The Flame, the Love, the Stars ..
Simply Red, le Play Unplugged
40th Anniversary Tour presented by Barracuda Music at Wiener Stadthalle – Halle D, Austria 20251105
Since 1958, the Wiener Stadthalle is a place for legends. So while another event hall in St. Marx hopefully won’t happen, Bilderbuch or Lionel Richie appeared earlier this year and likes of Jamiroquai or Wu-Tang Clan are scheduled again. And while Chris Norman (Smokie) is at Halle F for two evenings, a whole generation and several young ones dress up for huge, romantic, British, Pop hits presented by Barracuda Music.
As local support, Julian le Play opens in front of a sold out house. He played festivals like Szene OA, hosted his own TV program „Tandem Talk“ with guests like Onk Lou or Oska and soon will tour with his unplugged set, also stopping at Konzerthaus. With songs like „Millionär“, he expresses his dreams. Asking for the states of his audience, drummer Michi Schatzmann (Fainschmitz, Ivery, humming people) waves as he mentions Vorarlberg.
His live band also features Antonia Kapelari and Sophie Trobos (no string quartet) and Xenia Josefine Rubin (inn.wien), Lukas Hillebrand (Lemo), Johannes Peham (Salon Spontan) and Hari Baumgartner (AF90). In this setup, they make the show big like the hall, with songs for fans newly in love („Hellwach“) and for the ones who found someone, that stays („Mein Anker“).
After „Tausend Kilometer“, le Play and band give it up for Simply Red, who are on their 40th anniversary tour. Luckily singer Mick Hucknall recovered from a brief illness, so his voice sounds great, as he sings in front of his orchestra and the visuals. The fans assist him as well with singing the hits chronologically, while they tell stories like when they recorded „A New Flame“ (1989) in the Caribbean.
Some covers like from Barry White are there as well, including „If You Don’t Know Me by Now“ by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. So one hit hunts the other like „Stars“ or „Say You Love Me“ from 1998, dedicated to UNICEF, „Sunrise“ and „Holding Back the Years“, the second song Mick ever wrote with 17 in his bedroom. And so he dances through the night like all seating places at the end, also honering his band including ‚Swiss timekeeper‘ Roman Roth.