15 minutes on Cathedral Square in front of 1,000 people

Performance at the Magdeburg CSD on August 22, 2026—during the anniversary year, two weeks before the state election.

On Saturday, I was on stage at the Magdeburg CSD. Domplatz, anniversary year: thirty years of CSD in Saxony-Anhalt. A short set, four songs, a good quarter of an hour.

I sang “True Colors,” followed by my own songs, “Sag mir, wo du stehst (Demokratiesong)” and “Frühlingserwachen” and finally, in memory of the victims of the CSD attack in Berlin, “Over the Rainbow.”

The second song was the reason why I was invited at short notice by the CSD team. It takes the 1967 GDR song of the same name and turns it on its head: what was then a declaration of allegiance to a system without freedom of choice becomes an invitation to form one’s own opinion — and now to make responsible use of that freedom of choice. This call takes on particular significance in the run-up to such an important state election.

Being able to sing this song in front of over 1,000 people, and the enthusiastic applause that followed, give me hope that the song’s message has been passed on. Hopefully, this will convince many more undecided people not to let their vote go to waste.
Elections will be held in Saxony-Anhalt on 6 September and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on 20 September. The song doesn’t make the decision for anyone.