GIGCHECK+INTERVIEW: ASTRID S @ BERGHAIN KANTINE, BERLIN, 21.11.16

It's been a week and the cigarette smoke barely faded from my jacket. The energy still rushes through me and when I think about the hour after the concert, my whole body warms a little.

 

What I am talking about is Astrid S' Berlin gig last Monday, 21.11. Astrid is a Norwegian pop electronic singer, who didn't performed in Berlin for the first time, eventhough it was her first headline tour. It was this year in May when she performed as the support act for no one better than Troye Sivan.

That's how most of people from last weeks performance found out about her.

When you go online and read what Astrid's fans say about her, you will only read cute and amazing things. That's because she is amazing and a huge sweetheart. Not only her Twitter account is filled with positivity and kindness, but also the little videos she makes before her shows show a little of what an amazing human she is.

It may sound like a lie, but she makes sure her fans (who wait for hours) have food, warm drinks and fun while waiting for her outside. In Berlin she tried to prank us and wanted to hide in the queue, what totally didn't work out. She still stayed outside with us and chatted, comment on fans presents and hugged everyone who felt cold.

Now the concert itself. It was short but full of energy. Astrid only has an EP and a few other songs out, so she performed 10 songs including a cover of Flume's “Say It”.

Everything started with “Hyde”, a song I love a lot and is a mixture of quiet and chilled melody but perfect for opening a show. One song was followed by another song full of performance energy. Astrid makes sure the crowd has fun and performs with the right amount of energy so that everyone leaves with a good feeling. She is still impressed when people sing her lyrics back to her and even performed a few lines of her platinum certified song “Hurts so Good” in German.
Two songs called “Naked” and “Party's Over” were exclusively performed on her European tour and haven't been released yet. The final song was the powerful song “Atic”, my favourite song of hers, and it closed the show with a big bang.

After the concert she disappeared for a few minutes to surprise a fan backstage. The fan couldn't make it to the show in Cologne because her train didn't come and she couldn't arrive at the airport in time, so Astrid decided to fly her out to Berlin. Everything, - hotel, flight and concert ticket, has been paid for by Astrid herself.
After that she came outside of the club and met everyone who wanted to meet her. That's when I got the chance to ask her a few questions.

What's best about touring so far?

Best about touring is meeting all of you guys. I think that's the best part cause I feel like I get a lot of friends and you give me candy and presents. And of course you know, seeing like new cities, just travelling with my band is really fun.

That's amazing, of course. What's the best about Berlin, as it's your second time here?

The best is, this concert was really great, like the crowd was amazing. And you were singing along and were dancing. It was really good.

And last question I ask everyone. What was the inspiration of your very first song?

First song?

Yes the first you ever wrote.

It was about moving out from my mum's house, I think. Either that, I have two. There are two songs and I can't remember which one I did first. The other one is about that one time I thought we had ghosts in our house and I peed my pants (laughs). And I ran up the stairs and it is just about this girl, peeing in her pants, running up the stairs and she thinks there are ghost in the house. I was like ten years old, I don't know.

That's really nice.

Ahh believe me, they aren't that nice. (laughs) But thank you so much for coming.

Thank you for performing!

I could write papers over papers about this evening that I spent complete sick. (But you know, when Astrid is in town, you go. Even when you are sick.)

All I can say, if Astrid goes on tour again, maybe with an album that we all hope will get released soon, you should go and witness the pure sunshine live on stage.

Astrid after the concert

Photos by: Marie Fiedler, Daniel Schönhals