Yes, it’s approximately four hours sleep we get that night and early the next morning we’re off to the station in Düsseldorf to catch our 09:35 am train to Amsterdam. Cuddled into our seats of our cabin we try to compensate our lack of sleep, but anyhow there’s too much to talk about.
We arrive in our very fancy hotel (Hotel V Fredriksplein, highly recommendable) by midday, lay siege to our rooms, and then start with a nice, relaxed Sunday in Amsterdam before there will be rock n roll again tomorrow. We have something to eat, meet up with Claudia, make a beautiful boat trip through the “grachten” of Amsterdam and finish the day with eating pizza or pasta and having a drink at a snug bar with Claudia and Aileen. As the Paradiso is within reach of our hotels and the bars and restaurants at Leidseplein, we walk past the venue for about a dozen of times, every time phantasizing about what the show’s going to be like tomorrow.
The next morning we still want to see something of the city, but whereas shopping usually is one of my favourite things to do, even a H&M and an English book shop can’t get me into raptures today. People who know me will know: this IS a bad sign. My head is totally occupied by wondering about when Grant, the tour manager, is finally going to call me up and tell me when the interview is taking place. Yes, the interview. After I had the great chance of interviewing Peter on the last tour in November, this time I couldn’t resist but to ask for an interview appointment again and this is what you get: not being able to enjoy a shopping tour in Amsterdam with your friends because you keep looking at your mobile phone every five seconds and almost want to force it to ring by looking at it.
When we get back to Leidseplein for a snack I still don’t know anything about possible interviews to happen. After an hour of trying to call up Grant, going over the street to the Paradiso and looking if there’s someone to talk to but finding no one, we funnily enough run into Peter while we are looking for a supermarket and he can assure me that Grant might call me up any second and that the interview is definitely going to take place. About five minutes later I get the longingly expected call and all of a sudden life is good again.
Thus, it means getting to the Paradiso at six o’clock and me ending up with Peter in the basement for a nice chat about all kinds of different things, some of them having to do with mobile phones, silly country songs, boots and knee-high socks and not seeing daylight again for about an hour later, leaving my sister wondering about when I’m going to turn up again finally, as doors are supposed to open at seven but I still have her ticket in my handbag. But I get back in time, luckily being able to find my way out of the dungeon of the Paradiso again by following a red line on the floor. Inner tom-tom again.
You can find the interview on www.popzine.de, by the way.
At about seven doors open, this time letting quite an appropriate crowd of people flow in and enter the places in the front row. This night, however, we decide against standing at the front, because the stage is particularly high and as we’re quite short, it would rather mean to be watching the guys’ boots than the show for us if we stood there. And we want to avoid a stiff neck, of course. Therefore, we either gather at the top of some stairs at the side of the hall, next to a column and beneath the balcony, or on the balcony, where we can perfectly admire the beautiful scenery, mostly caused by the colourful glass panes the Paradiso has, because it used to be a church.
This time The Brothers Movement are finally around and they start off the evening with a great show. Whereas usually I can’t wait until the support is finally over, I’m actually sad their set is finished after half an hour and I would love to listen to them longer. It’s a pity they don’t have any CDs with them, I would have loved to get some of their older stuff when they still used to be Mainline. Anyway, one can be looking forward to their album coming out in fall then.
So, apart from the fact that I got to interview Peter that day, I have to say that this show is my Top 1 in the list of shows on this tour. Heart + Soul and Salvation are definitely some of the highlights this night, just as Peter playing a very new song we all have never heard before. Unfortunately, he either didn’t mention the title or I simply didn’t get it. Anyway, it’s acoustic, it’s beautiful and I really can’t wait until all these new songs already flying around are finally captured on a CD. Having spoken to Peter about extended versions of some of their songs during the interview, it’s great to hear two of those extended versions tonight, one of them being this very hot version of Six Barrel Shotgun to which they have added a very groovy part and Rob singing additional lyrics, which is almost unbearably great until it finally has its climax in the “Save yourself, cause I need some stimulation, baby!” Again, do they have a license for that?!
Finally, when they play All You Do Is Talk, I’m kind of happy that Peter fucks up the lyrics at some point, as this really prevents me from starting to cry because of the beauty of the moment. Wow.
This night in Amsterdam sees another outside set, although I have to say that at some points I really think people overdo it a bit. It’s great to listen to the guys playing, it’s great they are so lovely and have time for their fans, but when it comes to the bus driver complaining that people should get away from his bus, because they are squashed to it and he’s afraid that it will get damages and people almost just jump into the bus to be close to the guys, that really freaks me out. Please, a little bit of decency. Same goes with hords of people running after the guys, after they have called it a day and probably just want to go and relax a little. But, yeah, I know, it’s a fine line…
After all it’s great to see that everything around Leidseplein has become BRMC country with fans running around and getting to know people from all over the world. However, even in Amsterdam it’s kind of hard to find some kind of bar that’s open on a Monday night. Finally we’re successful, but after one Heineken we have to call it a day. Too much excitement for 24 hours. And there’s still Groningen to come tomorrow.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen