Sunday, Nov.7th, 013, Tilburg, NL

It takes a while to get warmed up after a short night, an early rise, an hour's
drive and no beer. But still, I did enjoy the first band of this "Messin' With
The Blues" festival in one of the best venues for music in Holland, even though
they started at the early time of 3pm this afternoon. This Dutch band, called
Laundromat did their best to imitate Rory Gallagher. Of course nobody can, but
still, they did a great job. Strange to watch them, for there was one too many :
a separate lead singer, who was good, but didn't at all sound like Rory, plus a
separate leadguitar player, who DID sound like Rory, specially on his mandolin
at Goin' To My Home Town. After that I WAS warmed up, and so were my two
companions, a Dutch /Australian friend on vacation here and a nice lady-friend
from my local bowling club.

The 013 is a great place to go to and has a very interesting program every year,
espacially for symphonic/prog music. This "festival" covered the main big hall,
plus another Little Hall. The big one is amfi-theatre shaped and holds about
800-1,000 people. The small one some 150 at most. Other extras are: cheap
tickets for entrance and parking ($25 entrance and $2 parking all nite at the
adjacent parking garage!), plus food and drinks for very reasonable prices.

But still, one thing missing was a crowd. I roughly guessed there were some 400
people at most. And no matter how friendly appreciative and laid-back everyone
was, they were a bunch of zombies, mostly. Not only with Dan, but with all bands
I saw.

After Laundromat we saw another Dutch band called The Strikes. Very interesting!
Great harmonica-player/singer, with a fat, thick swampy sound like old CCR and
ZZ Top.
After that while most of the audience went to the little hall to see the next
band and my friends sat chatting in the bar, I sneaked into the Big Hall and
found myself all alone, apart from two sound guys at the mixing table and Dan &
Co. on stage. That was friggin'awesome! This soundcheck only lasted for 15
minutes or so, which went as follows: Dan gesturing a lot with his arms,
everyone bangs, strums or sings a few lines and that's it. During that Ken said
"can you put the guitars down and the voices up, for I can't hear the singing"
to which Dan replied "hey, that's why this is a fuckin' sound check, yanno!"
All the while there was music playing off the stage, Neil Young, so Dan said "as
much as I like Neil Young, could you turn that music down please". Mauro later
on told me that that inspired him/them to do Helpless at the end of their gig!
After that they did a great version of It's All Over Now (which wasn't in the
show) and the bigger part of Mystery. I just sat there quietly, enjoying my own
private concert, hating myself for not having brought my camera and not owning a
minidisk recorder.
After an ok they vanished into the dressing room. Too big a place, too many
Security guys, so I couldn't sneak in.

Hung out with my friends after that and waited till it was time for the Real
Thing.
First thing when I saw them when the stage lights went on was laugh: Dan, Keith
and Ken were wearing exactly the same clothes as the year before in Breda! Deja
Vu all over again, fo'sho!
Same thing went for the short gig: The usual stuff, but no banter in between and
I got a feeling like "let's cram as many songs as possible into this one hour",
kinda like their Rockpalast tv show last year. But still, they rocked again,
looking in very good spirit(s) and having fun. Mauro did his best to wreck his
drum kit, Ken was fabulous on his Gibson (the ONLY Gibson in the entire
festival!, rest was all Strats), Keith's sound was real nice and way too loud,
like he was another lead guitarist, doing his best to fuck up Dan's sound by
pushing his foot-buttons. Hilarious! Meanwhile, the zombies in the hall were
just standing there, politely clapping (when there was time inbetween songs).
Couldn't refrain from laughing when during the chorus of Railroad Steel a woman
in a wheelchair was being pushed across the dance-floor... dunno why, just my
warped sense of humor I guess...

Highlite of the day (for me) was their last (yes.. last) song: Neil Young's
Helpless.
Just Awesome. The only other version of it I know was last year in Belgium
(thanks Hugo for the cam shots!) Gotta throw in some politics I'm afraid, for
halfway thru, before a chorus Dan said "I'm an American. We just had an
election. This song says it all......" wow..

