interview
On tour
Singer Max Raabe turns 60 today. But he doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday – for a very idiosyncratic reason
On his birthday, Max Raabe is on tour and “glad to have a day off”
© Britta Pedersen / DPA
He could celebrate his big birthday in a big way. And yet Max Raabe will only go out for one dinner today. Out of laziness, he says. But not only.
Mr. Raabe, you will be 60 this week. As your current song puts it, will it be a “day like gold”?
This time I skip it, but more out of laziness. Either you celebrate a sixtieth really big, or you don’t. We’re on tour, it’s massive times, I’m glad to have a day off. Two or three of us will have a nice meal.
They made the 1920s trend. Can you gain something from other wild times in Berlin?
I came to Berlin in 1985 and felt like the happiest person in the world. I was 20, had my own apartment and thoroughly enjoyed the Berlin clubs – from jungle to Tresor. And Berlin does us the favor of never being boring.
Max Raabe: “A starched shirt also works internally”
How did you show up in the clubs back then, for example in a tuxedo?
Ha, I also wore a jacket in the techno club. But admittedly not a tie.
Is it a loss that men today hardly ever wear a tie or even a tailcoat?
I’m in character the second I put on my tuxedo. And that has something to do with attitude that these clothes give. A starched shirt also works inwards. But you shouldn’t take it too seriously, the tailcoat only works if you do and say nonsense in all the elegance.
If it’s not a birthday bash, what’s your happiest moment in life?
Summer, a garden, a hammock, a lake. This is my greatest happiness.