Max Raabe & the Palast Orchester - live!

[davidraphael]

Max Raabe concerts coming up in Stuttgart, Germany for anyone lucky enough to see his great 1920s/30s dancehall/cabaret shows:

[video=youtube;msYK1YFhL74]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msYK1YFhL74[/video]

Max Raabe & Palast Orchester
date: 28.03.2011
time: 20:00
Location: Stuttgart Kultur- & Kongresszentrum Liederhalle - Beethovensaal

 

[BinkieBaumont]

He seems to be staying in Europe for 2011

 

[dhermann1]

I'll be seeing him at the New Jersey Center for the performing Arts (aka NJPAC) in April. Really looking forward to it.

 

[Fletch]

That is one crack ensemble. I admit I find Max's singing campy compared to 20s and 30s singers, but you know what? That campy persona is probably what makes the music make sense to today's audiences. Max puts the music in a frame, so people can process it. And the band really is as much of the show as Max is - at least from the clips (never seen them live).

 

[martinsantos]

I listened the few clips of this band in youtube and agree with you.

If he would have today to play side by side with, say, Isham Jones, Ray Noble and so on, Max would be in trouble. But by modern standards, his band sounds great and his singing is very good. I really would like to listen them in person.

 

[davidraphael]

The 'campy' singing/persona is actually very authentic for the period.

You have to remember that Max Raabe is not imitating UK* or US dancehall acts of the 20s/30s.
The German bands/singers were quite different because they came out of (or were at least heavily influenced by) the Berlin/Weimar Kabarett (cabaret) tradition, which had one foot firmly stuck in black comedy, satire and irony.
Everything was performed a little bit over-the-top, or 'uebermuetig' as we say here.

*that said, they were also influenced by performers such as Noel Coward who was, of course, the perfect embodiment of camp (and the height of sophistication).

[video=youtube;wveW9Tw2JKE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wveW9Tw2JKE[/video]

 

[Fletch]

Ah yes - another dimension, one I hadn't fully considered.

My point may still be a valid one tho. A capital-P Personality up front probably does make the music more palatable to 21st century concert audiences, who don't dance, but do expect a touch of show biz.

That's one difference between the '30s and today. A really good band could put itself over then. That particular pathway from the ears to the heart was probably re-routed when the singing idol rose to the top of the music world.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Ich Tanze Mit Dir In Den Himmel Hinein
(I'm Dancing Into Heaven With You)

[video=youtube;vgdzaiblJ2w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgdzaiblJ2w[/video]

 

[John in Covina]

The 'campy' singing/persona is actually very authentic for the period. You have to remember that Max Raabe is not imitating UK* or US dancehall acts of the 20s/30s. The German bands/singers were quite different because they came out of (or were at least heavily influenced by) the Berlin/Weimar Kabarett (cabaret) tradition, which had one foot firmly stuck in black comedy, satire and irony.
Everything was performed a little bit over-the-top, or 'uebermuetig' as we say here.

I had the good fortune to see them in Los Angeles 2/18/2010 at Royce Hall / UCLA. What I found was that listening to the CD's that captures some but not all of their performance presence when it came to getting the full impact. Max as the front man gave background information about the song, writers and other tidbits but this is given in a playful nature. He is not really over the top but often subtle using a look or raised eyebrow to communicate. He was at ease and in command but did not hog the performance at all. The band also has a lot of interesting interplay between members. The comedic timing is really good. The sound mixing at Royce Hall was extraordinarily good.

Here in the US there is a DVD package of "Heute Natch Oder Nie Live in Berlin" which has a DVD of the Berlin concert, a making of DVD and a CD of more songs. Even the DVD which is marvelous, sounds so wonderful and is great to watch, does not capture the interplay and the ambiance of seeing them live.

At Royce hall were a couple of friends. Matthew who is not usually drawn to this type of music was delightfully astonished at how much he enjoyed the performance and my friend Dawn said as soon as it ended, "Right now, I want to watch them play this all over again!" It was a special evening and there was a sense of something magical had occurred that night.

For me and my friends the total experience of seeing them live was greater than the sum of the parts.

 

[LizzieMaine]

This wasn't just a German or European thing -- it was all over the place in American vaudeville and Broadway revue comedy in the late twenties. It's not the mainstream recorded popular music tradition of the time, but the audiences of the twenties knew it very well from live performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6HB-w_7xRM

 

[Fletch]

Max ... is not really over the top but often subtle using a look or raised eyebrow to communicate.

However, he affects a certain tonality in singing that suggests he has closed his throat to force some of the sound out through his nose. lol It's broadly similar to what Vaughn Monroe used to do, only in the tenor register.

 

[skyvue]

My wife and I have seen the Palast orchestra twice and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves both times. We sat far back at Carnegie Hall to see them the first time, and then in the third or fourth row the last time. Both performances were a delight, but it was especially fun to be right down front.

Which is where we'll be (the fifth row, if memory serves) next month when they play the concert in New Jersey cited above in this thread. We can't wait.

 

[Fletch]

Max and the band improve present day music to such a degree that it would be interesting to see what they could do with this.
Warning! Colorful language, and lots of it.

 

[John in Covina]

That is one of the things I had kind of hoped they might do as an encore perhaps do one of their twenties send up of a modern song. BUT they did not do any and in the end it would seem that as a musical experience it may have spoiled the tone and concept of their performance.

 

[skyvue]

Attention, Londoners!

The singer and entertainer from Berlin who has enchanted audiences as the leader of his ‘Palast Orchester’ in New York’s Carnegie Hall, at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, or during the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese in Ireland, finally steps onto a UK stage. We are thrilled to be able to announce that the debut UK appearance of Max Raabe & Palast Orchester will take place in London, at Cadogan Hall, on December 13th.

Founded in 1986, Max Raabe & Palast Orchester embodies the high style and musical glory of the 20's and 30's and has been heard by adoring audiences in The United States, Shanghai, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Tokyo, Vienna, Amsterdam, Rome and Tel Aviv, performing over 100 concerts a year.

Max Raabe, who is renowned for his ‘impeccably tuxedoed’ Fred Astaire looks, being a ‘tenderly expressive singer’ and a ‘wry, unsmiling, and nonchalantly charismatic vocalist’ (all according to the New York Times) will be singing both in German and English for this one-off performance.

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday October 26th at 9am, will be priced at £25 / £20 / £15.

and they will be available from:

The Cadogan Hall – 0207 730 4500 / www.cadoganhall.com
Stargreen – 0207 734 8932 / www.stargreen.com
Ticketmaster – 0844 844 0444 / www.ticketmaster.co.uk
See – 0844 811 0051 / www.gigsandtours.com

 

[Shangas]

Never had a chance to see him live, but I've watched the YouTube videos, and Max Raabe is a fantastic singer and his band is one of the best jazz orchestras I've ever heard in modern times.

 

[dhermann1]

As a footnote to last March's posts, we (me and Skyvue and his lovely wife, and several other friends) saw them and were duly bowled over. NJPAC is a terrific theater. Everything they say about Max Raabe is true. And then some.

 

[skyvue]

I've seen Raabe three times now and would happily line up to see him again any time.

 

[skyvue]

I've seen Raabe three times now and would happily line up to see him again any time.

Speaking of which, I just purchased tickets for Raabe's March 3 show at the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a lovely venue for this show, I think. Tix can be had here for that show, and the itinerary for the rest of the tour can be found here.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

My favorite:

Hallo, Du Süsse Frau
(Hello, Sweet Lady)

[video=youtube;3LspUvNuA6M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LspUvNuA6M[/video]