Date: 12 November 2007
Originally published in: Westdeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
Written by: Axel vom Schemm
Wuppertal – In the well filled Live Club Barmen Kim Wilde wowed the audience with hits from the eighties. With the concert the singer showed that the old swing is still there.
There they were again, the hits, which everyone looked forward to in the eighties. Everyone liked “Kids in America”, “You keep me hanging on”, “Cambodia” and the woman who provided herself with a place in the enduring list of pop- and rock-goddesses.
In 2006 the blonde woman who had forged a career in gardening meanwhile swapped the rake for the microphone, recorded a best-of album with new songs and performed live again. What Kim Wilde showed on the big Live Club Barmen stage, was astonishing.
The old swing is still there, her hits still ignite and the coverversions of Nena and Depeche Mode showed that Kim Wilde still knows, how one makes oneself popular everywhere.
There are music videos that would have made it into the video charts even without music. And there are such humans such as Kim Wilde who belong on the best-lists because of the music, the looks and actually also because of their smile.
Earthy, sympathetic, remained true to herself: the fan municipality thanks her: Kim could have sung “Cambodia” for hours in the Live club, nobody in the public would have minded, as well as “Kids in America” and “You keep me hangin’ on”.
Perhaps, in 25 years, or ‘anyplace, anywhere, anytime’ as Kim sings it with Nena on cd, there she stands again. Her small sister with the great voice belts out the hits – and Kim has still extra class.
Yes, me too have considered hanging her on the walls of my room at the time – the Kim Wilde starschnitt from Bravo. I decided however for the poster of a competitive magazine – as 3D-print, to look at with 3D-glasses contained within the magazine.
In the middle of the eighties the last call. A live experience of Kim Wilde, lets these memories fade however and raises the question, from which planet Mrs. Wilde came down on earth. “You Came” she sang in the LCB by the way only for the author of these lines. Long he played one moment with the thought to pretend a faint in order to be able to be carried to the stage. But only for one moment. Word of honour.
First realization of the evening: one does not have to be a fan of Kim Wilde, in order to be completely inspired by her concert. The first contact had failed into the 80s, because the older sister in the pestered her younger brother daily with “Kids in America”. Today is certain: The sister had taste.
Second realization of the evening: One believes to know only one song of the pop icon and at the end there is nearly everything – sing-along inclusive. So like a Tibetan monk in Goethe’s Elegies: “Ohoho.” The songs offered many opportunities to many unspoilt guests to participate in style. How does a colleague say it? “It’s Rock ’n’ Roll – but we like it!”
