Punk Smurf pens a bilingual blog

My brother is really much more of a fan than I am, so when I saw that Nouvelle Vague were programmed to play a venue nearby I alerted him. He got us tickets after he asked me if I wanted to come along. I’ve never seen them live, and was prepared for the concert to be dull. To my - and my brother’s - surprise it was anything BUT dull.

The French band started a little late last night, but with current singers Melanie and Nadeah they put on quite a show from the first notes on. I like how Melanie, the dark haired and seemingly a little demure and sweet one, and Australian born Nadeah, the blond and more feral one (who dances like a woman possessed) play well off eachother. I can only imagine that it’s part of the appeal for part of the men in the audience.

My brother and I like how Nouvelle Vague give New Wave and Punk songs a Bossa Nova spin, so part of the fun was trying to guess the titles and original performers. From what I remember they played “So lonely” (The Police), “Master and servant” (Depeche Mode), “God save the Queen” (Sex Pistols), “Ever fallen in love” (The Buzzcocks), “Road to nowhere” (Talking Heads), “In a manner of speaking” (written by Martin L. Gore of Depeche Mode) and “Too drunk to f*ck” (Dead Kennedys). And then some. The funny thing is that my brother and I both thought with the last song I mentioned that they were singing “Too drunk to fight”, until dark haired Melanie started to have audience participation - in a very funny way…

Anyhoo, before we knew it and hour and a half had passed and with two two-song encores (which is French for, well, encore) the concert was over.

Late last year I heard “The 59 sound” and “Old white Lincoln” on Dutch alternative rock station Kink FM, and it immediately grabbed my attention: The Gaslight Anthem sounded like the boys are heavily influenced by Bruce Springsteen AND 80s New Wave band The Cure. They’re more punk than both of them, without sounding like neither The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Black Flag nor The Clash.
(I’ve read that The Gaslight Anthem’s toured with Springsteen and Dave Matthews.)
Lyrically, singer Brian Fallon seems to have a similar approach to writing songs to fellow New Jersian Springsteen: they are about avarage Joes and Janes (with names like Joe, Jimmy and Mary). Easy to relate to.
In the break between opening act and headliners Petra and I enjoyed people watching. There were preppy boys, punk girls, skinny dudes, and full figured ladies. Age wise anything between high schoolers to young parents. And tattoos. Many people with tattoos.

When the foursome from New Jersey take to the stage the venue is positively buzzing: The Gaslight Anthem recently played Pinkpop and apparently made a good impression - despite the early hour (noon).
The boys were looking energetic and ready to convince more people to join their growing fanbase. The Effenaar was packed, and the emergency exits were opened in order to let fresh air in.
Despite the bad mixing the band sounded alright. Brian Fallon took several moments to talk to the audience, to thank them for seeing them on a rainy Tuesday night.
Petra and I had fun recognizing the two covers The Gaslight Anthem played as intro to two of their own songs: “Stand by me” and “What becomes of the broken hearted”. (I’m not sure the younger folks in the audience got it, though.)

The only downside to the concert: they played a little over an hour (too short) but Petra and I had a good time and we both enjoyed the music. By the time we got outside it was raining. By the time I reached the city limits it was pouring. The longer I was driving south, the harder it seemed to be raining. I was definitely driving much slower than normal (as did most others). Halfway home it was raining down so hard all I could see was water streaming down, water in front of me (instead of road surface) and tail lights some 100 meters in front of me. By then I was driving the speed of a snail - with almost a dozen cars following me.
I was glad I drove instead of taking a train: a short walk from the venue to the train station would have soaked me to the bone. And I’m not sure a 30-minute-trainride and a second soak (10-minute-walk home) would have done to me… Anyhoo, all in all The Gaslight Anthem delivered.

Last Sunday I picked up my brother around 5pm and drove to Eindhoven, NL. We had a yummie dinner at Tortillaz before heading to the Frits Philips Music Center. According to our tickets there were no designated seats, so we figured we’d arrive early to get the best seats (first row).
Imagine our surprise when we learned that, even though we were 45 minutes early, we had to go upstairs for seats on the balconies. Dang!

