Kunst!Garten is open for business – Summer is on it’s way!
The ‘bouncy Castle’ (Hüpfburg auf Deutsch apparently) is empty of bouncing children, and my favourite wine hasn’t arrived, but Friday saw the Kunst!Garten Season 2015 kick of with the ‘Folk-meets Pop meets Reggae’ sound of Tarakci Salip and Band.
The last Kunst!rasen weekend is already here and it’s been an interesting mix of musicians who have taken to the giant stage by the Rhine this year. Another interesting evening is promised tonight too. Gregor Meyle is not a superstar by any means but he’s made a name for songwriting and live shows – the latter through an audience rapport that was evident when he implored the Haribo contingent on the VIP balcony to sing along seperately to ‘Don’t worry Be Happy’ and got an enthusiastic response that must have left them with laryngitis for Monday at the office.
I grant you that this evenings show at Bonn’s Kunstrasen was billed as ‘Chick Corea & Stanley Clarke play songs from ‘Return to Forever’ but on a mellow evening like this my ears told me they were in fact playing songs from Heaven. Legends come, and sadly they also go. All the more reason to enjoy two of the Jazz greats and the Summer air on the Rhine while we still can.
Chicago it seems have been touring almost as long as I’ve been breathing. 47 Years of touring would be a good reason to go onstage for 90 minutes, play the old hits, and stay at the venue just long enough to count the takings. Playing for over two hours, and actually seeming to still enjoy it? Welcome to the first concert of the 2014 Kunst!Rasen season – welcome to Chicago!
Just one of the many jokes that is going around these days. Is Bonn in danger of being a musical backwater? Think back just a few years and remember when the Summer brought us Open Air at Museumsplatz, Live music in the Markplatz (Bonner Sommer), Free Rock Music in the Rheinpark (RheinKultur), Sommergarten on the Kunsthalle roof, All of them gone. The last remnants are struggling to survive against the odds, and against the ‘Silent Nights’ brigade, and so it goes on.
“Bonn’s Cultural scene is united – From The Opera to the ‘Brotfabrik’, From the Philharmonic to the Kunst!Rasen, we are ONE!”– The words of Bonn’s famed cabaretist Konrad Beikircher. On 20 December Beikircher will be joined by BAP frontman Wolfgang Niedecken at the Beethovenhalle in presenting a Benefit Concert in aid of The Kunst!Rasen. Words of inspiration though are not enough. Music fans in Bonn can help too…
In German doing something in vain is to do it ‘Für die Katz’ . A visit to Kunst!Rasen on Friday evening was also ‘for the cats’ but certainly not in vain, as local felines MiaoMio and Norwegian ‘Super Felines’ Katzenjammer made the stage in Bonn their territory for an evening of Pop/Rock/Indie/Gypsy Punk/Folk/Cabaret Music.
