A visibly battered one gentlemanwho had to get out of the car straight onto the stage because of a G7-related road block, brings a point as the support act for the Fantastischen Vier, which is why this anniversary concert is a special one: “G7, what a mess man, what a mess .”
On the Friday afternoon before the concert, Maxvorstadt is in a state of emergency: Fanta 4 and G7, storm clouds and crowds of people meet. Up to the intersection of Brienner Strasse and Augustenstrasse, the waiting fans of the hip-hoppers are queuing up to redeem their tickets for the first of the two “Forever 30 Years Live” anniversary concerts by the Fantastischen Vier on Königsplatz. In between: roadblocks, a lot of security personnel, the first beers, some people cast anxious glances at the sky. Because many do not trust the dry weather after the strong thunderstorm in the afternoon.
“You are the wheat and tomorrow is the chaff”
The performance of the Fantastischen Vier begins with a bang: Smudo, Michi Beck, Thomas D and And.Ypsilon on Friday evening the first of their two concerts on Königsplatz. Within seconds, thousands of fans jump, rain sets in, the wind blows as if on cue to the lines “before we fall, we’d rather stand out” and seems to lift the jumping people a little higher. In addition to the recordings of the concert that is currently taking place, old live recordings are being played on the screens, after all it is about the anniversary tour, which was actually supposed to take place in 2020 and was postponed several times due to the pandemic. On Friday afternoon, some fans on social media worried whether they would be put off again – a heavy thunderstorm in the afternoon, then a few hours without rain and now it’s starting to pour just in time for the first song.
Thomas Dürr alias Thomas D despite the rain – later he jumps through the puddles on stage.
(Photo: Robert Haas/Robert Haas)
At first, this doesn’t detract from the exuberant atmosphere, instruments and electronics on stage are quickly covered with tarpaulins. The Königsplatz celebrates to “Was geht”, the euphoria is even greater when bars from Beyoncé’s “Crazy in love” are recorded. “Nice people, I like that,” says Thomas D after the song, “and before we get struck by lightning, of course just with euphoria, we want to say thank you” and the group performs “Thank you” from the album “Für dich immer noch Fanta She”. It runs through the whole evening that the weather finds its way into the practiced but smoothly performed song moderation, sometimes ironically with “here in beautiful Monaco, where the sun always shines”, sometimes rough: “Insane, you persevered, your cards kept it for two years and now it pisses like shit out of the sky.”
It is indeed surprising that with the weather, only a few fans decide to leave the increasingly muddy Königsplatz. Given the number of fans, it’s not particularly loud, but the group keeps motivating: “You’re the wheat and tomorrow is the chaff, everyone can do 26 degrees and the sun! You’re real picnickers.”
The rain is also lashing the four Swabians in the face, but Smudo, Michi Beck and Thomas D are still dancing and jumping around the front of the stage as if it were a normal concert, Andreas Rieke alias And.Ypsilon stands stoically behind his tarpaulin-covered structure, which the other three comment ironically as they sit down on chairs. “If you’re wondering what Andy is doing back there, he’s making us a soup” – “a mushroom soup”. And the first bars of the drug-inspired “Day at the Sea” ring out.
The Fantas deliver as you are used to from them. The show is tightly scheduled but by no means soulless, the band’s evergreens of “Die da?!” to “Troy” haven’t lost any of their wit or expressiveness. As Thomas D stands alone on stage, takes off his shirt and performs “Warrior” shirtless, G7 helicopters fly over the audience, reminding them that there is a real war going on on this continent.
Michi Beck and Smudo have been making music together with the Fantastischen Vier for decades and also sat together as coaches in a casting show for a few years.
(Photo: Robert Haas/Robert Haas)
The Fantastischen Vier can look back on an impressive band career: they have been musically active in the same formation for more than three decades, made German hip-hop big, founded a record company and released numerous very successful albums. In addition to their group, the members have their own, not only musical, projects. Michi Beck and Smudo sat in the coaching chair of the casting show for a few years The Voice of Germany and also sometimes in the children’s version of the format – which should explain some of the very young fans in the audience, which is very diverse in terms of age – Smudo recently did with the Corona warning app Luca Headlines and Thomas D was the face of the fitness program Fighter Fitness in the early noughties, which is perhaps one of the reasons why he presented his bare chest on “Warrior”.
In addition, Thomas D is involved in the areas of veganism, climate and environmental protection, which is why there were many question marks when it became known in 2019 that ticket sales for the “Forever 30 Years Live” tour under the motto “Exclusively for everyone” at the Discount giant Aldi were sold. The band’s argument that ticket sales should be democratized did not convince all critics in the age of the internet, the point that dubious sales via second-ticket platforms should be avoided was more understandable.
The latest coup is supposed to FantiTown be: The Fantastischen Vier advertise this virtual club in a video before the concert. Words like “exclusive” and “benefits” are used. In this digital FantiTown, the fans should be able to wander through different rooms and experience the band’s universe even more intensively. The lure is that you can also watch this concert there in the stream – before you even see it, the digital reliving of the concert is announced.
At the end of the concert, the Fantastischen Vier then emphasize what only works live: With the encore of the song “Together”, they first bow musically before bowing and then kneeling in front of their fans: “We’ll forget that never you.” And the audience is also deeply impressed. After the concert, a man in a rain poncho, who must be around the same age as the Fantastischen Vier, calls out to his companion in disbelief and euphoria: “It’s amazing what power the old farts still have!”