Hurricane and Southside 2023
The best German songs of all time: Die Ärzte – “Westerland”
The doctors: Rod, Farin Urlaub and Bela B.
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In the long autumn of their career, the turbo pop trio Die Ärzte rushes from one audience record to the next. On stage, like their former opponents, Die Toten Hosen, they are a force with their lavish live shows. In the summer of 2012, they managed to sell out East Berlin’s Wuhlheide open-air arena three times in a row. A few weeks later they filled a similarly large capacity at the West Berlin Waldbühne. Around 150,000 fans in the domestic metropolitan area alone, including a not inconsiderable number of repeat visitors.
Years before, Die Ärzte laid the foundation for this immense fan admiration with power-harmonic songs like “Westerland”, a wanderlust anthem of the Beatles-Byrds school, crossed with the drive of guitar punk. This single release from their farewell album “That’s not the whole truth…” from 1988 is a reminiscence of their last live performance for the time being, a legendary and chaotic show on the island of Sylt.
Read more: The best German songs of all time
The doctors juggle with their own history
Die Ärzte went their separate ways for five years before finally regrouping in 1993 with bassist Rodrigo Gonzales. The band has released numerous albums since then. They transferred the simply knitted fun punk songs like “Zitroneneis” or “Anneliese Schmidt” from the early years into a musical spectrum that ranges from the over-hit “Menner sind Schweine” to the anarchistic approach of the 2003 album “Geräusch”.
Standing drummer Bela B, bass genius Gonzales and guitarist Farin Urlaub take turns writing the songs. This is how an immense catalog was created, which they constantly readjust in the tour program according to taste. A juggling with one’s own history. Rarely played songs from the early phase are euphorically cheered by the audience – while the more complex new numbers remain topical.