Udo Lindenberg is back. His first concert after Corona is a firework: old and new songs, political statements, enthusiastic fans. After the start of the tour in Schwerin, 20 concerts will follow until mid-July.
Udo Lindenberg was in withdrawal and so were his fans. Now the old rocker has his “Udopium” back: he’s back on stage.
The first concert after the compulsory Corona break in Schwerin is eagerly awaited by the fans, and some were probably anxiously awaiting it. Have the pandemic and lockdown left their mark on the now 76-year-old?
The worries turn out to be unfounded: Lindenberg puts on a two-hour show in which he pulls out all the stops and gives everything. No vocal or physical weaknesses. “We’re back where we belong, where our real home is,” Lindenberg calls out, visibly relaxed and happy, to his panic orchestra and the 8,000 enthusiastic concert-goers in the sold-out Sport and Congress Hall in Schwerin. «Great concert. Thank you Schwerin!»
Pandemic years were tough for Lindenberg
Lindenberg admits that the years of the corona pandemic were among the worst in his life. No performances, he is the only guest in the lockdown at the Atlantic Hotel in Hamburg, where he lives. The corridors darkened. “You meet spirits, good spirits, bad spirits, genie in a bottle,” he chatters.
He developed new shows in lockdown, kept fit by jogging and painted a lot, he tells journalists backstage. He signs some posters and draws his men on them. In addition to the posters, he continues to draw on the wall – the rogue has not left Lindenberg. Painting is Udo’s second passion besides music. His animated drawings flicker across the big stage screen during the concert and illustrate his songs.
Lindenberg offers a best of his long career – from “Honky Tonky Show” to “Special Train to Pankow”, from “Cello” to “Reeperbahn”. The audience is fully involved from the first minute, singing along – as if the musician-audience relationship had not been interrupted by the corona pandemic. “For the first time on stage after three years of deprivation, renunciation and withdrawal,” calls Lindenberg to his cheering fans. «The Udopium is back – finally!»
«We need utopias»
Lindenberg sneaks and dances and hops across the stage as ever, twirls the microphone, flirts with the dancers and singers. Around 150 participants are there, the panic orchestra of course and also a children’s choir. Political statements should not be missing – Udo Lindenberg blasphemes about the state of the Catholic Church, celebrates the gay movement and also comments on the Ukraine war.
Between the songs “What are wars for” and “We’re moving to peace,” he says: “Even if some say that pacifism is naïve today, we need utopias. Despite all realism, we must never give up utopia. It’s about the future of our children, in Ukraine, in Russia and in Germany and all over the world.”
Udo Lindenberg and his followers have their «Udopium» back. Fans will look forward to the 20 concerts that follow the Schwerin tour opener until July 10th, from Berlin to Munich and from Mannheim to Hamburg. All but the remaining tickets are sold out, according to management.
