Roland Kaiser sings from the soul of millions and inspires several generations. After 50 years, the 72-year-old is now touring stadiums for the first time.
Roland Kaiser has long been a phenomenon. He has inspired men and women across generations and has sold out venues for decades. To be more precise: for exactly 50 years. That deserves to be celebrated, and where will the 72-year-old celebrate his anniversary? On stage, of course. And with – logically – 50 hits. “We discussed for a long time: How many songs should we play? How many songs should we put in medley form so that we can actually play the 50, but also keep the time so that people don’t have to stay overnight in the stadium or arena. So we’ve managed that,” the singer told the German Press Agency.
The anniversary tour started with an acclaimed concert in Bad Segeberg. “To be able to make music for half a century is a great gift. And you have given me that. Thank you,” said the 72-year-old at the start of the concert in the Kalkberg Arena. He began his performance on the open-air stage with the songs “It’s good that you’re here” and “I think it’s starting again.”
The Münster resident’s show started around 45 minutes late due to a violent thunderstorm with heavy rain in the region. Until then, the audience had endured the showers under umbrellas, rain jackets and ponchos. Roland Kaiser was welcomed and cheered all the more enthusiastically on stage. During the first three songs, the sky cleared up, the rain was replaced by sunshine, and this conjured up a rainbow over the arena. “It looks good now. Beautiful. We’re going to have a nice evening together and take our time,” Kaiser said to the 9,500 or so spectators standing in front of him, most of them wearing colorful rain capes.
“An incredible luck”
There is one new thing about the tour: for the first time, the Münster resident will also be performing in stadiums – “quite a lucky circumstance,” as he says. “If someone had told me in 1974: ‘In 2024, you will be standing in a sold-out Red Bull Arena in Leipzig and playing in front of over 40,000 people,’ I would have said ‘Yeah, stop kidding me. I don’t believe you.’ That is an incredible stroke of luck that has happened to me.”
It was a big step for him, because a stadium tour is not only exciting, but also more expensive. “You have to employ a lot more staff, use a lot more technology and you really have to believe that it will be profitable and that it will work. That’s why you think twice about doing something like that.”
“We can do that”
In the end, Kaiser decided to do it, which is why his 50 hits – from “Santa Maria” to “Joana” to “Manchmal möchte ich schon mit dir” – can now be heard in the stadiums of Rostock, Cologne, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Hanover. He is not nervous about it. “My band and I can do what we do. We are well prepared, and the people who come to my concerts want to see us.” Kaiser is on stage with 16 musicians.
He doesn’t have a secret recipe for the fact that he has now inspired at least three generations of women and men. “People look for certain constants in life, and I am perhaps one of these constants. Along the lines of ‘I am five years old now and my mother is watching TV and I see Roland Kaiser. Now I am 15, Roland Kaiser is still here and ten years later he is still here.'”
Such phenomena once existed with Peter Alexander and Udo Jürgens. They were always there, we grew up with them, they kept up with the times musically and also picked up on trends. “We do similar things. I assume that is one reason. But it is an absolute assumption.”
At home in Schlager
Roland Kaiser says he has now recorded more than 600 songs and sold more than 90 million records. He feels so at home in pop music that it never occurred to him to change genres and make a rock or classical record, for example. “No, not at all. I feel comfortable in what I do. And I think that is a basic requirement for being convincing.”
Anyone who struggles with what they do is somehow dissatisfied. “And that doesn’t exactly make you very relaxed.” Whether it’s shoes, lyrics, hairstyle or performance locations: looking back over the past 50 years, he doesn’t regret any decisions. “No, I chose it consciously.”
Above all, the decision to consistently wear suits has made him very relaxed: “It’s wonderful. I have peace and quiet. You’re not exposed to fashion trends. Except that the cut has to change, of course. I feel comfortable in it, I’m not dressing up.” He has around 12 to 14 tailor-made suits made for a tour each year. “At peak times, I have around 60 to 70 suits.” And after a tour, he gives some of them to a shop in Berlin (Zweimalschön), which sells them on. “The proceeds from the sale go to support people who need help.”
The fans in front of the stage can sense that Roland Kaiser loves his job, as they usually celebrate him almost frenetically – especially at the legendary “Kaisermania” concert nights on the banks of the Elbe in Dresden. Quitting has never been an option for him. “I have never had that moment in my life. No.”
But if his voice ever stopped working, he would stop immediately. “Working with canned material wouldn’t be nice. I wouldn’t do that either.”