23-03-2016 Sunrise Avenue

[schema type=”event” evtype=”MusicEvent” name=”23-03-2016 Sunrise Avenue” description=”Support: Niila” sdate=”2016-03-23″ street=”Festhalle” city=”Frankfurt” country=”DE” ]

A Wednesday night and a sold out house at Festhalle in Frankfurt. Why? Well, because Sunrise Avenue hit town. This time they were accompanied by an orchestra. So Festhalle was the perfect place to play. The show was sold out. And all over the venue you could find notes saying that this show will be filmed. Yes. Tonights show here in Frankfurt will be filmed for a live DVD. 30 cameras and a huge set up will be preserving this night for the afterworld and make it even more special for those who were here tonight. But Sunrise Avenue was not on the road alone. They took along Niila, a Finish newcomer with a brand new album.

Sunrise Avenue has been out as a band since 2002. Ever since then they have released quite some albums and toured a whole lot. Steadily growing their fanbase, they have gained quite some international attention while the singer Samu was part of the jury for The Voice Of Germany. Sunrise Avenue has reinvented their music for an acoustic tour, and now rearranged for an orchestra.

Since it was a show with an orchestra, the venue was with seats only. No standing. No getting close to the stage, not even for press or photographers. The venue was filling up quickly. Everyone was dressed up for this special night. And besides all the merchandise the fans carried along, there were self-made posters and hearts for the bands. Expressing their love and thankfulness to the bands and their music.

The stage at Festhalle was huge and most of the stage was still covered with a curtain that would then reveal the orchestra. Until then, the opening act Niila filled the space in front of the curtain.

The singer and songwriter Niila opened for Sunrise Avenue. Niila had just released a debut album called “Gratitude”. And today, the Finn played in front of the sold out Festhalle to open for Sunrise Avenue. The band included a saxophone player that added quite some jazz to the audience.

While the band was playing their catchy and dreamy songs, you could see how hard it was for the audience to stay seated. Most fans were singing along to the songs until they were finally getting up to sing along. Niila and band highly appreciated that. The band took over the entire front of the stage, performing all their songs including their hit single “Sorry”.

With the great lights that looked like stars, the music spread an absolutely dreamy atmosphere and set the right mood for what was yet to come. Niila played for about forty minutes. And it was hard for fans and band to part ways for tonight. But it won’t be long. Now, it was time for Sunrise Avenue though.

After all the final preparations for the filming and the show were finished, the main lights were turned off and the spots were set towards the stage. Showing the curtain and the shadow of the singer Samu, who was standing behind the curtain, opening the first song with his acoustic guitar and his singing. Then, the curtain began to rise, slowly revealing the orchestra that was hidden behind.

All the sudden, the stage seemed enormous and was filled with musicians. Behind them, a huge video wall was showing either lights matching the stairs of the seated orchestra, pictures or live sequences of each band member. The light was bright and well coordinated, along with the music. Sunrise Avenue was playing all their hits, rearranged for an orchestra. So some interpretations were slower, some just as fast as the original.

The musicians used their chances for solos: Riku played quite some guitar solos, so did the drummer Sami, as well as Oslo on the piano. Even a violin player of the orchestra had her time to shine and played a duet with Riku before she solely opened for the next song. The fans could not stay seated and got up, clapping and singing along to the songs, holding up their self made signs and celebrating this special night along with the fans.

Between the seated areas, you could see camera men hustling back and forth, filming their surroundings, as well as a huge camera being maneuvered above everyones heads, racing back and forth and up and down. Letting everyone getting even more excited about the Live DVD that would come out of this show.

Sunrise Avenue had fun on stage, with the orchestra and with the fans. Talking to them in between the songs, chatting a bit, making jokes and moving around on stage. It was as if none of the cameras existed and this was a regular show.

Later throughout the show, the band all the sudden disappeared and the stage lights went off. Just to have lights lit up in the back of the Festhalle, where a little stage was set up for the band only. There Sunrise Avenue played three songs, just the band. But acoustic. The fans quickly rushed over there to get close to their favorite band.

Back on the main stage, it was getting closer to the end of the show. Sunrise Avenue closed with some hits. One of them was “Funky Town” to which piano player Oslo began rapping and jumping around on stage. The audience was amazed and cheered big time. The final song was “Fairytale Gone Bad”, leaving the audience fascinated by this magic night. What a beautiful evening with Sunrise Avenue and orchestra.

Sunrise Avenue