This was no ordinary Kissin’ Dynamite show. On 26 September, the German rockers took over Hamburg’s Inselpark Arena for the second of just three special performances under the banner The Big Goodbye: Arena Shows 2026. For Hannes Braun, it was one of his final nights as the band’s frontman – after almost two decades and more than a thousand shows, the singer is stepping away from the stage while remaining an integral part of Kissin’ Dynamite as a songwriter, producer and one of the band’s main creative forces.
Before the farewell celebrations properly got underway, League Of Distortion were tasked with warming up the crowd. Led by Anna Brunner, the band brought a decidedly heavier and more modern sound to the Inselpark Arena, providing an interesting contrast to the melodic hard rock of the evening’s headliners. Their presence was no coincidence – Brunner has long been closely connected to the Kissin’ Dynamite camp, not only as a co-writer of many of their songs but also as the partner of their still-current frontman. And her involvement that evening did not end with her own band’s set, as she would later return to the stage alongside Hannes Braun.
Kissin’ Dynamite had no intention of turning the evening into a two-hour wake for their departing singer. Instead, Hamburg was treated to a full-scale rock spectacle, complete with an impressive production and a career-spanning setlist covering every era of the band’s history. They opened with “I’ve Got the Fire”, followed by the likes of “DNA”, “No One Dies a Virgin” and “Only the Dead”, as well as “Ecstasy” – performed together with Anna Brunner – and “My Monster”. There was also room for material from the self-titled “Kissin’ Dynamite” album, released just eight days earlier, including “Glory Days”, “I Salute You” and a revamped version of the old favourite “Love Me, Hate Me”.
Around the halfway point, the pace noticeably slowed. Braun sat down at the piano for “Heart of Stone”, before being joined by Anna Brunner for an acoustic rendition of “Lie for Me”. After that brief change of mood, Kissin’ Dynamite quickly shifted back into higher gear, with the second half of the show featuring the likes of “The Devil Is a Woman”, “Steel of Swabia”, “Raise Your Glass” and “You’re Not Alone”.
Even the song titles seemed to carry extra meaning that night. “Not the End of the Road”, which closed the main set, was difficult to regard as simply another song under the circumstances. After all, this is not the end of Kissin’ Dynamite – the band will continue with a new singer, while Hannes Braun will remain part of the group, albeit away from the spotlight. The same was true of “Coming Home”, which opened the encore and was followed by “Six Feet Under”. The final word, however, belonged to “Good in Goodbye” – performed acoustically, the song from the new album serves as Braun’s musical farewell to the audience during these three special shows. There were tears, obviously – both in the crowd and among the band members, with Hannes himself leading the way. But did anyone really expect it to be any different?
Hamburg was the penultimate stop in a story that has been unfolding for almost two decades. The Big Goodbye mini-tour began in Neu-Ulm on 19 September, while Hannes Braun will take the stage as Kissin’ Dynamite’s frontman for the final time at the Palladium in Cologne on 3 October. So the Inselpark Arena was not quite the definitive farewell just yet. Instead, it was a celebration of nearly twenty years spent together – loud, spectacular and, at times, emotional, but above all still very much the kind of rock show Kissin’ Dynamite have made their trademark. The real final goodbye is still to come!
