“It’s all about the old hits”

Which is not clasped to the 80’s, almost as if it would have better if there was never a today. One would like to mean nearly, that only that one decade was available as a comfort package for the whole family. Much too fast it is forgotten that there were interesting time before and afterwards as well. And not everything in the Eighties was golden, because shoulder pads and bad haircuts appeared in the Bravo posters.

It’s all the more beautiful, when a chart topper like Kim Wilde does not lose sight of things while looking back. ‘Tonight we play the old hits, because damn it, that’s what counts!’ The Capitol in Mannheim, almost sold out, is jubilant right at the beginning of the nearly two hour show, and one has to look twice to believe the energy and enthusiasm that has become so rare during concerts these days.

The programme starts with ‘Never trust a stranger’. A great reminder of who is standing here tonight. The 49 year old Englishwoman who tread the pop scene in 1981 with ‘Kids in America’ (the show-closer tonight), has provided the soundtrack to our lives for about ten years. And with the duet with Nena, ‘Anyplace, Anytime, Anywhere’ she recently got on the merry-go-round again.

Nearly complete discography

In the Capitol the small blond singer plays a nearly complete Diskografie in the second evening of her Germany tour on the stage. With ‘View From A Bridge’, ‘Four letter word’ and ‘Perfetc girl’ thirty years of pop history unfold. Absolute highlights like ‘Love blonde’ and ‘Chequered love’ are supported by rains of applause lasting several minutes. The Erasure covre ‘Respect’ and ‘You came’ provide sensational dancefloor momentum shortly before the concert’s end.

On the stage Kim brings along her niece Scarlett and brother Ricky, who is responsible for much of the songwriting. ‘One can never have enough family members on stage. I’m already waiting for my children to become old enough to go on tour with me’, says the English singer. No trace of the standard format of a popstar and no sign of forced revival-fun. Kim Wilde sings the old songs for us and it’s good. Very good, even.