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Ben Zucker (1st March 2026, Cologne)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Ben Zucker, the third: on 1st March 2026, I had my third concert report of the German artist. As part of his Kämpferherz (“Fighting Heart”) Arena Tour 2026, he visited Cologne’s LANXESS arena. He was supported by Dari.

This posting comes with 522 major size pictures as part of the concert gallery.

 

LANXESS arena – About The Venue

With a capacity of up to 20,000 people, the LANXESS arena (locally known as Kölnarena or Henkelmännchen) is Germany’s largest multi-purpose venue. It was opened in 1998 and just a short walk from Cologne – Trade Fair / Deutz train station, which also offers national and international high speed rail services. There are also subway and bus connections from there, namely by subway lines 1, 3, 4, and 9. If you arrive by car, there are multiple major parking garages. There are short connections to motorways A3, A4 and A59.

Ben Zucker – About The Artists

Ben Zucker is a German schlager and schlager-rock singer. He was born on 4th August 1983 in Ueckermünde at the Baltic Sea in the German Democratic Republic, but grew up in East Berlin. He started to do music in teenage years. His debut album Na und?! (2017) already made it to the Top 5 in Germany and received five golden records. Overall, he has released five albums, which all made it to the Top 5.

Zucker’s support on that evening was Dari. His civil name is Darius Zander. Dari is a German singer-songwriter, who was in fact a local at this show, as he was born on 26th January 1984 in Cologne. He had some success locally, before joining the talent show The Voice of Germany in 2016. In February 2026, Dari released his sophomore album Better Love.

 

Ben Zucker – The Show

The evening was scheduled to kick off at 19:30. Dari even kicked off his set a few minutes earlier, starting with an introducing intro. He majorly presented songs of the Better Love album, including Because of You. He connected well with the audience. When he stated that he has to drink very frequently during the show and asked the crowd to cheer any time he does so, Cologne did not deny that. Early in the set, he also explained how he ran into Ben at a festival. When he played Better Love, he greeted Isaak in the audience, as he wrote the song with him.

Dari’s set lasted 33 minutes roughly, closing with You Are Ok, dealing with the nowadays impact of social media. He had a couple of times made his hometown arena dance and cheer with him. Even though the upper rank and even parts of the lower rank were not in use, a really remarkable first time home town performance on a major stage.

 

Ben Zucker with a schlager party in Cologne

After Dari closed around 20:00, Ben Zucker and his band gave Cologne a very brief intermission. After ten minutes, the intro of his show started with a cello solo. With Heute nicht and Remmidemmi, he started his 1:50 hours set with two party tracks. After the third song, Der Sonne entgegen, he greeted Cologne and joked that the show will last some six to eight hours.  The show was intense and powerful. The show was good, without being too fancy. The large screen behind the band gave some nice background pictures – or here and there close-ups of the artist.

At Ritterschlag, Ben took the guitar and played an acoustic song. Also the arrangement of the following Ich spür wie die Liebe zerbricht started in an acoustic-alike setting, just coming with the piano and cello. The show had some highlights at that time. The party track Guten Morgen Welt was followed by a duet with his backing singer Ellie Fatunz, An diesen Tagen. Soon thereafter, Ben stepped off stage and left the ground to the female members of his band. The quartet did a great majorly vocal cover of Take my breath away. Ben performed the next song, Du bist alles, in the audience, taking pictures with people while singing. With Mein Berlin latest, the show was already close to an end. Of course, there was an encore as well. It lasted four songs, closing with Was für eine geile Zeit. You can roughly translate it with “What a great time”. Definitely, a very suitable chucker-out.

 

Ben Zucker – The Gallery

Here are 522 major size pictures of the show. They are located in the concert gallery:

 

Ben Zucker – My View

I really like Ben Zucker – and I liked this show in Cologne. The energetic, straight way he is performing music, the great backing by his band and the close contact to his fans was simply striking. The mixture of deeper stories and party tracks was catching. Cologne’s Dari did a really good job on the support act side as well. Overall, the only fact about this show in early March 2026, which was not too pleasing, was the rather low ticket sale.

 

 

Ben Zucker on Flyctory.com

Here are all postings related to German schlager–rock artist Ben Zucker:

 

Cologne Concerts

Here are all my concert reviews related to Cologne:

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