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Tracy
Chapman in Stuttgart (by MyMusicGems)
My
first Tracy Chapman concert, and what an awesome one!
Tracy Chapman, Ladies and Gentlemen, officially ROCKS
and I mean it literally. She rocked. Awesome - I'm still
blown away and in awe; Mainly because she exceeded my
expectations in 2 ways: As Tracy Chapman is a rather
'quiet' singer-songwriter, I expected the concert also
to be a quite intimate, mellow one --- the concert had
e-guitars and some songs had an astonishing rock drive!
Second, I thought of the Tracy Chapman fans to be also
of the more mellow kind --- they shouted, clapped hands
and sang along many times which surprised me in a great
way.
Last but not least I'm more than amazed by the personality
of Tracy Chapman. And gosh, seeing this artist live
is really something special...the way she expresses
herself, you know.
The
concert began right on time at 8:30pm with support act
Ben Taylor. Mh, let's say he's a VERY mellow and soft
singer-songwriter; armed only with his acoustic guitar
he played for around 30 minutes. He was a very cool
guy, he talked between the songs, joked around and congratulated
us for the German victory over Argentina, plus he praised
Tracy ;). Highlight for me was his cover of Macy Gray's
"I try". After he left the stage, I'd say
it took another 20 minutes until the lights finally
dimmed again and Tracy and her band, consisting of drummer,
keyboarder and bass/guitar player. The location (Liederhalle's
Beethoven-hall) was great, too btw. Not only that it
was sold out, the acoustic and setting itself was just
perfectly fitting for the concert. The setting of the
stage was also very decent: behind a dark background
(its colour should change to greenish- and reddish throughout
the concert) there were 7 or 8 kind of *no clue how
to call that*s...decent.
So
Tracy got on stage with her band and for the next maybe
90 minutes I should totally be blown away, amazed and
in awe (as already mentioned above hehe)
Acknowledged with applause Tracy took her place. The
stage was faintly lighted so that you could basically
only see Tracy's contour. The concert began with an
a capella intro of the song Say Hallelujah. The song
was, like several other songs, played in a "clap
your hands"-style, and the lyrics made it such
a fine opener ("Throw your hands up high"
felt like an order towards the audience).What I also
loved throughout the concert was the apparent devotion
Tracy puts into her facial expressions. For this opener
she didn't play an instrument but stood there, gesticulating
slightly with her right hand as if
she wanted to emphasize what she was singing to us.
One
of six (!) songs from her self-titled debut (released
1988) followed with Mountains o' Things after she picked
up her guitar. The transformation of the song(s) was
excellent - the band did a phenomenal job and it was
a great pleasure to listen and take in. After the song
it was so sweet to get to see how cute Tracy is. I mean
she smiles sooooo softly and has this humble and simply
very nice way of behaving, yet at the same time you
can immediately feel that she is also pretty self-conscious
when she's speaking. After the song she thanked us for
coming, had some (funny!) little comment on the world
cup and introduced the next song with the words "It's
a song I wrote years ago. Well, I don't remember the
exact date, but it was around a time when our president
did some bad thing ...well, today nothing much changed,
uh ?" - Subcity was this next song and a first
real big, big personal highlight. This live version
was beyond being awesome, it was larger than life! I
mean, as I said the acoustic was great, and then the
lyrics, and how she sang it - especially the part with
"Here in Subcity, life is hard" was so 'giving-you-the-creeps'!
The
next song was a true surprise of the touching kind.
Now the band left the stage, Tracy put down her guitar,
the light dimmed, and she started to sing Behind The
Walls a capella. But she didn't sing alone because everybody
in the audience 'helped' her through the song. By that
it gave the song a bit of an ambiguous meaning if you
know what I mean... It gave me the creeps again, unbelievable
feeling.
To
be honest I cannot recall when exactly she sang The
Promise, but I'm pretty sure she played it after "Behind
The Walls". However, this song knocked me down.
It brought tears into my eyes for its unique beauty.
Tracy still was basically alone on stage, light still
was dimmed with only one spotlight being pointed at
her. The keybord played sneaked onto the stage to support
her Acoustic guitar play now. The soft guitar play with
the slight strings, and her voice. It was so beautiful.
The only bad thing about it was that she didn't add
"Save A Place For Me".....
I
said that Tracy rocked. Why did she rock ? Because she
played the electric guitar in the next song, but not
only that coz it was arranged in a quite rocky way!
The song I'm talking about is For My Lover. It was great,
and what emphasized it was that every time the chorus
set in they played it like an extra start with their
guitars. The audience also joined her singing
sometimes.
