Many, many thanks to all the beautiful people that supported our shows in Amsterdam. And many thanks for your kind comments above too. We look forward to seeing you all again in November. Bring it on.
Amsterdam - 2 Gigs in One Night
In the words of 'The Spice Girls' - "tonight is the night, when two become one". And two gigs in one night is what we were looking forward to when setting off from London in the Buckmobile at 6 am enroute to Amsterdam (via Harwich and Hoek) respectively. Hangovers were apparent in all our heads thanks to last night's post gig festivities. It was a quiet journey up the A12 to say the very least.
But not as quiet as it normally would have been as we had a new person on board the Buckmobile this time round. Sam Roberts: Journalist extraordinaire and self proclaimed "Tour Bitch".
Thanks to being able to sneak into the First Class compartment of our Stena Ferry while the designated security person was looking the other way, our ferry crossing was very smooth. Sadly, however, not all of us made it. Into First Class that is. As Jack Buck and Sam the Tour Bitch didn't look the part of Executive Travellers, whereas Per and myself ooze business-man charm, the dynamic duo were chucked out rather violently by a Flemish Ferry Operative. It wasn't a pleasant sight. With complimentary tea, cakes and hot chocolate available in our own ferry paradise - our fellow bandmate's and tour bitch's exile didn't get us down for too long.
The Buckmobile and all its passengers made it through Dutch customs without anyone having to bend over. Which was nice. And all of our passport photos became the catalyst for much laughing amongst Hoek Passport Control's staff too. Which wasn't nice.
Bright Lights - Big Seedy
Getting to Amsterdam from Hoek required the unexpected exploration of numerous scenic routes and, thanks to having no map at our disposal, we enjoyed several tours of the city before we finally found the venue. Thanks to solid Bucktastic teamwork and Per's amazing driving skills - we made it to 'The Winston', which doubles as a hotel and a music venue, just in time for sound check. After blasting the Dutch soundman with our sonic might, we got a chance to meet Jason Shaw - our man in Amsterdam. In addition to providing fret frottaging for his band Absinte (
http://www.absinthia.com/), the transplanted Scot is also an amazing gig organiser. Although this was our first face-to-face meeting, within seconds it felt like we'd known Jason forever.
Before we knew it, we were being whisked off to an American Diner down the road and being introduced to Josh - the compere for the evening's gig. Josh is a transplanted New Yorker that manages the very restaurant we were in. He's an incredible warm chappy that simply wanted to know a little more about Buck Brothers before introducing the band later on in the evening. Top bloke. Top Grub. Top City.
After finishing our meals, Jack, Sam and myself went out to do a bit of flyering for the gig. Within seconds two locals were asking me for directions in Dutch and were surprised to find out that I wasn't a fellow country person. Just call me Andy Van Duke from now on. While we were handing out printed matter, we bumped into two dear friends from the UK - Mikey and Dave. It was Dave's birthday and his mate Mikey took him to Amsterdam as a surprise. And seeing Buck Brothers was the icing on top of the muffin (see below). We made it back to the venue just in time to see Menage a Trois hit the stage.
Representing more countries than a UN convention and, having the tallest female bass player in the world as a member, this international contingent carve out a striking image onstage. And they are equally striking sonically too. While taking in their set, I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. Not because of the music, but because the venue was getting crowded.
With Menage a Trois's excellent reworking of The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" echoing through my head, it was time to get ready for the gig.
Buck Brothers@The Winston Gig 1
Josh did us proud in the compere stakes and before we knew it, our introduction music was blasting away and the show had started.
Highlights:
- The Dutch/International audience were extremely receptive. People danced, hollered and really listened. So much so that I indicated that I had "thumping pants" in my onstage banter. I don't think that anybody really understood what I was on about but the sentiment came across. I may have even invited everyone in attendance back to the UK with us.
- I managed to say 'thank you' in Dutch onstage without being laughed at.
- Jack's drumming was so intense that his cymbal crashes provided a bit of cool relief on the extremely hot stage for Per and yours truly. This was thanks to the sheer amount of air that they were pushing. Nice one Jack.
- Seeing a couple of familiar faces in the audience. (Mikey, Davey, Mr. & Mrs Jason Brothers)
- Seeing loads of unfamiliar faces in the audience getting into it.
- We performed 'Girls, Skirts, Boots, Bikes' live for the second time. I dedicated it to all the female Amsterdamonian cyclists that we saw eariler in the day. This seemed to go down well. As did the track.
