When we arrived in Nijmegen we followed the parking signs. Eventually we were directed to a spot by the fire station. The day promised to be dry and balmy. After a +/- 20 minute walk we heard ‘Flogging Molly’ strike up their first chord as we reached the security point. They confiscated our hard plastic water bottles.
Inexplicably ‘Flogging Molly’ can make accordions, flutes and banjos hip. I was able to worm my way all the way up to the barrier. Fink was setting up on the 2nd stage — the crowd was at the other stage so you could go right up to that front of that. Which I thought was pretty cool.
I put my earplugs in for Deus. And thought the drummer would most likely join that notorious club of over-enthusiastic percussionists who pass on early. During ‘The Temper Trap’ I went to stand on a little hill to see them better … it also afforded much better availability to the nice cool breeze.
We met our friends and left our picnic basket, er bag with them while we went up front to see Elbow. Guy Edward John Patrick Garvey was not in the least shy about using the energy of the crowd. In fact there was no wall between the audience and his performance. I suspect that he leaps our of bed every day, rushes to the mirror and belts out, “I have confidence in confidence…” at the top of his sublime voice. The audience echoed whistling during ‘Lippy Kids’ was both enthusiastic and humorous.
I think it was quite a gutsy move to start out with ‘The Birds’ … that song whips the crowd into such a frenzied frenzy, where the heck do you go from there!? Elbow’s songs have sublime lyrics delivered by a talented showman which is rather unfortunate in a way because that overshadows the brilliant bass player(ing) of Pete Turner.
DS had come to see the headliner – ‘Snow Patrol’ so while I stayed back on our picnic blanket he went up to the front with his Dad. Their show was visually stunning. They had a creative and unusual light show of trippy patterns. Opening with the song ‘Take Back the City’ in a park setting didn’t make any sense to me. The energy was right but the words just didn’t fit. Gary Lightbody has an amazing voice that really fits all the band’s romantic lyrics but I wish he would write more songs that showcased his vocal range more.
Like this;
Doesn’t ‘Batten down the Hatch’ sound a bit like ‘Cream’…imaging it segueing seamlessly into ‘White Room’. Some of their other songs sound a little like the ‘Moody Blues’ to me.
When Lightbody sang the the lyrics from the song ‘Chasing Cars’, ‘Would you lie with me and just forget the world’ – he was so convincing…but then I thought, ‘With all +/-35,000’ of us!?
Youtube playlist of live performance;
Hoosiers in Holland 