After seeing Dave Matthews Band twice, I didn’t know what more could I expect from a show. Still I was very eager to go check out Amos Lee, who I hadn’t seen before. And I was pleasantly surprised how good the solo acoustic show. Being an intimate one-man show, it was something very different from the energetic full band DMB.

The show took place at Stadtgarten in Cologne. It is a great place for music like this. It’s nice and clean and they a bar at the back to easily get some Kölsch. The opening act was Alin Coen, a young woman from Hamburg who also played guitar and performed a solo acoustic. She sang some of her songs in English, some in German. I thought it was cool to hear some songs in German because I don’t get to hear them so much. She was very well received by the audience.

Amos started the show by playing some chords, and only when he started to sing most of the audience (including me) realized that the song was the first track of his first album, Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight. He seemed maybe a little shy at first, not making much eye contact with the audience. But it quickly turned out that’s just his style to perform, and he really knew how to take his audience. He actually talked pretty much between songs and sometimes made funny remarks even during them. All in all, it was a very entertaining show.

I could recognize most of the songs he played, but I’m not (or wasn’t) that much into his music that I could have sung along beyond some choruses. I had been listening to his studio albums, but the acoustic live versions were something completely new for me. The songs worked well also that way.

Amos’ last studio album, Last Days at the Logde, was released over a year ago, and he was now promoting it in Germany. The first song off the new record was Truth, there he asked the audience to  sing along the chorus, the first one of sing-alongs. Little song Bottom of the Barrel was one of my favorites. “Get right down to the bottom of the barrel and float back on top,” the lyrics just sound so cool when he sings them. Moreover, he has a good voice that suits well for small acoustic shows.

When the encore started, someone from the front row shouted “five more songs,” and that’s what he did. Maybe my favorite song of the whole night was Love in the Lies in the encore, it’s so beautiful. The hit song Arms of a Woman ended the encore. After that, I think the sound guy and the light guy had no idea if he’s going to come up again. People just clapped, they didn’t brighten the lights or put on the house music. After several minutes Amos finally came to play two more songs, obviously baffled that people were still clapping.

It ended up being quite a long show, which was good. The audience was so excited, even though he’s not the biggest name in Germany. One good thing about the German audience is how quiet they are during the songs. I go pretty much to small shows at bars, so I’m used to hearing chatter all the time, but there people were really listening.

My friend Susi also taped the show and the recording can be found on Try JM downloads area as MP3. You’ll also find the setlist there. Taping is pretty rare in these parts of the world, and it was funny standing next to a taper because you couldn’t talk to her during the show. But it was okay, since the music was so good that you could just listen.