About a week ago, my brother called me to remind me that I said I would help out at this tribute night thing he is involved with. It didn’t show up in my agenda. On the one hand, I can imagine me agreeing to help out. For one, that’s the kinda guy I am, and secondly, I was there last year, when they had a Pink Floyd tribute, and that was quite enjoyable and involved lots of beer. Because I spend a lot of time exploiting my bar tending skills. On the other hand, I can imagine why it didn’t show up in my agenda: it’d be a U2 tribute night. And, frankly, I don’t like U2.
I blame Bono. Insufferable pompous ass with his Jesus-complex. Granted, I can tolerate most of the older U2 songs, One being my favorite of them, but everything I heard them do after Discotheque bores me to death. That, and I can’t stand Bono.
But Crystal Dream isn’t U2, and their singer Marcel isn’t Bono. That makes things a lot better. And as their take on the material has a heavier edge, which makes it even better than the real thing.
(See what I did there? That’s funny because U2’s guitar player calls himself The Edge, and they got a song called “Even Better than the Real Thing”. Bad jokes, how I love ’em.)
As a bonus, there was also a support act, called Route 66½. They played a set of rock songs from the sixties and seventies, including a pretty fine version of “Child in Time”.
So, despite me not liking U2 very much and the trains being a pain in the ass—the Dutch railway system and snow go together like two totally incompatible things—I had a great time last night.
- Seen live
- Crystal Dream plays U2 + Route 66½ in De Schuur, Hoogmade on February 4th, 2012