August 24th 2002.
Hotel Zuiderduin
Together with Mud
and the Happy Tunes the Rubettes did a gig in Egmond aan Zee on August 24th.
Lucienne could not make it this time due to the fact that she was away on her
holidays. So I recruited my husband Rob, daughter Martina and a couple of our
best friends to join me. It was raining cats and dogs that day, so the trip to
Egmond was not a very pleasant one. It took us over two hours to get there from
The Hague, but one must be prepared to make a small sacrifice now and again.
Having arrived at last in Hotel Zuiderduin the first priority was to get some
food inside us. Having accomplished this, we made our way to the concert hall to
check out the preparations. The first person we ran into was Alan Williams, who
was busy doing a tv-interview. He broke off the interview to come and say hello
to us. I got three kisses in the best continental fashion and he happily posed
for a photograph. Rob had been hired for the evening by Jos Boekhout
(concertpromotor) as a photographer for the benefit of Jos’ new brochure. This
of course gave us the ideal opportunity to nose around backstage and to have a
chat with all the bandmembers. And Rob has shot some fantastic pics, some of
which we will print in this magazine. There was a slight panic with the
organisation because due to the bad weather Radio 192 discoshow was late
arriving. Everything turned out just fine in the end though, and it gave us a
chance to have a talk with Edvard Niessing, the DJ. Nine o clock arrived soon
enough and by then the hall was chockerblock full of people. It was getting hot
as well, the temperature reminded us somewhat of a sauna. The first band this
evening were the Happy Tunes. When they got on stage there was some laughter
from the audience. Not surprising, They looked ridiculous! Imagine five
old-age-pensioners in flower power outfits and you are not even close! They
played very well though and managed to raise spirits if not the temperature by a
few degrees by the time it was the turn of Mud to get on. Les Gray came on stage
sporting a walking stick due to an accident that broke his leg a few months ago.
The show must go on, and Les and his mates gave an old-fashioned rock and roll
show. Martina enjoyed herself so much even the band noticed. After the show
drummer Phil Wilson presented her with his drumsticks. To think that we almost
had to drag her along with us because she didn’t want to go and see the old
farts music as she called it.
And then it was
finally time for the Rubettes. It had gone well past midnight by then, but I
don’t think anybody even noticed. During the beginning of there set there was
some trouble with Mick’s bassguitar. Mud’s bassplayer kindly offered Mick
his guitar, but luckily there was no need for that. The sound of Alan’s
monitor also had to be adjusted before they could finally get started. Alan
remained every inch the perfect English gentleman. He said the audience had a
right to the very best the Rubettes could offer and asked for our patience while
things were sorted out. And when it was, they more than made up for it! The
thing that impressed me most was their close harmony version of Neil Young’s After
the Goldrush, with lead vocals by Mick.
And the soulmedley of course, talk about swinging your head off! With the
Sha Na Na Song the entire audience got
involved. Everybody was either singing along with Hey
Jude or Give Peace A Chance, it
lasted for almost twenty minutes. Finally John pretended to have had enough and
he poured out a bottle of water over the audience. Much to soon Sugar Baby Love had finished and it was all over. We went backstage
to have another chat with the guys who had given us such a lovely evening. With
John I had a little conversation about his Celtic Drums CD, which I had recently
heard at Luciennes house. When I tried to make my way towards Rob, who was
talking to Alan, I found my way being blocked by a number of chairs. My old
faithful wheelchair had a little difficulty negotiating these obstacles and Mark
rushed over to help me. I made a remark about making way for the cripple, but
Mark was clearly not amused. He told me off for putting myself down. We had a
wonderful time. I talked with Phil Wilson for a while and Les Gray came up to
hug Martina to thank her for her obvious enthusiasm. Before we knew it, it was
past three o clock and really time to make our way back home. This was only my
second Rubettes concert, but I can already tell you that it certainly wasn’t
the last!
Nannette