Date: 27 July 2011
Originally published in: Gelnhäuser Tageblatt (Germany)
Written by: Pascal Petry
Pop icon Kim Wilde opened series of events. 800 fans get out of hand. 90-minute pop ecstasy.
Hanau. What a start for the Hanau concert summer 2011 in the amphitheater: On Saturday evening, the British ’80s pop queen Kim Wilde performed before about 800 fans with her band, a medley of their greatest hits, songs from her current album and cover versions of pop evergreens.
The opening act was the 80s cover band “Eight team” and they warmed up the party-ready crowd. One thing was already sure before the opening of the 2011 summer concert in Hanau on Saturday night: if the 800 visitors didn’t want to catch the flu in the rainy autumn weather with ten degrees Celsius, Kim Wilde and her band would have to rock the house. It can be revealed in advance: no-one caught a cold, you had the feeling that one or the other pop music fans was more likely to get burned. Punctually at 19.30 the summer concert started – but initially not from the main act itself but by the ’80s cover band “Eight team”. The previous year they had won the HR1 band contest. A good half hour on stage the Odenwald band gave their all, playing hits like “Video Killed The Radio Star” by The Buggles, “Easy Lover” by Phil Collins, “Self Control” by Laura Branigan and “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics. The rain was less, the mood was better by the minute.
As the opening act for her performance had ended to thunderous applause, and the stage technicians began to make the final preparations for the eagerly awaited appearance by Kim Wilde, there was so much tension in the air, that you could cut it with a knife in the truest sense of the expression. Just in time for the appearance of Kim Wilde the rain stopped falling. Under exuberant cheers and a “Hello Hanau,” Kim Wilde entered on the stage together with her band at 20.45 clock on stage – the long wait had finally ended. What should follow now were 90 minutes of pop ecstasy. Wilde drew the crowd immediately under her spell and opened the show with “Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime” – a cover of Nena’s “Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann” which she sang in 2003 with the New German Wave star. During this rock pop number no-one was able to sit still. The older fans were into hits like “Cambodia”, “You Keep Me Hangin ‘On” and “You Came”, reminding them of her youth, the younger they knew of parties or on the radio – at one point but all the same: the Kim Wilde fans danced and sang along with every song loudly. You couldn’t see that the completely black-clad pop queen was 50 years old, she swept across the stage as the beginning of her career, flirted equally with their band mates as with the fans.
Attractive niece
A real eye-catcher was also her redhead niece Scarlett, who supported her aunt in a tight black and 15 centimeters high heels loudly as a background singer. Wilde’s brother, Ricky completed the “Family Band” on the electric guitar. In addition, there were still another guitarist, a bassist, two keyboardists and an excellent drummer on stage. The most loyal fans presented her idol at halftime with a bouquet of yellow roses, before the blonde lady performed “Lights Down Low” from their latest album “Come Out And Play”.
Unfortunately, every evening comes to an end – but not without an encore: for starters there was a cover version of Plastic Bertrand “Ça plane pour moi”, followed by the Depeche Mode hit “Enjoy The Silence”, before Kim Wilde and her band is not only the audience Hanauer, but the pit area in the amphitheater was brought to a boil with her biggest hit “Kids in America”. At 22.18 the concert was over, Kim Wilde and her band were still celebrated by the fans for several minutes. The prelude to the concert Hanauer Summer 2011 was a resounding success.