As part of the Schleswig-Holstein music festival my mum invited me to a concert in Neumünster. Together with a friend of my mum and my aunt we went to the “Stadthalle” on a sunday evening.
4th row – a bit close to the stage was our first thought, but later we were convinced, that it was a very good choice to sit that close.
We were seeing the acapella band Naturally 7, a 7-member (what a surprise) Band from the US. Not only pure singing, but also a lot of beat boxing, instrument imitation and other musically virtuosities all together created with the own human body were waiting for us. It is crazy, how many possibilities there are. Naturally 7 were performing several songs of different genres and decades, own songs and put them all together with their own special charme and small choreographies.
Whether funny, calm or upbeat, it wasn’t getting boring at all. Through funny and unexpected changes of the music and simple choreographies the performance was continuously entertaining and exciting to watch. Since we were sitting that close to the stage we could see everybody’s face and could see who was making which sound with which body part. So it was a good choice to sit in the 4th row – which we were complaining about in the beginning.
Stunning sounds, ingenious drum beats and electric guitar sounds and a rumbling bass were filling the whole “Stadthalle Neumünster”. Hops was playing the bass and it was such a surprise, how deep the tones were, coming from his thin and tall body. I guess he was born ready. I guess I was sitting there with an open mouth for several times. I was very impressed and stunned by the things the seven men were creating on stage. With the help of a loop station they also added some nice effects.
“I think we haven’t been here before!”, one of the members said and I was thinking “yeah, wo wonder! It’s Neumünster, not Berlin or Hamburg, ….!” Then he startet to play with his loop station and made our own little “Neumünster-Remix”. I guess they do this in every city they play, but it was a nice idea and caught some sympathy and laugher.
Towards the end of the evening all band members put down their microphones and stood on the edge of the stage to sing without any electric help. It was a magic moment. I nearly was crying just because it was such a beautiful moment with the whole room filled with love, peace and an untouchable atmosphere.
Despite the more reserved “Stadthallen-flair” the (a little older) audience went delirious. They gave standing ovations and were trampling with their feet as if Naturally 7 had played their last song but they didn’t. As if the audience was screaming for a bonus song at the end, people were standing up in the middle of the show several times to show their appreciation. It was great!
The encore was a blast! Naturally 7 got the whole audience to stand up and dance (at least I guess they were – I didn’t check behind me). Finally! Finally the permission to stand up and shake the body. Thank you for that! I would’ve done that way earlier, if there wasn’t an older coulpe sitting right behind me which I didn’t want to disturb. Now everybody had to get on their feet and copy the dance moves of the band members. Everybody was moving, jumping, sining and laughing. It was such a great moment. I could’ve done that the whole evening, not only for the last song.
After the concert Naturally 7 came into the lobby to sell some CD’s and DVD’s and sighn them. But because of the fact that they announced this in englisch, most of the audience didn’t get it, I guess. We stood in the lobby with about 30 people, got a DVD and let them sign the cover. It was nice to meet them in person afterwards and Hops REALLY sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger – so funny!
Inspired we went home, where we directly turned on the music in the kitchen, sang within and showed it to my cousins and my dad, who had stayed at home. We had a little dance party in the kitchen and I repeated the dance moves of the band. Later we put the DVD into the computer and showed them some videos. It is so much better to WATCH Naturally 7 than only listen to their music. You then realize, their talent and what they actually do.
Thank you for this heart-filling evening! It was a pleasure!
