Strasbourg is a sure winner for 16 Horsepower. It was the third or fourth time the band came to play at La Laiterie - the venue is not more than a concrete box, but it does have some charm in the interior and the sound in the hall was excellent.
Another special factor at La Laiterie is the mix of French and German people, as Germany is very near, giving it a little international flair. It was only about 2/3 full, 600 people, probably due to two factors: imminent exams for the student folks and much higher ticket price than the '98 show. That said, FF 100 is still very acceptable for a concert. I'm still wondering who sponsored the 1998 concert - a ticket price of FF 27 was practically nothing and at the time we got the excellent opening act of DAAU who actually stole the show... but now back to the year 2000.

A very good friend of mine, who is a semi-professional concert photographer, had some pictures signed by DEE before the show. DEE just about rushed out of the tour bus, signed the pictures, and got back in - there you have it, he's about to become a rock star! Jean-Yves Tola was obviously in quite the opposite situation: he came out of the band's bus recognized by nobody but me (I was tempted to say "welcome to Europe!" but quickly rejected that idea).

The Czars were a very appropriate opening act. Without blowing anyone away (which is obviously not their goal), the lead singer's voice impressed everyone in the room and the group did a very good job of getting the audience in the mood. This was the last show of the tour for the Czars - they briefly mentioned how great it was to open for 16 HP and how grateful they are to them. People were attentive to the music and it was altogether the perfect opening act. (Although I must say DAAU in 1998 blew me away a lot more - but that's an entirely different story.) During this opening act the room was actually limited to about 300 people - a black cloth curtain blocked the area behind the soundboard. Before 16 HP got on they raised that curtain, as there apparently were more people than the venue people had initally thought. Always a good sign! 16 HP are greeted at 22.00 with cheers and applause.

The dark and unusual sounds of Silver Saddle floated through the hall and there was a feeling of "Now what's that?" in the room for those who didn't have "Secret South". As soon as DEE starts picking and strumming it was much more familiar territory, although this unexpected introduction was a very welcome variation, masterfully executed by the band.

Altogether the show appeared more professional than ever: some songs seemed to flow on into each other and short improvisations by DEE helped to build a bridge between other songs. The bass playing deserves an extra credit: more powerful, contrasted and present than ever. The bass lines at the start of "Clogger" and of course "For Heaven's Sake" shook the house. Elin Palmer's violin playing was almost inaudible and left me quite under-whelmed. Her percussion playing on "Straw Foot" on the other hand contributed a lot to the song.

I heard the audience was very disturbing and talkative at other shows on this tour - not so in Strasbourg! We know it when we hear a good band, and we shut up! DEE said not only "Thank you for clapping!" but also "Thanks for being friendly to us!", and he once stood up from his seat to pick up a guitar pick (note the profound play on words) - file under "relatively excessive stage activity".

The band left the stage after only 50 minutes - whazzupwithat? They came back with "Strong Man" and "Flowers In My Heart", two songs that used to be rarities in the band's repertoire. "Black Soul Choir" and "For Heaven's Sake", the show's closing tunes, were fresher and more energetic than ever. The energy was really breathtaking and made the previous Laiterie gigs sound quite whimsy - although I am certainly not the only one to miss the days when DEE would play a few solo tunes from the "Low Estate" album (forget what they're called...). The show was quite exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes only, making it the shortest Laiterie gig so far. Very compact. It was all the band had to say - and we were very far from complaining.

By a DAAU-fan.