Open Air Concert in Berlin’s Mauerpark

Frase, Priester Sisters and Andy V presented by Klara Geist

For those of you who don’t know, Mauerpark, is a park – more of a field with half a hill – at former border between West- and East-Berlin. As far as parks go, it’s not very beautiful, more like a long field, where the grass is mostly gone in June. But to be honest no one goes to Mauerpark to enjoy nature, we have way better parks for that in Berlin. You go there for the people and a constant holiday vibe, which might have it’s roots in the fact that at least half the people in the park are tourists. Nonetheless the locals still use the park to meet friends and strangers alike or to have an after-work barbecue. What Mauerpark is really famous for though, is the fleamarket and Bearpit Karaoke. Every Sunday the local amphitheatre fills up with up to a 1.000 people to enjoy some watching people who for the most part can’t actually sing. The whole thing works thanks to the extraordinary mobile PA, Klara Geist built for Joe Hatchiban, the organizer of said event.

Which brings me to our current topic. I cooperated with Klara Geist on multiple occasions in my function as a social media guy for Berlin on Bike. The last time was for a thing we called Berlin Music Ride, a techno-themed, guided bike-tour that brought us back to Berlin’s wild 1990s. Although we’re still waiting for the video from this year, here is one from 2015. Once a year Fanny and Willi, the couple behind Klara Geist, take over the stage personally and invite some amazing musicians to showcase the quality of their products. These events are always a bit of a familiy meeting of the Berlin cycling and especially it’s cargo bike scene. So, naturally our beverages were delivered in bike with a cooling box just like everything else

Of of the three singers/musician that together form the Priester Sisters.

With the thermometer approaching nearly 30° C and no shade to be had, it was a bit of a challenge, not the least for the artists who had difficulty reading their equipment in the glaring sunlight. After a very thorough sound check, the Priester Sisters from Slovakia, were the first to enter the stage with a rather unique mix of Gypsy-influenced Eastern European tunes and Swing. If you look at the ladies, you won’t be surprised to hear,that they were especially popular with the male portion of the audience, at least with the – shall we say, hormonally challenged – part of it. Which has absolutely no impact on the fact, that we heard three absulutely lovely voices that created some beautiful harmonies. I’m no musician, so I can’t say anything about their level of technical skill, but who cares about that anyway, if the music is so nice.

Klara Geist’s mobile PAs don’t only sound great, they are beautiful as well – and some of them even have a face.

Next in line was Australian looper Andy V. Equipped with a bunch of keyboards, effect pads and looping machine, his voice and a sax this guy is a true one-man-dub band, which had people dancing right from the start. Not many though, for most it was just too hot.

Thank You Sven for providing us with cool drinks the whole afternoon.

Last to take the stage was ‘headliner’ Frase from Canada. His soulful style reminded me of George Michael in his better days. Nice flowing beats make this the perfect chillout music. For my personal taste he should have traded places with Andy V, if only for dramaturgic reasons,