The show started with some performance art: a lady moving to music. Even though it started very promising (in my opinion) I ended up not liking it. Too much repetition and each segment a tad too long.
Anyhoo, after that it was time for Antony and the Johnsons. Arnold and I were both buzzing with anticipation. (It’s thanks to my brother that I started to check out Antony’s music; he told me Antony sometimes writes from a female point of view and likes to play with genders.)

During the opening song Antony sat in the dark and sang, while his band was in the proverbial spotlight.
I think he was a bit nervous at first (gosh, is he ever shy!) but the audience was warm and welcoming and he seemed to relax more with each minute.
Arnold and I liked that Antony played songs from all his albums, making it a nice mix of old and new. He also displayed his sense of humor, like when all of a sudden he interrupted a song to ask the audience who he was impersonating
A lady in our section guessed it right: Rufus Wainwright. It was cute.
Towards the end of the evening he picked up the pace and sort of started swinging it out. (Antony was getting his groove on behind the piano.)

The musicians in his band - the Johnsons - are amazing. I was in awe watching them: two of them were obviously multi-instrumentalists, playing guitars, clarinet, and saxophone besides violins.
My brother and I agreed that the violins and cello added to the mood in the music.

At the end of the set the band got up to bow to the audience and it was then that I saw how tall Antony is. A stark contrast to his voice. And I have to admit there’s only so much melodrama I can take, but I can handle it in dosages. Besides, I think Antony (whether he identifies as a woman or a gay man) he certainly has cojones for opening up and writing about his turmoils, and be vulnerable. He seems like a gentle giant to me.

All in all a great concert!

Currently listening to Sarah Bettens (album: Never say goodbye)

When I woke up I was super excited. I had slept well, but felt like sleeping at least another hour. I was running a little late and quickly threw on jeans, a black shirt and white tie. At work I had arranged to leave early and come in later the next morning - so I could attend the fan meeting as well.

I arrived a little early at the venue in Eindhoven; traffic was lighter than I had anticipated. By the time my friend Petra arrived the restaurant at the Effenaar was crowded. We went in to see how long it would take for us to get a table (they were serving yummie vegetarian lasagna that evening…). Alas, waiting for a table would mean we would not be in time for the start of the show. So Petra and I had a bite at a little Mexican restaurant, called Tortillas, nearby. They were very accomodating: when I asked if it was possible to bring our dishes as quickly as possible because of a concert, the food arrived within 15 minutes. It was good, and I was hungry, and I managed to wolf it down (I’m really a slow eater). Then we lined up for the concert at the Effenaar.

Once inside it turns out it’s a partially seated concert, but I asked my friend if she was ok with not taking a seat: the front rows were already taken, and if a tall person sits in front of me I wouldn’t be able to see much of the stage. She agreed and followed me to a spot from where we had a great view at both the stairs (leading down to the exit) and the stage. Further to our right is where several people in wheel chairs had their places. Petra was wondering about the support act, and after about an hour it became apparent there wasn’t one.

Sarah and her musical partner in crime Tom Kestens walked on stage and the framed silver screen was showing a picture of Marvin Gaye. While Sarah and Tom took their places there was an audio quote by the late Marvin in which he spoke about his music. When that was over the spotlights came on and the duo played “Heard it through the grapevine“. That was followed by Ella Fitzgerald’s “Everytime we say goodbye”. The fun part for me was recognizing the artists from the pictures and the quotes. I had already browsed the innerweb for setlists, so I had a general idea of the songs she’s be playing

The rest of the set included: “Sitting on the dock of the bay” by Otis Redding (the audience whistled along - yes, I did too - much to Sarah’s amusement), “Just the two of us” by Bill Withers, “Long December” (my favorite song) by Counting Crows, “Do that to me one more time” by Captain and Tennille, “Three times a lady” by the Commodores, “Money money money” by ABBA, “Cry me a river” by Julie London, “Ne me quitte pas” by Jacques Brel, “Little red Corvette” by Prince (one of my favorites by this little guy), “At seventeen” by Janis Ian, “I will carry you” by Woodface (yes, that’s her brother Gert’s band).

