(again taken with my not-very-high-tech-phone, during their gig in Paradiso on the 22nd of November)I'm leaning against the stage, the room with the small podium in Paradiso isn't packed yet, although the gig was sold out. I arrived fifteen minutes in advance and still could find a spot at the very front. The fellows are still soundchecking and blowing my ears off so loud (surprisingly, when the band started to play, it wasn't loud at all, or maybe I was already deaf by that time). I see a fellow walking through the small crowd to the bar. I lean over to a friend of mine, point (I know, I'm horribly rude) and say to him "I think that's the singer". To afraid to go up to him and him turning out to be a roadie, I stayed put.Naturally, that was the singer (argh! I could've wished him a good gig or something), simply walking through the crowd to get himself a beer. Then he was joined on stage by the rest of the band, and they performed an awesome gig, with naturally the great "Insistor", the quiet "Omaha", and a great version of "Manitoba" (which was put on the setlist as Toba, but I misread it as Tuba, not very strange because there was a tuba on stage and they actually played it).They sounded very crisp and it was indie rock 'n roll (No, I haven't been to The Killers recently, why?) at it's finest. A small room, the guys strutting their stuff, and very good tunes to rock, headbang, or listen in awe too when the pace went slower.After the show, the bassist (Erick Appelwick I believe) hung around a bit, talking to some people. With my friend wanting another round of drinks before we went off to have dinner, I stayed around as well, trying to help Appelwick and entourage out where a certain cafe was (I'm not from Amsterdam and I didn't pretend to know, as I didn't want to give them directions to the Library of South African Literature) but I did manage to squeeze in a couple of words, including wishing him a happy birthday and a good time in Amsterdam, and he on his turn thanked me for coming to his show.I was glad to, because standing in front, close to the band, who are playing a very, very good gig, then being able to exchange a few words with the bassist, for just 9 euros? Talking about good value for money, this kind of quality/price ratio is very hard to find. Only I wished I had snatched the setlist off stage after the gig, but I was too civilised and five seconds later other predators had already taken not only the setlists, but all the guitar picks as well.
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