Concerto 1: The Stereophonics

Ohhhh yeahhh.....!

I decided to do some things in my life that I enjoy a lot even though other people might not want to join because they don't enjoy this as much ;-).
Things that make my life pleasurable are (amongst other things): listening to live music, seeing a bit of the world and thinking about the (non-)meaning of life.
So to escape work and hanging in front of the tv, I decided to book some concerts, join the philosophy lecture series at the uni and go (together with the "kipjes") to Barcelona!!

Two weeks ago I went to Amsterdam - Heineken Music Hall - to see the Stereophonics! I hadn't been to a concert for quite a while, but I assumed it would be similar to the performances on festivals as Lowlands. The Stereophonics are quite famous, so I decided to go there an hour before the doors opened. However, when I got there there were only about 20 people hahahaha :-). Luckily I took my good friend Dostoevsky (The Idiot) and I chatted a bit with the people around me (although they were a bit...weird.. even more so than me). When the doors opened about 10 more people were there (hehe) and some people were crazy enough to still run to the stage! :-O
I walked a bit around, put my bag and jacket in the cloakroom, and still managed to stand in the third row. I could almost touch the band members! ;-)
I was a bit disappointed at first with the crowd. The support act was quite bad, but no one really tried to make anything out of it either. When the Stereophonics started playing everything slowly started getting better though :-) It's just that I'm quite used to the festival atmosphere, where everyone is extremely enthusiastic, screaming along with all the songs and jumping up and down at every opportunity. It felt like now everyone needed a bit more time to get into the right mood. I must shamefully admit that I was also not able to sing along with all the songs. I missed quite some albums of them, so I wasn't really up to date ;-) But they were really really great.. They were playing well, interacting with the crowd, making a few jokes, it made me happy. I think the singer has an amazing voice (which always sounds a bit hung-over haha), so when he came up all alone (after "the end") singing "Maybe tomorrow" it was so beautiful!! (And no I wasn't clouded by his good looks :P) The guy has soul in his voice..
On Tuesday I heard from Francesco that he also went to see them, but then in Brussels.. Hehe funny.
So it was good experience nr. one ;-) Although I expected a bit more fanaticism from the fans. Let's see what happens tomorrow at the concert of One Republic. I wonder whether I will be joined by lot's of 16 year old girls or not ;-)
I was quite happy with the Heineken Music Hall also.. The place is not too big (last experience was the Kuip in Rotterdam, that's huge). 5000 vs. 50,000 people is quite a difference!! I'm really excited for tomorrow, cause then I'm going to the Melkweg, which is even smaller!

The lecture series don't start untill Monday (although I accidentally already had a look last Monday, but strangely enough nobody was there hehehe). And the kipjes-weekend is not for another month. Just the thought of going away and be a bit crazy, flirting with Spanish guys and catching a bit of sun (hopefully) is already amazing!

Well.. it's time to get back to serious writing now :-(

xx