September 9, 2009 (that’s 9-9-9)

So September rolled around and I had not yet been to a single concert! Unlike previous trips to Europe where I found that tickets were available right up to the day of the show, summer in Holland was sold out! So when Coldplay announced a show in Holland I was mildly interested, but when they said Bat for Lashes and the Flaming Lips were openers, and I was there! I bought a ticket online in Dutch and printed it at home. On the day of the show I hopped a train to Nijmegen which is about 80 minutes on the train. Once in Nijmegen, in true Dutch style of simple solution to an often complex problem, they had about 50 buses waiting outside the train station marked “POP CONCERT” as the destination. For a fee of 5 Euros for the round trip paid upfront, you immediately got a direct bus from train to show and back. Clean fast and simple!

On my way in the venue I got tossed out for my recording gear. I had them out in open, thought it was legal here.. Second try, no problem…its a old refined skill..The show was at a public place called Goffertpark with just a chain link fence up. A few hundred people enjoyed the concert from the other side, complete with big screens and secondary speakers as you see in my first pic above. Very nice outdoor venue though, so many places could benefit from the Goffertpark model.

First up was Bat for Lashes. That's a curious name for what really is just the girl in white onstage.  She writes everything, plays everything, pays these peeps to show up on game day. I really enjoyed her. Bjork minus the craziness. 30 minute set or so, time for food and drink. I get to the food stands and everything is just 1 Euro!! I did a dance, i sang a bit, and even took a picture, that even a beer was 1 euro! Well stupid me, it was not Euros, but a voucher system they use here. So 1 token was about 2 or 2.50 euro depending on the volume you purchased.  So still reasonable for a concert to pay 2.50 euro for normal 12 ounce beer. Well I was super broke and bought a pretzel and 2 beers. Than as I eat my feast I notice the kids are running around getting dozens of cups from the ground and taking them to a booth. Apparently every 10 cups you recycle, they give you a token! SO i joined the kids, got myself about 6 more beers and a burger and fries  and even found a token in my pocket the next morning. I mean come on Dutchies, it was so easy you to get free Heineken by picking up after you lazy fools! So later the Bus>Train>Tram>Bike home was fueled by another great simple solution for getting people to buy your food and drink, and recycle as well.

Up next was the Flaming Lips! Now I love these guys, but 4 years and about a dozen shows, there were few surprises unfortunately. They did rock the house as usual. 

A live Flaming Lips show is a party and a spectacle. The pictures Above and Below both are of groups of fans they plucked out in the afternoon to suit up and dance like fools onstage for the rest of us. Really solid but really short. Just 45 minutes. I recorded it, but I doubt it turned out very good. I was not in an ideal spot for recording, and out of the 65,000 or so people there, only maybe 5000 of us really cared to see the Lips. The rest were beer drinking Dutchies. Speaking of beer drinking. They have guys with kegs strapped to their backs walking around through the crowd refilling beers…as long as you have your token, which i did!

 Do You Realize

That everyone you know…Someday… will die -
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

By request of Coldplay they finish with a cover of Somewhere over the Rainbow in true Flaming Lips Wayne Coyne’s wretched voice hitting those notes but making it all so sweet. It was an attempt to keep the rain away…didn't work.

Coldplay took the stage..my recording gear died, my camera died…no charge left…long day, bad planning, I guess that's what happens when I don't go to concerts for months! Oh well I enjoyed Coldplay, made my way towards the buses, the train, and finally the bike home…great night!

Here are some videos links…they sound pretty horrible, so turn down your speakers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFcxa5L5t3M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DdOvRM4nTw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR7dGD_LNHU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVHyPcqc0-g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-5Vbg6mZBY

10 Years ago on the other 9-9-99  I was at a Phish concert in Vancouver BC. One of the oddest wave of thoughts went through my head on the train home of all the things that happened in my life in the 10 years between those two concerts.

Pretty dang good…

-Colin