Only a few artists in divided Germany care about Eastern fans as much as Udo Lindenberg. The rock musician really wants to play in the GDR. A deal opened the doors to the Palace of the Republic 40 years ago.
Two medium-sized cars at the Invalidenstrasse border crossing. There are a few musicians in the cars. Otherwise they travel in the big band bus, here the long-awaited journey from Berlin (West) to East Berlin seems almost furtive. Udo Lindenberg and the Panikorchester are on their way to the capital of the GDR.
It’s one of those days that can probably be called historic. 40 years ago, on October 25, 1983, the rock musician from Hamburg played with his band in eastern Germany for the first time.
Pioneer of German texts
At this point, Lindenberg already had around 15 years of music career behind him, also as a pioneer of German lyrics in pop and rock music. The breakthrough came in 1973 with the album “Alles klar auf der Andrea Doria,” which also included “We just want to be together.” The song about the “Girl from East Berlin” becomes a kind of anthem about the painful separation of people caused by the Berlin Wall and German division.
The number of fans in the East grows with the success in the West. “The same culture, the same language – and lots of fans with good taste. I couldn’t leave them hanging,” says the now 77-year-old to the German Press Agency in Berlin. “Of course I wanted to do concerts for them – I wanted to get to know them.”
Years of effort to appear in the GDR
Lindenberg has been trying for many years to be allowed to perform in the GDR. He also expressed this musically, for example in 1976 with “Rock ‘n’ Roll Arena in Jena”, very directly to the GDR leaders then in the spring of 1983 with the “Special Train to Pankow” to the melody of “Chattanooga Choo Choo” made famous by Glenn Miller “.
“Of course I have to try to get in there through the official authorities,” says Lindenberg. “Well, everyone saw how I tried it, leather jacket, special train, shawm,” Lindenberg also recalls the exchange of gifts with the highest GDR decision-maker and State Council Chairman Erich Honecker.
“Honey, you know, I have an awful lot of friends in the GDR and there are more every hour, Honey, don’t be such a stubborn rascal, let me yodel in the workers’ and farmers’ state,” the singer quotes from his text. Musicians in the band see the release of the song as the end of all hopes of a tour through the East.
For Stasi, a mediocre BRD pop singer
In fact, the GDR state security service is not particularly amused by the “mediocre pop singer from the Federal Republic of Germany.” “An appearance in the GDR is out of the question,” said Kurt Hager, the Politburo member responsible for culture, in 1979. The Stasi considers the “special train to Pankow” with “derogatory statements towards comrade Erich Honecker” to be “defamation” and “incitement against the GDR”.
In the Cold War of East-West armament, the GDR leaders also discovered Lindenberg, who was active in the peace movement. Its use against missiles is the key to East Berlin. FDJ leader Egon Krenz really wants to have US singer Harry Belafonte at the Peace Festival of the Free German Youth. Its German tour manager is Fritz Rau, a kind of foster father to Lindenberg. It will be a tie-in deal: if you want Belafonte, you have to accept Lindenberg. The concert will also serve as a door opener for a GDR tour.
Only FDJ cadres in the palace
In front of the Palace of the Republic, for which the foundation stone had been laid just ten years earlier on November 2, 1973, Lindenberg was greeted by his fans with shouts of “We want Udo!” In the GDR model building, which was demolished after reunification, only a strictly selected audience sits, meticulously recorded by the Stasi: more than 4,000 FDJ cadres, some with their blue shirts.
Panikorchester and Lindenberg, who says they are “extremely nervous,” are allowed to play four songs. “You can look at it that way” and “I am a rocker” show the somewhat harder side of the musicians. The famous peace song “What are wars for” fits perfectly into the festival program. Then Lindenberg’s announcement: “War must never again come from German soil!” Much applause.
Lindenberg doesn’t want any missiles – not even in the East
But then comes the demand “Stop the kamikaze armor”. The singer is “against all rocket junk in the Federal Republic and the GDR, we don’t want to see a single rocket anywhere, no Pershings and no SS 20.” There is practically no response to the clear rejection of Soviet armaments in the East.
Lindenberg has mixed feelings about the long-awaited concert. “I was really looking forward to finally getting to know all my panic friends at the concert and after-show paadys,” said the singer. “The blue shirt thing was obviously disappointing at Palazzo Prozzo.” During the final song of all the festival’s artists, the trained drummer retreats to the drums with a very thoughtful expression.
You can see his concerns in the old recordings. “That’s why I ran out there, to my real fans,” says Lindenberg. There are now tumultuous scenes in front of the palace, during which 44 people are arrested by the brutal people’s police.
Agreed GDR tour is canceled
And Lindenberg’s GDR dreams? “It was supposed to be a whole tour of the stadiums, then I already had the contract in my pocket.” However, the unpredictability of an artist making his own decisions is too hot for the GDR leaders. The already agreed tour through East German cities is canceled four months later.
Lindenberg was only able to play the “Special Train to Pankow” live to his GDR fans seven years later in 1990. A few months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a “Hello Suhl!” the singer’s tour kicked off on January 6th – through East Germany.