The dead trousers
This is how Campino remembers her illegal concert in the GDR
Die Toten Hosen in front of their tour bus
© SWR/JKP
In a new interview, Campino talks about the experiences the Toten Hosen had at illegal concerts in the GDR.
In a new interview, the singer of the Düsseldorf punk band Die Toten Hosen recalled a secret concert that the band played in a church in East Berlin in the early 1980s. “There are experiences that you carry with you to the end of your life”, tells Campino (59) to “t-online”. “For example, saying goodbye to everyone at the transition from East to West is something I would never forget.”
In the three-part documentary “Away game – the Toten Hosen in East Berlin” the adventures of western punks in the GDR are highlighted. It will be shown on ARD from April 13 at 10:50 p.m. and can already be seen in the media library.
Photos strictly forbidden
“The fact that we Wessis played a concert in East Berlin was of course dangerous, but more for our new East friends than for us,” Campino recalls. In order not to endanger anyone with the concert afterwards, photos were strictly forbidden. The punks in East Berlin were also “very shy” at the beginning. “When the show was over, the ice broke between us. Everyone was really euphoric,” said Campino. At the border crossing, everyone hugged.
The fact that the concert could only take place illegally was “sensational” for the band. The trip to East Berlin would also have shown the band that the East punks “risked a lot more and lived harder than we did.” Any critical statement against the state was delicate. “If the Stasi had gotten their hands on such texts, they would have gone straight to prison.”
Not the only illegal concert
It was not the last time that the band played illegal concerts, as Campino continues. “In Poland we played a whole tour in 1985. It was also illegal because we only had an entry permit for a single concert in Warsaw.” In order to make the tour through the country possible, even the car was always filled up with “black” fuel: “We then drove into some wooded area and suddenly people with petrol cans came out from between the trees. They built a kind of funnel out of newspaper to fill in the petrol . That’s really how we got across the country.”
In a similar way, they were also on the road in Hungary, says Campino: “Such adventures have always appealed to us.”