Visual Art Over Music - Udo Lindenberg Embraces Painting as His Passion - Visual art dominates rhythmic beats: Udo Lindenberg focuses on painting instead of music.
Rock icon Udo Lindenberg, renowned for hits such as "Special Train to Pankow," is switching gears in 2025, focusing on visual art rather than releasing new music. Lindenberg shared this intent with the German Press Agency, anticipating a year devoted to "quick strokes and delicious colors" in painting. Since the 1990s, he has been creating aquarelles with liqueur, a series he affectionately calls "Liqueur-elles."
In a fascinating twist, Lindenberg's next exhibition, scheduled for Schloss Oberhausen from June 29, will transform the castle into "Schloss Udohausen," hinting at a fusion of his artistic and personal identities. music will not entirely be absent, as Lindenberg noted there would be opportunities at night to prepare for future tours and ponder potential melodies.
A glance at Lindenberg's musical past reveals his experimental jazz roots. On March 25, 2023, the album "Free Jazz Goes Underground" by his early band Free Orbit will be re-released. The collaboration, featuring legendary jazz trombonist Peter Herbolzheimer, dates back to approximately 1970. The ten songs exhibit Lindenberg as an English-singing, jazz-drumming maverick weaving complex instrumental arrangements of jazz rock, soul, and big band-style brass. The die-hard German rocker may need patience to spot these early beginnings, which offer a glimpse into a career later marked by Panic Orchestra and ingenious, witty lyrics.
Lindenberg acknowledges the challenges faced by musicians then and now, stating, "If you wanted to stay artistically true, it wasn't easy then – and it's not easy now." If asked whether his younger self would approve of his current career, Lindenberg succinctly responded, "He would say: 'Boah, everything's been done well, Allltaa.'" This suggests a sense of contentment and achievement, even as Lindenberg explores new artistic frontiers.
- Despite shifting focus from music to visual art, Lindenberg's next exhibition at Schloss Oberhausen in June will still incorporate elements of music, promising opportunities for nightly preparations for future tours and the contemplation of potential melodies.
- In the 1970s, Lindenberg's experimental jazz roots were revealed in his early band Free Orbit's album "Free Jazz Goes Underground," a collaboration with legendary jazz trombonist Peter Herbolzheimer that features Lindenberg as an English-singing, jazz-drumming maverick, weaving complex instrumental arrangements of jazz rock, soul, and big band-style brass.
