Andreas Gabalier in concert

Even serious doctors and comparatists have a crazy spot. Sitting together over dinner and listening to the CD "Herzwerk" and singing along to "I sing a Liad füa di..." Elisabeth and myself came up with the foggy idea, "Wouldn´t it be nice to see Andi in concert? And hey, what coincidence, he will be in Vienna in two months!" Unfortunately the concert was completely sold out at that time, which immediately set Stefan in motion to pull a string or two...

For those of you who do not know "Andi": Our favorite "Bua" from Styria is 24 years old, actually a law student, singer and song writer whose carreer suddenly took off with an enormous blast three years ago. Since then he is enjoying enormous success in Austria and Germany, his music being a mix of Austrian country music (Volksmusik) and good old heavy Rock´n´Roll, which is why he calls himself "der VolksRock´n´Roller". Before I actually knew some of his songs he was someone I associated with Austrian country music and the typical "Umtata", but believe me, it has NOTHING at all to do with that. Fascinating! And it is also fascinating how many people like him and his music. Whereever you whisper his name, there are suddenly dozens of people popping up cheering "Oh, I LIKE him!!" enthusiastically. Even lawyers, business people, grandmas and granddads, kids and teens, well, yes, and doctors and comparatists. He is a phenomenon indeed.

This time was the end of his first-ever tour, working his way from Innsbruck to Vienna. His very first concert in Vienna was taking place in the Stadthalle, and as he said himself, he could not believe it that his fans filled the whole place up easily. 12.000 people! And all came to meet their Volksrock´n´roller!

Waiting for Andi.....

Here you see from right to left Ali (already enjoying himself, or maybe not fully believing that such a concert is happening to him?), Martin (not on the picture, probably hiding because of all the excitement), Michi (eager not to miss anything), Elisabeth and me (having a break from shouting "Andi! Andi! Andi!") and Stefan (photographing with his cell phone).

And there he was, our favorite "Steirerbua"! With cool sunglasses, leatherjacket and Styrian Lederhose! It was fabulous and believe me - so cool! (Just the day before, I would not have thought this possible!) Andi and band rocked, the basses vibrated the whole Stadthalle and the audience was in the best possible mood, rocking and singing and cheering along.

The atmosphere was phantastic, even though he is a new-comer I clearly have to say that only at the Shania Twain- and the Bon Jovi-concert I experienced something similar.

This is Andi performing his very first song he ever was successful with - don´t ask me which song it was, I just know a very few, and these from the CD "Herzwerk". But for him and his hard-core fans it was obviously a very moving moment. He asked the Stadthalle to be absolutely quiet (because "I tat me so gfrein" meaning "I would be so dearly happy about it") and not to applaud afterwards. Some of course did but were immediately silenced by the others ("whack!") and so we all shared this special moment with Andi.

Saying good-bye after "The Rehlein" and "I sing a Liad füa di", his top-top-top sellers.

What I liked most: He has not been a star very long, and it was his first concert ever in Vienna. He obviously seemed to enjoy every minute, looking around with this astounding look that you could interpret as "Wow, I did this?? All these people came to see me??" He was so likeable and nice, you really had the feeling that it WAS something special for him. I guess when he comes again in a couple years or so all this will have changed. It was absolutely refreshing to see a musician at the beginning of a very promising career, who has not been famous long and clearly wondering how all this could have happened to him, enjoying his concert and enjoying his fans. And telling them and meaning it. Some might say this is a little bit naive, but I say, if you are so lucky then why can´t you be openly grateful for it?

I even got my own "Schneiztiachl" - yippie!!! Conclusio: We all loved it, we had a great evening and a wonderfully relaxing time. And we already plan to see "our" Andi at the beginning of August at the big open air at the Grundlsee in Styria.

And since Dessa got her new Volksrock´n´roller-sunglasses she is a fan of Andi´s too....