…and unfortunately, at least in the beginning, very bad sound. It was next to impossible to hear Anastacia sing during the opener “Seasons change”, and that wasn’t only because the song is rather rock-orientated. It was also very annoying they just showed a computer animation of some buildings on the video screens during the first song – that’s certainly not what I came for! From where I stood, Anastacia had the size of my cell phone and I had to rely heavily on the screens to see any kind of detail. They corrected that mistake by the second song, the sound a little later and then it was really a joy to watch.

There were some interludes when Anastacia changed costumes (4 or 5 times, and always gorgeous), which were filled with a group of 4 dancers, 2 male and 2 female, performing on stage. The first interlude came already after 2 songs which was a little strange, and the improvisation during the break dance may have been masterful, but I hardly could hear any melody any more. However, the other performances were more to my liking, and besides, there was always a music video of Anastacia playing in the background (so I go to see “Soldier”, which hasn’t been released – a nice touch).

The set’s songs were almost equally from her latest album “Anastacia”, including all the singles like “Left outside alone”, “Sick & Tired”, “Heavy on my heart” and “Welcome to my truth”, and her second album “Freak of nature” (including the title track, singles “Paid my dues”, “One day in your life” and “Why’d you lie to me”). Of course there were also tracks from her debut “Not that kind” (”Black Roses” and “Out of love”). Though it wasn’t just a rendition of her greatest hits, and here I have to pay Anastacia respect for creating a visually and musically impressing show:

  • there were video sequences during “I do” and “Secrets”, showing children suffering from war and worse, stressing her message to actively fight war and poverty in the world
  • during “Black Roses”, she introduced her back singers and let each of them sing a verse – they were all very, very talented
  • “Out of love” was presented as the big finale, and also a techno remix
  • for “One day in your life”, she had two fans on stage who sang a chorus each, and signed items for them
  • there were short videos showing fans do karaoke versions of her songs, and when one girl was mixing up the lyrics, she was a bit embarrassed and asked “Do I mumble?” (no one said “No” *g*), proceeding to show how it would sound if she really mumbled LOL
  • part of the show (about 2 or 3 songs) took place not on the main stage, but in the middle of the crowd on a little platform – she was constantly moving around and waving at everybody, even urging the lights to be turned on so she could see the faces
  • she spoke a lot in between the songs, thanking the fans very sincerely for supporting her during her fight against breast cancer, and how thankful she was for having such a loyal and great fan base
  • highlights were definitely the very moving “Heavy on my heart” and “You’ll never be alone” because they allowed her to show a lot of emotions
  • “Overdue goodbye” was special because she sang it with very few instruments in the background, so you could hear her voice really well for once

You guessed it, I’m impressed. Anastacia comes across as someone deeply likeable and down-to-earth, a very talented singer/performer and a beautiful woman, thankful to her fans and thoroughly enjoying what she’s doing. I can’t even be mad for the half hour she kept the fans waiting because what followed were 2 fantastic hours. (I’ve spent about twice as much time on the road and arrived home at 1:30AM, but since I had very nice company, it wasn’t all that bad.)