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Pictures of the Wallis Bird concert on August 25, 2007 at the SWR3 Open Air Pop im Hafen, Mannheim.

After Mainz, Cologne and Worms we heard our 4th Wallis Bird concert at Mannheim. It was in a much larger environment than the other gigs. The well known german radio station SWR3 and the city of Mannheim had invited for a free open air festival called "Pop im Hafen" (Pop an the harbour). Several famous bands were on schedule: "Wallis Bird" (Waltraud Vogel), "Revolverheld" (Gunslinger), "2raumwohnung" (Two-room apartment), "Sunrise Avenue" (Sonnenaufgangs-Straße) and "Wir sind Helden" (We are heroes). :-)

Our way from the car to the festival area led us first to the Pop Akademie of Mannheim, where Wallis Bird had studied for some months. In this time she also came to know Michael and Christian (now her bassist and drummer). So it was a nice opportunity for a picture at this 'world-famous' address. You see Ilo with her new selfmade Wallis shirt (maybe she's looking there for a new drummer and bass player)... ;-) )

The entry gates opened at 4pm. While Wallis and band were still making the sound check, the SWR3 deejay Jochen Graf moderated the program from the stage. He also threw some SWR3 elks in the audience, and I was happy to catch one of these radio station mascots. Sometimes it's convenient to be about 1,90 meters tall. :-)

Wallis Bird and bass man Michael Vinne wore very cool sunglasses during the sound check. I would not have recognized Michael aside the stage with his sunglasses and without his usual cap.

As you can see, Aoife O'Sullivan was at the hairstylist within the last three weeks since the Worms gig.

It was a really warm summer day and the sun burned from above. Some visitors collapsed and the first aiders had to help them. They also gave out paper cups with water.

Rupert wore his 'official forum shirt' and so he promoted the address of our Wallisworld forum. He protected himself against the burning sun with a towel, which gave him something like a beduin look.

I myself kept the sun away from my bonce with an umbrella, and when SWR3 radioman Jochen Graf saw this, he used it for his moderation to announce the song "Umbrella" (Rihanna feat. Jay-Z). This song ist really not my favorite music, but anyway my umbrella now is famous in the whole SWR3 radio area. :-)

A little time later I saw some more opened umbrellas in the audience. Wow, I guess I'm a trend-setter... :-)

Then Volker Janitz and Anneta Politi, who usually moderate the "SWR3 morning show", entered the stage. They released us from Rihanna and others of her sort, and they announced Wallis Bird, the first band of the 2007 festival "Pop im Hafen". It was now 5:20pm and that was exactly in time schedule.

The show started. Wallis was in the same outfit as during the sound check, but without the sun glasses.

A look back toward the audience in the sunshine. Next to the stage there is the railway line for the modern ICE trains. Even if I like train riding, I was happy for this time not to sit inside the ICE...

Michael's bass guitar is magically sending out rays of light. Coooool! :-)

Security and cameramen. Our previous Wallis concerts were much more familiar. This time the artists were far away, but anyhow they recognized their fan club from the distance and waved back to us.

This time also Aoife got the chance to take some photos.

From the beginning Wallis made every effort to rock the audience, that was a little weakened because of the heat. That was no problem with those who came especially for her. Some of them (we!) drove over 2 hours to be here. But those who primarily waited for the other bands made it a little more difficult. Of course Wallis gave everything and delivered a great show.

Right from the huge stage there was a big video screen. But the words "Slow down" were not shown as an advice for Wallis, but they are title of one of her songs.

Aoife O' Sullivan and Michael Vinne.

Now Wallis Bird tried to refresh the thirsting and starving audience. She jumped off the stage and spreaded the contents of her water bottles. Of course she recommended before to put mobiles and cameras at a safe place. After having refreshed the audience in the first rows, she rolled herself back on stage.

After this brief and sporting insertion the show went on musically.

A short visit at her bass man Michael Vinne gave free the view to her drummer Christian Vinne.

After only 45 minutes the concert of Wallis Bird and her band was over. In my opinion it would have been okay to have cancelled the next 3 bands, so that Wallis had more time. :-) But SWR3 had a very tight time schedule, and so there was not even the chance for one more song.

The next band was "Revolverheld", but we started to find the merchandising stand of Wallis Bird. Of course anyone who is a real Wallis fan gives only a sceptic look on a band like Revolverheld. :-) But it was really a huge stage where Wallis rocked for about 45 minutes.

If you look at the picture on the left, please take notice of the beautiful 'official Wallisworld forum shirt' and the SWR3 elk. One of these I cought about two hours earlier... :-)

After figuring out that we would never meet Wallis or Aoife or anyone else from the band or crew here in this crowd (boo-hoo...), Rupert, Ilo and I went to the city of Mannheim to visit the famous "squares" and to get something eaten. Later in the evening we came back to the festival and listened to "Wir sind Helden". But this is another story.

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