Wolfgang Ambros
Wolfgang Ambros, Günter Dzikowski, Roland Vogl
When timelessness shows the door to the spirit of the times…
Unplugged, acoustic, reduced… Ambros pur! has been consistently doing well for over ten years. Full houses, a direct connection to the audience, the songs presented in a distilled manner, and a Wolfgang Ambros who feels visibly comfortable in this constellation. “It’s fun to play this way and as you get older, you don’t want it loud anymore,” he says. A classic Ambros pur statement. Just like the person, the artist, the songs, and the show. Unvarnished, authentic, and now timeless.
It is highly commendable that Wolfgang Ambros does not try for a second to disguise aging. From the rock 'n' roller who had filled the Vienna City Hall to capacity multiple times, he has become the singer-songwriter who gives his songs a framework they deserve as classics. Wolfgang sits on the stool, talks, plays, sings. And it’s simply wonderful to watch and listen to him.
Ambros is now on his sixth "pur" tour. He started back then with his long-time friend, keyboardist Günter Dzikowski, in a duo. Wolfgang on guitar, Günter on the keys. For a year and a half now, they have been a trio. Roland “Roli” Vogl complements the arrangements with his guitar, the bass, the ukulele, and whatever else he plucks, strikes, or brushes on stage during the program.
From the very first pur! gig, Ambros has drawn from his rich repertoire. This means songs from the year 1971 to current titles. A journey through time that doesn’t feel like one for a second. Although some songs are pulled from more than fifty years ago, the age differences of the songs are not perceptible. Wolfgang's characteristic voice, the reduced arrangements, the moderations, that is, the stories between the songs, and the evident 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 constellation, have reached a level that only truly good songs can achieve: Timelessness! Good yesterday, good today, and good tomorrow – nothing fades, nothing gets lost in the mist of time. The Central Cemetery celebrates as it once did, hopelessness remains hopeless – even in the 21st century, and while you may no longer smoke in the espresso, everything else is as it was then.
Wolfgang Ambros does not reinvent himself. He is as he was, as he is. In his own direct and intense way. For every pur! tour, he pulls gems from the archive and adds them to the program. There are those songs without which it simply does not work. ‘That’s when the people sing along,’ he says, and this joy of reuniting with the familiar songs must not be taken from the people. Songs have become friends, others are old acquaintances that you haven’t met in a long time. And when Wolfgang then strips down these songs to their bare framework, re-clothing them together with Günter and Roli with much sensitivity, there’s no need to worry about Bettina anymore. She has, just like Mr. Ambros, arrived well in the new millennium.
In 2003, Wolfgang Ambros sang “Oid wurdn”. Eighteen years have passed since then. So what? It might not be as loud now. That’s fine. Pur the Sixth will be just as good, earthy, unwrapped, and musically intricate as the Fifth, the Fourth, the Third, the Second, and the First. The audience and critics have reacted enthusiastically to the previous Ambros pur! evenings; when else do you have the opportunity to be so close to a giant of Austrian pop music like Wolfgang Ambros and his songs, many of which have long since become folk songs of a different kind.
Doors open: 7:00 PM
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
