Echoes of an Unforgettable Night: Joe Cocker's Captivating Concert in St. Wendel on June 25, 1989

   

With the Fantastischen Vier, the city of St. Wendel reported back as an open-air city last year. A summer fairy tale. It also brought back memories of the concerts with big names in the 1980s. Damn long time ago. But the seventh open-air festival, which was celebrated on June 25, 1989 in the Bosenbach Stadium and broadcast live on TV, is still legendary. Exactly 30 years ago. At that time, Joe Cocker and BAP were among the artists performing. The Saarbrücker Zeitung took the anniversary as an opportunity to look back.

“Back then it was a festival package in which we always took turns as headliner with Joe Cocker,” remembers BAP frontman Wolfgang Niedecken. “One day the Cocker headlined and we played immediately before, then the next day vice versa. At some point we discovered that Cocker was always a top act in the metropolises and we were in the provinces.” In addition to the two changing top acts, the band Fischer-Z, Suzanne Vega and Julian Lennon as well as other musicians were also at the festival. “A Lennon in St. Wendel – that was something special,” says Werner klar from the St. Wendel city administration. At that time he was involved in the open air events as the overall technical manager. Niedecken still regrets today that Julian Lennon didn't really continue with music. “I thought it was great. “He sounded like his father – the same voice,” enthuses the BAP singer. He combines “beautiful stories” with the festival in St. Wendel. For example this: “The entourage of important managers around Joe Cocker had decided that they would have their own baking
stage area wanted. She got one out of necessity. But it was right behind the PA wings, where it was very loud. In the end, Joe sat with us backstage and partyed with us. Meanwhile, his managers, wanting something special, sat in this hellishly loud zone with earplugs on.”

Special requests – that was an issue at all the open airs in the district town, as Klar reveals. It was often the environment and not the stars themselves that kept those responsible on their toes. “We called the furniture stores the night before the concert and asked for help because it had to be a special couch,” reports Klar. So the display from the shop window quickly landed on the festival grounds.

The city festival director found mega star Joe Cocker to be “likeable and unobtrusive.” He regrets that there were always these legends about the singer that he drank too much. “Yes, he often seemed stubborn, but I dealt with him three times and never saw him drink alcohol. He only ever drank lukewarm or cold tea.”

Wolfgang Niedecken likes to think back to his tour partner, who has since passed away. Also an experience in St. Wendel. “The concert was recorded for television at the time. There were so many cameras on stage that Cocker stopped after the second or third song. He went to the back without a word and told his managers that the cameras had to go. “He wants to play for the people and not for cameras,” reports Niedecken. “I stood backstage and saw everything. Because we were the top act that evening,” adds the singer and laughs.Because we were the top act that evening,” adds the singer and laughs.

Wolfgang Niedecken 1989 with Mayor Klaus Bouillon.

This scene was typical for Joe. "He was an incredible gentleman and couldn't take it that people couldn't see him. When he wanted to sing for her and not for the cameras. That always stuck with me. I thought about that a lot when we were performing and there were cameramen on stage blocking people's view."

Not just because of the live broadcast: the open air involved huge logistics. So it was necessary to set up the mighty stage (32 meters wide and 17.5 meters deep). "Back then, a lot of steel parts still had to be hoisted up," says Klar. Lamps weighed an impressive 20 to 30 kilos. Two kilometers of electrical cable were laid, 500 meters of water and 600 meters of drainage pipes. To do this, you sometimes had to quickly dig a meter deep into the ground. "Shortly before admission, the earth came back on in some places," Klar remembers. But not only in the run-up, there was also a lot to do between the individual performances. The most strenuous thing about festivals like this is the renovation work, says Niedecken. "The audience thinks, why are they taking such a long break, they just have to plug in other musicians on stage and a few instruments. But it is not that simple. Every setting was rehearsed in the sound check. And if there is a backlog in the program, the end of the approval period for the concert is approaching.”

20,000 people celebrated in the Bosenbach Stadium 30 years ago. “The picture was characterized by exuberance, happiness and joy of life,” said an SZ report afterwards. The ticket cost 46 marks at the box office and it started around lunchtime. BAP was the last band to perform. The darkness had already settled over the area when Wolfgang Niedecken sang, among other things, “Stellt üch vüür (Imagine)”. “When we come on stage, you can see the joy in people’s eyes, they sparkle. They basically put on their own concert. Then you can't be bad at all. You are literally surfing on a wave of goodwill. But you also have to be able to do that.” This was also the experience of Werner Klar at all the concerts: “There are artists who know how to use the euphoria of the audience.”

The musicians of the Cologne group BAP were always welcome guests in St. Wendel. “They were uncomplicated,” says Klar. And approachable. After the concerts, the band members liked to stop at an Inn pub near the hall building. The people of Cologne stayed overnight in the region. “I can still remember the hotel from back then,” says Niedecken. “There was an oak cigarette machine with carvings. It looked like our aunts' furniture in the kitchen. That was the sensation. Everyone had to have their photo taken with it.” He tells it and has to laugh at this strange memory himself.

His music career not only took the 68-year-old to the district town in 1989. BAP had already celebrated its St. Wendel premiere two years earlier. “We performed in St. Wendel for the first time shortly before our China tour. At that time it was the first appearance of our drummer Jürgen Zöller, who has unfortunately retired in the meantime. There's a song about it - about his first appearance: 'Schrääsch hinger mir'". The song says "En Samsdaachnaach, September wohr't, em Saarland, enn 'nem Stadion. As the last band, eez kohme mir, warm-up for the China tour.” But the drummer behind Niedecken hasn't completely given up his batons. In the formation Rockanarchie he performed again in St. Wendel together with Thomas Blug and Rudi "Gulli" Spiller.

Then as now, there is usually a special fascination with open-air concerts. "I really like open-air events," says Niedecken. "It's the icing on the cake of a season when you can play open-air and the weather is reasonably good. I have incredibly good memories of most of the open air events.” BAP's tour schedule currently features a number of open air parties. But the singer is already looking further into the future. "The year after next I'll be 70. Then we'll go on a big tour again. Now we play 15 more concerts in the summer. Then we'll take a little break. And think of something new. Things will continue in 2021.”