The audience sets the tone in "supervised singing"

"Singing is simply incredibly liberating"

Maria Hahn is sitting in the front row. She wears a T-shirt with the event's logo - a drawn bonfire - and comes every month with a friend. "It really has become a ritual," says the Dresden native, who also sings in a choir. "I look forward to it every time because I know that I'll feel better afterwards, because singing is simply incredibly liberating."

"From start to finish, you feel taken along and supported," agrees her companion Yvonne Löffler. "Restore your mindset once and then go out fresh again. That's actually what the evening here is all about." She describes the atmosphere as unbiased and non-judgmental. "That's what makes the whole thing so pleasant and so easy."

"Then you have to learn it"

If Dirks and Kappenstein get stuck, they let the audience take the lead: "We don't know it," admits Dirks during the German rap song "Tau mich auf" by Zartmann. "Then you have to learn it," replies a quick-witted woman from the audience. And off they go. The guitarist then finds the melody surprisingly quickly, and the participants take the initiative when it comes to singing.

Only once does the auditorium fall silent, because neither the two "supervisors" nor the audience know off the top of their heads how "Moonlight Shadow" by Mike Oldfield ends. It doesn't matter - they continue with the guitar classic "Wonderwall" by Oasis, which everyone sings along to at the top of their lungs.

The audience is mixed in age (Kappenstein estimates between 25 and 75), but the women are clearly in the majority. "I think there is much more openness and impartiality," Kappenstein suspects. Women are more willing to sing along, even if they are not singers.

Exuberant atmosphere and surprising songs

Men are also increasingly finding their way to sing together. One of them is Martin Vogt. He spontaneously invited his girlfriend to the evening and is attending for the first time. "Wonderful, a very nice atmosphere, very relaxed, I like it," he says during the break. "Singing together, being surprised, which songs are requested, which songs you used to like." However, Vogt has not made any suggestions of his own: "I can't think of any songs because I'm so scared."

Shared flat party provides the idea

The idea for the concept came about at a shared flat party that Dirks and Kappenstein attended together. "I actually wanted to say goodbye at 9 o'clock," Dirks recalls. But then someone handed him a guitar with the comment: "You play one more!" In the end, the evening didn't end until 3 a.m. "That's when we realized what a joy it was to look together at what pieces were going through our heads."

However, it was several years before the first edition of "Supervised Singing" took place in 2017. "At some point, Demian said: "Let's do this now"," says Dirks. The organizer reacted somewhat sceptically, but gave the two of them a chance. "And then it grew and grew."

The "Supervised Singing" has long since found loyal fans. The next edition in April has long been sold out, with tickets only available again for May.

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