The Kelly Family released their Christmas album “Christmas Party” in early November. Appropriately, the band will be on tour starting November 18th, starting with a celebration in Krefeld. Other stations of their “Mega Christmas Show” include Leipzig (November 23), Munich (November 27), Berlin (December 3), Hamburg (December 4) and Vienna (December 13).
“This is the first time that we’re playing a program show explicitly for Christmas,” says Joey Kelly (49) in an interview with the news agency spot on news. “We had to rehearse twice as much because a lot of the songs had to sit first. When we play our classic songs, it’s a lot easier.” About a third of the tour songs are well-known Kelly Family hits, the singer promises the fans.
27 concerts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are scheduled for the six-piece band. It’s not difficult for him to motivate himself performance after performance, says Joey Kelly. “It’s relatively easy. If you’re standing in a hall and there are thousands of people in front of you, that’s more than enough motivation.” For example, when the group performs in the Wiener Stadthalle, “where everyone has played, from U2 to Tina Turner, it is an absolute honor that we are still allowed to play in these large halls for a tour after 40 years”. In order to remain in a good mood during the concert series, Joey Kelly creates a balance. The singer, who is also known as an endurance athlete, can integrate his sport well in this phase. “It’s easier on tour, everything is scheduled and regulated. I have enough time before the sound check at 5 p.m..” He uses fitness studios in hotels and trains a lot outside, “I always have my running shoes with me”. Conflicts within the band no longer exist after playing music together for a long time, explains Kelly about the mood within the band. “We’re grown up, everyone has their own wardrobe. We no longer crash together on the houseboat or on the bus. We are aware of what we are creating together and how lucky we are with it.” When a tour has started, there are the least stressful moments anyway. “Stress comes up before that. When it comes to which songs are going to be put on the record, which ones we’ll play on the tour, or which stage decorations and which schedule we’re planning.”
The Kelly Family has collected 16 songs on the album “Christmas Party”, which are newly written compositions or selected cover versions of Christmas classics. With “Grateful” a song with Irish music colleague Ronan Keating (45) was also created. “The Irish connection was immediate,” says Joey Kelly and enthuses: “He’s very likeable and funny. He has a strong Irish sense of humor and laughs a lot at himself.” With the song, the band wants to focus on gratitude for what you have. And with the entire album, the musicians want to give their fans positive thoughts, hope and courage in a special time. And how does Joey Kelly keep his own optimism? “I concentrate on the positive and on what brings me forward. I do get information, but I don’t read the headlines anymore. It’s too much, it pulls me down.” All in all, he is happy “that I live in Germany with my wife and children and I am very grateful for that”. Looking positively into the future, Kelly is already making plans for the coming year. “At the beginning of the year I ride the Panamericana with my sons, in April I’ll take part in the North Pole Marathon and in the summer I’m planning a Munich-Venice tour. In between I still give my lectures – so I work like 400 days a year (laughs ).” Kelly still finds enough time for his children and wife.
One day before Christmas, the musicians are on stage for their “Mega Christmas Show” in Magdeburg. Kelly is looking forward to the tour with Christmas stage decorations and costumes putting the band in a contemplative mood. But time always makes him think. “Christmas is the family celebration, so I miss my parents especially,” explains the musician. “My father probably wouldn’t be alive today at 92, but my mother would be in her late 70s now if she hadn’t had this nasty cancer. She could have lived to see all her grandchildren.” It is very sad that his children do not have their grandmother around. Kelly fondly thinks back to the Christmas celebrations when he was a child himself. “It was a great time, my mother was very good at baking and cooking and there were also a few presents. We always really looked forward to the day.” The family, who lived in Spain for a long time, also played a lot of music at Christmas. “Everyone came together at the market square, we celebrated together and not every family for themselves. We also experienced very different Christmases in Ireland and the USA.” In the meantime, however, he has been celebrating with his family at his parents-in-law’s with classic German presents for years.
