If I have one regret for 2017, it is that I booked a seat on the last Westbahn train back to Vienna from Linz on December 14th after a Conchita concert, instead of taking the more expensive ÖBB train 45 minutes later. But, starving writer and all that, I cut costs where I can, and taking the Westbahn train saved me 20 euros.
Unfortunately, it also caused me to miss Conchita and Ina Regen doing their first ever live performance of their hit Hubert von Goisern cover song ‘Heast as Net‘. As, in true Conchita style, she talked so much throughout the concert, the running time ran over by half an hour and ‘Heast as Net‘ was the very last thing she sang.
Fabulous if you are a Conchita fan and want to be in her presence as long as possible. A bit of a tragedy if you schlep all the way to Linz to hear her sing ‘Heast as Net‘ as I did, and then miss it.
But I only have myself to blame, because I know how much that girl can talk, and so I should have known better.
All is not completely lost, however, as this week Conchita released a video of the live performance on her YouTube channel. A video showing just how beautifully she and Ina Regen sang that gorgeous song, and one that made me pissed all over again that I missed it. (I never said I wasn’t the biggest child!)
But, beyond how truly lovely their performances are, there is also something else about this ‘Heast as Net‘ I think is fascinating, and something you would not know if you did not attend Conchita’s Linz concert.
Because Conchita sang ‘Heast as Net‘ at the end of almost two hours of singing and talking. Two hours of putting her absolute all into her performance — and that included the most fluid and most graceful dance movements around the stage I have ever seen her do.
In fact, so much movement, it hardly seemed like a Conchita concert at all (in the past, she has tended to stand on a square foot of stage and barely move but… not in Linz. In Linz, she was all over the place, and it was beautiful).
And what I’m getting at here is that a 2-hour concert, with a huge number of songs, with talking and talking and talking, and dancing and dancing and dancing, is exhausting.
So you would expect, by the time Conchita got to ‘Heast as Net’, that song would not get the power or the crystal clear yodels it deserves as, frankly, she must have been beyond tired.
But, hey, we’re talking about Conchita here. Someone whom I have heard so many people who know her say “She is the most professional person you will ever meet, the hardest working, and always gives everything she does 1,000 percent”.
And you can see that here.
Because listen as she comes into the song at :40 seconds, with the first couple of lines of lyrics sounding ever so slightly husky.
But she has such incredible control over her voice nowadays that, even after a 2-hour performance, she still manages to move past that huskiness and hit that first yodel with the highest, clearest, sweetest note without any hesitation. A note, I might add, that sounds more girl than boy — and she is most decidely the latter. (Not sure? Check out that hairy chest she has constantly on show nowadays).
And you know Ina Regen is thinking just the same thing, because look at the delighted look on her face as Conchita hits that high yodel, only to have her hit another one still slightly husky but just as clear, high and powerful less than a minute later. Now that is someone who is ridiculously talented.
As for Ina Regen, her stunning voice complements Conchita’s perfectly. She is also a joy to watch as she has this relaxed, laid-back, I’m-just-hanging-out-singing-here air about her on stage that just pulls you in and makes you feel all warm and happy. Even as she is slamming out those perfect yodels.
And then, at 2:28, she shows what a kick-ass woman she is as she really gets into the song and into how much fun she is having up on that stage, and you like her even more. (And isn’t she incredibly beautiful? And doesn’t she have the coolest style? Just sayin’.)
Watch Conchita and Ina Regen performing ‘Heast as Net‘ live in Linz in the video below, as there is something special about that performance. Even beyond Conchita’s powerhouse performance that she must have given on the absolute dregs of energy she still had left.
Because it is two superbly talented women (well, you know what I mean!), who also happen to be very good friends. And that makes this performance even lovelier.
Related:Â Conchita’s ‘This Is Me‘ is HERÂ anthem song — sorry, Keala Settle