In November and December 2007 Chris Norman was in Germany and Austria for the first acoustic tour he ever did. Normally I write down the impressions of the concerts of Chris directly after a gig, and I usually do it just for myself. I know that Chris has a lot of fans in Russia and Eastern Europe but he didn’t do the “Close-Up-Tour” there. So I hope that with this delayed report I can give the fans in Russia and Eastern Europe some impressions of it.

With his unique and multifaceted voice Chris already impressed me during the 70s with Smokie. I still like to hear the old records of Smokie, and to me it seems that the voice of Chris has been changing during all the years and decades, but certainly not in a negative way. When Chris was a young man, his voice was substantially more croaky than now. The more he got older, the more his voice became deeper, softer and warmer I think – but naturally it is still HIS voice: absolutely distinctive and typically husky, with a special “sexy style”. His voice has always been totally inimitable and it will ever be inimitable!

Since 2004 I have visited a lot of rock concerts of Chris and his band. They all were fantastic and they all brought me unforgettable moments. Common to all these concerts was the bright presence of Chris on stage. Wherever he entered the stage he immediately produced a magic atmosphere and the audience always was totally inspired by that. So I wondered what the concerts of the acoustic tour were going to be like. To start the acoustic tour off, Chris did a gig in the “Gewandhaus” in Leipzig and I was lucky enough to be there, together with my darling. A few days later I also attended the concerts in Stade and in Hamburg. In Hamburg we were accompanied by dear friends from England, so the gig there was something very special.

In Leipzig the gig took place in the “Gewandhaus”, a building which is famous for its own acoustics. Just the stage area was a big contrast to the rock concerts of Chris, where the whole stage is normally occupied with all kind of guitars, drums and synthesizers and all the heavy power equipment. Now the stage technique was totally reduced to the essential part: a string quartett, a keyboard – and a microphone for Chris! When the four young ladies of the “Fiorini String Quartet” and Rob Gentry (keyboard) appeared on stage the audience applauded – but nobody began to scream or something like that and this was also totally different to the rock gigs, where, as you surely will know, the people use to call for Chris by shouting out his name – awaiting him eagerly! But when Chris was entering the stage in Leipzig the audience stayed exceptionally quiet. There was big applause, of course, but only few “hysterical screams”... Incredible! Chris looked absolutely staggering and therefore I would have expected the usual “hysteric screaming”! But probably nobody dared to scream in the “holy” Gewandhaus!? Chris has always been a very good-looking guy, but – quite unbelievable – with every year passing by he even looks better! So no wonder that we all have got a little crush on him...

Chris looked at the audience with his mind-blowing smile and then he directly started the concert with “Hello Baby”. And – wow! Already this first song sent shivers down my spine and it surely was because the voice of Chris – especially live – always makes me feel like this. But this feeling was even stronger because this was the first time I heard him singing in such a distinctive way: so clear, brilliant and strong! The magnificent acoustics of the “Gewandhaus” were just made for his voice! I feel sorry for anybody who dares to sing in the “Gewandhaus” without having a good voice: What an awkward situation that would be!!! But surely – not for “our” Chris. We heard him singing as heavenly as ever and he never failed to hit the notes during the whole concert, although in Leipzig he seemed to be very nervous for a while. Attending his rock concerts during the years before I sometimes have had the impression that his voice had been drowned out by the power of the electric guitars, the drums etc. But during the acoustic tour we could hear “Chris Norman absolutely unplugged”, and Chris really thrilled me with these gigs. I was totally captivated by his incredible voice.

Before the Leipzig concert started me and my husband had been a little bit worried about the potential behaviour of some of the audience: Would they be able to refrain from jumping off their seats and from running to the stage as soon as Chris would have appeared on stage? Would they be able to be quiet? We thought it would be appropriate to be more quiet during such kind of acoustic concert. And fortunately our worries turned out to be unfounded. There was a remarkable silence in the concert hall – absolutely unusual for a gig of Chris – but it was a pleasant silence and everybody in the hall seemed to be tempted to do just one thing: to LISTEN to the unique voice of Chris – and nothing else! How Chris managed to accentuate the character of the different songs was almost heavenly! His enormous feeling for the perfect use of his voice has ever been absolutely unique: loud, quiet, husky, warm, deep, high – and in between different nuances of all this! And the concentration and intensity Chris devoted to every single note – it’s just amazing!!! I was deeply moved by his vocal performance, in a way that was so intensive and incomparable, only similar to the way a church concert of Haydn has moved me until now. While sitting in the “Gewandhaus” I was putting the highest concentration on every single note that came out of the mouth of Chris and out of the instruments. From time to time I even closed my eyes for better concentration: an absolutely new experience for me concerning a concert of Chris, because I usually can’t turn my eyes away from him. You will surely know why: to visit a concert of Chris is not only a treat for the ears but also one for the eyes!! I like his charm and his charisma because it’s all absolutely natural and unaffected I think. He probably knows that he’s sexy, but he would never put on a big show with that. Fortunately, Chris has never been one of those who always need to fool around on stage or who likes to strut about there like a peacock, as so many other artists do. He has always been himself – authentic and unassuming – and I think that’s why we love him. And Chris would not have been Chris if he hadn’t turned on this old charm during the acoustic gigs too. And of course a concert of Chris wouldn’t have been a concert of Chris if there haven’t been at least one woman who couldn’t hide her feelings. During the acoustic gig in Stade, for example, a woman from the back of the hall screamed out loudly (in German): “I love you, Chris!!!” Chris was just tuning up his guitar between two songs when the woman screamed out her feelings. And he promptly answered through his microphone: “I love you too.” He answered in a funny German, gesticulating theatrically and sending kisses through the microphone. As you can imagine the audience was totally amused – loud laughter in the concert hall lasting for minutes!

