Patricia Kelly in Solothurn

So there we sat in the middle rows of the small concert hall in Solothurn. A bright, in 19th century built hall with high ceilings, a small stage, behind which there was standing an arc in the wall. For seated concerts there’s space for about 200 visitors. Behind us over the entrance there was a balcony, under it the technician was seated. We were listening to the three musician on stage, who gave directions to the technician and interacted concerning the sounds. The main peron in this trio was no one else but Patricia Kelly. We all were a bit overwhelmed to be part of this soundcheck. Only few years ago it seemed still totally unimaginable.

In March Patricia Kelly had released her new album “Grace & Kelly” – completely selfwritten and produced. And influenced of illness and losses her most personal one so far. It wasn’t her first concert here in Switzerland. My ticket for the show in Solothurn on this Saturday evening I had already, when I got invited to the soundcheck with meet & greet. For a fan, following the career of her and her family for over 20 years already (and likes watching soundchecks), a totally unique experience.

Soundcheck with meet & greet

Around half past four I was standing in front of the concert hall in Solothurn. I only came from the Bastian Baker concert in Neuchâtel at “Swissmilk day”. So still quite excited from it. I first thought, I’d be late, but was there in time and Patricia Kelly only arrived a little late herself. But we still didn’t have to wait too long for admission to soundcheck with meet & greet. Originally the crowdfunding supporters were allowed to the soundcheck. To keep her freedom, Patricia Kelly had rejected some big deals though and funded her most recent album partly by crowdfunding. The soundcheck with meet & greet was one of the rewards of it, for what I was intived then by the organizers. With this again a very big thank you to Christophe and his team for the possibility!

The organisers welcomed the participants with a special for the event created pass and supplied everyone with drinks in the meantime, bevor we could sat down inside the hall for the soundcheck. Patricia, casually dressed, hair in a pony tail, greeted all the participants individually. Her musicians Sebastian Scobel on piano and Daniel Brandl on cello already got ready for the soundcheck together with the technician. During about two hours the four of them worked on the right settings for instruments and microfones. It obviously took longer than expected and hoped. It seemed not to easy to let everything sound right. Patricia kept telling her audience, what they were doing and what the problems were. The concert in Solothurn was only the second show of the “Grace & Kelly” tour. So the musician and technician only had to get more used to each other, but of course each concert location is also different. The stage wasn’t big and the arc in the background had its influence as well.

And so we quitetly sat there, only whispering if we shortly talked to each other every now and then. Everyone was just a bit overwhelmed. As a teenager we kept adoring the Kellys from far on th big stage. Somehow they always seemed to be on a higher lever than us and totally unreachable. Only few years ago we wouldn’t even have dreamed to be part of the soundcheck of a Kelly member, to get a little more private insights than only during the show on stage. And how there are these moments, that suddendly seemed very simple and ordinary. Everything somehow on a same level, super nice and relaxed. Of course you would wish the big Kelly concerts back every now and then, but with growing older and all the background informations of the Kelly Family, you see the differences and you appreciate the time now, and such experiences.

For the ones, who had to leave straight after the concert to catch the train, Patricia then took her time directly after the soundcheck to write autographs and take pictures. There wasn’t too much time left anymore as she had to prepare for the concert, but she dedicated herself and conentrated in the few mintues totally on her fans. She is such a positive, sincere and likable woman. Each time it’s a joy to meet her, even only for short. And we now could spend 2 hours with her. Usually meet & greets won’t take much longer than a few minutes.

The concert

Patricia_Kelly_Grace__Kelly_Albumcover — © Patricia Kelly

After 7 pm the other concert visitors were let in as well. The concert was sold out. After 8 pm Patricia and her musician started the first song: “Little Mama” from the actual album “Grace & Kelly”. A very jazzy piece. Her new album is a rather quite, but very rhythmic album with folk, soul and jazz influences. Piano player Sebastian was joking inbetween that if you say the album title “Grace & Kelly” fast, then it sounded like “Crazy Kelly”, what would suit perfectly. This not even Patricia denied. She got this typically Kelly humour too.

The Kelly Family songs “Key To My Heart” and “Like A Queen” followed, where Patricia showed off her distinct voice – once soft and silent, then again loud and powerful – and impressed the audience again. Patrica kept telling various stories and experiences between the songs. She mentioned how Christophe and his team were the first time back then with the lecture in Biel, who had started organizing events with her. Many other fans follwed, who started the same in different places. So Patricia could play concerts and have lectures, that she possibly wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. She also told about the lecture at a school in Sulgen. A very new expeirence with all the teenagers. Between the songs the band started discussions. They also realized then that there was only a small part in the audience from Solothurn. The biggest part came from outside.

A various setlist followed with her new songs, some older ones and also old family songs, how we knew them from earlier shows already. So we quickly were reminiscing again. It’s not unusual that there are children in the audience at Kelly concerts, and also now with the solo shows, sometimes even very small ones. The Kellys themselves used to stand on stages with their babies. But when a baby in the audience started crying, Patricia wasn’t sure if such a concert maybe wasn’t too good for the very little ones after all. But Sebastian was joking then, that it only started crying because he began singing. “Always The Same” was the last song then before a short break. It’s when Patrica let the audience sing along.

Directly after the break Patricia discovered a 64 years old woman in front row and was all excited to see her there. Esp. as the older fan obviously had experienced the times with the parents of the Kellys. In the second part then followed many more new songs as “I’ll Get Up And Walk”, “Let’s Go Dancing On The Roofs”, “I Don’t Want To Fight” and the trio played obvioulsy most titles of the new album.

Aftter all the new tracks they wanted to start “No Lies”, from the Kelly Family album “Wow”, but Daniel had forgetten his note sheets. So he ran up backtsage to get them. Of course with stopping time. During waiting she started a “Q & A” – questions and answers. First the audience was a bit shy, but then some questions were asked. One of them was, how the single “They Cut Me Down” came from. She’s handling the hard times during her breast cancer disease and how she wouldn’t let it take her down. She always tries to be positive. When Daniel was back, she had ended the Q&A, Patricia realized that even she had no notes for the songs with her. But she didn’t get them and played it without.

After a few more songs, among them the Kelly Family song “Love Music ‘n’ Sun”, for what the fans still now the ‘choreography’, soon the encore follwed. It’s when me and two otherts had to leave early to catch our trains. We tried of course to leave the hall as quietly and inconspicuously as possible, to not to disturbe anyone. But didn’t stay unnoticed. Well, but how from second row. It’s when Patricia thanked and said goodbye to us during our leaving. And after this impressive and wonderful evening, we of course are already looking forward to the next concert. Maybe even with full band…? However, she had mentioned the fullband concerts during the show.