Stoppok – 15.08.2022 – Phungo Festival

The funny singer/songwriter Stoppok was a guest at this year’s monday at the Phungo Festival. But he wasn’t alone, other bands played before. Of those, however, I only saw the last three songs by the band The Galazzos. Three boys from the Bergstrasse having fun with Rock’n’Rroll. At least that was the announcement. And I agree with it. Good solid Rock’n’Roll performed by a drum set, a double bass and a singing guitarist. It would definitely be worth seeing a full performance.

After a band dropped out before, Stoppok started 20 minutes earlier than planned. But first, who is Stoppok anyway? I’ll just quote the Phungo program here, because it actually provides the perfect description: “He’s a singer, musician – German-speaking singer/songwriter and great guitarist. His music is an independent mixture of folk, rock, rhythm’n’blues and Country. He sings about the adversities of everyday life with a fine sense of humor and constantly re-distinguishes himself as a critical observer of his environment.”

But now to the real thing. When Stoppok entered the stage, he was greeted with loud cheers and clapping, which made him visibly happy. With a “You’re so far away” he also prompted everyone to take their deck chairs and move ten meters forward to be closer to the stage. What follows is an evening of really good acoustic music and gags between or during the songs. For the latter he interrupts them, only to partially forget where he actually was. Or even to brazenly call out and criticize a viewer who stands right in front of him to film him on Learning by Burning with his cellphone, even though he said before that he’ll definitely “fuck it up” because the song is so fast-paced and his fingers were already hurting. This was also the conclusion after an ingenious performance lasting three quarters of an hour, including two encores.