For the eight time I saw Wende put on a great show yesterday. It was the opening night of her three-night stand at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the program promised a search for the most beautiful love story, packaged in a theatrical mosaic of music, images, text and song.
As I saw her previous shows several times and will see her new material later this year on her "pop tour", this one-off show called Chaos ticked all my boxes.
I'll freely admit that the whole storyline went past me. But I still enjoyed every second of it: the instrumental interludes that allowed for costume changes; the the orchestral support and how she introduced every player by name; the songs (a mix between her established repertoire and some other songs I couldn't place); how she was still able to charm my pants off while wearing a large sweater and ugly green boots; how the lighting really enhanced the mood; and, of course, the venue.
Whenever I saw a concert from the Concertgebouw on tv, I always thought that one day I should go and see a concert there, as it looked absolutely stunning and it is said that the acoustics are superb. So I added it to my list of 100 Things, and I must say, it is stunningly beautiful and sounds good too.
Seen live: Wende with JeugdOrkest Nederland conducted by Jurjen Hempel, Bart Wolvekamp (piano), Guus Bakker (bass), Arthur Lijten (drums) and Ruud Breuls (trumpet) at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on August 7, 2009.
