Trying to sneak in from the café to the mainhall of the Effenaar, to avoid waiting in line in the cold, wasn’t really the smart move we thought it was. We were politely asked to leave and stand in line outside again. ;-) (They even wanted to throw out Steve, who was wandering through the mainhall)  But it did pay off because we could have a small peek into the tour schedule of the band. It showed us that the band would be staying in the same hotel in Gent as we will. Humm...Interesting! ;-)

Pascal had started to become sick in Rotterdam and was spreading his germs among the other band-members. David was not really feeling well the day before (Leeuwarden), so we weren’t sure what to expect. I stood in the second row right in front of Pascal. That meant I could also clearly see what Jean-Yves was doing, which I couldn’t before. (Is this important? Maybe not for you, but... ;-)

What struck me was that he was putting black tape on the skin (head?) of the drum. Almost with each song he was cutting and pasting it over and over again. Is that some kind of drumming ritual, I’m not aware of? Or was it just that he had beaten through the head of the drum? Anyways, he was clearly occupied with it all. Also whenever Pascal was playing the double bass with a bow, he had to fasten the drums in order to stop the drums from making a noise by itself when he didn't need to play them.

Also quite enjoyable to observe Pascal, the vibrator man, play on his bass, especially during South Pennsylvania Waltz. He’s so into his instrument: his fingers going from string to string, his eyes closed, his body one with the beat. When the song ends, he opens his eyes, gives us a beautiful smile and starts cooling down his fingers by blowing on them.

This time Pascal was literally closer to the audience than the other shows. At one point even so close the guy in front of me thought the bass would crush his skull. The setlist was business as usual. Between For Heaven’s Sake and Black Soul Choir they didn’t go off stage, because David seemed to be very eager to play the next encore. He invited Pascal to sit on his chair, since Pascal was about to walk off for a minute to regain his strength. He only smiled and took his time to pick up his bass, blew on his fingers and gave us all he got.

For me, from even the first notes of Silver Saddle, they gave an incredible performance. Really magnifique, the best in my opinion. The sound was great, Dee was in full form, Pascal was giving more than 100%, Jean-Yves played as tight as black tape (;-), Steve modestly played his Calexico-solo’s and Elin adjusting quite well. ... I couldn’t stop smiling. (which must have looked kind of creepy. ;-)

Later I heard that the audience didn’t get in the mood (I didn’t look around), until after ‘Cept you. Strange. It reminds me of something at Nighttown, two guys (size XL) were standing in front of me, not moving an inch, but after the show they grasped the setlist out of someone hands as maniacs. Duh? So it seems not moving doesn’t necessarily equals not enjoying. ;-)

Oh, and someone must have said something to Elin about chewing the gum with her mouth open. Cause now she chewed with her mouth close. ;-> (Don’t ask me what the 'actual' difference is. ;-)

Since the venue is so small (capacity 500) the atmosphere was very intimate, even though it was a sell-out show. This usually made the former 16HP performances in the Effenaar a great success. But why it didn’t explode on Thursday, I haven’t got a clue. It could be that people are a bit averse to the new album. This is actually what went wrong for me at the Nijmegen show. But after hearing the same setlist a few nights in a row, I’m really fond of the new songs. (so, this is how propaganda works, hey? <grin>) And I think it was showing afterwards in the car. Listening to Secret South, I was drifting on a cloud of delight. What a night!

By Ing!