Fanta 4 take the last bus – will the end be a new beginning?

Their names are Michael Schmidt, Thomas Dürr, Andreas Rieke, and Michael Beck. Sometimes, only every now and then, they slip back into their old superhero personas. Then they are Smudo, Michi Beck, And.Ypsilon, and janitor Thomas D.

First, an album is released. And after that, Die Fantastischen Vier – spelled like the Marvel comic book powerhouses who were in theaters in July, but are now also marketed as "Fantastic Four" in Germany for the sake of differentiation – are touring large arenas. Saving the world. No, saving the country. Saving German hip-hop. Now they want to stop.

Perhaps because enough time has passed. Die Fantastischen Vier have been active since 1986, initially as a duo, and since 1989 in their current lineup and with their current name. The "Fantas," as they are also known, announced their final major tour this past weekend.

It's called "The Last Bus," and a very long bus journey is planned from 2026 to 2028. The first stop is on December 16, 2026, in Riesa, Saxony. After that, Berlin (December 17), Hanover (December 19), and a home game in Stuttgart (December 21) are on the itinerary. The current live schedule extends until February 2027. To be continued…

"Long Player" was the title of their most recent album, released just over a year ago – a "long-playing record" by "long-playing artists." It was their first album since their debut, "Jetzt geht's ab" (1991), not released under the major label Sony – home to long-time veterans of popular music like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

The 16-song album, on which Die Fantastischen Vier also experimented with soul, pop, and psychedelic rock, nevertheless climbed to number 2 in the charts. And, oh dear, it already contained a track called "Aufhören" (Stop).

Everyone still remembers the beginning, when Die Fantastischen Vier appeared out of nowhere. When their rapped joke "Die da!?!" about a woman dating two Fantas, was played 24/7 on radio stations from September 1992 onwards, and the quartet reached number 2 in the singles charts during Advent (held back from the top spot by Inner Circle and their sexually charged reggae hit "Sweat").

The track, now considered a commercial breakthrough for German-language hip-hop, was initially perceived as a one-joke wonder. The hip-hop world at that time was ruled by US acts – by the intellectual A Tribe Called Quest from New York, the Southern social rappers Arrested Development, the witty De La Soul, and the highly misogynistic Dr. Dre, whose protégé Snoop "Doggy" Dogg was just beginning his rise to fame.

For German-speaking hip-hop artists, the hitherto unknown Stuttgart band was the ultimate fall from grace. Bands like Fresh Familee from Ratingen or Advanced Chemistry from Heidelberg, with their more street-oriented raps, had previously achieved little broader appeal beyond their own scene. Now, Fanta-fear spread, and the fun-loving Stuttgart group was dissed as tame rappers, money-grubbing rappers, and clown rappers – definitely not the ideal of a "real deal."

But they were the big deal. They were here to stay. Moses Pelham's Rödelheim Hartreim Projekt from Frankfurt followed suit, and bands like Fischmob and Absolute Beginner came from Hamburg.

Smudo, whose nickname was derived from "Schmuddel" (due to his casual hip-hop look), was authentic despite all the criticism. He had already come into contact with the genre in the early 80s (with Grandmaster Flash's seminal ghetto anthem "The Message"). The teenager soon started going to discos for American GIs, where rap over beats had long since dominated the dance nights, and found a record store in Stuttgart that stocked the latest releases from unknown East Coast rappers.

His computer buddy Andreas built a beatbox, and soon there were four of them. The motive? "We only wanted one thing: the girls," Smudo recalled in a 2007 interview with "Der Spiegel." "My therapist would probably equate that (...) with 'recognition'."

Fanta's raps had humor and depth, the hooks were captivating, and the quartet soon drew from all sorts of soundscapes in pop history, even metal and (in "Tag am Meer") jazz. Like their namesakes from the Marvel comics, they had superpowers – especially live. The Fantas (apart from DJ And.Ypsilon) bounced across multi-tiered stages like crazy rubber balls, and to this day, they haven't mastered the art of leisurely, comfortable movements.

