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!).

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.

Morrissey

22nd October, 1999. Tilburg. A big regret of mine was never seeing The Smiths. I'm not sure how that one got away. Anyway, just one date of this solo tour was in the Netherlands and to my amazement, not in Amsterdam, but Tilburg. I wasn't going to miss this chance. It had been 8 years since Mozza had played in Holland and the venue was sold out. Considering that it was packed with fans, the audience were a bit of a let down. There was the usual fanatical group stuck at the front, but the majority were pretty quiet. There wasn't much singing or dancing going on. The man himself, maybe had something to do with it. Of course, he is older and a bit portly and didn't exude much enthusiasm. Dressed in a West Ham boy's club T-shirt, he chatted a bit, but not getting much response from the crowd, professionally worked his way through the set list. Opening with You're gonna need someone on your side, followed by Boy Racer should have got the toughest of audience's going. I think a lot of people were in awe of seeing the 'Icon' in the flesh. I, in any case thought it was a great start. He went on to play a mix of solo and Smiths songs which didn't always sound like they should (like I'm used to hearing them!), due to the backing band and the shift in his voice. He didn't play for long - just over an hour - and ended up with 'Last night I dreamt..'. And then he was gone, leaving the crowd to enjoy the after-party which, dare I say, was greeted with more enthusiasm than the concert.

The Clash

November 12, 1977. Hastings Pier. In the summer of ’77, I started going to the Basement Club, near to the Art College in Brighton. Saturday night was punk night and although it was dark and dingy and the walls ran with sweat, we went there for the music. The DJ, Tony, was always happy to play requests and after a few visits, I got to know him. During a party at his house, Tony came up with the idea to drive to Hastings to see the Clash in the White Riot Tour. (The band had played in Brighton on May 25th, but that night I was watching the Stranglers instead at the Suite.) Tony being a DJ, drove a van so there was room for several of us to go. I left work early on the Saturday to give myself plenty of time to get dressed up. This wasn’t just an ordinary concert, I was going off with the coolest DJ to see THE punk band of the moment! Tony and a girlfriend turned up at 6.15 and to my horror I found them sitting on the settee drinking tea with my mum and dad! In full make-up, black leather, pins and chains – the embarrassment! I quickly got them out the house and we drove around Brighton picking up an assortment of hardcore punks eager to get to Hastings. Of course, there were more people than there were seats in the van. We all squeezed in somehow, wedged between the seats and propped on the floor. With the Clash blaring out the speakers to get us warmed up, we finally arrived at 8.30.
The concert was actually on the end of the pier, which for some reason I hadn’t really realized. As we walked along the wooden slats, you could see the sea below and I was wondering if this was a good idea after all. I thought I had seen lots of punks and punk bands in Brighton, but they were tame compared to the busloads of punks that were going in to see the Clash. The band had clearly brought an entourage of punks down with them from London. These were scary. I didn’t know whether to look at the stage or the crowd.
The support band was Richard Hell and the Voidoids. An American, but well known in the English punk scene with his singles Blank Generation and Love comes in spurts. He didn’t seem to be too comfortable with the spitting and the beer emanating from the front rows, but nevertheless managed to get the crowd focused on the stage instead of each other. There was a distinct feeling of aggression and expectation. There was no way I could get to the front with this crowd, but the view from the side was just as good. My friends from Brighton of course, had all dispersed and were lost somewhere in the heaving black mosh pit at the front of the stage.
When the Clash came on with a raw rendition of London’s Burning, I really thought we would end up in the sea. The Pavilion vibrated to the pogoing and the floorboards groaned. Joe Strummer seemed to recognize faces in the crowd and the energy on and off the stage was overpowering. Mick Jones, dressed up in his SS gear stomped around, launching into the next song before the other was finished. I’m so bored with the USA, Career Opportunities, Janie Jones – the songs whipped the crowd up into a jumping frenzy that I hadn’t seen before. What a buzz - it was a relentless jostle of dancing, jumping and seething bodies. The crowd had been screaming for White Riot since the start, but they had to wait for the encore to hear it.
Hoarse, battered and streaked with smeared make-up, we met back up at the van for the drive back. That we got back in one piece, after all the drink etc. that had been consumed, was a miracle. It was unanimously agreed that this had been the best punk concert ever.

