Ligho - I didn’t see your other report before, so here is your review of your great weekend - great stuff!!!!
Weekend was great.
But now I have the blues. If Simon is right, I have to wait a few month to see the band again. Maybe October. That’s hard.
Maybe my mood gets better, if I tell you about the weekend. Hope so. My Dutch weekend started on Saturday in Cuijk in a cinema with 3 different stages at about 7:30 pm.
Arrived about half an hour before the gig and went through the 3 halls and wondered whether it would be possible to find Bibi among all these people.
But when I went to the “Podium Foyer” where Aynsley & Band should play I saw her standing front row smiling at me. That’s what I call a good start.
We didn’t have to wait long for the start ... and the band played real good and very tight. They rocked me as always.
Sound was loud but very good (at least for that location, none of the other bands sound that good) but the chat level was incredible. GRRRRHHHH.
That’s the problems with festivals, a lot of people don’t want to hear music but want to have some and some more beer and some chat. And the smaller the villages, the louder the crowd. Cuijk was no difference.
But the band seemed to have their fun on stage and I had my fun when Aynsley introduced the “Dancing Dan”. Really, Dan was dancing.
Good news, Marco van Rooijen - great Dutch photographer - stood directly next to Bibi and that means, in a few days the Dutch Bluesmagazine.nl will publish some first class pictures. I’ll keep you informed.
90 minutes can fly by. Time to go the the merch and buy a shirt, have some drink, go around, chat a bit, hear some other bands.
We heard a bit of Ben Prestage at the smallest stage though the sound was very loud and terrible high. We nearly couldn’t see him, because the room was completely crowded. But that guy was interesting, a one man band with a guitar, a banjo, a cigarboxguitar and some drums. An entertaining kind of music.
Next band in one of the bigger halls was John Primer & the Real Deal Bluesband with some Chicago blues and a more old fashioned kind of blues. Sound was okay and the band was good.
Connie Lush & Blues Shouter were also performing at the same stage like Aynsley. But the sound mix was pain for my and Bibi’s ears. The music wasn’t bad, but Connie’s voice was much too loud. We decided to find a place where we could sit and found near the entrance a nice place to sit and chat and to wait for one of the headliners.
At about 12:00 Enrico Crivellaro & Band from Italy entered the stage. Enrico in a white satin suit and some fucking awesome shoes you can only buy in Italy. The guy at the keys and the hammand also had a white linnen suit with some crazy black and white shoes on. And this guy really danced. Their playing was very entertaining but once again the sound wasn’t first class. In my opinion the guitar of Enrico was a bit too loud and too high but he could play. With a good sound it could have been real good. Their music has some jazzy and funky influences and one song also some rumba tunes. It was a very entertaining performance and they got better from minute to minute. Bibi had to go to drive some miles home on her bike when they were in top form and missed the 2 last and best songs and the part where Enrico left the stage and went through the crowd. As all the songs were instrumental and I have no idea what they played. Bought their album “Mojo Zone” and then left Cuijk and arrived at home at about 3:30.
I had to throw in two Aspirin to get rid of some headaches next day before I started my trip to Eindhoven next day about 3:00 pm. As always driving in Eindhoven was a desaster. It doesn’t matter where you want to go, you’ll always find some road works and road blocks. But when I finally found the Café Wilhelmina, three girls were already sitting there: Bibi and her girl friend (forgot the name) and Suzanne from the JB forum. Four blues sisters on the same wavelenght. We nearly forgot to go front row but we got some good places third row and we really had a blast.
The band seem to enjoy playing there and this thime we heard a full set. After a while the people around were lost in the music and the front rowers were dancing. Sometimes the chat level was quite high but somehow Aynsley managed to get the people listen to the lower passage of Purple Rain.
The band had no set list, so here are some of the songs they played:
What’s it all about
Early morning dew
Big sleep
Soundman
Slow dancing (first time that I heard that, another great cover, have to hear the original one time)
Sugar Low (one of my live favourits)
Hurricane
Balls of Steel
Purple Rain
Hush (encore)
That wasn’t all, maybe Bibi can help out.
Bibi and Suzanne both made vids and will upload them on youtube.
It was a great gig and we closed the evening with some dinner.
Hope, I don’t have to wait until October to see the band again.
