Market & Festival, Rock, Pop & Electronic Music
DIRK MICHAELIS & guest GEORGI "JORO" GOGOW
Wednesday, 17/12/2025 / 07:30 PM - 10:00 PM / Church of Culture St. Jacobi
Christmas tour
If you had to choose a top 5 East German songs that have long since become classics, that form the soundtrack of several generations and still reach the hearts and minds of their listeners today - these two songs would definitely be there: "Als ich fortging" and "Am Fenster". They are the greatest hits of their protagonists (although not the only ones), both songs have long since taken their place in the annals of German-language pop and rock music.
One of them, "Als ich fortging", is exemplary for the career of the charismatic singer/songwriter Dirk Michaelis. The song first became a very special gem in the late 1980s and has lost none of its fascination to this day and is now one of the most covered ballads - there are several foreign-language versions as well as punk, jazz, a capella, techno, harmonica and trumpet versions. The other, "Am Fenster", gave its creators, the band City, who disbanded in 2022 after 50 years, cult status. The track lives above all from the impressive violin solo and violinist Georgi "Joro" Gogow's very own S-l.
Dirk Michaelis and Joro Gogow will now collaborate again on a Christmas tour in December 2025. This is not the first time that the multi-faceted poet and the
devil's violinist have appeared on stage together. Already at "Ostrock in Klassik", at the "Rock
Legenden" or at the joint Christmas concerts with City, it became clear that something magical happens when these two perform together. And not just for the sake of completeness: with Sören Birke on duduk and harmonica, there is a DriD in the group who combines passion with musical craftsmanship.
Christmas concerts are oE for pathos and kitsch, but Michaelis and Gogow take a different approach. Although their shows certainly have contemplative moments - for example when they celebrate their versions of "Sind die Lichter angezündet" or "S-lle Nacht" (which will also be released on single CD) - the rare gift of crossing lightness with emo-onal depth, which stands for the complete oeuvre of Dirk Michaelis
, is also the jewel in the crown of their joint Christmas tour.
In addition to the Christmas songs mentioned above and a few others, the concerts are a journey through the band's work to date, a mixture of best-of and personal favorites. There will certainly be "Felsenfest", "Heimat" and "S-lles Dorf", but also "Wie ein Fischlein unterm Eis" and "Wer die Rose ehrt". And there are songs like "Wenn ich dir nie begegnet wär" from the elEen studio album "Mir gehörn Vol. 2", which will be released in fall 2024. Each song makes it clear that neither Michaelis nor Gogow can be reduced to their big hits. Of course, these will not be missing.
All statements without guarantee.
