José González (Posted Date: 15 Mar 2009, 11:23)

José González / finn.

13.03.09 Konzerthaus, Dortmund

The Konzerthaus in Dortmund is usually a venue for classical music events but also hosts a concert series named Pop-Abo with indie bands, e.g. Tomte, playing acoustic sets. Now José González is known for his acoustic songs so how special could this show be? Well, the venue made the difference. The sound was absolutely amazing, you could hear every creaking of the chair José was sitting on.
But let's start chronologically. Thanks to a cancelled train I arrived late at the Konzerthaus. As the support act finn., a German songwriter I hadn't heard of bfore, was already playing I got a special treatment. A nice lady guided me to the elevators and sent me to the second floor where another receptionist took over and led me to my seat.
I only got to hear the last one and a half songs of finn.'s set but his terrible version of Stevie Wonder's I Just Called To Say I Love didn't make me feel like I missed something.
At 9.40 pm the lights went out and José González entered the stage, seated himself and tuned his guitar. Then suddenly the lights went on. José looked up, surprised and said "Now the magic's gone". But after two minutes the lights went out again and he could start his show and the magic immediately returned. His guitar playing was awesome and the atmosphere at the Konzerthaus just intensified his performance as the audience was listening devoutly and there was no chatter during the sopngs as it so often happens at a club show. After only 55 minutes and songs like Down The Line or Heartbeats the regular part ended with the Massive Attack cover Teardrop. But José came back twice for three more songs including a brilliant version of Love Will Tear Us Apart.
An amazing show at an amazing venue.