By Ralf Kühling
Pop star Matthias Reim celebrated his 1500th concert with “Friends” at the Parkbühne Wuhlheide on Saturday evening. It was advertised as “Open Air of the Year.” Maybe that wasn’t it. But nice, that’s it.
Great weather, thousands of fans, great atmosphere. And Matze Reim, 65, was intoxicated and seemed to be unable to believe his luck. He had to let out his enthusiasm over and over again. It sounded like this: “I think we have the most beautiful September 16th evening ever!” Or something like this: “Thanks to those who make this possible, I think 5,000 people work here today.”
His enthusiasm was contagious. And made this wonderfully unpretentious guy, with whom you’d really love to have a beer, even more likable.
The “friends” with whom Reim celebrated his anniversary also included family members. Daughter Marie put in a very confident performance. With his son Julian, Matthias sang “Father and Son,” his version of the Cat Stevens classic “Father and Son.” That was very atmospheric, even if Julian isn’t exactly blessed with the most beautiful voice.
A highlight of the evening, definitely: Reim sings and plays together with ex-Puhdy Dieter “Machine” Birr and Uwe Hassbecker from Silly “Hey, we want to see the polar bears”, one of the hottest club anthems ever.
Together with rapper Finch, who used to call himself “Finch Antisocial,” which he no longer is and actually never was, Reim sang “Zwei wie Pech & Sulfur.”
Is all of this still a hit? Of course not. But Reim, a rock’n’roller at heart, has always stood for the slightly harder version.
The encore part was quite something, as there were two German music classics to be heard in one go. First, Karat’s guests sang “You have to go over seven bridges.” And then Reim sang his obligatory song “Damn, I love you.” A fine finale to a very special evening.
Or, in the words of Reim, the intoxicated: “The celebration of my life!”