The days of mothballs and inactivity are over for the battered old Patek squeezebox. Like a dog fastened to a tree when the family goes on vacation it was left behind when its master toured with Woven Hand this year. And on the Folklore tour with 16 Horsepower it was used only minimally and in a restrained manner. But this tour marks the bandoneon's glorious comeback from retirement. It's no longer used for adornment but once again to define and dominate songs. The opening swelling tones of American Wheeze, the fourth song on tonight's setlist, were greeted with cheers of recognition and the pumping bandoneon marked the real start of the show. At least for us.

Downstairs in the Harmonie's main auditorium people had gathered to watch the Scapino ballet perform. But that was a far as mixing modern dance and the music of David Eugene Edwards went tonight. No Blush and frogs tonight.
16 Horsepower performed upstairs in a sold-out room crammed with some 1.000 people. Even the steep stairs, designed it seemed to keep people with acrophobia away from the balcony to which they led, were as packed with people as a Dutch railway station platform in the autumn when scheduled trains are cancelled because of slippery wet leaves on the tracks. Viewed from the balcony the stairs seemed to go down into a swimming pool, into a sea of heads. And from the chairs closest to the stage in the first row of the balcony we bring you this report in a Statler and Waldorf style. That is at least how we felt.

Picture by Eljee.

The show started slowly, with a bluesy intro to Strong Man. Mainly only Edwards and his guitar. After the "Let there be no goddamn doubt" line Jean-Yves Tola made the sound (not personally) of a bell that in Dutch old-fashioned so-called "brown pubs" means that someone is buying a round of drinks for the whole place. Here it meant that Tola's and Pascal Humbert joined in. To provide the power, wonder workin' power.

Horse Head's arrangement was somewhat similar. Subdued, bluesy and slow, but without an explosion at the end. Slow Guilt Trot, with its hopping humpah-billy rhythm provided a change of pace and atmosphere. It's a song that would go down well (musically at least) during Carnival but it's not one of our favourites. And although this probably was the first time we had ever heard it played live since we started seeing 16hp live in 1996 it was no more than a curiosity.

Picture by Eljee.

American Wheeze and the view of the bandoneon at full wingspan really brought us back to those early days, early days for us. It was the first real great moment of the show. And from then on the momentum picked up. Prison Shoe Romp sounded fierce and fanatic. And that's good :-) The two Phyllis's provided the third highlight in a row. Ann seamlessly merged into Ruth. This stretched Siamese twin (and that was not meant to sound tasteless, but it probably does :-) with its underlying brooding atmosphere works wonderfully well. Harm's Way is another climax. After that someone screamed for Day Of The Lords at the top of his voice and he is rewarded with crowd favourite Black Soul Choir. There's a lot more screaming after Black Soul Choir. So much that one person who has been has screaming his head off all night is kindly requested to "shut the fuck up." A tight version of Haw with a prominent bass then finishes the set.

Which brings us to the encores. South Pennsylvania Waltz is impressive and compelling. The bass is so gorgeous. This song gives Pascal the chance to excel. Brimstone Rock is, well just that. David familiarly speaking in tongues, then a banjo-only intro (and accompanying clapping from the crowd) the mega-bass and driving drumming propel the song to a scorching finale. A staple in any 16hp set. The band is on a run then and with Dead Run (that wasn't meant to sound that obvious, but it probably does :-) they speed down the home straight.

David then returns alone for Straw Foot, the odd one out, the only post Low Estate song. As Phyllis Ann sounds so much like her sister we'll consider that a Low Estate song even if that is not correct in a trainspotter's eyes. In the band-version Straw Foot is "too easy", 16hp by numbers, they could write and play it in their sleep, it's two-dimensional. But played solo, stark, it attains an extra dimension. Pascal and Jean-Yves then rejoin David. And they go for the kill with For Heaven's sake, their The-Lord-Is-Good über-march. Und verdammt nog mal, that sounded good.

Picture by Eljee.

For the third time 16hp march off, and this time it is final. As Tarantella's "A chi sa dove Sara" is played over the PA we ponder tonight's events. The show was good, but not superior. We're hoping for that in one of the upcoming shows. Up in the balcony we felt a bit distanced from the show. Logically, there is an actual physical distance. But there was also this strange feeling that the setlist of this show could have been copied from a 1996 show. But the 1996 "nostalgic" setlist and the 2003 feeling weren't quite synchronous. This feeling didn't surface during the 2002 Folklore tour when they were playing new material, material that they were into heavy at that time.

Picture by Eljee.

But back to the 1996 future. The songs may have remained the same, the present-day atmosphere is completely different. The band now is a lubricated machine, they play their songs professionally for a large crowd in a clinical and spotless venue. And all that was way different in 1996. We're exaggerating somewhat, for contrast's sake. But seeing a 1996 16hp show now is quite a different experience compared to hearing the same songs seven years ago. But it is still a great experience.

Statler: Boo!
Waldorf: Boooo!
Statler: That was the worst thing I've ever heard!
Waldorf: It was terrible!
Statler: Horrendous!
Waldorf: Well it wasn't that bad.
Statler: Oh, yeah?
Waldorf: Well, there were parts of it I liked!
Statler: Well, I liked a lot of it.
Waldorf: Yeah, it was GOOD actually.
Statler: It was great!
Waldorf: It was wonderful!
Statler: Yeah, bravo!
Waldorf: More!
Statler: More!
Waldorf: More!
Statler: More!

by the TYFC-Muppets

This show was also reviewed by the local newspaper, Leeuwarder Courant.