Adventure Land in Stukenbrock

Concert: The Pur cover band “Abenteuerland” is performing at the Niebel Event Hall. The musicians from Braunschweig come across as fan-friendly and authentic. The audience is clamoring for the Pur classics.

The Pur cover band “Abenteuerland” is performing at the Niebel Event Hall. The musicians from Braunschweig come across as fan-friendly and authentic. The guests are requesting Pur classics.

Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock. Women’s Carnival? It’s all Pur. College party? Sometime after 2 a.m., the “Pur Hit Mix” comes on. Grandma’s 65th birthday? Pur plays on repeat. “Pur is a cult band. It just has to be on,” says Michael Westermeier. The Holter native’s voice is already hoarse during the intermission. Everyone can sing along to the soft rock lyrics of the old Pur classics.

That really got the crowd going at the Niebel Event Hall. Performing there was “Abenteuerland,” Germany’s first and only Pur cover band. The five guys from Braunschweig in Lower Saxony took the stage with the Swabians’ biggest hits: “Wenn sie diesen Tango hört,” “Drachen sollen fliegen,” and “Abenteuerland” were, of course, on the set list. When Abenteuerland plays, “people always want to hear the classics,” says Carsten Heinze, the band’s singer. “Pur always goes over well, no matter where we go,” says guitarist Stephan Koopmann.

Is that true? Yes, definitely. During the intermission, a group of women was talking about the concert. “We hope they’ll play some more old songs that we can sing along to.” Cornelia Caruso specifically asked for “old classics.”

"We're hoping for a few more old favorites that we can sing along to."

During the second half of the concert, chants of “Lena” rang out repeatedly from the audience. “Lena” was Pur’s first song to enter the German singles charts in 1991, and to this day, it’s a tune that automatically makes your feet start dancing the disco fox.

Pur? “I used to listen to them when I was younger,” said Tania Meyer. She went on to gush: “When the singer speaks between songs, his voice sounds a lot like Hartmut Engler’s. Very authentic.” Thorsten Niebel agreed. “I really like the whole band. My gut feeling tells me that nobody was expecting this, and now it’s great.” The concertgoers were definitely satisfied: “It’s nice that something like this is offered here in Stukenbrock,” said Sabine Mende. “The atmosphere is great—especially since we’re in such a good mood,” said Anne Eller with exuberant enthusiasm. The band’s closeness to the audience certainly contributed to that as well. Singer Carsten Heinze didn’t just play to the audience—he involved them. In the second half, he sat on the edge of the stage and took selfies with fans during the song. A little later, the audience was even allowed to sing into the microphone when Heinze mingled with them. After all, everyone knew the lyrics.

After two and a half hours—"Lena" was, of course, the last song on the set list—and two encores, the show was over. The band thanked the "fantastic" audience, and the more than 250 fans thanked "Abenteuerland" with a long round of applause.

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