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In 1982 in London I saw Frankie Miller do a thundering rhythm & rock show,
in a club where couples were quietly drinking their tonic by candlelight. In the same city
I had to undergo a very long metro trip followed by a walk through ice cold North-London
to see Stan Webb, the former guitar player from Chicken Shack. The
fact that this guy hadn't made a decent record for over fifteen years, didn't stop the
audience from begging for autographs on record sleeves after the show. The only thing I
remeber from the music is the fact that it was extremely loud.
Talking about loud music. I'd always wanted to go to a hard rock concert when a few
friends - connaisseurs of the genre - took me to a Judas Priest show
in 1990. The band was touring to promote their latest album, Pain killer, and
played the IJsselhal in
Zwolle, of course. On stage were two motorcycles. At the beginning of the show two
microphones were layed into the exhausts of these bikes before they were started.
Producing a sound I'll never forget.
Omar & the
Howlers and Walter Trout played in an indoor open air theatre in Tegelen in 1991. The
stage was located in the centre of a pond. While the rain was pouring down, one visitor
after the other dived into the water.
Also great fun was the show of blind soul singer Clarence Carter in Utrecht
in 1989. After the show he shook hands with every one of the 83 persons in the audience.
Want some more? In 1991 I watched Louisiana Radio and Magic Frankie & the Blues Disease
on a floating stage in a canal in Brielle. The temperature rose above thirty degrees
Celsius, while Magic Frankie like a kind of Santa Claus was rowed to the stage while he
was playing Rock me baby. I drove back home with Louisiana Radio and we celebrated
a cajun and zydeco party in Mad Mick afterwards.
It was snowing heavily on Easter Monday in 1994. Temperatures in the circus tent in De
Meern were below zero. Rowwen Hèze and De Dijk literally tore the tent down, while hysteric fans
were pressed against the fences.
In the Winter of 1995 I was in Moutiers, a small village in the French Alps. Believe it or
not, but Calvin Russell was playing there in a bar. Watched by about a hundred extatic
Frenchmen, who didn't speak one word English, but were shouting out the lyrics from every
song that was played. A strange experience, and a great show.
In 1995 I attended (reasonably) good shows from Harry Muskee, Raymond van het Groenewoud, Bettie Serveert, Hallo
Venray, Jimmy Neal, Pinetop
Perkins, Lefthand Freddy and the Aces, Buckwheat Zydeco, Joe Louis Walker, Sugar Pie Desanto,
Counting Crows, the B-52's, Cowboy Junkies, Popa Chubby, the Paladins, Paul Weller and ZZ Top.
Highlight of the year however was, without doubt, Keb' Mo' at the
Blues Estafette in Muziekcentrum Vredenburg in Utrecht. I've seen and heard a lot of blues
in my life, but it was great to be surprised by just one guy with a guitar. Two thousand
people were listening breathless to his very unique interpretations of the traditional
twelve bar blues. A great effort! Unfortunately, this is another show that didn't make my
top-10.
I'd prefer to make a few top-10's. One from the best shows I saw at the North Sea Jazz Festival during the last couple of
decades, for example. And another one from the best concerts of the Blues Estafette. But
that is not realistic. So there's no room in my top-10 for people like the Neville Brothers,
Johnny Winter,
the Skatellites, Dr. John, Delbert McClinton, Screaming Jay Hawkins,
Albert Collins,
Clifton Chenier,
Bootsy Collins,
Roomful of Blues, the Blasters, and Fats Domino.
By the way, in 1995 I experienced a real example of the blues. I had got me a ticket for a
Rory Gallagher
show in March. The concert was cancelled: Rory had drunk himself to death.
Anyway: here are the ten bests concerts of my life. |
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