Tallest Man on Earth | "I'll play til I drop!"

Most stars go above and beyond to make sure that no one notices their physical shortcomings. There's Tom Cruise, for instance, who likes to wear high heels. Or Enrique Iglesias, who only had his photo taken from one side before the removal of his face wart. But there are positive examples as well, of those celebs that don't take themselves too seriously and even capitalize from their supposed shortcomings. Beth Ditto likes to joke about her flabby belly, Jennifer Lopez insured her big butt for 27 million dollars. And Swedish folk rocker Kristian Matsson calls himself the Tallest Man on Earth. 

There have been wild speculations about his height, but nobody knows how tall Kristian Matsson actually is. The common estimate lies at around 1,70 m, which really isn't that small. But when Matsson played a sold-out Lido last Friday, it was so hard to catch a glimpse of him from the back of the club that some people might have been wondering if it was them or the Swedish folk rocker who could have used a couple of extra inches.

It should be added that it was almost 30° C hot outside and consequently twice as hot inside. This didn't do any harm to the mood of audience and musician though, so that Kristian Matsson put it in a nutshell after his first three songs: “It's hot in here. But okay, I'll play 'til I drop!.”

And so he did for well over 75 minutes. After four songs, an onlooker aptly noted that Matsson not only used three different guitars for four songs, but also sat down and played the piano every once in a while. When he left the stage for the first time after an hour, the crowd raged as if nobody gave a damn about the heat.They clapped, they stamped, they cheered.

If you missed the spectacle unleashed by the short Swede, who some have compared with Bob Dylan – you can now secure your tickets for October, when the Tallest Man on Earth will grace us with his presence once again.

(ihe)