Down The Years //
Biography

The Year 2005

At the beginning of the year, the last sequels of the TV series "Friss oder stirb" went on air. The Hosen presented the most revolting backstage loo in Bulgaria, the loudest living room concert in Pirmasens, and the darkest spot to go camping in the Eifel. Looking back, this was once again a one-time experiment which led on to a few adventurous experiences that they wouldn’t have encountered otherwise.

Concomitantly, the five regularly got together for rehearsals to warm up for part two of the "Friss oder stirb" tour. The band played 39 cities and performed the most successful tour at the time. No less than 700,000 people attended their shows in German-speaking countries. Campino: "On the one hand, we got an incredible amount of proofs of loyalty from the veteran Hosen supporters, but on the other hand we also realised that there were amazingly many young people at the shows. To us, it is equally important that a lot of people are coming to our concerts for the first time, and this is also very motivating."

Meanwhile, the festival season took place in regular never ending rain. Be it in Czechia, Slovenia or once more along the Elbe banks near Dresden, the Hosen found themselves knee-deep in the mud. Eventually, all this commitment was rewarded: during their surprise gig at "Rock am Ring", host Marek Lieberberg granted the band – who had headlined the festival the previous two years – householder’s rights, which means they can come back any time. In spite of the jam-packed schedules, Campino and Andi managed to escape to Turkey where somewhere on the outskirts of Istanbul the FC Liverpool secured the Champions-League title after penalty shoot-out. Hardcore fan Campino even flew on to Liverpool to celebrate, though he’d had the message delivered beforehand: "Würzburg is taking place!"

Of course the Hosen couldn’t miss out on the "Live 8" charity concerts in Berlin and Edinburgh, initiated by Bob Geldof. The Berlin concert turned out to be a special challenge for the band: in the afternoon, they played their free open-air gig by the Siegessäule monument in front of 250,000 people while that very evening a further 14,000 fans were expecting the band to play in Cologne’s Kölnarena, a show to make up for the December 2004 concert that had been postponed. The Hosen managed to get on stage in time – although on Köln-Bonn Airport they ran into Bayern-München manager Uli Hoeneß. Campino: "Of course the Toten Hosen cornered him! I went up to him and said, ‘Herr Hoeneß, I‘ve always wanted to meet you.’ So he very insecurely shook my hand and didn’t know what to make of it, whether I was making fun of him or whether I was speaking the truth. It was a very strange encounter."

An absolute climax in the history of the band was the Unplugged concert in the venerable Burgtheater of Vienna, which was later documented on CD and DVD as "Nur zu Besuch: Die Toten Hosen Unplugged". How often does one get the chance to present one’s greatest hits and favourite cover versions in the grounds of high culture? Supported by a cellist and a piano player, our gentlemen used the opportunity to prove that in the course of the years they have actually developed into veritable musicians. Campino, who forced himself to sit through the entire show, later said, "I never really had a doubt that we would manage to give our songs a different note and that we would extract stuff from these songs that maybe one would never have heard under normal conditions. There are people who say that the Toten Hosen are a pure party band. I could never really agree with that because to me there is also this brooding side to the band."

Only one week after their guest appearance in the world of classical music, the final concert of the tour was due on 10 September. And where else should that take place but on home turf? The Düsseldorf Arena, newly constructed after the Rheinstadion had been demolished, was just large enough for the band to blast out their greatest hits of the season that was just coming to a close. 50,000 fans celebrated with the band (Pictures) , with Vom Ritchie’s father taking over the microphone for "Blitzkrieg Bop" – the home game went into extra time and the band scored on all fronts. To complete the extremely busy year, autumn called the band to Argentina for three concerts. This time, the Beatsteaks came along as supporting band. Campino: "Every time you go over there, you think, ‘I hope it’ll be as good as last year!’ I didn’t even consider the possibility that this could be topped. But I did have the feeling that this time it was even crazier than the last."

After all that racket, the end of the year was celebrated in a slightly more reflective mood, though not really any less loud: together with their old chums Gerhard Polt and the Biermösl Blosn, the Hosen climbed onto various theatre stages throughout the nation to perform their pre-Christmas play "Abvent" (Find some pictures in the (German) tourdiary).
Certainly, the high point of every single show was reciting an individual Gstanzl* – accompanied on the Brummtopf, an instrument where the hand brushes over a special pot.

For the year 2006, an extensive band holiday is planned, and then of course there’s also the Football World Cup.

[*Gstanzl is a derisive verse of Bavarian/Austrian origin (preferably in three quarter time), also known as quadruplet, Schnaderhüpfl or Trutzgsangl.]

(To be continued...)