Seen Live: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

Posted & filed under Life, Music, Seen live.

When Bruce Springsteen announced his 2013 European tour, I had already bought a ticket to see Iron Maiden two days after his show in The Netherlands. My first thought was: well, if I go see Springsteen on Sunday and Maiden on Tuesday, you can saw off my legs just above the knees on Wednesday. ‘Cause I’d have killed them. So, I explored alternate options, and secured a ticket for Springsteen’s show at Wembley Stadium, a week before the Dutch show.

Staying in London for a few days isn’t bad, either. I went to three amazing museums: the British Museum (for me, the highlights were the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon, the Egyptian collection including the Rosetta stone, and it’s amazing Great Court), the Natural History Museum (I loved the building), and the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. Goshdarnit, what an amazing collection.

Furthermore, I tried to do some record and book shopping, but my heart wasn’t in it. So, mostly, I wandered around, not doing anything special. Well, apart from seeing The Boss and his E Street Band in Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.

“Got the radio on, and I'm just killin’ time…”

It was bloody terrific. Even the epic queueing to get in. Once inside the stadium I found a perfect spot about halfway down the field. Three songs in, Springsteen started playing requests, including “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”, “This Hard Land”, and—joy of joys—“Lost in the Flood”. Then, he gave us a choice: “We can play more requests all night, or we can play the full Darkness on the Edge of Town album.” Easy choice. Darkness all the way, as it’s probably my favourite Springsteen album. There weren’t any big surprises left after that, although the way he closed the show was impressive. After a show of more then three hours, he sent the 15-headed monster of an E Street Band off, and stood all alone in front of some 72.000 fans, with just an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, and played “Thunder Road”. Majestic.


Bruce Springsteen — Thunder Road

(Also, I don’t want to hear any more complaints about the Amsterdam ArenA being an awful, echoey bathtub. Wembley Stadium, that’s an echoey bathtub.)

There was more epic queuing to get out of the stadium and onto the underground. Thousands of people all heading the same way, in a calm and orderly fashion. I guess I don’t want to know how that’ll work out in Nijmegen, but I guess I’ll find out. You see, while going back to my hotel, it started to itch. Sure, I had a good reason for seeing The Boss in London instead of Nijmegen, but earlier that week, I was told that June 22nd was a Saturday. So I might just as well … couldn’t I? Shouldn’t I? Monday morning, back at work, I was talking to my esteemed colleague Wilbert—he’s going to Nijmegen this Saturday—about the show and how I was doubting whether or not I should throw caution to the wind and just go. Then he said he had a spare ticket …

Seen live
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band at Wembley Stadium, London, UK on June 15th, 2013.
Set list
Land of Hope and Dreams / Jackson Cage / Radio Nowhere / Save My Love / Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) / This Hard Land / Lost in the Flood / Wrecking Ball / Death to My Hometown / Hungry Heart / Badlands / Adam Raised a Cain / Something in the Night / Candy’s Room / Racing in the Street / The Promised Land / Factory / Street of Fire / Prove it All Night / Darkness on the Edge of Town / Shackled & Drawn / Waitin’ on a Sunny Day / The Rising / Light of Day // Pay Me My Money Down / Born to Run / Bobby Jean / Dancing in the Dark / Tenth Avenue Freeze-out / Twist and Shout // Thunder Road

Quote of the Day

Posted & filed under Quote of the Day.

Last Thursday I was walking down Regent Street, when, to my surprise, I saw a sign in the window of the Apple Store saying Neil Gaiman would be conversing about his upcoming new novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, in about an hour’s time. With Neil Gaiman being one of my favorite wordsmiths and my feet being in a desperate need for a bit of rest, I walked in to see if there would be a seat left, figuring there wouldn’t be, beacuse, well, it’s Neil freaking Gaiman, in London. Who would want to miss that? But, lo and behold, there were seats available, so I sat down, read my book for a bit, and then watched Neil Gaiman talking about and reading a bit from his upcoming new novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lande. It was a neat little event. The guy’s smart and funny and writes amazingly clever stuff. I can’t wait for The Ocean to arrive and sit down with it and read it.

