Seen Live: Daniël Lohues

As the British philosophers quartet Led Zeppelin once said, the song remains the same. Another year, another album and tour by Daniël Lohues. Together with Bernard Gepken (guitars, banjo, mandoline, vocals) and Guus Strijbosch (upright bass), he plays a large swath of his new album, “D”, and a section of his earlier work, while telling stories to tie it all together. It’s as simple as it’s great.

Unlike the past five years, I didn’t see the show in De Kleine Komedie in Amsterdam. I had a ticket (front and center), but moving to Leeuwarden made that a bit impractical. So, I returned the ticket, and scored two for the show in Leeuwarden, so I could take my Most Awesome Girlfriend Missus. Going in, she was skeptical, but by the second song, she got it. Lohues has a knack for writing songs that put things into a slightly different perspective (love, what’s the right translation of relativeren again?), he loves to play with language (Nedersaksisch in his case), and doesn’t shy from singing the praises of the rural parts of the country (and an occasional jab at the part west of the IJssel) — I can just about see how that happened.

There’s one thing I found amusing: when I saw Lohues in Apeldoorn and Amsterdam, he spoke Dutch. In Leeuwarden, he didn’t. It didn’t matter to me, but it tickled my funny-bone.

Seen live
Daniël Lohues with “D”, at Stadsschouwburg De Harmonie, Leeuwarden on April 5th, 2014
Set list
Achter ‘t huus / Weet da’k wat vergeten ben, mar ben vergeten wat / Liefzeer / Niks is meer weerd as vandaage / Joezölf / Ten oosten van de Iessel / Op ‘t platteland / Prachtig mooie dag // Op fietse / Ik haal mij ‘n hond op / Mis mien engel / Ha’k mar ‘n gitaar / Wat ze zee / Annelie / Jij Veurbij / Terecht bij joe / Elk mens die hef zich ‘n kruus te dragen // Allennig / Angst is mar veur eben, spiet is veur altied / Als de liefde mar blef winnen / Hier kom ik weg