When the "last bus" finally arrives at its final stop in 2028, the number 60 will inevitably be hanging in the air. Today, it sits in the corner, unnoticed. After the Fantastischen Vier's Berlin concert in 2024, the Tagesspiegel newspaper praised the band as an "indestructible classic," while the Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper described it as a "magnificent, two-hour show." But the "Rolling Stones of German rap," as the NDR (North German Broadcasting) called them after their concert at Hamburg's Barclays Arena, simply refuse to stop.

They had already flirted with the idea of ​​an involuntary end early on in the song "Populär" (1996), a piece written from the perspective of fickle fans: "Someday it'll be their turn," rapped Smudo, "and then nobody will know them anymore: / Yesterday nobody, tomorrow dead and in between what? / Popular!"

And "Troy" was a song about the fickle public in 2004. When a fan is down, the pop star is their shield and protection; when the band goes through tough times, the fan often says goodbye quickly. "Weren't we a top team together? / We didn't deserve this, we wrote hits for you!"

Of course, hip-hop in Germany is now being saved by others – from Antilopen Gang to Waving The Guns, from Nura to Nina Chuba to Shirin David, from Disarstar to Haftbefehl (who is currently on hiatus – as could recently be seen in the Netflix documentary “Babo”).

The Fantas' last real "hit" in the singles charts was "Zusammen" in 2018, their duet with fellow Erfurt artist Clueso. Like their first, "Die da!?!", it reached number 2.

In the raps of the song "Aufhören" (Stop), fans of the quartet initially heard something reassuring last autumn: "We want to celebrate it, / we want it loud / and this is just the beginning, / it won't stop," the lyrics said. However, shortly afterward, in an ARD documentary, Michi Beck hinted for the first time at the possibility of a final concert tour.

Which is now official. However, it won't be the end of it completely, as Die Fantastischen Vier have stated they do not intend to disband. Their last tour does not mean their last performance.

“When we will definitely play our last concert is still up in the air,” Beck said on Saturday in a video clip after a moderated discussion with all the Fantas at the Schauspiel Stuttgart.

Meanwhile, social media is flooded with tearful emojis expressing grief. "Can't we have a democratic vote?" asks 25-year-old Aylin Aziri on Instagram. "I thought we'd grow old together," laments Erdnuss 74. "I hope you do it like the Stones: a farewell tour every year," wishes another. And a fan named Diana Reinsperger rejects the idea of ​​a farewell: "Uh, no! I'll need some good music for the retirement home later. So you can forget about it!!!!"

Good music is definitely on the way: Band manager Andreas "Bär" Läsker clarified that further albums are not out of the question. Ultimately, the end of their live career marks a new beginning. When the Beatles stopped touring in 1966 and finally dedicated themselves to their creative work, they created their masterpiece "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in the studio.

Current album: Die Fantastischen Vier – “Long Player” (Rekord Music/Edel)

Die Fantastischen Vier – The first dates of the tour “Der letzte Bus” (so far): December 16, 2026, Riesa - WT Energiesysteme Arena; December 17, 2026, Berlin - Uber Arena; December 19, 2026, Hannover - ZAG Arena; December 21, 2026, Stuttgart - Hans-Martin-Schleyer-Halle; December 22, 2026, Stuttgart - Hans-Martin-Schleyer-Halle; January 6, 2027, Frankfurt am Main - Festhalle Frankfurt; January 7, 2027, Dortmund - Westfalenhalle Dortmund - Hall 1; January 9, 2027, Oberhausen - Rudolf Weber-ARENA; January 12, 2027, Cologne - Lanxess Arena; January 13, 2027, Hamburg - Barclays Arena; January 16, 2027, Leipzig – Quarterback Immobilien Arena; January 17, 2027, Munich – Olympiahalle; January 19, 2027, Zurich – Hallenstadion; January 21, 2027, Mannheim – SAP Arena; February 4, 2027, Nuremberg – PSD Bank Nürnberg Arena; February 5, 2027, Salzburg – Salzburgarena; February 6, 2027, Vienna – Wiener Stadthalle – Hall D – Advance ticket sales begin on November 12