Apart from being awesome it also was the last song. So, not only was this the
shortest gig I saw, but also the first one after dozens of others that did NOT
have Keep Your Hands in it!! Later on Mauro told me they finally dropped it
cause they are fed up with it.
His words, not mine! (but I tend to disbelieve it...)

During one of my toilet visits I had noticed a concert poster on the wall
billing an upcoming band called The Mauros, which I thought was funny and
intended to nick it later on, but alas someone else beat me to it: Mr. Magellan
himself! damn it!!

Before I finally caught them we first watched perhaps the most succesfull
concert of the day (apart from.... of course): Bernard Allison, yes indeed, son
of Luther.
His voice is an exact copy of his old man, so is some of his playing, but he
adds a lot more "Real Motha For Ya" funky stuff, plus a heavy Stevie Ray Vaughan
twang (as I told you... it was a Fender Festival!) Even with his Texas Hat he
kinda resembled Stevie, from a distance.

When the final band got on, Ten Years After, I finally caught my Sats and that
was the funniest part of the day for me. Keith and Bernard were there, Mauro, a
very funny Scottish guy, Martin, who was their driver and also I finally got
hold of Mick Brown.
The first issue was to get me a tour t-shirt. I planned on buying one earlier
on, but the merch table had to be cleared out for Ten Years After, bummer! They
also had Mothballs and Ken's new solo cd on sale, all 15 euros each. But it had
all left in the van to the hotel and... that was the next issue: nobody knew
where the hotel was!
This time Mauro DID have his key, but he only knew his room number, not the name
of the hotel. (last year it was the other way round!). Finally someone was
found where the hotel was, but by then they all had vanished and Martin got
kinda nervous, for he found out that tomorrow's gig was not just Germany, but
Hamburg, Germany, which is 600 kms!
So he wanted to leave.... Mick went searching for Stray Sats and told me to stay
put, arresting everyone I saw. He also invited me to join them to the hotel to
get my t-shirt, but I was wise for once. Knowing them and knowing myself I just
knew I wouldn't be back before closing time, so instead I gave him some money
and my address and made a small prayer that this Crocus Jerk won't lose the
note!! Great fun.

When they finally left (Martin: "Keeping this lot together is like teaching a
class of mentally retarded children") I was just in time to see the bigger part
of the final act: Ten Years After.

What do you get when you see CCR without John Fogerty, The Doors without Jim
Morrisson, The Pogues without Shane McGowan and.... no, I'm not going to say
anything about Ronnie Van Zant, for that's a different story, er, kinda sorta.

Ok, so it was three quarters of the old band, ok, Rick Lee did his Classic drum
solo The Hobbit (though only 5 minutes) but no matter how good this
leadsinger/guitarist was, it was nowhere near Alvin Lee. His voice was totally
different (hmm... haven't I said this before about another band?) but his guitar
was even more: yet another Fuckin' Fender!!!
When you want to imitate someone, at LEAST get the same guitar!
This lowered the band into a third rate Tribute Band, other than an evolution of
the old band, but still the music was very acceptable.

And I finally discovered what all the audience had come for: They had been
quietly waiting all day to hear a raped version of I'm Going Home......... Yes
indeed, they even tapped their feet and clapped in time during the song and
seemed to recognize the tune!!
I wonder what Ol' Alvin thinks of this when he hears his Chipmunks doing his
stuff.

We also went home after this. Even though I had some mixed feelings about the
music most important was: (we got what we went for, well, apart from the
t-shirt!): we had a great day out, with lots of fun, lots of nice talks, Too
Much Alcohol (hey! they didn't play that!), my annual shot of Sats and for a
change: NO traffic jams or road works on the way home.

Check out the Bernard Allison Band when you get the chance. You won't be sorry.

sorry for ramblin' again,
Hans













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