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!).

Dandy Warhols

14th October, 2003. Tilburg. In my line of work, I unfortunately have to work one evening a week. Just the one isn't too bad, you may think - but it's amazing how many events, birthdays, concerts etc. suddenly appear on my 'occupied' evening. But nevertheless, I wasn't going to let this show pass me by, even if it did mean missing the beginning. I spent this particular day in town in the afternoon and who else did I spot shopping in a not-so-trendy shoe shop, but Courtney Taylor-Taylor. He was examining some silver Dr Martens boots. Doing a bit of pre-gig retail therapy, I guess. Somehow, I don't think the shops in Tilburg would have occupied him for very long. I seriously considered asked him for an autograph and welcoming him to Holland and if I was 18 years old, I'm sure I would have done. Instead, I stalked him victoriously for 15 minutes, like the shy, old person that I am..
The Dandy Warhols were touring as the support act for David Bowie's reality tour. The night before playing Ahoy in Rotterdam with DB, they had agreed to this ' An Evening with the Dandy Warhols' show in Tilburg. I hoped I hadn't missed much when I arrived at 9pm, but they had been in full swing since 8 pm! I had missed a whole hour! The good thing was that they played for another 2 hours. How many bands walk on stage at the time stated on the ticket and play for that long? Brownie points for the Dandy Warhols for pulling that off. The band were in the middle of an extended version of Mohammed as I arrived. I could hear it as I came through the doors and this was a wonderful live version. The band were clearly making the most of their evening, playing extended and different arrangements of songs in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Some songs lasted for about 15 minutes, but were still captivating. Of course there were 'fans' who only knew the band from the Vodafone advert tune. But they of course were woken up and could jump around when Bohemian Like you was played. Godless was mesmeric and You were the last high brilliant. Courtney was funny and chatty and this gave the show an intimate feel. The band clearly enjoyed their night off from the Reality Tour and the freedom it gave them to play whatever songs they wanted in whatever way they wanted to.