Julian le Play - Weihnachtsshow (unplugged)

GLOBE WIEN - Marx Halle, Wien

What do life - and the stage - have to offer if you concentrate on the essentials? For Julian le Play, it's lyrical texts, a mini orchestra and three recurring chapters: Search. Find. Letting go.

This is also the focus of his new album "le Play unplugged", which will be released on October 24: an intimate project that brings well-known hits and new songs by the award-winning Austrian pop musician to life in pared-down arrangements. Accompanied by the sounds of a small orchestra, Julian le Play focuses on the core of his art with his characteristic voice: lively rhythms and poetic vocals. The result is an album full of melancholy for what has been - and even more glowing anticipation for everything that is yet to come. "These shows, from which the album was created, are not normal concerts," le Play is convinced, "it's much more like a little journey in three acts. Through my songs, I take people through the three big chapters of life: searching, finding and letting go."

With "le Play unplugged", the pop artist invites you to ask yourself curiously: What am I looking for right now? Or have I already found something or someone? Have I perhaps also had to let go - and am now free again for something new? Dramaturgically divided into three main chapters - searching, finding, letting go - the album offers an incentive to embrace life in all its facets. "People come to these theaters with their own life stories. They are themselves searching, finding or letting go. They may have just had to say goodbye to someone, have found new happiness or are searching for themselves, a home, a love," says Julian le Play, summing up his unplugged concerts. He also shared intimate insights and anecdotes about his songs on stage for the first time. "This creates a connection to the audience that I have never experienced on stage in 15 years. "This magical atmosphere has resulted in an album that is far more than a classic unplugged project. Rather, Julian Le Play presents an amplifier for the inner voice - his own and that of the audience.

A journey through the three chapters of life - and a best-of of the last ten years

The four sides of the LP contain highlights from five albums - each of which corresponds to one of the major chapters: atmospheric hits such as "Zugvögel", "Hellwach" and "Millionär" accompany the search in chapter 1 - whether for oneself, for other people or even for a home. They encourage excitement, wishes and dreams. Songs such as "Tabacco", "Rollercoaster" and "Mein Anker" in chapter 2 remind us of the warmth of finding and arriving. With yourself, a person, a partner in crime. Here you can really fall in love and also ask yourself: Have I perhaps already become an addict? What it means to let go is reflected in the last chapter of the LP. Emotional tracks such as "Sterne" or "Sonne und Mond" invite you to indulge in melancholy for a few moments. And perhaps also to experience it: This is how liberating it can be to allow a few tears. Until "le play unplugged" leads into pure optimism with "Bergauf" - and you can rejoice at full
volume about how wonderful this life is. "Ultimately, it's about these upheavals for each and every one of us," le Play is convinced. "We are looking for something. We find something - and because life is constantly changing, we also have to let go." He knows from his own experience: "The more you accept that life is an eternal cycle, the happier you can be."

A journey through Austria's most beautiful concert halls - and back to the roots

The album was recorded in some of the most beautiful concert halls and theaters in Austria and Germany: from the Orpheum Graz and the Cologne Kulturkirche to the Stadttheater Berndorf and the Vienna Konzerthaus. "le Play unplugged" spans not only the three great themes of life, but also more than ten years of music history. And it is reminiscent of an artistic reinvention: Julian le Play progressed from melancholic singer-songwriter to expressive pop performer. He performed with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, played Arena Open-Airs, stood on the Donauinselfest stage and received five Amadeus Awards and two gold records.
records. After his fifth and loudest album to date, "Tabacco", Julian le Play is now striking a softer note again with "le Play unplugged", without losing any of his depth.
losing depth. "For me, it was time to peel back the layers of the past few years," he emphasizes. "Away from the big entertainment, back to the acoustic guitar - back to where it all began." He has also learned to let go. Close to pop and yet poetic: Julian le Play has never been so authentic