A household name he isn’t, but when The Harmonie couldn’t fit his gig into their Summer concert break they opened the hall a week early so that Ian Parker could appear. If you were lucky enough to have been there on Friday evening you will know why.
Sunny Skies – Poppelsdorf Street Festival
Babsi from Sunny Skies casts her spell
It seemed like wherever you stood was in someones way. A very crowded evening on Saturday as everyone seemed determined to enjoy one of the last ‘Summer’ events in Bonn, The Street Festival in Poppelsdorf. The sound was better than last year, but the stage still seemed ’00’ scale compared to the amount of musicians on it when Sunny Skies began their set. PHOTOS ARE HERE for those of you who decided to avoid the crush.
A Whole lotta Folk
Did I get off at the wrong bus stop? Was this in fact Bill Baums Musicstore in Bad Godesberg?
Wall to wall guitars with cases stacked haphazardly in the cracks left between the instruments. In the corner I finally spot a bar and someone is serving drinks. This is indeed Haus Müllestumpe, and for final confirmation John Harrison appears as if through a trapdoor in the floor to announce in his 100 decibel Bob Harris whisper “Good Evening”. Bonn Folk Club number 29 is about to get underway.
Stage Free for Beethoven…
Ute Eden
This week saw the beginning of Bonn’s annual Beethoven Festival, a sometimes lavish affair presenting the best of Classical Music and also, alongside, the best side of Bonn for tourists.
Besides the international stars there are also a great many concerts and stages made available during the Festival and Saturday was the busiest of them all, with numerous mini and not so mini stages spread out around Bonn City Centre it was possible to go from a talented pianist playing gentle melodies, to a full scale youth orchestra playing Beethoven, to a Jazz Band playing Smoke on the Water – and all within ten minutes walking distance. 3songsbonn.com did the walk and HERE ARE THE PICTURES to prove what a busy and sunny day Bühne Frei Für Beethoven 2012 was. Lots of excellent music, much of it from young musicians from the Bonn area such as The HBG Pop Singers from Hardtberg Gymnasium, Ute Eden with the Bonn Beuel IGS BigBand, and The Nonnenwerther Inselsinfoniker from Nonnenwerth. Not to mention many more that I didn’t get to see, hear and photograph. Too much good music for one day in fact.
Kunst!Rasen 2013 opens with Brings
Brings during a Münsterplatz appearance in Bonn
As previously reported, Bonn’s new Open Air venue Kunst!Rasen has been given the go ahead for events in 2013 from June to September.
The first concert has now been announced for next year: Popular German Band Brings are set to appear on 7 June 2013. Note: Front of Stage tickets are available from Bonn Ticket and General Anzeiger until 10.09.12 9am.
More bookings to come!
Jazz in Bonn
On Sunday 16 Sept you can catch The Bonn Jazz Orchestra playing a rare concert at the LVR-Landesmuseum In Colmantstrasse Bonn.
The Band comprises Professional Jazz Musicians from the Bonn area and is led by Oliver Pospiech, who has been in charge of the Bonn University Big Band since 2002, one of the most popular such Big Bands in Germany. Past concerts at The Harmonie have been very popular and this one is sure to be the same.
Next Bonn Folk Club
Friday’s line-up at the Bonn Folk Club includes a first visit by ‘Happy Hunting Grounds’. Could this be the first Native American Indian group to appear in Grauerheindorf? Or perhaps not. The only way to find out for sure is to be THERE at Haus Müllestumpe from 7pm to 10pm.
Stanfour – Northsea to Bonn
Back from a few days in Sylt I stopped off at Markplatz on Saturday to see who was playing. The musicians who caught my ears were, it turned out, also from the Northsea – The Island of Föhr in Schleswig Holstein to be exact. Stanfour was the Band in question and they played a nice Pop/Rock mix of own-compositions. They write and sing in English, having spent some time in Los Angeles working with Film producers and themselves had a hit in 2007 with ‘For All Lovers’ which was the theme for German televisions Soap Opera ‘Nur Die Liebe Zählt’
The Band, centred around brothers Alex und Konstantin Rethwisch, (with Eike Lüchow and Christian Lidsba) have opened for John Fogerty, A-Ha, Backstreet Boys and Bryan Adams so despite their relative young ages they have a lot of experience and a couple of CD’s to their name. It was especially good to see a stage up in front of the Guildhall and a reminder of the magic days of the ‘Bonn Summer’ concert season that is now sadly no more. Perhaps some of the people who work in the Guildhall will have seen the big, enthusiastic crowd, and consider bringing contemporary music back to the Square again next Summer. There is so much good music out there waiting to be heard and so many people who enjoy hearing it…
