review Oct 30 radio gig VPRO-station amsterdam-NL

october 30, 2002 - amsterdam, netherlands - vpro radio club lek

About a third of the audience in the former Desmet-cinema, now Studio in Amsterdam left the premises after Manu Chao ended his thing. How glad I was having returned with a fresh beer for my to-be-sensation-of-that night! After Dave, sitting on a couch on stage with a gloomy smiling Travis next to him, had answered a couple of leary questions by the station-DJ, they got ready for playing. Dave started calling someone on his mobile, so it seemed, and held it to the mike. The meesagereocrder turned out to be the intro of the song! And bang, away they were. I couldn't stand stile fort the rest of the 20 minutes till midnight. A lot of rocknames crossed my mind, I already at the interview thought Dave's (low-nasal) voice (not his appearance!) reminded me of Zappa. I don't know -yet- whether Frank Z. was from Dayton Ohio.... Anyway, musicians don't lik to be compared, I guess, but there was a song where Phill Lynott, if anyone goes back that long a way, was on the stage right in front of me. Perfect show, even with all'm breaking chords and plugs plopping out and mike turning away. At some point a roady crawled over the floor behind Dave to replace a Microphone, and Dave actually sat on the man's back for a second while playing! Just joking, just like when he started out a stand-up comedian act in between songs. And another 1,2,3,4 ignited a smashing song. The lyrics are a chapter apart as they say in Holland, combined with the abrupt ending of some songs, it gives a very poetic feel.

After the show I had a nice talk with stand-in (?) drummer Travis, very nice guy, who confined me how he got to drumming and even fully autodidact.

Great night, must-buy CD!

-- Hans van Haastere

shows | tour diary | show previews and reviews | show pics | booking | posters | setlists

for questions or comments contact: webmaster@swearingatmotorists.com