Date: 15 September 2013
Originally published in: Jungfrau Zeitung (Switzerland)
Written by:
Kim Wilde made her hits live again on Saturday evening in the Tour theater “Das Zelt”. With a lot of synth-pop and a clever show concept they led the audience back to the era of shoulder pads and lion manes.
Songs like “Kids in America” and “You keep me hangin’ on” made Kim Wilde world famous in the 1980s. On Saturday evening, the British pop icon appeared in the “Das Zelt” in Interlaken, where she was feverishly expected by her older fans. In honor of the old times her hair seemed to be higher than before. A contrast was offered by Anna Rossinelli, who appeared as the opening act with her band and reimagined the Seventies, while she sang songs from her new album “Marylou” barefoot. The young singer from Basel showed the changeability of her voice with the occasional ballad. “To perform before a superstar is not an easy task,” said Rossinelli.
The superstar didn’t let the audience wait for long and rolled over the audience with a loud guitar, bass, and a band that had plenty of sex appeal and rock’n’roll. The 52- year-old, dressed in black and buttoned up, with a girlish voice whispered into the microphone, a fan was blowing enough air into the dyed blond hair, so that photographers could have her good side in sight. If not for the management who ask that Ms. Wilde is only photographed from the back row. Wilde seemed a bit hesitant at the beginning, but thawed after the audience showered “Anyplace, Anytime, Anywhere” with applause and “Cambodia” with cheers. Besides her own she also sang cover songs, including Depeche Mode and Hurts. The support of her generation, her comrades was safe in all cases. The more they rejoiced that younger guests were in the audience who were probably not even born at the time of their great successes .
Support from family
The game with young and old was also reflected on stage: greyed bassist crosses young guitarist, young backing vocalist supplemented experienced singer. With the current band , with which Kim Wilde appears regularly since her comeback in 2006, the British seemed to feel very comfortable. Perhaps this contributed to the fact that the young back vocal singer is her own niece Scarlett and her brother Ricky, who already wrote countless lyrics for Kim during their careers, plucks the strings on the guitar. With “You keep me hangin’ on” Kim Wilde said goodbye to her audience in Interlaken. “You were amazing”, “You were incredible”, were her words. She promised to come back.