Meet und Greet mit Chris de Burgh in Lingen - 17.07.2005

Kreis Emsland 15.07.2005

"Die Familie leidet schon unter 'Verfolgungswahn'..."
Von Carola Alge

Meppen/Lingen

Die Resonanz auf die "Meet and greet"-Aktion unserer Zeitung mit Chris de Burgh war gewaltig: Unter anderem aus Miami in den USA sowie aus weiten Teilen des Bundesgebietes erreichte uns eine Leserzuschrift.

AUF CHRIS DE BURGH dürfen sich vier Leser ganz besonders freuen: Sie treffen den Sänger vor seinem Konzert in Lingen zu einem "Meet and greet" unserer Zeitung.
Baris Evran ist seit 1988 Anhänger des Iren. "Ich habe all seine Poster, CDs und bin sein größter Fan aus der Türkei", schreibt der 30-jährige Istanbuler, der unter anderem in Oberhausen und Hannover gelebt hat und jetzt in Florida wohnt. Er gehört einem türkischen Fanclub an, dessen Mitglieder sich "fleißig per E-Mail über Chris de Burgh austauschen.
Zu den vier Gewinnern unseres "Meet and greets" vor dem Konzert am Sonntag, 17. Juli, auf dem Lingener Marktplatz gehört Joachim Hock. Der 45-Jährige hat Chris de Burgh 1983 zum ersten Mal während eines Berichts im Hessischen Fernsehen gesehen, in dem ein Porträt des Sängers gesendet wurde. Ein Jahr später besuchte der selbstständige Netzwerkmanager und Privatdozent das erste Konzert des Künstlers, "Man On The Line". Seitdem ist der Lingener Fan von de Burgh.
Für ihn ist jeder Besuch eines de-Burgh-Konzerts "eine Reise durch die Welt der Gefühle und Stimmungen". Hock liebt den Wechsel der Songs des Iren - mal "High On Emotion" ("Höchste Emotionen"), mal "traurig und melancholisch wie bei 'Moonlight And Wodka'". Am Ende jedes Konzerts habe Chris de Burgh nicht nur sein Bestes, sondern alles gegeben", meint Hock, der sich sicher ist: "Auch Lingen wird wieder ein toller Abend". Dort hofft er, "endlich ein Autogramm auf mein erstes Konzertposter von der Tour 'Man On the Line' zu bekommen. Und vielleicht wird er in Lingen ja auch mit dem Künstler gemeinsam den Song "Carry Me" anstimmen dürfen. In der "Alten Oper" in Frankfurt hatte er bereits dieses Vergnügen. "Noch viel besser als das gemeinsame Singen" findet der Lingener jedoch das kurze persönliche Gespräch mit Chris de Burgh. Er will die Gelegenheit nutzen, um von ihm zu erfahren, "warum er nicht mehr mit seiner alten Band, mit der er sehr erfolgreich war, auftritt".
Weitere Gewinner des Treffs sind Edeltraud Wessels aus Lingen, die mit dem Lied "Lady In Red" "sehr schöne Erinnerungen verbindet", und Ilka Frerich, die die Musik des Sängers seit 1984 liebt.
Vierte im Bunde ist Doris Neerfries. Sie ist absoluter Fan von Chris de Burgh, hat gerade erst seine Konzerte in Bochum und Krefeld besucht. "Meine Familienmitglieder leiden schon unter 'Verfolgungswahn', denn kommen sie ins Haus, läuft meist irgendeine CD von ihm, steigen sie ins Auto, erklingt seine Musik aus dem Kassettenrekorder, und auch sonst hängen in unserem Haus so einige Fotos von ihm - im Waschkeller 13 Konzertplakate", erzählt die 36-Jährige schmunzelnd. Seit etwa 20 Jahren hört die Dinslakenerin die Musik des Iren. Ein "so richtig exzessiver Fan" sei sie jedoch erst geworden, nachdem sie im Oktober 2002 durch Zufall an ein Ticket zu seinem "Timing Is Everything"-Konzert in der Arena Oberhausen kam. "Seitdem ist es um mich geschehen. Ich bin total hin und weg", bekennt die zweifache Mutter, die Chris de Burgh im November letzten Jahres bereits einmal kurz gegenüber stand. Mit anderen Fans einer Mailing-Liste hatte sie dem Sänger bei einem internen Soundcheck ein Ständchen zum 20-jährigen Bühnenjubiläum in der Dortmunder Westfalenhalle gebracht. Dass sie ihn nun in Lingen erneut persönlich trifft, findet sie mehr als Klasse. "Ich kann es gar nicht glauben. Das ist toll, das ist ja Wahnsinn", war ihre erste Reaktion, als sie von dem Gewinn erfuhr.


