Diary
21st Nov Private function, Rotterdam
| Posted at 05:43 PM on November 23, 2008 |
Matt writes
Winter has kicked in the Netherlands!
In the night we had gales of wind and heavy hails storms. It came up to the point where all three of us were thinking if our poor cabin in the woods would stand against the weather. It did! Going out on the forest path in the morning it was all covered in branches and what was left of the leaves.
Also the temperature dropped, where the last couple of weeks we had an average temperature of about 10 centigrade, today it dropped below freezing. (very nice, especially when you get text messages from people saying that summer has really kicked in in South Africa with temperatures above 30 centigrade).
Today everything was quite relaxed. We enjoyed our breakfast, loaded up the vehicle and set course for tonight?s concert in Rotterdam: the Tennis Club Lommereijk.
We?ve done this place before, last year. They made such a nice job of it and really would like to do one more evening like it.
Due to the weather we had some delays on our way up, we even had sleet (mixture of snow and rain) coming down.
We arrived at the tennis club a little later then expected, but there was no rush as everybody had had some delays. We got a very warm welcome from everybody present.
Coen and his son Thomas (later joined by David) had just finished off setting up the stage and sound and after a nice cup of coffee we got started setting our equipment up.
Coen made a real nice job of it and in very little time the sound was set.
We got our things into the dressing rooms (the changing rooms of the tennis club, beautifully lit with lots of candles).
Jaap took us to the Chinese restaurant close by. It was just down the lane so we walked it. And there it happened, dear readers: we got our very first proper snow for this winter! I love snow, particularly the sound of walking over fresh snow.
It's snowing!!!
We got to the Chinese restaurant, where it was very busy. After warming up we went for the buffet, which was very nice.
After a couple of rounds we made our way back to the tennis club, where the first guests were arriving.
We tuned up, got changed and chatted with some people before starting our first set.
The crowd that was there tonight was not a large one (mark you it wouldn?t fit), but it had a very warm feeling.
What I like about the audiences in the Rotterdam area is that they are very honest, responsive and have a very fast and dry sense of humour. Which given the way we operate and the speed Chris reacts gave us very amusing moments.
In the interval we got a nice surprise as Dirk-Jan joined us in the dressing room. It was so nice to see him again.
The second set went really well. And everybody really enjoyed themselves, whilst I saw outside the snow blowing over the tennis courts.
When we got to the outro of ?This Time Around?, Linda and I got joined by a very in-tune-but-wrong-key kind of noise. It is in this part that Chris doesn?t play and he thought he?d tune up whilst we were rounding off the song. Now the tuners Chris and Linda use have got three settings: the ordinary tuner, a metronome (which keeps perfect time and gives little clicks) and a setting almost like a tuning fork that gives you a perfect note where you can tune to. The on-button is the same button that switches from one setting to the other and needless to say, that was what happened.
Chris had coincidently switched setting, but didn?t hear the fact that it got onto the ?tuning fork?. Linda and I did and cracked up laughing.
It?s hard to try and describe how it was, but for me this was definitely one of the funniest on-stage moments on the tour!
A lot of people stayed with us afterwards and we had a great time talking with everybody. It didn?t take long until the famous ?bitterballen? came round and Dirk-Jan and I had a laugh about the way Chris ate his. It was clear that - much as he likes them - he still eats them like a foreigner (in other words putting the whole ?bitterbal? in your mouth and bite on it). The only thing that shows he?s got some experience is that he had his glass of water ready to kill the heat a bit.
Anyway, after a very enjoyable time with Wouter, Bert and Chris and their ladies we packed up again and in made our way into the wintry night heading for home.
It was clear that the motorways were well salted, as there was no snow on it at all. Though the sides were all covered with snow, which gave beautiful views.
Thank you all so much for a lovely evening! You did it again, what a night!
Winter has kicked in the Netherlands!
In the night we had gales of wind and heavy hails storms. It came up to the point where all three of us were thinking if our poor cabin in the woods would stand against the weather. It did! Going out on the forest path in the morning it was all covered in branches and what was left of the leaves.
Also the temperature dropped, where the last couple of weeks we had an average temperature of about 10 centigrade, today it dropped below freezing. (very nice, especially when you get text messages from people saying that summer has really kicked in in South Africa with temperatures above 30 centigrade).
Today everything was quite relaxed. We enjoyed our breakfast, loaded up the vehicle and set course for tonight?s concert in Rotterdam: the Tennis Club Lommereijk.
We?ve done this place before, last year. They made such a nice job of it and really would like to do one more evening like it.
Due to the weather we had some delays on our way up, we even had sleet (mixture of snow and rain) coming down.
We arrived at the tennis club a little later then expected, but there was no rush as everybody had had some delays. We got a very warm welcome from everybody present.
Coen and his son Thomas (later joined by David) had just finished off setting up the stage and sound and after a nice cup of coffee we got started setting our equipment up.
Coen made a real nice job of it and in very little time the sound was set.
We got our things into the dressing rooms (the changing rooms of the tennis club, beautifully lit with lots of candles).
Jaap took us to the Chinese restaurant close by. It was just down the lane so we walked it. And there it happened, dear readers: we got our very first proper snow for this winter! I love snow, particularly the sound of walking over fresh snow.
It's snowing!!!
After a couple of rounds we made our way back to the tennis club, where the first guests were arriving.
We tuned up, got changed and chatted with some people before starting our first set.
The crowd that was there tonight was not a large one (mark you it wouldn?t fit), but it had a very warm feeling.
In the interval we got a nice surprise as Dirk-Jan joined us in the dressing room. It was so nice to see him again.
The second set went really well. And everybody really enjoyed themselves, whilst I saw outside the snow blowing over the tennis courts.
When we got to the outro of ?This Time Around?, Linda and I got joined by a very in-tune-but-wrong-key kind of noise. It is in this part that Chris doesn?t play and he thought he?d tune up whilst we were rounding off the song. Now the tuners Chris and Linda use have got three settings: the ordinary tuner, a metronome (which keeps perfect time and gives little clicks) and a setting almost like a tuning fork that gives you a perfect note where you can tune to. The on-button is the same button that switches from one setting to the other and needless to say, that was what happened.
Chris had coincidently switched setting, but didn?t hear the fact that it got onto the ?tuning fork?. Linda and I did and cracked up laughing.
It?s hard to try and describe how it was, but for me this was definitely one of the funniest on-stage moments on the tour!
A lot of people stayed with us afterwards and we had a great time talking with everybody. It didn?t take long until the famous ?bitterballen? came round and Dirk-Jan and I had a laugh about the way Chris ate his. It was clear that - much as he likes them - he still eats them like a foreigner (in other words putting the whole ?bitterbal? in your mouth and bite on it). The only thing that shows he?s got some experience is that he had his glass of water ready to kill the heat a bit.
Anyway, after a very enjoyable time with Wouter, Bert and Chris and their ladies we packed up again and in made our way into the wintry night heading for home.
It was clear that the motorways were well salted, as there was no snow on it at all. Though the sides were all covered with snow, which gave beautiful views.
Thank you all so much for a lovely evening! You did it again, what a night!
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