The Undertones

Brighton and London. According to my records I have seen the Undertones, three times, but it could well have been more. They were a favourite band of mine and seeing them live was always awesome. My first 'recorded' concert was a concert at the Hemel Hempstead Pavilion on October 3rd, 1979. My sister was living in Radlett, so all I needed was to catch the train from St Pancras and she would bring me back to London the next day. Being a poor student, I bought a ticket for the next stop, Kentish Town for 20p, and succeeded in dodging the ticket man at the other end. The venue was quite impressive. The Undertones were supported by The Photos, an English Blondie-style band who I had just seen play on the 29th of September (supporting John Cooper Clarke). I still didn't like them. The Undertones on the other hand, were terrific. Feargal Sharkey not only looked so different to anyone else I had ever seen, but he had 'that voice' too. He was so skinny and so scruffy and I have to say, unattractive. He was all over the stage and even jumped into the crowd at one point to break up a fight. The songs were all belted out in that Derry accent and the crowd couldn't get enough.
Jump to April, 23rd 1980, and I was going to see them again in Brighton. The Top Rank was sold out and packed to the rafters. When the band came on at 9.30, the place erupted. We were jumping and dancing about like madmen. Teenage Kicks, My perfect cousin, Jimmy Jimmy - we were melting in there. My favourite song that always turned me into a crazed pogoing idiot, You've got my number (why don't you use it?), was left to the end. They played until 11pm and then played 2 encores. Not bad for 2 pounds 50.
1981 and the release of another album, Positive Touch meant another year of touring. I caught them this time at the Rainbow Theatre in London on May 21st. Although I wasn't completely sold on this album, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to see the band play live. Their now legendary live shows ensured that the Rainbow was full, and despite the mix of new, slower songs with the fast punky numbers, the band effortlessly went down a storm. Feargal, just as fashionless and thin as ever, could stun the crowd to silence with his quivering voice and then whip them to a frenzy with the next song. I lost count of the number of encores. They were truly magnificent. We left for home, soaking wet, emotionally drained and with no voice left.

Young Knives

17th October, 2006. Concorde 2, Brighton. How happy was I to see that the Young Knives were playing in Brighton in the same week that I was going to be there! I quickly ordered tickets in Holland, beacuse this was going to be a sell-out. Many years ago, I had held my 18th birthday party at the Concorde together with 5 other friends. It wasn't until I had ordered the tickets that I saw that the venue has moved furthur along the seafront to another building - hence the name change to Concorde2. Duh, no return to my old birthday haunt, but to a concert held in the lobby of the lift that used to take people up from the beach to the top promenade. Interesting. The Young Knives - they have a particular 'look' of should I say style, which can best be described as a 1960's geography teacher crossed with Jarvis Cocker. They look so square that they're trendy. (The merchandise on sale included Young Knives ties!). They play wonderful punky songs with witty lyrics which are totally addictive. They came over really well in the small venue, joking around with each other and the crowd. The songs sounded great and the crowd were really rocking. People climbed up on the pillars and stood on the window sills to get a better view, or maybe to get out of the heat. It was boiling in there! The bass player 'House of Lords' was pissed but still played and sang really well. Part timer, Weekends and bleak days, the Decision - brilliant. Their single - She's attracted to - sent the crowd crazy. Everyone was singing 'You were screaming at your mum, I was punching your dad,' in the extended version of the song, with extra lines such as, punching hif f****** face in, thrown in by Henry. What a laugh. Everyone left dripping wet, with a big smile on their face. Hope they come to Holland soon!
The Young Knives

Infadels

Infadels. Effenaar, Eindhoven, 24th October 2006. Back to the Effenaar for another new English band, this time for the Infadels. What can I say? They were magnificent. They are a dance/pop band from London who are touring their debut album We are not the Infadels. The group burst onto the stage with Jagger '67, a favourite of mine and the crowd erupted. They have a frontman with an amazing voice who clearly knows how to work the crowd and they produced an energetic and driven performance which kept the crowd jumping. It was clear to see that the group really enjoy playing live and I expect they say it everywhere, but they kept repeating how much they love to play for a Dutch audience.(Their live DVD was filmed in Paradiso.) After a version of Steady as she goes and a slightly mis-timed Girl who speaks no words, the set ended with Can't get enough. An incredible track to finally see and hear live. Their hit Love like Semtex was still to come and an extended version of Brandon Vegas rounded it all off leaving us all extremely sweaty, exhausted and still shouting for more.
Infadels

The Ramones

22nd February, 1980. Electric Ballroom, London. The night my jacket shared the stage with Joey Ramone. There were 2 support bands for this concert, one of them - The Boys were good, but the other sent us looking for the bar. The Electric Ballroom in Camden was packed solid and sold out for the Ramones. There was a continual stream of people pushing past trying to get to the front. I had put my jacket on the floor, safe as I thought between my feet, but I soon realised that in the crush it had disappeared. We crawled around with matches trying to find it in the darkness amongst the mass of feet, but all we found was a lighter! The big build up for the Ramones started, so we abandoned the search and tried to find a good place to see the band. That wasn't very easy. We were crammed together like sardines - wall to wall and from the front to the back- and the build up went on for a ridiculous 15 minutes. The huge crowd got more and more restless. When they eventually appeared, launching into the wonderful Hey ho, let's go, the place erupted! Everyone was jumping, it was impossible not to jump with everyone around you going crazy. Before the first song had finished - and that's not long with a Ramones song - we were liquid with sweat. The heat generated by the number of fans in there was incredible. Half an hour into the gig, the bass player Johnny, threw his guitar away and they all trooped off for 10 minutes. The band weren't happy about something. They didn't like the amount of beer that was being thrown at them and because it was so hot in there, they couldn't play properly. (Duh, they kept their leather jackets on!). Apparently, the heat had put their guitars out of tune. Anway, after cooling off they came back on and the crowd went gaga again. If they weren't playing well, we didn't notice. We were too busy leaping around. They played until midnight and as the crowd dispersed, we continued the search for my jacket. We found it eventually, covered in footprints but neatly folded up, on the stage next to Joey's mike stand. Maybe Joey had done that himself. It was a nice thought.
The Ramones