The
first song of her most recent album "Where You
Live" premiered now with Talk To You. It's one
of my faves from the album: the atmosphere and tone
of it is one of a kind, of course accompanied by her
great way of singing. Another time the live-version
was more than great - the beginning, and then when the
drums set it, and then when the lead guitar starts -
aaaaawesome. Btw, I didn't know Tracy Chapman was one
of a great guitar player - LIVE!
Another
highlight which in the middle part of it knocked me
down again happened with Telling Stories. Kick ass song
from my favourite album. Unfortunately this was the
only song she played from it but well, this one was
more than amazing - again. The play was good and all,
but in the middle something happened that totally surprised
me and, as already written, knocked me down because
I was so overwhelmed. In the middle of the song there
was a kind of instrumental bridge that was more than
awesome [I wonder how many times I yet write this word
???]. I cannot describe it really...it was neat, it
was great...awwwwww....loved it.
*Sigh*,
you know...Tracy Chapman is one of a kind when it comes
to songwriting. Her songs seem to be of plain meanings,
easily to understand and easy to see through. But when
you have a closer look you will find deep meaning(s)
and intensity. I think that is why she is loved so much
by her fans...straightforward songs and lyrics that
yet have somewhat a 'hidden-meaning' or tone to it.
Another Sun is such a song. Introduction of the band
fllowed now.
The
second part of the show began with the classic Fast
Car where again everybody sang along with her. I just
can repeat myself: the lyrics are so righ-into-your-heart
that you feel like what she sings about is happening
to you, that she's singing about your experiences. AGAIN:
the band was so gorgeous (about 2:15 mins into the song...)!
Her
most recent single Change followed and was, if I recall
correctly, prolly the most 'normal' one. Solid performance.
Yet
another highlight of the surprising kind was her cover
of the classic House Of The Rising Sun, originally by
The Animals. I'm sure you all know the song, it has
this gloomy and dark touch in its guitar line. However,
this version was less dreary but as intense. I really,
really, REALLY was more than pleased with Tracy's entire
performance again.
For
the next song, two Tom Toms were placed on the right
and left side of Tracy's microphone. Tracy got a guitar,
and then started drumming on the Tom Toms with her hands,
the beat of America! What now followed was a gorgeous
live performance that at the end had her playing a superbly
feeling solo/reprise (sorta) of it. Not being very fond
of the album version, this live perfo really had something
;).
A
few seconds break and then one of her most known songs
took place. No, not that certain revolution song but
Give Me One Reason. I don't know what people love so
much about it, but it gained an extra big applause when
the first chords of it started. However, I have to admit
that it's a cool and great song in a way coz once, yes
once again her playing and singing makes it all just
perfect! The audience really went a tiny littly bit
crazy every time she began singing the lines with "Baby"
and "But". It was cool, but what for the third
or fourth time surprised me in an aaaaamaaaaaaaaazing
way was that at the end of the song, the band and her
suddenly started to get right back to playing, and played
an aaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaaazing reprise-like version of
it, a bit faster than the actual version, and sang the
main lines over and over again. *Jesus*, that was so
great I couldn't believe my eyes and ears! Ok I might
exagerrate, but it was really special to me.
Still
being shocked for this great version, Tracy and co started
to play the closing song, the ever gorgeous Talkin'
'bout A Revolution. It was AWESOME (!) coz again everybody
sang along with her, and the parts with "runrunrunrunrunrunruuuuun"
where so cool, wow! (and the part with "tables"
as well!) Oh, and we also whispered the "like a
whisper" :)!
The
last song was played and Tracy and co left the stage,
but of course she was clapped back, so to speak ;).
Get Up, Stand Up opened the encore. The feeling was
good, let alone the atmosphere when Tracy animated us
to throw up our hands, singingout loud "Don't give
up the fight!" with her.And then, of course, the
grande finale: Baby Can I hold You. No words...everybody
sang along, and you felt so embraced by the song and
the 2000 voices around you, it was awesome.
...
awesome awesome awesome.
Setlist:
Say Hallelujah
Mountains O' Things
Subcity
Behind The Wall
The Promise
For My Lover
Talk To You
Telling Stories
Another Sun
Fast Car
Change
House Of The Rising Sun (The Animals cover)
America
Give
Me One Reason
Talking 'Bout A Revolution
Encore:
Get Up, Stand Up (Bob Marley cover)
Baby Can I Hold You Tonight
cheers :)
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