So – now this interesting last weekend is over!! I got the chance to play on one of the 3 acoustic places at the Rheinauhafen in Cologne as announced previously in the last 2 blogs. Without having any idea how the place was looking like and how the sound would be, I took my guitar and my small battery-driven Roland amplifier with me – just in case. The whole event started at 4 pm and I arrived at a quarter past (as said my slot was between 5:30 and 6 pm). I was curious about the other 2 acts that should play earlier than me, but all I found was a quiet and orphaned “acoustic 3” location. 2 program posters on the balustrade (built to prevent the people from falling into the river Rhine 🙂 ) declaring this place as “acoustic 3”, showed me that I arrived at the correct location. The second act also didn’t show up. I thought about leaving this event but I decided to stay and to play something as promised. I started at approx. 5:10 pm (see the pictures before and after 🙂 ).
The orphaned acoustic 3 location just filled with my amp and my mic
Fête de la Musique Cologne 2014 acoustic 3 (Silo 23)
I had to use my amp due to the inadequate acoustic situation at that place. I stood there with the river Rhine in the back and watched how the people reacting to my sound. This is not the first time for me to make music in the outside on the street, but I must admit you somehow feel like an alien even though this was an official music event. It was the first time for me to use an amp and a microphone in the outside and fortunately the sound wasn’t bad. I could hear myself perfectly and this prevents me to destroy my vocal cords J . The audience, which I could convince to stop and listen to my music, confirmed that the sound was good. So I played about an hour, due to the fact that a. the music act after me also did not appear and b. the audience wanted more. All in all I declare this happening as another music experience. I was relaxed on that day, the wether was nice and those who talked to me gave me good feedback. They were pleased that at least I played at that place. Unfortunately I could not get in contact with the other musicians due to their absence, but some people asked for my card, so maybe they will contact me by mail. Let’s wait and see. I am not 100% sure if I will perform on an acoustic location at the Fête de la Musique in Cologne again. I will try to get a slot on a “real” equipped stage next time, but this is up to the organizers of the event. Finally I can say that I was part of this global event. I recorded the whole performance and divided the video into different parts, so you will find my first song “Right now” in the part 1 uploaded in Youtube:
