12-06-2010 Fettes Brot

Venue: Lanxess Arena, Cologne (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

Sold out Lanxess Arena in Cologne, 15,000 people here instead of watching soccer, either at home with friends or at one of the public viewing places. Germany in these days is totally into the World Cup, but for tonight, 15,000 people gave most of their attention to one band – live ticker on iPhones and such where of course always being checked to not miss a goal and the fans kept each other up to date about what was going on in Africa. Fettes Brot was currently on tour and tonight playing their last show here in Cologne.

Fettes Brot is a German hip hop group founded in 1992. Fettes Brot is German for fat bread. “Fett” is a German slang term for “excellent” and brot is slang for “hash”. The band took the name from a fan who called them “Fettes Brot” after an early gig, which was probably meant as a compliment, but the members considered it so bizarre that they took it as the name for their new group. Fettes Brot’s longevity has meant that it is sometimes referred to as “Hamburg’s hip-hop-dinosaurs” by its members. The band is a cult in Germany and everybody knows at least a few of their hits including “Nordisch By Nature”, “Schwule Mädchen” or “Jein”.

We missed the opening act but were right in time for Fettes Brot to enter the stage. The stage was set up with a live band and three colored carpets laid out next to each other, looking like a giant flag on the floor. Above each carpet there were video screens set up to show different symbols throughout the show. From the first second on everybody in the arena was jumping along having a blast. It felt like Fettes Brot played all their songs throughout their two hours performance. In between the songs they talked a lot of funny stuff, everybody in the Lanxess arena was constantly laughing or singing along. There was no need to ask the audience to join in on anything, but the guys of Fettes Brot still did. The live band was amazing. For a few songs Pascal Finkenauer, who was part of the live band, joined in on some vocals. Watching Fettes Brot live you simply can’t have a bad time at all. The music is putting you into a super good mood and the guys with their funny attitudes just make it even better. Even though it was 15,000 people here, it more felt like a big family. For the first encore the trio appeared on a little stage on the opposite side of the venue which was coming out of the ground. The live band was playing on the original stage. It was funny to see the fans realizing where Fettes Brot were and trying to get there first. After a few songs they went back to the main stage. They played three encores. After the show was done a disco ball was lowered from the ceiling, the DJ desk was moved to the front of the stage and a bar was being set up on stage. The crew, live band and Fettes Brot returned on stage to start the after party which was going to last quite a while. Some people that were just about to leave hurried back into the venue to join the party. It was a gorgeous show and a lot of fun. None of us had expected it to turn out that gorgeous.

Links:
Fettes Brot Official