London Calling Paradiso, Amsterdam, 24/25 november 2006
So. On Friday I arrived in Amsterdam at 5 o'clock. Moniek and Anneke were already there, Ines and Franzi just arrived and after we gave Anneke her birthday presents (I made her a mix cd) we had a 'decent' meal at McDonalds we went to Paradiso. First band we saw were The Holloways
They were okay, I really love their songs and they were adorable but somehow it wasn't as great as I expected. Just before the end of their show we went down to the big hall for Little Man Tate.
Which was actually a bit weird. There was a huge moshpit and they were so.. macho! I never knew they were a band like that. Anyway, some of their songs are still pretty good but in general it was a bit boring. And all these big hand gestures, haha!
yeah that's my amazing drawing
In the meanwhile we had some drinks, discussed the English guys next to us who turned out be Belgian (whoops) and posed for an amazing group shot
taken by the immensely talented Laura!
The Rifles played a pretty decent set and just did their "thang".
After The Rifles we went upstairs to the small hall where Milburn. I expected them to be like LMT a bit, and in a way they were but this was much more fun! There was huuuge stage invasion and their singer is just a little college boy who looks like my roommate expect he was smaller, fatter and has more hair.
The Young Knives played next and I managed to get almost in the front row (just some small girls in front of me) and it was great! The House Of Lords is probably one of the coolest people around :D and their songs sounded great live. I wasn't too sure about their setlist though, they played 'In The Pink' somewhere in the middle of their set and it just didn't really fit in. Afterward this English guy yelled "STOP CLAPPING, THAT WAS A LAME SONG!" lol.
And then: Klaxons! A moment many people had been waiting for. I wasn't that excited (yet), because I do like them but I haven't been obsessed with them or anything. Anneke and I were standing near the balcony and we planned to stay there but man, when I heard those first lines of The Bouncer I nearly exploded! So I went down and mingled with the crowd and danced like Klaxons and glowsticks were the only things worth living for. After a while I managed to find Ines, Franzi and Moniek back
And then we were tired, ha. We sat for a like half an hour and then went into the small hall. Drunken and drugs taking people all around, hm. We just made some arty farty pictures
And finally Five O'Clock Heroes started around 2 AM. They were also drunk and maybe also did some drugs so they screwed up a bit, not really musically though but their guitars weren't really in tune. They did remember to dedicate a song to Anneke though! He said: "This song is for the birthday girl Anneke, but she's probably in the other room anyway" aww that was so sweet!
After their gig we went home, but since we had to walk all the way to the station (where Moniek took the train) and take the nightbus we weren't asleep until 4:30 or something.
NEXT DAY!
Woke up around noon, had some brunch (couldn't call that breakfast anymore!) and after everyone had taken a shower it was already really late by the time we were finally in Amsterdam, around 4 in the afternoon. We met up with Moniek at the Leidseplein and had dinner at an Italian restaurant. Went to Paradiso, waited in the queue, got in, blabla and after a while we were finally allowed to go into the big hall. Jamie T would be the first to play and we wanted to get good spots and erm, yes we got them.
credits to Franzi (of course)
Waited for an hour where we entertained ourselves with silly drawings. Jamie T and his band finally started at 8 and he was pretty brilliant. I listened to his Electric Proms set a LOT of times and many things sounded almost exactly the same ("Hi I'm Jamie T and these are The Pacemakers") but who cares. Too bad the crowd was lame, nobody danced or sang along, pah. And too bad he didn't play Northern Line but I really liked Operation!
VIDEO! (Pacemaker)
Anneke and I went upstairs again to sit on the balcony where spent pretty much the rest of the evening. Ines, Franzi and Moniek were watching The Pigeon Detectives but we only heard them from the screen (yes, heard - we couldn't see it). Guillemots played at 9 and they were quite lovely again. A bit misplaced maybe but they seemed to be feeling alright.
VIDEO! (Annie Let's Not Wait)
About 10 minutes before they were supposed to be finished I went to the small hall to get a spot for The Maccabees. It was already packed! Fortunately I found a way to get in and them I almost bumped into.. Jamie T :D I was a bit shy and embarrassed but I told him his show was great and asked him for a picture:
Haha I still think it's funny. He was nice. After a while The Maccabees started and I really liked them! So much energy and great songs! Too bad I couldn't really see them well because I was still quite in the back but it wasn't that bad. And yes their singer definitely looks like Ed Larrikin!
Went back to Anneke and saw BloodBromheads Jacket. They were amazing, maybe even better than last time. Being on the balcony gave a great view of the very entertaining crowdsurfers, including Tim (singer) who totally re-did his last time scene with the falling down and blood, without the broken guitar this time but he took care of that later :D it was so funny! Even though that's probably not the right word to use.
^ English girl who was on stage SIX FRIGGIN TIMES (yes we counted). Annoying little brat.
VIDEO! (Breed - Nirvana cover) yes, music critics of Holland: Breed! Oor wrote that they played On A Plane and 3voor12 said Territorial Pissings (or the other way around), know your classics people, amateurs.
Heard the 1990s on screen, they sounded good. Would liked to have seen them, but yeah well I didn't. The Automatic was pretty shitty, they reminded me a lot of Lostprophets in a way! But with a different image or something. Anyway I left near the end and saw Mumm-Ra with Moniek. For some reason I thought their music was a bit laid back (even though I knew a couple of their songs, dunno where I got that from) but they turned out be quite energetic and really fun! Nice songs, cute and enthousiastic singer, good band, definitely a nice surprise and end of this lovely festival.
Overall:
- what up with all those people getting on stage all the time? and people starting moshpits during Guillemots?
- where were the WOMEN? I think the only girl on stage was the contrabassist of Guillemots
- next time the English people will take over I think
- Friday had a bit too much indie-guitar-rock-bands playing after each other
- Saturday had its up and downs
- can't wait for March!