- The feedback from people after the show was amazing. I'm not sure if it's a regular Dutch custom as such but both men and women gave hugs to me after giving us their 'well done' comments.
- As we were doing a gig at a venue down the road called 'The End' later in the evening, it felt really good to invite everyone in attendance to our second coming. And it felt even better to see people making mental notes of it.
- Every CD we brought with us was shifted that night.
- Beer tokens.
Lowlights:
- Sam 'Tour Bitch' Roberts suffered the main lowlight of the evening. And he truly deserves an MBE for his services to the Buck. After Per's guitar suffered a string breakage mid-set, Mr. Roberts went to the downstairs loo to make the necessary changes and to tune up the instrument. Due to fortuna's nasty intervention, however, an important yet small piece of the guitar's machinehead fell off the silver Gibson. And the part disappeared somewhere on the cold and hygienically suspect loo tiles.
The guitarist from 'Dialogue', the Dutch headlining band for the evening, clocked the situation and was on hand to conduct the search. For the next five minutes both Sam and Dialogue's guitarist sifted through each and every piss stained tile in the loo. It was located, quite literally, in a piss patch. After a bit of rinsing, the guitar was up and running and Per was none the wiser.
Per, onstage on the left, completely unaware of what was happening to his other guitar.
Dialogue then hit the stage. We checked out their set from the side of the stage. They're a fellow trio and really rocked the house (rocked the house? - I need to get rid of my 1980s Californian rock phrasebook). And they're all really nice lads too.
After the gig, it was time to make our way to 'The End' for gig Number 2. It's an intimate venue located about a five minute walk from 'The Winston' and it had a full backline already set up. By the time we tuned up, most of the audience from 'The Winston' were in front of us and it was time to kick off the set again.
Buck onstage at 'The End' in Amsterdam - Gig 2: 2.30 am
After drinking some Sambuca rather quickly, I noticed that my fingers had become rather sticky. I made a subtle reference to this and, within seconds, Sam the Tour Bitch had brought over a jug of water for cleansing purposes. After song number two, I thanked Sam and the venue for the jug and indicated that "my hands had not been this sticky since the last time I had a wank". Blimey, the venue went really quiet. Per came to the rescue with the intro to the next track and the rest of the show was a major success. Thanks to evening worth of strong lager, whiskey and Sambuca - my banter got quite emotional towards the end of our set. And I remember everything that I said. And I still agree with everything I was on about too. Top night. We even did an encore of 'Gorgeously Stupid' by request.
As I was about the pack away my gear at 3.30 am, Jason and Andy, the drummer from Absinthe, came onstage and asked me why I was putting my bass in my case. "We're gonna have a jam, Andy" exclaimed Jason. An impromptu jam commenced. In addition to being one of the nicest people in Christendom, Jason is also an amazing guitarist.
Post Gig Jam with Andy & Jason from Absinthe: 3.30 am
A lot of post gig bonding took place with everyone in attendance.
And, after all the Bucks went to sleep. After 'The End' had shut its doors. After Jason had retired for the evening. There were two people standing. Yours truly and Sam 'The Tour Bitch' Roberts. And, predictably, we did what most drunken people do. We decided to visit the chippy.
Ice Ice Baby.......Ice Ice Baby......
And we found a chipshop with a difference. Shortly after ordering our heart disease friendly fodder, the unmistakable bass intro of Vanilla Ice's 'Ice Ice Baby' kicked off on the take-away's radio. And, with amazing choreography, two members of the Chip Shop team started to sing along and dance in unison to this classic poptastic slice of Vanilla. "Stop, collaborate and LISTEN.....Ice is here with his brand new INVENTION". A group of Geordie tourists joined in and procedings resembled an enibriated musical by the end of the song.
Two gigs. A Jam Session. And great chips served with a slice of Vanilla. I love Amsterdam.
Day 2
While en-route to a free music festival in the northern part of the city the following day, Per and myself ordered some muffins that accidentally had an entire catalogue of extra ingredients. The members of our team that had the odd bite felt odd afterwards. In the words of Sam 'The Tour Bitch' Roberts - "I'm feeling a bit different". For Per and myself, who ate large quantities of the seemingly harmless confectionery item, things took on a a very different hue.
Muffin looks the way it normally does
It was a long, long night. And particular thanks need to go to Jack, Sam, Mikey, Dave, JoJo, Jason and Gillian for all their help.
Note:
Buck Brothers return to Amsterdam on 12 November
