WOLFGANG AMBROS – Tour PUR! Vol. 6
Wolfgang Ambros – When Timelessness Shows the Door to the Spirit of the Times…
Unplugged, acoustic, reduced… Ambros pur! has been consistently successful for over ten years. Full houses, a direct connection to the audience, the songs presented in a stripped-down manner, and a Wolfgang Ambros who feels visibly comfortable in this configuration. "It's fun to play this way, and as you get older, you don't want it to be so loud anyway," he says. A classic Ambros pur statement. Just like the person, the artist, the songs and the show are. Unadorned, authentic, and now timeless.
It is to Wolfgang Ambros’s credit that he doesn’t try for a second to mask aging. From the rock 'n' roller who packed the Vienna Stadthalle to the brim multiple times, he has become a singer-songwriter who today gives his songs a framework they truly deserve as classics. Wolfgang sits on a stool, speaks, plays, sings. And it's just wonderful to watch and listen to him.
For the sixth time, Ambros is now on tour "pur." He started at that time with his longtime friend, keyboardist Günter Dzikowski, in a duo. Wolfgang on guitar, Günter on the keys. For the past year and a half, they have been joined by a third member. Roland "Roli" Vogl enhances the arrangements with his guitar, bass, ukulele, and whatever else he picks, strikes, or brushes on stage during the program.
Hits from 1971 to today
From the first PUR! gig, Ambros has drawn from his rich repertoire, meaning songs from 1971 to current titles. A time journey that doesn’t feel like one for a second. Although the songs are pulled from over forty years ago, the age differences of the songs are not noticeable. Wolfgang’s distinctive voice, the reduced arrangements, the commentary, or the stories between the songs, and the obvious joy of playing that the three gentlemen repeatedly display… that is Ambros pur. Humorous, harmonious, melancholic, and wonderfully Austrian. Instead of the spirit of the times, Wolfgang Ambros’ songs, sung and played in this trio formation, have reached a level that only truly good songs can attain: Timelessness! Good yesterday, good today, and good tomorrow as well – nothing fades, nothing gets lost in the fog of time. The Central Cemetery celebrates as it once did, hopelessness remains hopeless – even in the 21st century, and although one can no longer smoke in espresso, everything else is as it was back then.
Wolfgang Ambros – still the same
Wolfgang Ambros does not reinvent himself. He is as he was, as he is. Direct and intense in his way. For each PUR! tour, he pulls pearls from his treasury and adds them to the program. There are those songs that simply must be included. "That's where people sing along," he says, and you can't take away the joy of reuniting with the familiar songs from the people. Songs have become friends, others to old acquaintances that one hasn't met in a long time. And when Wolfgang strips these songs down to their bare framework and then together with Günter and Roli outfits them again with great sensitivity, there’s no need to worry about Bettina anymore. She, like Mr. Ambros, has arrived well in the new millennium.
In 2003, Wolfgang Ambros sang "Oid wurn." Since then, fifteen years have passed. So what? It may not need to be so loud anymore… that’s good! Pur the Sixth will be as good, as earthy, as unwrapped, and as musically intricate as the Fifth, Fourth, Third, Second, and First. Audience and critics responded enthusiastically to the previous Ambros PUR! evenings; when else do you have the opportunity to be so close to a giant of the domestic pop music scene like Wolfgang Ambros and his songs, many of which have long become folk songs of another kind.
Copyright: defrancesco
Doors open: 5:30 PM