Press article by Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung from July 15, 2005

by Carola Alge

"The family is suffering from persecution mania..."
The response to the "Meet and greet" promotion with Chris de Burgh of our newspaper was huge: We received mail from Miami in the USA and frommany parts of Germany. Baris Evran is a fan of the Irishman since 1988. "I have all of hisposters, CDs and am his biggest fan from Turkey", the 30 year old man from Istanbul writes, who has lived in Oberhausen and Hannover and now lives in Florida. He belongs to a Turkish fanclub, whose members diligently exchange e-mails about Chris de Burgh. One of the four winners of our "Meet and greet" before the concert on July 17 on the Lingen Marketplace is Joachim Hock. The 45 year old has seen Chris de Burgh for the first time in 1983 during a TV report in Hessen TV, which broadcasted a portrait of Chris de Burgh. One year later the self-employed network manager and private lecturer visited the first concert of the artist, "Man On The Line". Ever since then the man from Lingen is a fan of de Burgh. For him every visit of a de-Burgh-concert is "a journey through the world of emotions and moods". Hock loves the change of songs of the Irishman - sometimes "High On Emotion", sometimes "sad and melancholy like during 'Moonlight And Vodka'". At the end of each concert "Chris de Burgh hasn't just given his best, but everything", Hock says, who is sure: "Lingen will be a great evening too." There he hopes "to finally get an autograph on my concert poster from the 'Man On The Line' tour. "And maybe he can sing the song "Carry Me" together with the artist in Lingen. He already had the pleasure to do this in the "Alte Oper" in Frankfurt. "Much better than singing together" the man from Lingen finds the chance for a short personal conversation with Chris de Burgh. He wants to use the opportunity to hear "why he doesn't perform anymore with his old band, with which he was very successful". Other winner of the meeting are Edeltraud Wessels from Lingen, who "associates very beautiful memories with the song 'Lady In Red'", and Ilka Frerich who loves the music of the singer since 1984. The fourth winner is Doris Neerfries. She is an absolute fan of Chris de Burgh, has just visited his concerts in Bochum and Krefeld. "My familymembers are suffering from persecution mania, for when they enter the house there is usually a CD from him playing. When they enter the car, there is his music in the tape player, and there are some pictures from him in the house - 13 concert posters in the laundry in the basement.",the 36 year old tells smirkingly. But she only became a "really excessive fan" when she got by chance a ticket to his concert in the arena Oberhausen in October 2002 for his "Timing Is Everything" concert. "Since then it has happened. I have completely lost it", the mother of two confesses, who already stood in front of Chris de Burgh briefly once in November last year. Together with other fans of a mailing list she had serenaded the singer during an internal soundcheck for his 20th stage anniversary in the Dortmund Westfalenhalle. That she will now meet him again in Lingen, she finds more than great. "I can't believe it. That is great, that is madness", was her first reaction, when she heardof her winning.

And here my review, written at the following day:

Hello everybody!

I'm sure you're already eagerly waiting for my report of the meet &
greet, which I'd won before the concert in Lingen yesterday.

Well, here it is:

Everything really was very exciting. First I intended to drive to Lingen
after a night of good sleep. So I went to bed rather early (23.00 p. m.),
but of course I couldn't sleep until 1.00 a. m. Ok, the next morning I
had time to sleep long, because we were invited for lunch at my parents-
in-law. But I awoke already at 5.45 a. m.!!!!! Nothing with beauty-sleep!
Time didn't seem to pass until noon. It was terrible. And after the lunch
nothing could stop me from leaving for Lingen. At 13.25 p. m. I started
the 140 km-drive. Lingen was easy to find. I must tell you, that 1 or 2
years ago I never would even have thought about driving alone to cities,
where I've never been before. Usually my husband drives the car, when we
make such trips or when we go on vacation etc. But Chris makes me even
drive such distances, and I like it.

I arrived in Lingen at 15.00 p. m. In the city I didn't really know,
which street to choose and stopped for a short time to have a look at the
map. But I didn't need it. Lingen really has very friendly inhabitants.
A young lady rode with her bike and her child along the street. She could
hear, which direction I was searching for, because she heard the loud
music from inside my car, of course nothing else than Chris singing! She
showed me the direction to the market place J That was easy. I parked
near the market, walked some steps and hardly could believe it, when I
was suddenly standing next to the stage. And there were still so much
people walking over the market place. The seats were standing there and
I already could see where I had to sit in the evening. Then I saw a few
familiar faces from the CdeB-crew and sat down in a café to have a
cappuccino.

At 15.15 p. m I saw Chris Andrews coming upstairs into the Cityhall.
Chris followed wearing his sunglasses. Nobody seemed to have seen them.
After another 15 min. the soundcheck started. I quickly paid my
cappuccino and took place at one of the seats in front of the stage.
From there I could enjoy the soundcheck including Chris walking between
the chairs practicing his Britney-part. He even tried to get a cup of
coffee at the Café, where I'd been sitting before.

I also met the friendly woman who had showed me the way and talked a bit
to her. She was very excited, that Chris was coming to her town. She had
seats in the 3rd row middle for the evening. Several people from Lingen
seemed to be very happy and enjoyed it, that such a famous star came to
their sweet little town!

Then I had time until 18.45 p. m., when the winners of the meet & greet
were expected at the production office. Fortunately I met Heike, Ina,
Ilka, Jutta and Iris and we sat down at the "Kochlöffel"-restaurant and
ate something to be fit for the evening! Time passed rather quick. Once
it seemed to start raining, but fortunately stopped soon.

