Barrie now tours with Primal Scream. I saw him and his band a couple of times before in Amsterdam and even ended up backstage with the band. Apart of finishing all the Heineken in the band’s fridge, we left the club with a beermat full of musical tips from Barrie.

I keep the beermat until now, to remind me of that rock’n'roll night. Primal Scream were great last night and Barrie (on the photo) rocked.

Primal Scream @ Paradiso, Amsterdam, 8 August 2009 on my Flickr

The Amsterdam show highlights are as follows: fun was: great; number of water showers at both sides of the podium was: large; number of lead singers’ slips because of the water everywhere was: at least one; number of all kind of delicate clothing thrown at the band was: never seen so much in my life; number of stage divers was: above average; number of complete takeovers of the podium by the audience was: two.

… I have the “I Found Out” single on a never ending repeat mode in my head for last 24 hours.

All photos are dedicated to my dear friend reggaerebel who ended in hospital that day and couldn’t make it to be there with us. Get well soon!

The exercise is as follows:

- OMG he is going to dive!
- Switch on the camera, get the settings right…
- OMG he is diving in!
- OMG my girlfriend is touching him!! :}
- Give him a shove
- And yeah, try to take a picture in mean time…

Time to complete: five seconds. (Some more photographs inside)

In Amsterdam, it doesn’t happen very often that a band would greet it’s audience by the “Good afternoon” line. Husky Rescue started their concert at 4PM which is unusualy early to the local standards. And whoever came up with the idea of timing this concert in cozy Kleine zaal at Paradiso to such early time did a great job – Husky Rescue music fits so much better into a “Sunday afternoon cinema” mood than to a beer fueled rock night.

The concert room was nicely full when the band opened the set with “My Home Ghost” from their current album “Ghost is not real”. The band’s lead singer Reeta-Leena Korhola’s fragile and playful voice was floating on the dreamy and melancholic waves of the band’s sound all night (eh, I mean all afternoon). Although at times a bit shy (as shy as the band), the public reacted well and cheered the band with applause and lots of smiles. The smiles kept coming back.

After the concert, we had a chat with Marko Nyberg, the band’s composer, who was a very nice and friendly chap. Marko mentioned that he felt the inspiration to start writing new material for the band which was great news to hear. A band’s second album often shows whether the band is artistically bankrupt and while that is unfortunatelly often a case, Husky Ruescue’s second album was a wonderful return. To hear that there could be (and hopefully will be) more, is really, really good news.

I’m really hoping to see this Finish five-piece again, perhaps even during the upcoming summer festival season. This band should be closely watched, chances are that Husky Rescue will become THE discovery of 2007! Check the band’s website or listen to a few songs (full-size) on Husky Rescue last.fm page. A few photos from their Amsterdam concert attached.

Chris Cornell, one of the most influential rock musicians, opened the concert with Soundgarden’s “Spoonman” and treated the ecstatic crowds with more than two hours of great songs he wrote for Soundgarden, Temle of the Dog, Audioslave and his solo projects. Cornell was obviously enjoying him self, I personally liked that he played so many songs from his upcoming solo album “Carry On”, including the cover version of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” (yeah, only he can get away with it). My legs hurt and I lost my voice… and I cannot imagine it to be any other way after such a great rock and roll treat.

Funny thing is that the club’s security didn’t check anyone’s bags before the concert, but they did so when people were leaving. Apparently, someone stole something from the band after the concert. Maybe a guitar? Or a drum or two? Hopefully no one stole the man himself so we can see him rockin’ again soon. A few photos attached.

I was lucky to see the performance last night, in the old hall at Melkweg, in Amsterdam. The audience was treated to a really intimate and minimalistic performance, with focus to the raw electronic sound and the voice of Geike Arnaert, the band’s lead singer. A few songs from the band’s second “Blue Wonder Power Milk” in the encore finished this lovely night. A few photos attached.

Seeing a band you don’t know is fun! You can always leave after the first song (happened to me with The Engineers) or after first three songs (happened to me with Nine Black Alps) to go spend the night in some unplanned, spontaneous way. Or you can see a band you don’t know and fall in love with the music and the band for ever! (happened to me with Audioslave, although I knew the Soundgarden and RATM very well before).

MaxĂŻmo Park did suprise me in a very positive, pleasant way. First of all, good music! Paul Smith, a charismatic and friendly lead singer spoke a bit before nearly every song, explaining what the songs were about in a few fords. Very much focused on human themes. The band seemed to have good time, just after some three songs Paul mentioned that they will be back to A’dam every week from now on. Hmmm, I would quite like that! The crowd had good fun too, there was some crowd diving, stage diving, people singing along with the band. Since I didn’t know the songs I better kept quiet, enjoyed this very good concert and tried to make some photos instead.

I was up to a real surprise last week. Not only Little Barrie returned back to the city, they took the hall by storm by their energetic yet soulful sound and – they sold out! The guys really enjoyed them selves, band’s new drummer Billy Skinner did not stop smiling and Barrie wasn’t all that nervous anymore, either. Well done, definitelly one the most enjoyable, “tangible” gigs of the year so far for me!

Little Barrie @ last.fm
Little Barrie @ Wikipedia