Concert of ok.danke.tschüss in Erfurt

In 2023, we attended two Alligatoah concerts. At the second one, which took place in Erfurt, the opening band was ok.danke.tschüss, and we were so impressed by them that we immediately searched for tickets to their upcoming concerts. As luck would have it, the band had planned a concert in Erfurt in 2024 as well, which coincided with Nathalie’s birthday. This time, the venue was Kalif Storch—a somewhat smaller nightclub in a former railway station building in Erfurt, a place we had never been to before. The anticipation was high, but unfortunately, the concert was postponed to May due to illness. It was also rescheduled to a weekday instead of Saturday, so we had to shuffle our plans around a bit. Nevertheless, we were excited when the day finally arrived and had listened to their songs from the albums on repeat.

We arrived in Erfurt by train without any issues, and it was just about a 10-minute walk to the old railway station. When we arrived at the building, the situation initially seemed a bit surreal because there was a bush fire next to the venue, and the fire department had to come. The band later mentioned this in their announcements. Fortunately, the fire was quickly extinguished, and nothing serious happened. At the entrance to the club, we showed our tickets and first encountered an open lounge area in front of the building, which was fenced off. It was actually very cozy and nice for relaxing, in case you needed a break from the loud music. Inside, the stage was immediately on the left, and a bar was located in the other corner. There was a cloakroom and restrooms in an adjacent room. The restrooms were quite dark. I could just barely see, but Nathalie mentioned that she had to use her phone’s flashlight. This was particularly annoying because her phone was low on battery, so she could only record a little of the concert. She had come straight from university to Erfurt and hadn’t had time to charge her phone in between. I also noticed a helpful information text in the restroom stall, which I thought was very nice.

Then it finally started, and the venue quickly filled up. The opening act of the evening was “Schallwellensurfer,” although it wasn’t really a band, as it consisted of only one man named Stefan Ebert. His songs were really good, and he also shared how he had written some of the music for film and TV productions. I would have liked to link the first song, which we liked the most, but unfortunately, it can’t be found online. This shows that as we move from Alligatoah to ok.danke.tschüss and now to Schallwellensurfer, the artists become less well-known, although he really set a great mood. We wouldn’t rule out attending a Schallwellensurfer concert if one comes to our area. Later, he joined in singing with ok.danke.tschüss here and there, and this collaboration worked really well.

Then the main act started, and ok.danke.tschüss performed several of their well-known songs. To connect better with their audience, the band always chooses a name at the beginning of the concert and asks for suggestions from the crowd. In the end, they settled on “Vegane Waltraud,” which both the band and the audience really enjoyed. So, at the end of the song “Vincent van Gogh,” the band even referred back to the name.

Soon after, a new song was performed, which hadn’t been released as a single or on an album yet. It reminded me a bit of the song “Joel,” which was also new and performed when we were at the Alligatoah concert. The new song is called “Was passiert.”

Something unusual happened during the next few songs. Suddenly, a conga line formed, and Nathalie, always eager to join in on any action, immediately jumped in, and I followed suit. This led to us no longer standing on the left side of the audience in front of the stage, but suddenly being on the right side. Even stranger was that we found ourselves standing next to Stefan Ebert, the opening act, who was singing along to the songs of ok.danke.tschüss with the rest of the crowd.

Nathalie’s favorite song by ok.danke.tschüss is “Muschigeburt.” This time, they performed it in a punk rock version, so Nathalie insisted that I quickly record it.

Then finally came my favorite song, “Joel,” which I managed to record in full. I think it’s by far the best.

After a few more songs, the announcement came that it was time for “couchsurfing,” a less dangerous alternative to stage diving. They threw an inflatable couch over the audience’s heads through the hall — it was quite funny. You could tell from the patches that the couch had seen quite a bit of action.

Did I mention that Nathalie would join in on every action? In the end, the concert picked up with louder and faster songs like “Zu laut in der Disko,” which were accompanied by a mosh pit. For me, as a tall person, it wasn’t too bad, but I was quite worried about Nathalie, who is much smaller. After each round in the mosh pit, I had to search for her again, checking where she had been thrown to this time. Thankfully, nothing happened to her. The situation escalated further during the song “Verrückt,” when the lead singer split the audience into two sides to prepare for a Wall of Death. Naturally, Nathalie ran straight to the front of the “wall.” Fortunately, neither Nathalie nor I got hurt, and I must admit, it was somehow quite fun in the end.

Finally, the concert came to an end, and the band said their goodbyes. Since Kalif Storch also doubles as a nightclub, some songs continued to play, and we danced to a few of them. Afterward, we retrieved our jackets and took a relaxed walk back to the train station to head home.

Although the concerts by Die Ärzte and Alligatoah were certainly big and impressive, this smaller concert by ok.danke.tschüss had a unique charm that the larger ones couldn’t offer. Being much closer to the band, the actions and interactions in the relatively small venue felt much more personal. In contrast, such intimacy is usually not possible with larger bands, which is precisely why this small concert had so much more charm that I particularly enjoyed. The scene felt more authentic and less commercial.