Hartmut Engler bathes. In applause, in success, in front of thousands of fans. “Guys, did we miss that,” calls the Pur frontman to the crowd on Monday evening in Ludwigsburg’s MHP Arena. “After five years without a hall, it’s fantastic to finally have a full hall in front of us again.” The indoor tour of one of the most successful German bands will only start on Wednesday (April 19) after a long Corona break. At the “official end-of-rehearsal concert” just a few kilometers from home, the group had a run-up before the kick-off in Munich.
Pur is one of the country’s most popular music groups. On the tour in the coming weeks, the band will be bringing their latest album “Personal” along with numerous classics, including “Adventure Land”, “I Love You (No Matter How That Sounds)” and a short a cappella version of ” Sparkling Pearl Eyes”. Because the American formation Naturally 7 is there as a support act, and the a cappella specialists also rehearsed one last time on Monday evening.
“Personal” is already the 17th studio work by the band from Bietigheim-Bissingen near Stuttgart. In a typical pure style, emotional, sometimes warning, shaped by the pandemic and the political world situation, socially critical and yet optimistic, aiming for brain and heart and now and then a little kitschy – this is how Engler and the band share their thoughts, memories and pictures .
Already in the third generation on the road
For the “dress rehearsal” the band also offered their hymns to the fans who knew their lyrics and were celebrating exuberantly.
Pur have been in the studio and especially on stage for four decades now. “We are now in the third generation like you in the audience,” joked Engler (61).
He and his friends have been working their way up from the basement of the local Swabian church community since the mid-1970s, and in 1990 they had their first single chart success with “Lena”.
A few years later, the rapturous “Abenteuerland” (1995) became one of the best-selling German-language albums with two million copies. “Sseilänzertraum” stayed in the album charts for more than 120 weeks. The Swabian pop band is still planning an album every three years, followed by a tour. It would have been that time again in 2021, but the virus intervened.
After the start in Munich’s Olympiahalle, ten more shows in Oldenburg, Hanover, Cologne, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and Dortmund will follow for Pur until May 6th.
