The evening of the grentperez show in Cologne on February 7th was cold and rainy, but that didn’t stop fans from lining up outside Helios 37. At 7 pm, the fans eagerly streamed into the old warehouse.
Latir, the opening act, started his set around 7:40 pm. It didn’t take much for his voice to quickly capture the entire crowd, already during his first song, ‘E1’. He managed to generate a lot of crowd interaction, for example by making them choose if they wanted to hear a love song or a breakup song. This entire crowd sang and swayed along to his sadder cover version of Outcast’s ‘Hey Ya’. In between songs, a fan held up their phone with text saying “your voice is insane” and it’s safe to say they weren’t the only one in the room thinking that. His set, which lasted about half an hour, was a great start to the show and got everyone in the right mood.
The crowd felt hyped up and was buzzing with excitement for grentperez. The playlist playing in between sets included popular songs ranging from ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’, Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’ and One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ to SZA’s ‘Kill Bill’ which had the entire crowd singing along.
Around 8:40 pm, grentperez entered the stage and opened his set with his song ‘Why I Love You’. On stage, he told everyone that his show was actually a comedy show, and it turns out he wasn’t wrong in saying this. Throughout the entire show, he joked around and interacted not only with his bandmate Timi, but also with the crowd. Holding people’s hands during a song, taking BeReals for fans, asking how to say I love you in German and then shouting “Ich liebe dich Köln” (I love you Cologne) are just a few examples. It’s very apparent how much fun both Grant and Timi have on stage, and the fans in the crowd were having just as much of a great time.
His songs range from emotional to dancey which was felt everywhere in the crowd. At one point, he stopped a song to point out that he had just noticed that even the people behind the bar were dancing along. Before singing his unreleased song ‘Reason Why’, he told everyone that they could cry, and to think of a loved one or hold them close if they came to the show with someone, explaining that he wants everyone to feel something. In another element of interactivity, he let the crowd choose between his songs ‘Clementine’ and ‘(Only) About Love’ by making them cheer for whichever one they wanted to hear multiple times. With every ask the crowd got louder and louder, the vote ending up so close that people started shouting for him to sing both. Following this he chose to sing ‘(Only) About Love’ and added the verse and chorus of ‘Clementine’ after it.
The set felt like a mix of emotions, involving clapping and snapping your fingers to the beat, but also swaying with flashlights in hand. When Grant left the stage, it was no surprise that the entire room started chanting for an encore, using the German expression “Zugabe”. Of course, their wish was granted and grentperez returned to the stage for one last song, but not before having fans explain to him what “Zugabe” means. He then closed his set with ‘Cherry Wine’, including a section where he imitated playing a trumpet.
Just like that, an hour and 15 minutes had passed and the set was over, concluding a very successful evening at Helios 37.
Written by: Pauline Hüttenhein
Photographed by: Pauline Hüttenhein
Edited by: Marieke Weeda
