A Christmas in Vallendar brought the fans up above
For many people Christmas time means stress, hectic pace, appointment pressure and many things to do. A long long list to work on, between the first and fourth advent. Such a long list, that many People forget about the important things in this colorful and bright time. Christmas time is “feelgood time”. Twinkling lights in the houses, colorful Christmas markets, the smell of cinnamon, cloves, oranges and marzipan lies in the air. Christmas time is chumminess. Exchange little pleasantries with friends and family, use the time together. Think about cooperation in society, also with foreign people. Christmas time is music. Familiar sounds, like all the years before, droning out of the loud speakers while Christmas shopping, or first out of the radio while “Driving home for Christmas” and later on, under the “Oh Christmas tree”. “Silverbells in the air ringing in Christmas time”, happy children are all around singing “Let it snow”, because they are dreaming of a “White Christmas”. “It’s Christmas time, the angels sing, listen to the sleigh bells ring…” or “Oh babe it’s Christmas and I give you my heart…”.
That is the way Thomas sang about Christmas before and so, many fans
wanted to start their Christmas season 2014 with hearing and seeing a nice Christmas show of him. It took place in Vallendar, a spa town on the edge of the Westerwald, near Coblence. The auditorium of the church of worship was the place to be. “Weihnachten mit Thomas
Anders”, a charity concert, half and half for the Child Protection Agency Coblence and for youth and children projects from the city of Vallendar. Thomas had lots of support from the “Choral Society Germania 1870 e.V.”, directed by Tristan Kusber and from his musicians. These are Achim Brochhausen on the keyboards, Wolfgang Ritter on the contrabass and the wonderful Tammy Sperlich as the background singer, Bruce on the drums and Sascha on the guitar.
Around 700 people entered the auditorium happily, because outside temperatures were cold but dry. The color red was dominant on stage. Red candles, winter roses, a red decorated Christmas tree and the red scarves of the choir members. The rest was very plain, music was centered. On time, at 19:30 the choir began the charity concert with the German song “Weihnachten”. They sang six songs all over the whole show. They sang the German song “Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen” together with Thomas. Sounded very different!
The program, which had two parts with a 20 minutes break in between, showed, that Christmas is a vital and peppy time. Many people say “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”. That song was
Thomas first in the concert. We heard many of his beautiful lyrics from his 2012 released album “Christmas for you”. Selected medleys of welknown Christmas songs from the USA or Great Britain and
also a German medley wowed the audience. While the German songs, the people joined singing and while “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht”, everyone stood up and made the final very touching. This is the
detailed set list:
Part 1
Weihnachten (Choral SocietyGermania),It’s the most wonderful time of the year,Medley:
Let it snow/Winter Wonderland/Can you hear the snowflakes falling/Silverbellls, The Christmas song, In the bleak midnight (Choral Society Germania), Sleigh Ride
Medley: Rudolph the rednosed reindeer/Santa Claus is coming to town/Go tell it on the mountain (Choral Society Germaninia)
Part2
Weihnachtsfriede (Choral Society Germania), It must have been the mistletoe, Last Christmas, A Christmas love song, Kisses for Christmas, Weihnachtswiegenlied (Choral
Society Germania) Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen (Thomas with the Choral Society Germania), I’ll be home for Christmas, Medley: Oh Tannenbaum/Süsser die Glocken nie klingen/Oh, du Fröhliche,
Reprise: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, It’s just another New Years Eve
The last song, a wonderful ballad originally sung by Barry Manilow, is about Sylvester. Is the Sylvester night a special one? What is special about it? A wonderful finish of the concert. The audience was wowed and positively impressed by the central theme and the swinging mood. After the show, some acknowledgments were spoken by the leader of the Choral Society. He thanked the director Tristan Kusber, the none Sister Louise and Thomas Anders with flowers and some sweets, called “Süße Grüße aus Vallendar”.
A big “Thank you” from me to Thomas, because of his annual, tireless support for the Child Protection Agency, his affair of the heart. Standing on stage, without any pay and with a completely full appointment book. Of course many thanks to the band and Tammy, they are always a great support and make the sound around Thomas. The technicians, they are always there and put the actors into the right light and make everything sound very well. Thank you for the time, the music and surely until next year, how do the Germans sing? “Alle Jahre wieder”!
Christmassy greetings
Andreas Unterberg
For the gallery move to German version!