raiding the dressing room for chairs…
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Unarguably one of the greatest female Blues Rock artists of the 20th Century, Bonnie Raitt has been added to next year’s concert season at Kunst!Rasen in Bonn.
Bonnie has been at the top of her genre for over 50 years, She’s been winning Grammy Awards since the early 1990s, received an Americana ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ in 2012, has continued achieving – with ‘Best American Roots Song’ ‘Just Like That’ in 2022 culminating in a medallion this year at the prestigious Kennedy Center Honours held at the American State Department.
As a special bonus, the guest slot for the concert is taken by former Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes. It promises to be a very special evening indeed down by the Rhine in Bonn.
It seems as if, rather like Santa Claus, Simon Kempston has always paid us a visit every December. Such is the allure of applause and the chance to sing ‘Jock Stewart’ at Folk Club Bonn that Simon always has a new CD to offer us to secure his place as special guest (this year’s ‘My Dreams Are Theirs’ is a corker too!). Simon has become a much-loved regular, but this December saw a far less regular event, a first even – MC John Harrison had officially sanctioned the use of amplification. What!!! All will be revealed…
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I’ve sometimes been critical of the lack of Folk musicians appearing at The Harmonie in Bonn, so I am very glad indeed to see that they have booked the legendary Richard Thompson for next year (7 May).
Thompson had huge success with top Folk band Fairport Convention in the late ’60’s. He then went on to further success as a duo with then wife Linda Thompson. His songs, including ‘1952 Vincent black lightning’, ‘Beeswing’, and ‘Dimming of the day‘ are Folk classics. The Queen bestowed an OBE on Thompson in 2011 and the list of musicians who have covered his songs is a long and illustrious one. Oh, and he is also one of the ‘Rolling Stone’ magazines All-Time-Top 100 guitarists.
To quote his fansite:
“Thompson’s genre-defying mastery of both acoustic and electric guitar along with engaging energy and onstage wit continue to earn him new fans and a place as one of the most distinctive virtuosos and writers in Folk Rock history”
I think tickets are going to go fast for this one, so don’t miss out!
TICKETS:
Available Now:
Via Pre-Sale at eventim.de under:
www.eventim.de
from 02.12.2024 – 10:00 am
at bonnticket under:
www.bonnticket.de
or at all known advance booking offices