Generation X

12th April, 1978. Brighton. What can I say about Billy Idol? He was a punk rocker who was trying too hard. We couldn't really take him seriously with his peroxide hair and bike chains. He pulled the same sneer as Sid Vicious, but on him it looked ridiculous. There was an extremely rowdy crowd in the Top Rank, which seemed to consist of a lot of football supporters. Ready, steady, go - as Generation X hit the stage, Billy Idol was showered with glasses and beer. He immediately retreated, to be replaced by one of his entourage, pleading with the crowd not to throw stuff at the stage. The football chanting crowd greeted this with jeers and yet more glasses and liquid. Eventually, the not-so-hard singer sheepishly reappeared and played quite a good set, although their songs didn't really appeal to the hardcore punk fans. The football chanting contingent however appeared to enjoy it. The aggressive atmosphere meant that I watched this show from the balcony; it was a wise decision.
Generation X

Editors

21st February, 2006 Eindhoven. This was my first visit back to the new-look Effenaar and I was impressed. From the view outside of the ladies loo to the absence of heavies at the front of the stage, I have nothing but praise. The support band this evening, The Brakes are from my home town (Brighton) so I didn't want to miss their show. They seemed to really enjoy themselves and have some good songs - 'Heard about your band'. The singer sounds strangely like the singer from the Violent Femmes. They closed their set with the opening chords of Munich. The crowd seemed to contain a lot of 'foreigners' and some misplaced Goths. As the Editors aren't yet as big in Holland as in England, it was easy to get right down to the front of the stage. Tom was easily in touching distance, which is why I love this type of venue! It was a great set and the crowd were really rocking. I wanted to see this for myself...everyone sang along. They saved my favourite song for the final encore, a powerful and extended version of Fingers in the factories. Fantastic stuff. Hmmm, walking back to the car, my legs seemed to have turned into lead! Obviously, I'm not as fit as I thought I was.
Editors

Bunch of Stiffs Tour

October 19th, 1977 and a Bunch of Stiffs tour hits Brighton. (Wonderful to see the documentary on Stiff records on Channel 4 recently. ) There were really two headline acts at this show, namely Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. But for me, these two were a little too polished. Wreckless Eric was already playing when I got there, but immediately captured my attention with his strange songs. However the other Stiffs were just pale imitations of the real star that was Ian Dury. I couldn't understand why he moved the way he did, or why he held the mike the way he did. He was so strange! What was he on? He wore a tweed jacket and cap and draped his scarves around the mike stand. We tried not to look at the veins in his neck but it was hard to look away. He was clearly older than the other Stiffs and his music was a sort of cockney alternative punk. But, he was such a fantastic performer and effortlessly captured the somewhat aggressive audience. Elvis Costello, although gawky and strange looking in his own right, failed with his music to carry on where Dury left off. This was a great evening to showcase Stiff records artists and although Costello went on to become the most commercially successful, it was Ian Dury who brought the house down in Brighton.

Stiff records

Kraftwerk

Tilburg (NL), 1st July 2005. In 2004, the Duracell powered robots smartly disguised as 4 aged businessmen decided to go on a world tour. They were to play one date in the Netherlands and the venue in Tilburg was quickly sold out. I became aware of Kraftwerk for the first time, way back in 1974. Neighbour S. had asked me round to listen to a song on his new stereo hi-fi system. Duly sitting with oversized headphones, I listened as cars seemingly drove through my head entering one ear and leaving by the other. The track seemed to go on for ever and although Autobahn was never a favourite track of mine, I leant to appreciate its unique sound. The greatest roar in Tilburg was reserved nevertheless for Autobahn, which I felt was disappointing, given that there were many other successful tracks. The men in suits behind their synthesisers laptops were dwarfed by the huge back-drop which projected film and slides synchronized with the music. I particularly liked Vitamin with its huge rolling tablets and Radioactivity. This prevented the otherwise static show from becoming repetitive. After the break, the lights went on to show that 4 robots had now taken the place of the group members. They moved their arms to We are the robots, of course. They were then replaced by the band wearing fluorescent yellow neon suits, showing that they are not so boring after all. An impressive, aero dynamik show with wonderful music that hasn't dated at all. What an accomplishment!
Kraftwerk