From BZ
After a good four decades on stage, the Berlin band Die Ärzte (“Noise”, “Schrei nach Liebe”, “Zu Spät”) is going on the “Autumn of Life” tour. Drummer Bela B (60), guitarist Farin Urlaub (59) and bassist Rodrigo “Rod” González (55) announced 24 concerts from August to October in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on Sunday.
The “Autumn of Life” tour kicks off with a band-typically cryptic subtitle “This time without dogs & horses” on August 29th and 30th in Vienna. The band, known for their constantly changing stage program, then moves on to Offenbach, Potsdam, Bremen, Münster, Cologne, Zurich, Bielefeld, Hamburg, Saarbrücken, Leipzig and Oberhausen. For their hometown of Berlin, Die Ärzte have scheduled two concerts on September 13th and 14th. The start of advance sales is announced for this Monday at 5 p.m.
This is what punk looks like at the end of 50: Farin Urlaub, Bela B and Rod Gonzalez (from left) are Die Ärzte Photo: picture alliance/dpa
After the self-proclaimed “Best Band in the World” initially had to postpone a sold-out tour due to the pandemic and then had to cancel it entirely, Die Ärzte played two tours last year. It went through several Berlin clubs to support the scene in the capital. There was also a big stadium tour and a few festivals this year.
The club concerts are photographed in the volume “Die Ärzte: Naked in the Wind – The Berlin Tour MMXXII”. The book with the photographs by Jörg Steinmetz will be published on August 30th. In a foreword, the former “Tagesthemen” moderator Ulrich Wickert (80) analyzes songs from Die Ärzte with reference to historical greats such as Heinrich Zille, Hans Fallada, Sigmund Freud, Kurt Tucholsky, Joseph Roth, Thomas Mann and Richard Wagner.
Wickert’s conclusion: “The doctors and their texts are part of the democratic cultural heritage in Germany.”