Johannes Schult

Nach dem schönen Konzert am selben Ort im vergangenen Jahr kehrte Dar Williams am 25. Mai in die Kulturfabrik zurück. Im Vorprogramm bot diesmal Vanessa van de Forst recht gewöhnlichen Country-Pop mit einer facettenreichen Stimme. Neben Mainstream-lastigen Stücken wie “Middle of Nowhere”, “Ponchartrain”, “Twenty One” und “Lucky” gab es mit “Jolene” (Dolly Parton) und “Free Fallin'” (Tom Petty) zwei nette Coverversionen.

Ganz anders dann Dar Williams mit ihrem eigenwilligen Folk. Zu nahezu jedem Lied streute sie eine umfangreiche Erläuterung ein und vertonte Themen wie moralische Kompasse, Babysitter, griechische Göttinnen, Psychotherapie, Gender und (natürlich?) Hippies kongenial. Das mit lieblichster Stimme gesungene “Family” war für mich einer der Höhepunkte des Abends. Dar ging auch auf zahlreiche Publikumswünsche ein und wurde gleich zweimal für eine Zugabe auf die Bühne zurückgerufen.

1. Emerald
2. The Light and the Sea
3. The Babysitter’s Here
4. I Am the One Who Will Remember Everything
5. Family
6. I Had No Right
7. After All
8. Slippery Slope
9. Mercy of the Fallen
10. You’re Aging Well
11. Iowa (Traveling III)
12. Storm King
13. When I Was a Boy
14. February
15. The Ocean

Dar Williams has been touring in the United States steadily for over 20 years. She also played a few shows in the UK and in the Netherlands from time to time. On Saturday, 30th May, she played her first German concert in 17 years. I was thrilled! Much to my delight, I wasn’t the only one at the Kulturfabrik that evening. About 100 people showed up, filling the small club to the last row. The opening act was North Alone, a singer/guitarist with a fiddle player. The voice reminded me of Tom Waits, but the music was quite folky and upbeat. The audience (myself included) needed a few songs to warm up to the duo. I liked the songs “Missing Heart Shadow”, “Scatter My Ashes in the Sea”, and the closer “The Road Most Traveled” best. That last song in particular sounded really good and had everybody sing along at the end

Dar Williams entered the stage with a somewhat lengthy welcome speech that included the German translations of babysitter and hippie. Her first song was consequently “The Babysitter’s Here”. Dar accidentally said “The play was called ‘The Babysitter'” in the middle part, which was funny. Each song was met with friendly applause. “Emerald” and “Buzzer” were two highlights early in the set. When Dar asked for requests, many different song titles were yelled – and she played pretty much all of them! First came “Iowa”. Dar timidly asked us to sing along and someone in the audience replied “We won’t let you down!”, which drove any tension that might have remained at this point. Sing along, we did! It’s such a great song. Dar’s voice shone on “You’re Aging Well” (another request). <fanboy>She really is the best!</fanboy>

There was the usual banter between songs. Some stories did not really relate to the following song (e.g., her husband had asked her to thank the Germans for improving the passive house building techniques over the past few decades), some were funny, some were graceful, some were sincere. It still baffles me that Dar never seems tell any anecdote twice. Much too soon, she had played her final song. Thankfully, she came back for two encores (“February” and “Are You Out There”, both fantastic in their own way). Afterwards, she patiently signed cds and talked to the fans. There seems to be hope for future concerts in Germany. I’ll be there!

1. The Babysitter’s Here
2. Spring Street
3. The Beauty of the Rain
4. Emerald
5. Slippery Slope
6. Buzzer
7. Empty Plane
8. Iowa (Traveling III)
9. You’re Aging Well
10. Something to Get Through
11. The One Who Knows
12. Mercy of the Fallen
13. New York Is a Harbor
14. When I Was a Boy
15. February
16. Are You Out There