Being a pioneer is not easy at the best of times, so organising a house concert for an american singer songwriter, and one that has been nominated for 7 Grammies but is at the same time virtually unknown in Germany, was a bit of a risk to say the least. There is no house concert scene in this country, and if anyone has actually heard of a house concert, he is most likely thinking of violins and cellos, rather than a guitar…

How to introduce the concept to the conservative german concert-going public was somewhat of a problem. The idea of paying what you think fit to see a concert, is a notion that is completely new in this country, and we were a little sceptical that it would work at all.

Although the concert susequently did not take place in a house – my living room is a little too small and my wife didn’t fancy having strangers in our house – it was important to me to keep the intimate character of a house concert, so after I was introduced to the Cremon by a friend (who in the end ended up organising everything with me), it became clear that this was the place in which I wanted to stage the event.

The Cremon is a wine cellar in the old part of the city. This area dates back to the 15th century, the building itself, which started life as a hamburg-ecardwarehouse, is from the 18th. Great blackened beams, a low ceiling, the back door opens out to the canal where barges were once loaded with their goods, where there is now a floating patio where one can sit outside when the weather is nice. (It is also the only place where you can have a smoke).

The evening of the event arrived and a quarter of an hour before the start i was wondering whether I had made a mistake, as there were only 2 guests there. Luthea, seemingly unconcerned, was tuning her guitar and getting ready for her performance, it was just me that was getting more nervous with each passing moment. Then, just five minutes before the concert was due to start, people started arriving, and when it did actually start at a quarter past eight, there were approximately 30 guests. (My reservations and nervousness were not unfounded, as I found out a couple of days later, as according to the press, Luthea had played for 5 guests a few days before).

The quality of the crowd made up for the lack of numbers (although for me, 30 guests was just the right number for this venue). A very appreciative bunch of people, a beautiful performance from Luthea, completely unplugged, who took the time to talk to her guests before and after the concert, and a perfect setting made it a memorable evening. One guest, who had obviously (and somewhat unwillingly) been dragged along to the concert by someone else, and who had said he probably wouldn’t stay until the end, was smiling all over his face after the concert and took the time to thank me for the evening. The compliment of the evening came from another guest who said “It was almost like private”… and that’s just the way i wanted it to be.

the show was again a beautiful experience…. people were super charming, friendly, attentive, plain beautiful and special…. and it was great to see the faces behind the many letters i have been receiving….. sang until i ran out of voice! ha ha…. so could only do one encore….

the venue was a lovely wine cellar in the center… with a beautiful floating patio on one of the many canals of the city…. the light was perfect! sunny and crisp!!

Luthea Salom

The concert pics were taken by Rainer Merkel
The english poster was designed by Luthea salom
The german poster was designed by Sönke Leo Wildt

Thanks go out to all those involved in making this a perfect evening, especially to Luthea Salom, The Cremon Wine Cellar, Rainer Merkel for his photos