Well, the Dutch tour is over and the German tour has begun. I found that I didn’t really have the time or energy to write this blog during the tour, so I am just going to share some impressions while I have it all fresh in my mind.
Luckily I did get quite a few video clips, both of performances and off stage as well, so keep an eye on YouTube and eventually my http://www.davenachextras.com site for those!
We got off to a slightly bumpy start with a live radio appearance that had to be cancelled because of a power outage. The only good thing was that I got to meet Henk, the lead singer from The Nits (a Dutch band that my friend Mark Moerman has raved about). He would have been a guest on the same show if it had happened.
From Amsterdam we drove to Zaandam for the first show. It was a Stadschouwburg (sort of a municipal theater or arts center run by the city), as were most of the venues on the Dutch tour. While it was a beautiful venue, it was far from full (again, this was the case for many of the shows in Holland). The company that put the tour together (AAA) was represented by two really nice young people, Sonia, who we met at the radio show, and Jerome, who ran sound for the first show. The show itself was a little sloppy as we were both feeling the effects of jet lag. We weren’t used to the Dutch audiences, who tend to be very polite and quiet (partly because they are listening very carefully). Having just played in the Northwest US, where Al has a very strong and loud following, it was a bit of an adjustment. There were a few hardcore fans, but many more people who only knew Al’s hits (which of course gives us to the opportunity to try to win some new hardcore fans). Our friend Ellen van de Berg came along for most of the shows in Holland and sang some backup and played tamborine (even donning a pink wig for ‘Red Toupee’). She knows many languages and was often a great help in translating things for us, and even introducing the shows. After the show we went back to Amsterdam where we would be based throughout most of our time in Holland.
At the second show, in Nijmegen, we met Tom, who would run sound for us at almost all of the other shows. This was great news, because he became a fan of the music and really understood the way that we wanted it to sound. Usually we have to deal with a different soundperson at every show, and the quality varies. So having Tom really helped!
One of the things that we decided early on was that it would be a good idea to try some songs that we had never played before. Al and I almost never rehearse and never really play the same show twice, but on a long packed tour like this, it is easy to fall into the habit of playing more less the same songs all the time and we didn’t want to get bored. We love to go out on a limb and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. We also brought back some songs that we have played together, but not recently or often, like ‘Bedsitter Images,’ ‘Sirens of Titen’ and ‘Marion the Chatelaine.’
In Leiden, we played in the oldest theater in Holland, built in 1707. It was a lovely place to play and we had a great crowd there.
The Amsterdam show was at a very famous (in Holland) club called Paradiso, in a former church. It was very full and had a great vibe. I got to play ‘Descartes in Amsterdam’ in Amsterdam! A number of friends from the UK turned up for some shows, and on the two days off that we had in Amsterdam I got to go on a canal boat and see a house where Descartes had lived, and even made it to a Spinoza exhibition in a philosophical library. My friend Mari Booker knows the city well, and served as an excellent tour guide.
Den Haag was another club gig and that turned into quite a rocking night. We did ‘Princess Olivia’ and had a nice loud sound system… In Barendrecht, the concert fell on the day of my son Django’s first birthday, so I played a song I had written for him. On the way to the show in Dokkum we stopped at a local radio station and did an interview and a song, and they filmed it for the local news and showed it that evening. There is a version on YouTube which you can find on http://www.davenach.eu. At Veenendaal, the last show of the Dutch tour, we played ‘Song on The Radio’ together for the first time ever! Met some of the folks from the Dutch fan club like Chris and Regina. We found really nice people everywhere we went, and AAA even gave us each a bottle of Barolo as a farewell gift! From here, on to Germany!
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