Free concert on July 27th, 2024 in the Kantine, Cologne

Alex’s voice, with its captivating spoken word and dreamy melodies, together with the cinematic-sounding instrumentation, forms the wooden cross that has the people in front of the stage like marionettes on strings and thus in their hands. The sound cosmos is like a black hole: it sucks everything in, mercilessly and lovingly at the same time. Smiling faces everywhere, swaying bodies, closed eyes, astonished eyes, shining eyes. The band once again proves its musical virtuosity when it lets off steam and takes turns on countless instruments. Alex Henry Foster and Miss Isabel in particular change instruments as easily as I change my underpants (at home, not in Die Kantine). Full of grace and passion, violin bows stroke guitar and bass strings, while Miss Isabel single-handedly uses an instrumentation similar to that of a big band behind the keys. Ben Lemelin, meanwhile, keeps switching between guitar and drums, so that at times two drum kits push the boundaries of what is possible.

I wonder if Alex Henry Foster will stage dive into the audience with his guitar again today? His doctors advised him against making the happy leap into the crowd himself. Tonight he decides on a compromise: he carefully descends from the stage and walks through the crowd with his guitar around his neck, which parts like the sea before Moses. He heads towards a small, curly-haired girl, greets the girl and hangs his guitar around her neck. While little Mathilda, who has travelled from Great Britain with her father Kevin, cheerfully scrubs her guitar, Foster strolls relaxed through the crowd and greets new and old friends with hearty, intimate hugs. Finally, he walks back to the stage with his newly recruited new guitarist through the still open lock, lifts the girl up, climbs after her and then applauds this brave curly-haired girl, shaking his head in disbelief and finally dancing wildly. He celebrates life, and the band and the audience celebrate with him.