Coppelius Jubiläumskonzertreise 1803-2023 – 02.03.2023 – Das Bett Frankfurt

On their anniversary concert tour to celebrate 220 years, the band Coppelius also made a stop in Frankfurt in the Location called Das Bett. They were joined by the sailors from Aeronautica. For their first evening of the concert tour, they disembarked from their airship after a long journey. In an auditorium that was not yet particularly full, the show started punctually at 8 pm.

First there was some spherical music accompanied by the sounds of seabirds before the four of them came on stage and started playing the song Wermaschine. At the beginning you could tell that the band was still a bit rusty from the long journey and unfortunately the bass was not audible. There was probably a small technical problem with the transportation down from the airship. But song after song the rust could be shed and it was a really good opening of the evening. For the song Im Ewigen Eis, the lady from the merch stand, Clara Wirz, came on stage to sing along. Clara should be familiar to every German steampunk fan, as she is very active and does a lot for the scene. During the song, Captain Tobias also waved the ship’s flag so that everyone could really see who was standing in front of them. There was also a cover to be heard. A song that makes every Jim Knopf fan’s heart beat faster, Eine Insel mit zwei Bergen, but in a really cool version. Every now and then an engineer came on stage to check on the bass. Before the song Pech und Schwefel, the solution to the problem finally seemed to have been found, because suddenly he could be heard. Sailor Jessica let out a scream and her enthusiasm for playing increased even more. After three more songs, Clara returned to the stage at around 20:40 to take a photo with the visitors to the auditorium.

Setlist Aeronautica:

Wermaschine
Wir fliegen wieder
Das Ende der Zeit
Im Ewigen Eis
Eine Insel mit zwei Bergen
Pech und Schwefel
Spieglein, Spieglein
Schwarz

Now the stage was prepared for the gentlemen of the band Coppelius, so that they could begin their spectacle at 9 p.m. in front of a now larger audience. First Linus from Doppelschlag entered the stage, took a bow and went behind his drums. Next, Sissy Voss made his way up the small staircase and sat down next to his double bass, followed by Graf Lindorf, the band’s cellist. Max Coppella and Comte Caspar then entered the scene together with their clarinets. While the four of them were already making music, Bastille the servant came into the limelight, which was not typical. What followed was two hours of fun, good music and lots of nonsense, but all spiced up with respect, politeness and the feeling that the gentlemen really did come from the 18th century and founded their band in 1803. And I would like to give you a summary of this evening, even if it can’t begin to do justice to the whole thing. You simply have to experience such an evening. It starts with the second song, Rightful King, where Comte Caspar showed that, despite his title, he was not afraid of the people. He gamely made his way down and into the middle of the crowd. He ran to the bar, climbed onto it and just kept on playing. Between songs, Bastille explained that the band had already released many albums, but that some of them no longer existed because Linus from Doppelschlag always needed something to smash in the rehearsal room, and these had to be used.
But they wanted to try to perform one song from each album. On Tumult they could agree on three favorite songs, but then they couldn’t decide which one to play. So what’s the best solution to the same problem? You simply let someone else decide what should be played. A lady called Sandra was then brought on stage from the auditorium. Bastille had prepared a hat with three pieces of paper. In theory, because he had to clear it out first. He pulled out all sorts of stuff and carelessly threw it onto the stage. And he kept shaking Sandra’s hand. After a bit of toing and froing, Spring Doch was drawn. Before the show started, he asked Sandra to help him tidy up quickly before continuing with a wonderfully ironic and funny song. Later, he started to talk about the first opera and how great the time was, only to be interrupted and have something whispered in his ear. What had happened? He had skipped a song. So he asked us to just forget what he had just said and he would repeat it straight away. No sooner said than done, Moor was announced, played and then he acted as if nothing had happened and simply told us again about the first opera, how great it was etc. He then dedicated the song to us. He then dedicated the song to the late Rüdiger Frank, who helped with the opera and they played Kein Land so schön in his name.

The following song Aus den Betten was a slow, calm and quiet song. Linus came out from behind his drums and brought Bastille a small instrument. He struck it and a small, soft “bing” sounded. He returned to his percussion and Sissy Voss congratulated him on his successful work with a respectful handshake. But there were not only positive things to report from the past. Mr. Voss was accused “on this internet” of playing an electric bass. However, he vigorously denied this, saying that he only plays an electrified electric harp with 199 strings. That’s all right then. But there was still bad news. Bastille had to blackmail us. Graf Lindorf had decided to leave the band and he would probably only stay if we, the visitors to the auditorium, paid up to 750,000 euros to the band’s coffers by March 19. We would have the opportunity to do this right now at Julia’s souvenir stand or via this PayPal or whatever way. He wasn’t quite sure whether that would be enough. He went straight to the count and asked him if what he was saying was actually true. Graf Lindorf had to think for a moment, but then answered in the affirmative quite quickly and energetically. After a few songs, a drum solo and Chop Suey by the band System of a Down, Dame Julia was then invited on stage. Bastille apologized in advance that this was going to be sexist, but he really needed to know what Julia was wearing under her top. She complied and conjured up another, different shirt. The game went on twice more until she was no longer wearing a Coppelius T-shirt, but one from Aeronautica. Then I was allowed to take the final concert photo with the band and the people who were present in the auditorium.

Bastille also took the opportunity to do some advertising for their (please read with French pronunciation) Patreon. This would help them to continue producing “awesome shit”. After the evening had already gone on for a while, he started a spontaneous vote to find out whether the band should continue playing or not. Of course there were shouts of “yes” straight away, but he stopped it immediately. He said that this vote should be conducted in a civilized manner, by acclamation, with a simple show of hands. No sooner said than done, everyone raised their hands for “Yes, go ahead”. Of course, there also had to be a cross-check, which resulted in zero votes. Just like the test to see if any of those present would abstain. As expected, no hand was seen here either. So the show went on. During Contenance, Max Coppella, Comte Caspar, Bastille and Graf Lindorf sang together calmly without their instruments and showed so much composure after the song that they returned to their seats in slow motion. The Comte swapped his clarinet for a metal violin for Bloodline and played it. However, this obviously exhausted him so much that he had to rest and Sissy Voss was able to show his best during a double bass solo. Two more songs followed before the band left the stage after Schöne Augen. Shouts of “Dacapo” then invited the five of them back on stage, where they performed two more songs before they finally came to a close with Dark Ice after another Dacapo request. Bastille then thanked the lighting engineer, who had done a “dazzling” job again this time, and the sound engineer for their good work. And also to the audience for turning up in large numbers. And with that, the evening that no one should have missed came to an end.

Setlist Coppelius: