The Maccabees 2009

Iggy Pop

The Revillos

Cage the Elephant

30-11-2008

Not the main stage in the 013 for this band who effortlessly sell out large venues in England, but the small stage and about 40 people. The incorrect description of the band on the 013 website obviously didn't help attract potential fans. I wanted to go after seeing their performance on Jools and having read about the hype in England.

They were supported tonight by Uncle Frankle. A Dutch Brit-pop style band who reminded me a little of early Blur. I thought they looked great, all wearing the same gear and despite their being only 20 teenage girls actually watching them, they did go for it. The songs were predictable pop, but I have to say quite catchy. I was quite happy to take the free CD home and the songs really aren't all that bad.

So, from the squeaky clean, white jeaned Uncle Frankle to the dirty, drunken and wild Cage the Elephant. Ha, it was a riot from the minute they came on. What a pity the room wasn't heaving with fans, but those that were there, were captivated by this whirlwind performance. Matt Schultz loves to be watched and loves to perform. He never stopped dancing, jumping, pissing about with the others and posing. He said he had broken his ribs and was drunk but that didn't slow him down. He was like a young Iggy. The music was a bit of everything, from punk to funk, from Chilli Peppers to Iggy Pop. This was definitely a band I'd like to see again. Next time with a sell out crowd please.

Matt Schultz climbs back up on the stage

Radiohead

1st July, 2008. Amsterdam, NL: Imagine this - we arrive in Amsterdam at about 4 in the afternoon, find a meter just over the canal from the Westerpark and step out the car. What do we hear above the noise of the trams and general hubbub of the city? The voice of Thom Yorke and the unmistakeable strains of Fake Plastic Trees. It was so surprising and so wonderful, we almost ran over the bridge to see what was happening. Quite a large group of people (they appeared to be Italians) were sitting at the entrance to the concert, chatting and drinking and taking no notice of the sound check going on inside. It was a glorious hot day and we walked around the periphery listening in awe to the sound of Thom's voice. The Westergasfabriek is a converted gas works and is a unique setting for an outdoor concert. If I hadn't got a ticket, the surroundings, the weather and the music alone would still have made it a memorable concert.
By 6.30 we were sitting in the circle area in front of the stage. The support band was Bats for Lashes but after 2 songs the guys next to me, sat down and started reading the newspaper. The music would be fine for an intimate hall or theatre, but was lost on a crowd like this. The singer sarcastically thanked the crowd for being so quiet. As the sun started to go down behind the stage, Radiohead came on and launched into Bodysnatchers. It took me a while to take it all in, transfixed as I was by Thom Yorke's appearance - short, red skinny jeans, black Fred Perry and stubble/beard. It was a bit of a shock. We weren't that far from the stage, but why oh why, are there always tall people in front of me. I was wild about an idiot in his cap that spent more time smooching with his girl than watching the show, I just don't get it. The music was beautiful and atmospheric, the crowd was fairly quiet. You could say, at times, it was spiritual. It felt like church especially with Thom singing songs such as All I need and Street Spirit. A reverent silence fell over the crowd as we watched in awe. It was awesome.
The sun was setting and the crowd turned colour with it. The stage lighting came into effect as the sky got darker. A cloud of marijuana was hanging above our heads and the songs followed in rapid succession. I didn't get the impression that they were playing for the crowd, but more for themselves. If there was some singing or clapping along, I thought Thom looked irritated. He sang the songs he wanted to sing, not the crowd pleasers. The Fake plastic trees from the soundcheck didn't make the set, neither did Paranoid Android. The weather, the setting and the band made this a truly memorable concert.

The Maccabees

3rd May, 2008. Concorde 2, Brighton UK. There is something naive and sweet about the Maccabees. The cute lyrics and poppy tunes probably disguise the amount of thought that has gone into making their first album. It would be easy to dismiss them as just another arty band without any real substance, such as Art Brut. But then you would be wrong. I love the album and the homemade videos and artwork. Playing a gig on their home ground and in a small venue, meant that tickets were gone before the concert was even mentioned in the Concorde newsletter. Luckily for me, a mutual friend was able to get me on the guest list. Never in my life, have I ever managed to get on a guest list and it was worth the wait to say those words to the bouncers. It made me feel like Mother Maccabee, haha. The place was packed and steaming and with three support bands, the evening started early. They all went down well, apparently everyone was mates with everyone else, but the place really took off when Orlando took to the stage. He didn't say much and often stood back from the mike to allow the crowd to sing the songs - they were word perfect of course. He seemed apologetic at playing new songs, but the crowd were putty in his hands and would have listened to anything as long as their favourites came along. Toothpaste kisses for example, was sung by predominantly shreaking, female voices. Latchmere was a riot and the set passed in a frantic buzz of jumping, screaming and community singing. I have never seen a show with a crowd that was so word perfect and above all, loud! A 10 out of 10 for the band and the crowd!
This is a link of 1 of my 4 videos on You Tube:
First Love

Heideroosjes

27th December 2007, 013 Tilburg.
If I had known they were going to take a photo I wouldn't have worn black! A great show to end 2007..

Arcade Fire

13th November 2007, Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam.

This was the first time I had been to a concert at the HMH. I had heard lots of rumours about the problems associated with this purpose-built concert hall, such as those with the sound and atmosphere, so I wasn't sure what to expect. However I have to admit I was quite bowled over by the building and its high-tech design. The lounge area with a wall-mounted hand to house the DJ looked super cool. This concert was a sellout but we arrived in time and there was plenty of room right up at the stage and everywhere in fact. The hall is so big, but it didn't seem to get crowded at all, which is good for viewing and dancing but is probably a contributory factor to the lack of atmosphere. The support band Wild Light was an awful American country band. I will say no more and hopefully will never hear them anymore.
The stage was transformed for the main act with an organ, several round TV screens and a neon bible backdrop. Before the band came on, the TV screens showed American TV dominees preaching and ranting and then the band appeared and launched into Black Mirror. Surprisingly, Regine played a central role in the first (quiet) part of the set. The black and white 'aged' projections of the band members on the TV screens worked well, in what was really a simple set. The antics of the other band members needed no other distractions from lighting or projections and soon livened things up. The concert really seemed to come alive and get the hall jumping with the last 3 tracks: Tunnels, Neighborhood and Rebellion. The communal singing at this show was great with so many songs with choruses that everybody could join in with. (I don't think everybody knew the right words!) Arcade Fire came back on to end with a storming Keep the car running and of course Wake Up. Hopefully this satisfied the idiot kid in front of me who had been screaming for Wake Up between every single song since the show had started.

David Bowie

An incredible 30+ years ago, of course I was extremely young, I went to my first stadium concert. I am proud to say that even in my youth I had a wonderful taste in music (there were some exceptions!) and I witnessed a show from the greatest star himself, David Bowie. May 1976 and the Station to Station tour was in full flow and Bowie had 6 sell-out shows in Wembley. My sister managed to get tickets for Friday night and being the weekend, I was allowed to travel up. The reviews of Bowie's first concert on the Tuesday said that he was the best thing since the Beatles and the show had gone on to midnight instead of the scheduled 10.30. We were in the middle of a heatwave and London was sweltering hot. I had travelled up with school friends and we spent the afternoon walking around, drained by the heat but mobilised with excitement for the concert. Wembley seemed like miles away and when we arrived at 7pm, the crowds were overwhelming. I couldn't believe what great seats we had. The place was so huge and there were so many people, yet we had seats just to the left of the stage on the first tier. (One person caused quite a stir when going to their seat - spikey hair,lightning bolt on the face. I realised almost a year later this was Jordan, the infamous hanger-on with the Sex Pistols.) To quote my youthful diary entry "Nearly wet myself I was so excited. Sweated buckets in the heat. Music was really loud and really tremendous". !
Bowie came on to the stage dressed in black and white, on a stark stage with bright white lights to the sounds of Station to Station. He followed this with Suffragette City and the place went crazy. He looked incredibly thin and boney and his voice was perfect. The crowd were putty in the hands of this vulnerable looking creature. I was sold on music and concerts from that night on. He ended the set with Jean Genie. It all seemed terribly quick and everyone wanted more. All we got was a struggle with the immense crowd getting on the tube out of Wembley and this took ages.
7 years later and living in London myself, I had tried to get tickets to the Serious Moonlight tour in London, but was allocated tickets in Milton Keynes Bowl instead. Better that no tickets at all, so off we went to Milton Keynes on the 2nd of July. Once more, this was a glorious day and we went armed with a picnick hamper, not sure what to expect. This was an outdoor show with huge screens to the sides of the stage. We found a spot in the field which was an awful long way from the stage. Bowie appeared and he was a dark figure in the distance. The concert had to be followed by watching the video screen which was a huge disappointment. We nevertheless enjoyed the songs, the atmosphere and the day out, but this was going to be the first and last outdoor mega-concert that I wanted to go to.

Nine Inch Nails

16th March 2007, Tilburg, NL: Three sell-out shows in the Netherlands for the Nine Inch Nails, the first of which was in Tilburg. The colour of the crowd was predominantly black and the age of the crowd was surprisingly 'not so young'. The support band was Ladytron - a back to the 80's electronic dance combo. A surprising choice that didn't go down very well with the crowd. The leading ladies had obviously listened to a lot of Depeche Mode and Grace Jones but this wasn't the kind of music the crowd were waiting for. Maybe Trent has a thing for one/all of them. But I doubt it, their robotic, prim, secretarial appearance was not in the least bit sexy and he after all, is THE macho sex god.
The lights went out. The smoke machine was turned on full, filling the venue with a dense curtain of thick smoke, out of which the shadow of Trent Reznor slowly materialized, guitar held aloft. The cheering was soon drowned out as the band launched into the wall of noise called Mr Self Destruct. A tremendous live voice from the big-booted, but small singer. It was frustrating not to get a good look at him, but the smoke machine wasn't turned off and continued to spew. This combined with a blinding light show of mainly intense white strobe lighting effectively blinded the audience. During March of the Pigs, Trent dived into the crowd, accidentally tripping his strobe light next to the mike stand, so that this act was also invisible to the majority of the crowd who could only see a pulsing white light in the middle of a black stage. The musicians were great, the sound fantastic and I loved Wish and Only - Everybody singing: "There is no you, there is only me". The only words Trent spoke all evening, were to say that he had nothing really to say, except that this was the new single, before launching into Survivalism. The set ended with Trent on the keyboard singing Hurt. The keyboard was brought to the front of the stage, the other band members left and Trent sang a perfect rendition of this unbelievable song. After the one yell of "Johnny" from the crowd, the 013 listened in awe and silence as this incredible voice filled the venue with emotion. Slowly the drummer and guitarist came back on to accompany him for the last chorus. It was enough to make your hairs stand on end. Brrrr. After a short break, back they came, finishing with 'The hand that feeds' and finally 'Head like a hole'. With the whole crowd singing along and the mosh pit seething, this concert has to be one of the most memorable shows in Tilburg (and for me!).