Gosh… back at work following a week’s annual leave. May I say, it’s truly magnificent to be back. I love being shackled to the desk by the real-time interegation of emails. It certainly beats the relaxing art and cafe culture of Amsterdam; that’s just far too chilled out.
Anyway, last Wednesday me and three pals attended the Heineken Music Hall and saw American band The Black Crowes. My association with this band started back in the summer of 1991 (after I finished my GCSEs) with long-wave radio station Atlantic 252 playing their cover of the Otis Redding classic ‘Hard to Handle’ at least once an hour. I had to hear more of this band, I had to see them live. In the autumn of 1992 they visited the UK and I saw a show (at Newcastle City Hall on 25 November!) that changed my appreciation of music… for ever.
Eighteen years on and wow… what a performance. To see six guys and two backing singers jamming their way through selections from their extensive back catalogue, peppered with some choice covers, for virtually two and a half hours was (to coin an American term) awesome. Some songs would be fairly true to the album and last 5 or 6 minutes; however, some would wander off in to elongated jams of the highest order, returning in the nick of time to the song’s original ending. The highlight of the show for me was a superb version of My Morning Song that let all the musicians flex their muscles and develop the song into a masterpiece of at least 15 minutes.
And what a venue the music hall is. The Dutch know what they are doing when it comes to enjoying themselves. Spritely youths push refrigerated trolleys through the crowds, serving ice cold lager to those who want it… and have had the foresight to buy the necessary tokens (muntens). And the best bit… if the guys with the trolleys can’t reach you, the ones with the lager filled backpacks can! I have to hand it to our Dutch friends for their friendliness, organisation and general willingness to ensure everyone has a great time.
As for The Black Crowes, they put on an amazing show, with a great atmosphere, light show and musicianship; I feel 18 again when I see them… with a tingle going up my spine. As lead singer Chris Robinson says “It’s a feeling you can’t get in cyberspace!”.
