He got through the pandemic lightly, but Helge Schneider misses the direct line to his audience. Now comes his new album and a summer tour.
Mülheim / Ruhr – The musician and entertainer Helge Schneider (65, “cat toilet”) sees himself as a systemically relevant outsider.
“I like to be an outsider because I come from outside and bring in something that is different from what is otherwise on the table. That’s what I stand for, and I like to do it, ”he told the German Press Agency in Essen.
As an artist of his kind you are only systemically relevant “because you know you are needed” – as an outsider to society. “That’s why you are particularly needed, because without these outsiders society doesn’t feel like society at all.”
Artists are not a deadline product
Schneider said of his pandemic experience: “I’m not complaining. But dealing with the artists has become extremely matter-of-fact through this Corona crisis – in the literal sense: You are one thing. ”For example, when you are first invited to a concert, then unloaded and then invited again. “You feel like a deadline commodity.”
At some appearances, the great distance to the audience makes him trouble. He recently performed in a stadium where the audience with protective masks sat about 25 meters away. “Despite the distance, I could see faces, that is, the eyes. But it is really impossible to tell whether someone is in a good or bad mood – there is simply nothing to be seen. It’s actually as if the audience existed, but behind a curtain. ”Often the audience couldn’t go along, said Schneider.
He is satisfied with the state aid that he has received as an artist. “Nevertheless, I now have to go back to work.” On his summer tour “Let’s laugh” through Germany, Helge plans to perform around a dozen times a month until September. On July 16, his new album “The Reaction” is released. dpa
