Farewell concert by Peter Maffay at the Waldbühne

When you see him on stage, you wonder why Peter Maffay’s career as a musician should end. He is currently on his “Farewell Tour”. He will be travelling around the country for two more weeks to say a fitting farewell, then he plans to retire.

Yet he still looks so incredibly fresh. You can’t tell that the man is about to turn 75. Basically, he still looks the way Peter Maffay always seemed to look. He stands there with a guitar in his hand, his always tousled mane of hair, tight leather jeans and a black muscle shirt under which not even the slightest bit of belly can be seen.

But maybe that’s exactly why it should end now. Maybe Maffay wants to be remembered that way. As a vital guy who has been through a lot in life, but is still standing straight as an oak tree.

At the first of two concerts he is giving on his farewell tour at the Waldbühne in Berlin, which is sold out as befits his status, he is once again portraying himself as the rocker that he and his fans want to see himself as. And not as the pop singer that some people think he is. The motto of his farewell tour is “We love rock’n’roll” and not “We like pop music”.

Remembering the Cold War

It starts with him roaring onto the stage on a Harley in full leather gear. Then old Bravo covers from the 1970s are shown, showing Maffay as a teenage idol. Yes, I was young once and needed the money, is the slightly self-ironic message, but then I eventually managed to make the leap from the shallow business to becoming a rocker with ambition.

The fact that he was interested in something other than love and all that is going on in the 1980s is clearly shown in the piece “Eiszeit”, which he meaningfully announces at the Waldbühne with the words “The year is 1982”. He then talks about the Cold War, about rearmament and about how the world will not be a better place with more weapons. The song is about the apocalypse, the nuclear catastrophe, about a time “when the seas sink and the earth breaks”, as the lyrics say.

The visitors to his concert should know that even today, when the arms companies are once again recording record revenues, he is still close to the peace movement.

But before it gets too brooding or even depressing, the concert starts again and the Peter Maffay revue begins. One star guest after the other stands next to Peter Alexander Makkay, his real name, or takes over the stage completely. After me, it continues, he seems to want to say, the next generation is taken care of.

Joy Denalane and Maffay’s son Yaris are guests

Johannes Oerding will be performing, followed by Joy Denalane, Rea Garvey and also his son Yaris, who casually announces that he, a real Maffay, can be seen on a solo tour in October.

Maffay always introduces his guests with similar respect. He calls Denalane “great” and announces Garvey as a surprise that will make everyone go crazy as soon as he shows up. But people still want to really get into it, sway along or hold up the balloons that have been handed out, when the real star of the evening starts again alone with his band after several numbers by and with the other guest singer Anastacia.

His biggest hit, the cover version of Karat’s “Über sieben Brücken müssen du gehen” (Du must go over seven bridges), is also performed at the end. A choir helps him to create a truly sublime atmosphere that gives you goosebumps. He’s leaving now. But at least with this number it’s clear that his music will stay.