Coincidently, as I write this, an email notice pops up saying it’s been shipped.

Why I’m writing all this is to provide some context. I’ve just finished reading what Amanda Palmer, who is mr. Gaiman’s wife, wrote about the why and how of The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Apart from making me all gooey and going “ahhh” and stuff, it contained this one line that I totally need to share and archive for posterity, because, well, don’t we just all want someone who says that to you?

whatever it is, we’ve infected each other, and the only cure is more cowbell.

Amanda Palmer, the ocean at the end of the lane (a book & marriage review)

London calling

Posted & filed under Life.


Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band — London Calling

After all this, won’t you give me a smile?

Seen Live: Muse

Posted & filed under Music, Seen live.

Muse (Blackout)
The only decent picture I took.

Epic.

What else is there to say?

Just epic. Muse have a reputation of being a great live band with an epicly massive show, and having seen them live, I can only say that it’s true. It’s a awesome show, and it’s bloody epic. Even when you’re sitting in a echoey bathtub like the Amsterdam ArenA with a clear view of half of the (super)massive video wall.

But don’t take my word for it. Check out some of the links below.

What you can take my word for, however, is that I had a lovely time. Great show, and a great time with some of my esteemed colleagues.

Seen live
Muse + Biffy Clyro at Amsterdam ArenA, on June 4th, 2013
Set list
Intro — The 2nd Law: Unsustainable / Supremacy / Supermassive Black Hole / Panic Station / Bliss / Resistance / Animals / Man with a Harmonica » Knights of Cydonia / Dracula Mountain (Lightning Bolt cover) / Sunburn / Butterflies & Hurricanes / Monty Jam / Feeling Good (Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley cover) / Follow Me / Liquid State / Madness / House of the Rising Sun » Time Is Running Out / New Born » Ashamed outro // B-Stage: Unintended / Blackout / Guiding Light / Undisclosed Desires // The 2nd Law: Unsustainable / Plug In Baby / Survival // The 2nd Law: Isolated System / Uprising / Starlight

Seen Live: Multiple Voice

Posted & filed under Music, Seen live.

Most Thursdays at lunch, I discuss my plans for the weekend with my collegue Marjolijn, as she’s one of those people that apparently don’t do Fridays. Apart from seeing Lebbis that Friday, I didn’t have any. So she suggested that if I had time on Sunday, Multiple Voice (the choir she’s in) had a gig.

Since I didn’t have anything planned that Sunday …

Let me preface the next bit by admitting that I know absolutely nothing about choirs singing a capella. Or singing in a choir. Or what to expect at a gig of an a capella choir. Or writing about these things.

I liked it. I think I did, anyway. Some bits I liked more than others—I seemed to prefer the pop music over the traditional African repertoire and the jazzy bits. I think. God, I don’t know. I might as well shut up before I say something stupid and Marjolijn doesn’t talk to me anymore. So to give you an idea of what it was like, here’s an older recording of them doing Billy Joel’s “Honesty”

It was like that. Except when it wasn’t.

Seen live
Multiple Voice heeft Lentekriebels, at De Muzerie in Zwolle, on June 2nd, 2013
Set list
California Dreamin’ (The Mammas & The Pappas) / Billy Joel Medley (Uptown Girl / The Longest Time) / If Music (Henry Purcell) / In This Heart (Sinéad O’Connor) / Medley (Don’t Stop Me Now / Stop in the Name of Love) (Queen / The Supremes) / A tu lado / Bésame mucho (Consuelo Velázquez) / How Deep Is Your Love (Bee Gees) // Sakura / Let’s Do It (Cole Portrer) / What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong) / Sesitho Bonga / Atoelombe / Thinga singu / Honesty (Billy Joel) / God Only Knows (Beach Boys) / Somebody Loves Me (George Gershwin)