But back to the music theme.

In my opinion the songs from the album “Close Up” were among the best ones during the acoustic concerts. This is surely no wonder because the songs were composed to be acoustic songs. And as we know, words and music of the whole album were written and composed by Chris himself. A great album, although – or just because? – “Close Up” is absolutely different to all what Chris ever did before. I am totally impressed by the album, especially by the song “Lay Me Down” – and it was just amazing to hear this song live during the acoustic gigs. The way Chris connected melody and words of the song is so wonderful. The song goes straight to my heart. “Baby I Call Your Name” was also absolutely fantastic. I think it’s not easy to hit the notes of the song because it has a difficult pitch. But naturally Chris managed it brilliantly: Chris was accompanied only by the string quartet and so it sounded just great. Other highlights were some songs he normally never plays in gigs.

“When the night is falling and the moon is high,
and you get that far away look in your eye,
oh can’t you see you’re acting like a STRANGER...”

It’s one of my favorite early Smokie songs and it was a special feeling for me to hear the song unplugged and live after all these years and decades. I felt like 13 again! Another top song was “Dangerous Heart”, also really made for an acoustic gig with its silent words and melody. It moved me deep inside again!

Concerning acoustic gigs I could imagine that there’s always a certain danger of getting bored a little bit after a while – because regularly all the songs are slow or silent to a certain extent – unless a variety of instruments or a special voice makes the “subtle difference”. During the acoustic tour the “subtle difference” obviously was the voice of Chris – and nothing else! The “Fiorini Quartet” and the keyboarder were very good, but they provided just a background for the voice of Chris, the instruments never became the focus of attention during the gigs. In my opinion this wasn’t really intentional, but for me this fact provides evidence again for the uniqueness of Chris’s voice. He could have done the gig all alone, without any instruments – it would not have moved us less, I think! What an exceptionally gifted singer Chris is!!! Another example for that was his interpretation of one of his own favorite songs: “The Boxer”. The original song is from “Simon & Garfunkel” and I think it’s really good. But the version of Chris – accompanied only by his acoustic guitar – was outstanding! It exceeded all my expectations! The timbre of his voice and the perfect accentuation of every single note made the difference again! An incomparable interpretation, and I am sure that “Simon & Garfunkel” would have been eaten up with envy if they had visited the concert! When listening to this version of Chris I was totally melting away – it just was of divine beauty! “The First Cut Is The Deepest” – another song that was interpreted by Chris in such a brilliant way! A rock song but also a ballad! Apart from Chris, who else would be able to sing a ballad in such a “powerful-voiced” style? Nobody, I think!! I know the original song and I also know the interpretations of other singers, for example of Sheryl Crow. But they all miss the mark, compared to the incredible interpretation of Chris! Whereas the other versions are good, no doubt, the version of Chris was something special again because his enormous sense of giving “life” and “soul” to a song makes the decisive difference to the versions of other artists. So there was one highlight after another. Although I like the rock concerts very much, these acoustic gigs were something absolutely special for me. And all the concerts I visited were a little bit different, depending on the concert hall, the audience and the audience’s intention to liven up the concert. In Hamburg the concert was a real party between Chris, his musicians and the audience. It was great. The show took place in a big tent and this kind of concert hall really invites the audience to jump off their seats and to dance – a total contrast to the “Gewandhaus” in Leipzig. And the audience in Hamburg began to dance almost immediately after the start. Also Chris seemed to be more relaxed in Stade and even more relaxed in Hamburg – and this was surely due to the success of all the preceded concerts of the acoustic tour. In Hamburg there was the most enthusiastic audience it seemed. But as I mentioned before, the concert in Hamburg took place in a tent and the stage was very close to the audience. So the whole atmosphere there was much more intimate than in Leipzig. But I liked both – the total silence in the “Gewandhaus” with the audience staying seated most of the time just as the people dancing and singing in front of the stage together with Chris in Hamburg and Stade.

The concerts all ended with a tribute to one of his favorite artists: Elvis Presley. “All Shook Up”, a classic example for a real rock song – but not too hard – so it was perfectly selected by Chris to finish the acoustic gigs I think. So – sooner or later – we all danced together with Chris and the other musicians, just as we know it from the rock gigs. And also “All Shook Up” was a highlight because, as we already know from the 70s, Chris has always been able to imitate the voice of Elvis perfectly. So his interpretation was absolutely rousing again: Total vibrations in all the concert halls! And so it would have been no surprise for me if Elvis himself had entered the stage to congratulate Chris on his fantastic tribute...

But we all know that Elvis is dead as so many other great singers and musicians have gone in the meanwhile. And so I think we should be thankful to Chris. He has been giving us pleasure with his music since 1975 and that's a very long time I think. And in my opinion he never was as good as now! We should be lucky that he seems to be fit and healthy and that he still likes to perform live on stage – more than ever before it seems! So we can just hope that he will go on for years....

As far as I know Chris is working on a DVD – recorded during the acoustic gig in Berlin. I hope it will be released within the next months. I think that would be great, especially for all those who haven't the chance to see him during the acoustic tour.

Hearty greetings to all the Russian and Eastern European fans of Chris!

He's the very best – no doubt!!!!!!!!!!!!