3. July 2025
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Dasha (1st July 2025, Cologne)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

I really loved Dasha at the C2C 2025 in Berlin. The US-American country-pop musician gave the German capital crowds an amazing party. The more I was flattered when the she announced to play an open air in my home town Cologne on 1st July 2025. Here is my report from the Freideck. With roughly 900 tickets sold, the open air venue was almost sold out. The only really critical factor for a successful evening felt to be the weather. Cologne was hit by a heatwave, temperatures in the afternoon were around 35C.

This posting comes with 636 major size pictures as part of the concert gallery.

 

Die Kantine / Freideck – About The Venue

The Freideck is the open air stage of Die Kantine. It is used in summer and has a capacity of roughly 1,000 people. The 2024 Sound of Nashville Open Air took place there. It will return in August 2025. The venue is located in the North of Cologne. Parking situation is a bit of difficult, but the place at the Neusser Straße can be rather easily reached by public transport. Tram lines 12 and 15 frequently connect nearby Wilhelm-Sollmann-Straße to central Cologne. The most recent concert I saw at the premises was Caylee Hammack in May 2024, who played at the smallest of the three venues, Yuca Club.

 

Dasha – About The Artists

Dasha, civil name Anna Dasha Novotny, is a US-American country pop artist. She is originally from San Luis Obispo, California, where she was born on 27th February 2025. Her brother Bardo plays guitar for the Los Angeles rock band Beauty School Dropout. Dasha started as a musical actress and had several high school plays. While she started releasing singles leading to her 2023 debut album Dirty Blonde in 2021 already, her global breakthrough started in November 2023 with the single Austin. While the song “just” peaked 18th in the USA (non-genre specific), it was a fifth place in the United Kingdom and just missed the Top 10 in countries like the Netherlands or Germany. The song received six platinum records in Canada, went platinum in the Netherlands, France, Switzerland or Poland and had a golden record in Germany. In 2025, Dasha had remarkable success with Not at This Party.

Dasha was supported by two acts on that day. Rattlesnake Johnny is a British DJ, who is having a certain focus on Americana genres. Enkay is a German singer-songwriter born in Offenbach in 1988. He is regarded to be one of the most promising acts in the German pop music scene. The name is built by the artist’s civil name initials, N and K. In 23, he released the album Farbenspiel (Mixedtape). His biggest hit so far is likely the song Sie (“She”), which has more than ten million Spotify streams each in two different versions.

 

Dasha – The Show

Even though opening the doors was rather delayed, Enkay started his thirty minute set right on time at 19:00. He started with songs like Weißt Du noch and Grünes Licht. It took a while until his modern rap and pop mixture really reached the Cologne audience. His set was majorly a mixture of his biggest songs, including Sie and Willst Du mit mir gehen. The closing song was his July 2024 single Auf die 1.

Having a DJ as an act of a country music concert was a new experience to me. But Rattlesnake Johnny, who was accompanied by a line dancing instructor, definitely touched the audience much quicker and more intensively. After some minutes of the 45 minute set, people danced and waved their hands to classics like Jolene or more modern tunes like Morgan Wallen and Luke Bryan. Songs like Cole Swindell and Joe Dee Messina’s She Had Me At Heads Carolina were majorly blended with 1980’s and rock classics. For example, the DJ used samples of Sweet Child O’Mine. At the end of the set, Cologne was even taught the line dancing steps of Austin, being now absolutely ready for the main act.

 

Dasha with an amazing evening in Cologne

Dasha stepped on stage at 20:50 for a 65 minute set. Her opener was Ain’t No Friend of Mine. Her presence and energy on stage caught Cologne from the very first moment and turned the Freideck into a big country pop party. Dasha also shared some stories behind the songs like how she happened writing Way Too Drunk after being at her favorite Nashville karaoke bar. Multiple times, like at Even Cowboys Cry, she stated that This is my Dream. At Didn’t I, she went down into the pit for the first time. Dasha also shared the unreleased song Oh Anna, reminding of her younger self.

 

With Bye Bye Bye, Cologne was ready for the big finale. You could hardly spot anybody in the audience who did not wave their hands with the artist, just as she asked to. Dasha was in control of the crowds. At the next song, Not At This Party, even security and the wheelchair riders just had to dance with her. Needless to say that the big finale was Austin. You did look into many smiling faces at this Cologne evening before. Dasha went into the audence, partied with her European fans and definitely ensured that next time, she has to book a bigger venue.

 

Dasha – The Gallery

Here are 636 major size pictures of the show. They are located in the concert gallery:

 

Dasha – My View

I am rarely that straight in concert reports – but you have to state that Enkay did not use the chance to win new fans in Cologne that evening. His music was also likely a bit too far away from the genre the people had paid tickets for. With DJ Rattlesnake, the evening turned into a country party. And then, there is Dasha. It was the second time I saw her this year and I simply have to say: she is amazing. I would even go that far that she is the best female country artist I have ever seen on stage. Other artists might (still) have a more striking songbook. But her energy and presence on stage, the way she presents herself and connects to the people during her show is outstanding. She is constantly offering opportunity that people love what she is doing. And thus, she turned this evening in Cologne to an absolutely memorable experience – again. The audience was very diverse on that evening – but it felt like all of them had an amazing time.

Especially on the European market, country music needs more acts like Dasha. Within these 65 minutes, she showed that all the valid arguments, why the modern country music has still a somehow hard time in markets like Germany, can be wrong. You “just” need to do things right.

 

Music & Media – Cologne

Here are all my Music & Media postings related to Cologne:

 

USA Travel Top Picks

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