Jürgen Becker
What's stopping us from having a lovely evening?
Advance tickets: 24 euros / On the door: 28 euros
Tickets will be available from November 2026 at local booking offices - Touristinfo and BBV Bocholt - and online at https://www.tixforgigs.com/de-DE/Event/74845/jurgen-becker-what-s-to-stop-a-lovely-evening-at-the-freier-kulturort-alte-molke
Jürgen Becker, an expert on the world and, above all, on Cologne, has once again "really racked his brains%$. That's more or less what they say in Cologne when you're giving something some serious thought. Becker, who has been greeting his audience for 28 years on the 'Mitternachtsspitzen' programme and continues to do so night after night on stage with the words: "Right then, let's have a lovely evening!", is in fact asking himself a serious question: in times like these, in a world like ours, with despots such as those, is it even possible to have a lovely evening at all? Or is it perhaps not only possible - but actually necessary?
For what at first sounds like Rhineland conviviality leads, in Becker's case, straight to the heart of the present. In Ukraine, for example, where exhausted people raise a toast to him at aid convoys and say: "If we stop celebrating, singing and dancing, we've lost." Or in everyday life in Germany, where a Westphalian asks in the morning: "What can I get done today?" whilst the Rhinelander ponders: "'Where shall we go this evening?'" And finally, right into the heart of the big question: how much conviviality does a democracy need so that it not only functions, but is truly alive?
With wit, knowledge and his characteristic delight in historical side streets, Becker tells of the Enlightenment, of pubs, free seating and the revolutionary power of sitting together. For those who drink, sing, talk and argue together are far from lost. Perhaps democracy doesn't even begin in parliament, but rather at the table next door.
Of course, with Jürgen Becker, none of this works without music. The catchy musical references and melodies ensure that nobody loses their rhythm this evening - and that every punchline unfolds its very own hit potential.
And so Becker, this Cologne-born universal philosopher, ultimately leads his audience to the blessed realisation that, even in a world like this, there's absolutely nothing to stop us from having a lovely evening. Except perhaps … "a proper thick head" the next morning.
