Free concert – The central cemetery shakes: Ambros sets the mood


“At the central cemetery woar’a mood, wias ist Lebtog no net woar” – that can be said without a doubt for Wednesday evening. Because when Wolfgang Ambros plays with the original backing band of the legendary Austria 3 in front of the Lueger Church at the sung-about cemetery, then it only keeps the dead in their place. Around 9,000 fans came to the free concert “Nachklang” on the meadows and the few seats to let it rip.

Actually, the “Nachklang Concert” should have already taken place in Austria’s largest cemetery last year – but like so many other things, it was then a victim of Covid. The evening was not an echo of the pandemic for the visitors admitted under 3G conditions in view of the increasing number of infections, but at least it was a strong sign of life in the dead field.

Home game for Ambros
The evening at the cemetery became Ambros’ home game. The crowd waited right from the start with “Wolferl” shouts for his immortal local anthem “Long live the central cemetery”, which after an hour was the crowning highlight of the evening. “It’s not exactly my heart song – because it’s very exhausting,” Ambros had previously revealed his love-hate relationship with the song: “I sing it because people want to hear it.”

Hit fireworks at the Totenacker
But of course, in addition to numerous other hits from the Austria-3 universe such as “For ever young” and “I am from Austria” as encores, there was also “Da Hofa”, which will soon be celebrating its 50th birthday. Ambros also had to postpone the matching anniversary tour to next year due to Corona. On March 19, the day of his 70th birthday, Ambros wants to make his fans in Vienna happy again – and then with his own band and not the formation We 4 in tow, the Austria 3 band around Ulli Bäer , Gary Lux, Harald Fendrich and Harry Stampfer. The venue will also be different, as Ambros wants to make the town hall tremble – and thus keep some distance from mausoleums and graves of honor.