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Home Free (20th September 2023, Hamburg)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Home Free – the a capella country band has built a fan base all over the world nowadays. I was really happy when they published to tour Germany in September 2023. However, the Cologne date clashed with my vacation planning, so that I traveled up to the North of Germany for the show. The US band played at the Fabrik in Hamburg on 20th September 2023.

This posting comes with 417 major size pictures as part of the concert gallery.

 

Fabrik Hamburg – About The Venue

The Fabrik (which simply translates to “Factory”) is a venue in Ottensen in the Altona district of Hamburg. The area also features other venues and a bunch of restaurants and similar facilities. The closest way to get there is taking the bus to the stop Fabrik. It is serviced by lines 115, 150 and 621. Alternatively, it is also a not that long walk from Altona train station, which is serving all kinds of regional services as well as national high speed rail connections. Another close stop is Ottensen, a train stop used by the S1 and S11 S-Bahn commuter rail. The capacity of the Fabrik is roughly 1,200.

Home Free – About The Artists

Home Free are active since 2001, when they have been formed in Mankato, Minnesota. They have worked in several lineups, the most recent I found is Austin Brown, Rob Lundquivst, Adam Rupp, Tim Foust and Adam Chance. This lineup is constant since 2016. While the first albums of the a capella country music act, it was finally the fifth studio album of the band, Crazy Life, which lead to Home Free’s breakthrough. The album peaked eighth in the US Country Album Charts. Since then, the band is releasing music very regularly. In 2022, for example, they had two long play releases, The Sounds of Lockdown and So Long Dixie. The latter is the fifteenth studio album of the band.

 

Home Free – The Show

The tour started with a surprise: Before the show, Home Free have run into Musketeer, a street musician, who is originally from Australia, but feels to be a rather well-known act in the Hamburg street music scene. Spontaneously, the band asked him whether he wants to open for them – and thus, everybody was kind of surprised that the show started at 19:30 with an act who was not on their list. The three song (15 minute) set was really nice, though. I especially enjoyed the second one Borderline, which Musketeer wrote during a touring trip when their car broke down in Budapest and the next stage was planned to be Istanbul. The confusion included the security, which did not fully know how to handle the situation. But overall, the Fabrik had a really relaxed evening, so that everything went smoothly.

Home Free opened the first of their roughly 45 minute sets very few minutes after schedule. The band felt extremely kind, starting from that water has been served to the (mostly female) fans in the first row. Their songs, including Boondocks and Road Sweet Road, cheered up the fans from the very beginning. However, the quintet also took quite some time chatting with the fans and telling them stories around the band and their songs. Statements ranged from We are the world’s first all vocal country band to reminding the audience that their merchandise manager is still single. However, the show did no feel too much like the one of a country band – the range of songs by Home Free is nowadays much larger than that.

After a some twenty minute intermission, the band came back on stage at 21:08. After opening with Everybody Walkin’ This Land, there was a highlight for beat box fans. A more than fifteen minute beat box solo illustrated the amazing talents and qualities by Adam Rupp. However, this rather long block made the second part of the set feel rather compact. The Home Free version of John Denver’s classic Take Me Home, Country Roads were the sing-a-long highlight of the day. After a medley, Home Free left the stage after some 39 minute minutes again. However, the encore with shanty classics like The Wellerman and Drunken Sailor as well as the Ring of Fire boosted the evening to a final highlight.

 

 

Home Free – The Gallery

Here are 417 major size pictures of the show. They are located in the concert gallery:

 

Home Free – My View

Home Free underlined their amazing talent in Hamburg that evening. The show was really close to fans (including that they gave away a backstage pass to meet them after the show). If you want to have a unique country music night, you are likely wrong – there is a wide range of other styles and genres in their setlist as well. This evening in Hamburg was a very nice evening of amazing talent in a lovely venue, even though I feel that the range of music was maybe a bit too wide.

 

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2 thoughts on “Home Free (20th September 2023, Hamburg)”

  1. I would like to point out, though, that while not all songs are originally country songs, all songs are countryfied and have more country sound and feel than the original pop or rock song had. It’s also, of course, acapella, which you didn’t seem to take into account in your personal review, which makes it a completely unique genre from regular country music and the country sound along with their arrangements also make it a competent unique genre from regular acapella. I feel that these things are what makes Home Free Home Free and if anyone goes to one of their concerts expecting pure, regular country or pure, regular acapella they simple have not done their homework, which is upon them and does not reflect on the band and the performance. They as well as their concerts are unique, so why would you even compare them?

    Reply

    1. Hi Carina,
      thanks for your comment. I would not say that I nowadays would expect country music only and I also agree to your “countryfied” argument. However, I also feel that the range of songs is really wide and you have a very wide spectrum of different sounds, from country songs, party and dance music to beatboxing. This may feel disturbing to some visitors – and that’s all I wanted to point out in the report. It is more like giving people another chance “to do their homework”, as you said.
      Cheers,
      Florian

      Reply

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