written by Marko Jakob

It was the spring of 2017 when Amy Macdonald last played in front of a Berlin audience in the Tempodrom. This year, she is back in Germany for summer festivals. Here in Berlin, she played at one of the most beautiful open-air locations in the Capital – the Spandau Citadel. Supporting her was Antje Schomaker. The entrance to the citadel was well organized at least 90 minutes before the concert began. There were hardly any waiting times at the entrance, the controls thankfully went quickly.

Antje Schomaker

Antje Schomaker had the honour of accompanying Amy Macdonald for her open air concerts in Germany. In February of this year, her album ‘Von Helden und Halunken’ was released. Antje Schomaker’s concert started punctually at 7pm in beautiful summer weather and her performance was very well attended. She started with the song ‘Bis Mich Jemand Findet’. On stage there was only Antje and a guitarist. Usually, she has a complete band with her, and she also plays a lot in small clubs, for example in Berlin’s “Musik und Frieden”. She used to come to the Zitadelle as a visitor to concerts, and now she stood on that big stage herself. Antje told us a lot about herself during her performance and she found a good connection to the audience and encouraged them to participate with her. Other songs in the set were i.e. ‘Gotham City’ and the theme song of her debut album, ‘Von Helden Und Halunken’. She played this song as a live premiere for the first time today – the text of the song contains “Berlin”. In some passages her voice sounded similar to NENA, the star of the 80s. In between, there were a few small problems with the microphone, but that did not cloud the overall good impression. The last song, ‘All Good Things’, ended the 30-minute set of the young artist and the Berlin audience applauded warmly.

Amy MacDonald

In the last ten years, 30-year-old Scottish singer Amy Macdonald has been one of Europe’s most successful solo artists. Her debut album, ‘This Is The Life’ from 2007, sold millions of copies and received numerous platinum awards. Her next albums also stormed the charts, and Amy can now pin about 30 platinum records to her walls. Her first big live appearances came in the autumn of 2007, when she accompanied Paul Weller on his Germany tour. Playing live is in her blood – she always moves her fans with her open nature and her catchy Rock and Folk tunes make for a real party atmosphere. Her latest album, ‘Under Stars’, also contains 11 great songs and self-penned lyrics by the Scottish singer.

At 8pm it was finally time and Amy Mcdonald, for me surprisingly with blond hair, took to the stage together with her five great musicians. She started the concert with the title song of her current album, ‘Under Stars’. Already after the first song, Amy proved that she could speak a few words of German as well. She said in German that it is very hot in Berlin and repeated it in English and continued: “Too hot, for a girl from Scotland”. That’s why she always brought a bottle of water with her at the summer concerts, which she had fixed on the microphone stand. The audience appreciate the amazing weather and was in a great mood to work up a sweat. She thanked the audience several times for their great support and said she now wanted to see how loud the over 4,000 visitors can be in Berlin’s citadel. She said: “At the concert yesterday, there were only 2,000 spectators, and they were very loud” and asked if the Berliners could be louder.

She did see a few who did not participate, but it was all very good-natured. For the song ‘4th of July’, which is about New York, Amy was without a guitar for the first time during the evening. Otherwise, her guitar was with her almost all the time, and she changed it for almost every song. In the song ‘Leap Of Faith’, almost the entire audience clapped along loudly. This was followed by the folky-rocky ‘Poison Prince’. By now it was over 30°C but the atmosphere in the citadel was great. Amy said she was pleased that many fans wore shirts of hers, and she invited us to buy one more. For this, the year of the football World Cup, fan shirts were made in football style – with white for the German fans, blue for the Scottish! Next came ‘Automatic’, another great song from the current album. Amy and her band harmonized perfectly together and appeared to be in a perfect mood.

After 75 minutes, the musicians left the stage to great cheers. Amy returned to the stage on her own with her acoustic guitar and sang the song ‘Prepare To Fall’ as her first encore, which she dedicated to her mother. On the next song, the band returned to the stage and there was another beautiful moment when many of the fans used their mobile phones as flashlights on the song ‘Down By The Water’, waving to the beat of the music. The end of this fascinating and wonderful concert was the song ‘Let’s Start A Band’, which is reminiscent of the sound of her big hit ‘This Is The Life’. With an audience from young to old, even though my favourite song ‘Don’t Tell Me That It Over’ was missing, it was an unforgettable concert evening for me.

Setlist Amy MacDonald

Under Stars
Spark
Youth of Today
Mr. Rock and Roll
Dream On
Slow It Down
4th of July
Leap of Faith
Poison Prince
Automatic
Love Love
Women of the World
Run
This Is the Life
Never Too Late
Life in a Beautiful Light
Prepare to Fall
Down by the Water
Let’s Start a Band

photos © by PIX 666