Live report OLLI SCHULZ & CHRISTIN NICHOLS, edel-optics Arena, Hamburg – March 4th, 2024

Tonight is different and this has mainly to do with an artist that is very well known in Germany. We are talking about Olli Schulz. The German singer-songwriter is about to finish-off his tour through Germany, playing two shows in his hometown Hamburg. Tonight is the first of these two appearances at edel-optics Arena.

Some of you might wonder, why MHMB is reporting from such a show. This has various reasons. No doubt, an Olli Schultz concert isn’t about monstrous riffs. And it isn’t about denim and leather either. On the other hand, an Olli Schulz show features excellent music that comes straight from the heart. It is honest music that is authentic and approachable. Equipped with smart and twinkle-in-the-eye lyrics, such a concert is real live experience. Not to forget is the link to metal as Schulz listened to a lot of metal, punk and hardcore bands in his youth and was stagehand in Hamburg in the 90s, which led to some friends in the metal scene, a friendship that remains to date. But now enough of an introduction and let’s switch to the concert.

Opening act tonight is Christin Nichols. Introduced by Schulz himself, Nichols uses the 30-minute set to present great music which is a blend of indie, rock and pop. Powerful and with a great voice the singer creates some first enthusiasm in the big hall. I clear sign of appreciation is also the fact that the room gets more and more crowded and very heartfelt applause showed, that Nichols certainly gained some new fans tonight.

Getting the stage ready for Olli Schulz takes surprisingly little time and the start into the set couldn’t be better. With ‘So muss us beginnen’, ‘Falsch erzählt’ and ‘Hamse nich’, an older song as well as two new songs from the latest Album ‘Vom Rand der Zeit’ lead to thunderous applause, showing the popularity of Schulz.

Olli Schulz is more than solely a singer or musician. This guy is an empathetic character that loves to be with fans. He isn’t reserved at all which also shows his little ‘tour’ right through the audience. After a short conversation with ‘his conscience’, Schulz walk right through the room to the mixer console just to stand there and perform ‘Spielerfrau’. Surrounded by enthusiastic fans it is obvious that Schulz enjoys this moment a lot and so do the fans around him.

The closeness to his fans is also apparent when he performs ‘Stadtfest in Bonn’ and as Ina Müller isn’t available even in Hamburg, it’s two fans that take over the female parts of this duet. These are the moments that contribute a lot to the intimate living room atmosphere even at such a big venue.

Such a concert isn’t only about music. Olli Schulz is more of an entertainer and there are various stories he tells along the way. From his experiences at record stores where he met his first girlfriend via inventory job when he was a kid to other funny but partly also serious anecdotes. A part of tonight’s set is also ‘Kommissar Ärmchen’, a song Schulz which was released on a compilation called ‘Unter meinem Bett’ and as the song is about an underwater cartoon detective the song is properly supported by a shark, an octopus and other Sealife creatures.

More than one and a half hours fly by, and it is the expected pillow fight in the encore that stands for the unconventional character of this live show as well as it represents the playfulness of this evening at edel-optics Arena in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg. Olli Schulz is an artist that has a passion for people. Music is running through his veins and it the heartbeat of rock music that drives the show. Authentic, emotional, and real – that is Olli Schulz and that is what fans love. It was all present tonight and one could observe only happy faces that left the venue after nearly two hours, heading on their way home.