Incredible Tina Turner

A grey, cold Wednesday evening in Hannover. Masses of people flocking to the TUI Arena. Everybody is in anticipation of the things to come. What is she going to be like? Still the old one with nearly seventy? Calmer? Less professional?

A huge stage. Huge loudspeakers hanging from the ceiling. LCD screens. A video camera mounted to a rail in front of the stage. A lonely microphone in the middle. A young bloke checking the microphone bar on easy moving out and in.

Blasting music from the loudspeakers. Guitar sounds from dozens of sound monitors indicating that the musicians are already on stage.

Finally. The curtain is raising. Tina moving down on a lowering platform. Stepping down, spinning around the stage, in a black, glittering legging. Not a notion of being near 70. Pure fun and music.

Ah, now. She´s leaving the stage. Having a break for a while? Is this show too much for her? Too much strain on the body? Four young men performing stunts for a few minutes.

And there she is again. Completely new outfit, new clothes, dresses. What´s love got to do with it: The sing-along performance for the crowd. One solid hour of music and dancing. The lead and accompanying guitarists, two keybord players, cool and professional, chewing their chewing gums, the female dancers adding erotic flair to the performance. Still, always in the center of action: Tina, the star.

One hour of solid music and dancing. The break. Time for a half-filled pint of beer and a cigarette in the smokers´area.

The curtain lifting again. The guitarists, with acoustic guitars, the back-up vocalists, all in a half circle sitting on the stage, Tina right in the middle, quiet, slow music. Almost like in a private living room. But not for long. Tina in changed dress again, the guitarists with their electric guitars again, in the back of the stage. Tina spinning around the stage again.

Then the final curtain. The arena is boiling. Tina will know the meaning of the word: ZUGABE! MORE! And she doesn´t leave their audience beging for a long time. Everybody back on stage! There it is: NATBUSH CITY LIMITS! She is stepping on a big crane-like metal arm, hovering above the audience, amimating the audience to shout NATBUSH again and again. What a performance! Everybody accepting the last and final curtain now.

What a performance! The final credits showing the huge enterprise of Tina Turner concerts. First the musicians and back-up vocals, the dancers who she calls her "flowers". Truck and bus drivers, video planners for getting the star and her movements on that massive video screen so that everybody from the last corner can watch her performance.

What an organisation! What a team! Everybody co-operating for one single goal, the success of a single star. In the end, it is everybody´s success. I know backstage. The star gets all the attention. He/she is the brand mark for the team. It is hard work and discipline. It is much preparing work, every single sound, every movement is planned and practised. It´s got to be perfect, perfectionism in its highest form which looks coincidence and chance, but is neatly planned.

High professionalism. I would be proud of so much professionalism and motivation in German schools. High authenticity. Standing behind ones profession.

Anyway, I enjoyed this professionalism. Never mind the costs. Pure motivation for somebody like me at the age of 58. I still can dance, enjoy myself, my job and my life. And I enjoyed Tina´s performance as much as I possibly could.