Meanwhile they had closed the market-place and told all the people to
leave.

The "Abendkasse" had opened already at around 18.00 or 18.30 p. m.,
earlier than expected, so I could take my ticket before the meet & greet.
The other 3 winners of the m & g also arrived and also Carola Alge, the
newspaper reporter and a photographer. Nobody really knew, through which
entrance we had to go into the venue, but at 19.00 p. m. we finally were
inside and waited at the V.I.P.-tent, where we got a glass of champagne
(Sekt). We took some photos of each other and talked about why we were
fans of Chris and how we got it, and we waited and waited.... . At 19.15
p. m. we were told to go into the cityhall. There we waited again. The
photographer went outside every now and then a looked, if he already
could see Chris, and then, at 19.30 p. m. Chris finally arrived. Our
hearts were beating heavily!

He came in, said "hello" and first was greeted by the major, a really
friendly woman. But soon he had a look at us. He asked: "Who is this?"
and shook hands with all of us.

First the most important thing had to be done: The press-photo! Wow! I
stood next to Chris and he laid his arm around me. I put my arm around
him, but it wasn't so easy, because I'm nearly 1 head taller than he is J
My heart was beating. I'm sure he must have felt it.. Then we m & g
winners gave him the things to sign, which we had prepared, or cards etc.
When it was my turn he said, that he had seen me at the soundcheck in the
afternoon. And he realized, that I had given something to him, a DVD. Yes,
I had given him a DVD in Bochum, and I'd got 2 kisses of him there J Nice
to see, that he really remembered me J I had prepared some Din-A-4 size
photos of him, which I'd taked in Bochum, Krefeld and Dortmund, and I
asked him to write "For Doris" on them, when he signed them. Well, I
thought, he'd only sign one, or only one with my name and the other
simply and quick with CdeB. But no, he had a look at each picture and
didn't stop writing "For Doris, CdeB"!!!!! After 3 pictures or so I said,
that I thought, he wouldn't have so much time to sign all the pictures,
but he answered - typically him: "I've always time for a pretty girl!" J
After the 5th photo I managed to stop him and asked him to sign the 6th
with "For Nicole", and he did. I hope I didn't steal too much of our
precious time with Chris from the other winners. I can't really remember,
what he did for the others.

Afterwards he had to sign the guestbook of the city Lingen (and the
ticket of the major!), and he got a book about Lingen from the major.

All this happened within 5 minutes - no time to ask any questions, so we
still must again fall back on the MotL -, but as we were prepared, that
we wouldn't have too much time, it was ok for me! These 5 minutes were
worth buying a ticket and driving to Lingen, and let my poor children at
my parents-in-law (My husband istn't jet back home from his job abroad in
Malaysia, where he's working for 5 weeks). I didn't even drive to
hospital with my son, who had a broken toe. His aunt did it, while I
stood next to Chris for the photo!

Then I searched for my seat in the 8th row. During my last concerts in
Bochum and Krefeld I had been sitting amongst other fans, but this time
there were "normal" people sitting next to me. The couple at my left side
didn't clap hands at all during a song. They also didn't talk very much.
The elderly couple at my right side was ok, but also not so very active.
It was a funny feeling, when I sang along and clapped my hands so totally
alone between those people, but I did! But I was glad when we were
allowed to come in front of the stage, it was much nicer there.. And I
also met the woman who had showed me the way in the afternoon again. But
I wondered, where Ina, Heike, Jutta and the others were. I didn't see you
anymore in the front! Real strange!

I liked the whole atmosphere of the market place, with all the houses
and cafés and restaurants around. People were sitting in all the windows.
Poor inhabitants of the houses behind the stage! They only could see
Chris during his Birtney-part.

Unfortunately he only played for 2 hous 15 min. this time L He didn't
sing "Once upon a time", and no Beatles-songs!

At 23.45 p. m. I already was back home, where I was told about the broken
toe of my son.

So I had to get up early today and drive again to the hospital for a
check at 8.00 a. m. Back home afterwards I found a first photo of me with
Chris, which the newspaper-reporter had sent to me. I was so excited that
I printed it and took it in my bag, when I had to drive to my oculist. I
had to let check my lenses. He always asks me, when I wear my lenses,
well I answered mostly, when I'm doing sports or when I want to look
nice! And then (I know I'm crazy!) I put the photo out of my handbag and
showed it to the oculist and said: "Or when I do something like this!" I
was surprised and asked, how I managed to get such a photo. He immediately
was interested to visit one of the following CdeB-concerts, but
unfortunately he has to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, when Chris' last 2
concerts around here take place. The following concerts are too far away.
Perhaps around here we don't have enough tour-poster, so he didn't know
earlier about the tour.

That was my Sunday in Lingen. Now Bonn and Nordkirchen are still left,
and then for me the tour is over ;-((((( I really got used to the
tour-life meanwhile, in spite of only having attended 3 concerts this
year.

Good night,
Doris