Even though at moments it was a complete cheese fest, I was pleasantly surprised at some of her song choices (Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding?); Sarah’s a big Indigo Girls fan so I expected an IG song. Granted, the ladies never had a hit song on this side of the Atlantic (that I know of - unfortunately) so it’s not that strange. Sarah and Tom did play 3 new songs: “I can do better than you”, “Slow you down” and “Win me over” which she wrote for her girlfriend Stephanie, who was with us. (That immediately explained why Sarah suddenly switched from Dutch to English…) I couldn’t help but think “Crap, I am so not going to like that song”. But I did. There was no “I was lost but now I’m found” line in the song, which definitely helped. They also played “Shine“, which Sarah wrote for her (step)daughter Taylor.

Sarah’s voice really shone in this intimate setting. (If the venue had been any smaller, it could’ve been a swanky night club - sans smoke.) The last song was Bonnie Raitt’s “I can’t make you love me”. After that die hard fans lined up for autographs, a quick chat and a photo opportunity with Sarah. I think this is a regular Sarah Bettens post concert ritual  I found it a very interesting night - certainly from a musical point of view.

I was supposed to take my mom to a Beth Hart concert on December 31st, but she got sick. When a few months ago I incidentally saw she and her band were doing a theater tour and were scheduled to play in Eindhoven I got us tickets. Tonight’s show was sold out.

Beth looked radiant (mom noticed she gained some weight, and less looking like an addict) and was stoked to be playing. She kicked off the set with “Stinky feet”, followed by “Hiding under water” and “LA Song”.

She’s adapted several songs to be played in an acoustic setting, and I enjoyed it. Still: it was weird to be at a seated concert, when what you really want to do is sing along and move to the music. I think Beth and the band noticed the difference, too; Beth is the kind of performer who feeds off the energy of the audience. And with a seated audience the vibe is definitely different. The audience consists of people of all ages, who prefer substance over style. Speaking of which: Beth may not be MTV-pretty, she sure knows how the catch your eye. And I think some lady lovin’ ladies agree (there were plenty of those in the audience). By the way: did you know that Beth used to date this Geany character she sings about in “Get your shit together”? I remember Beth telling the audience (at another concert) that her brother was dating a woman who she thought was very wrong for him. When they broke up, she started dating her…

By the time the band started playing “Face Forward Son” the enigmatic singer had jumped off the stage and walked into the audience, before climbing onto the balcony. How cool is that? The New Year Eve concert in Amsterdam was my first time I heard them play Otis Redding’s “A change is gonna come”, and they played it again last night. I like me some Otis. They played some new stuff, too: “Beautiful Child” and “Congratulations”. The first is about if Beth and husband Scott would start a family (”It will be in rehab by the time it’s one”, joked Beth) this is the lesson she would give it. The second one was written after an ordinairy fight, and basically reflects Beth’s insecurities. She also shares with the audience that after more than 5 years of sobriety she fell off the wagon some 2 months ago. This is why I really like this woman: in addition to writing beautiful songs she is, above all, very human. Not pretend-perfect like Britney Spears once was, but flawed and very real.

After a short intermission, where the roadies slightly altered the set, the band came back and played in full blues/rock mode: “Good as it gets”, “Sick” and “Sky full of clover” (the latter being a request of a bunch of girls Beth met before the show).

The entire show lasted about 90 minutes, but it sure didn’t feel like it. And even though Beth and her band delivered, I can’t wait to see her play a regular show. And I’m going to take my mom along, too!

Whenever I read that there’s a limited availability, I can’t help but wonder if it’s a marketing stunt - you know: so that people buy tickets quicker. (You never know when it’s going too sell out, eh?)

I bought tickets to (yet another) Sarah Bettens a while ago, just as sales started, but I just found out that the concert is partially seated. Interesting. I’m stoked, tho. I haven’t been to any theater performances in quite a while - as I was constantly saving up for my trips this year… Having said that, I’m taking my mom to see Beth Hart shortly before we leave for Indonesia.