October 24th, 2004
Muziek centrum
Nannette was still not able to accompany us, so Anita
and myself made our way to Enschede. We had been given the location of the hotel
where the band was staying, so we thought we would have a bite to eat there. We
arrived at the hotel just after six
o clock. As it turned out the restaurant was closed. The lady behind the
reception desk was very kind and she gave us a little map to help us reach the
town centre.She even allowed us to park our car in the hotel car park. She also
offered to call the bandmembers in their
rooms to tell them about our arrival, but we thought that was overdoing things a
bit. We knew they had played in Germany the night before, so it wouldn’t
surprise us if they would be sound asleep. We decided to walk into town
to find ourselves a place to have something to eat. We ended up in a Greek
restaurant. It was nearing half past seven when we had finished our meal and
returned to the hotel. In the lounge we met with Mark, John and Alan, who were
waiting for Mick together with their driver Rene. I asked Rene what time they
would be leaving for the venue. They were supposed to leave at that moment, but
Mick hadn’t appeared yet. Alan joked they seemed to be waiting for someone
although he had no idea who this might be. John asked us to join us on the couch
where he was sitting. As I sat down beside him I told him about Nannette’s
absence, due to her being confined to a plaster corset and thus being unable to
sit down. John expressed great concern with Nannette, especially when he heard
that she is awaiting new surgery on her back. Mark also asked me to send
Nannette his best wishes. In the meantime Rene had started loading up the van
and Anita and I decided to make our way to the venue on foot.
When we entered the hall the Fortunes were well into
their act. We looked around for any fans we knew, but much to our surprise we
didn’t see any familiar faces. When the Fortunes had left the stage, Krijn
Torringa (a Dutch radio DJ) played some records while the stage was set for the
Rubettes. John was busy with his drumkit and Mark worked on setting up his
keyboard. Alan and Mick were backstage.
Around nine o clock the time was there. Without the
usual introduction tune the Rubettes came on. John started with Foe-Dee-Oh-Dee
, but nothing else happened... He improvised a bit to hide the fact that
Alan’s guitar was not working. When this problem was solved John went back
into his Foe-Dee-Oh-Dee intro and luckily this time the band was able to
join in. The Soulmedley was a great success. The crowd went wild. At that
moment I found out the battery of my camera was empty, as was the spare battery
I had packed. I was so mad with myself; I couldn’t take any photo’s at all!
The few I did manage to take are of very poor quality indeed! When Alan took off
his cap he was treated to some whistling from the audience. He reacted by
proudly showing off his hair. John asked if Alan hadn’t forgotten to put his
set of false teeth in!
When all the instruments were put aside and John
appeared from behind his drumkit, I fully expected After the Goldrush. Much
to our surprise we were treated to a completely new a capella medley, containing
among others Why Do Fools Fall In Love, Teenager In Love and Happy
Days. This medley gave John the opportunity to show off the full range of
his vocal abilities. He gave a very high rendition of Why Do Fools Fall In
Love and a bit later he went down to a real low bass voice. It all sounded
very nice, but it was clear they hadn’t perfected this routine yet. Tina, who
had come over from Germany with Roly and their son couln’t contain her
laughter. Of course we trust in their ability to perform this act to its
full perfection in time. After this medley they took up their instruments again
and went on with Juke Box Jive. Suddenly I saw John throw away one of his
drumsticks. He had to play on with just the one stick while at the same time
picking up a new one. And then all of a sudden they started playing Sugar
Baby Love. Anita and I looked at each other in disbelief; we had clearly
seen four drums being put on stage, and now they weren’t going to do the taiko
act? This (after the debacle with the empty batteries ) would be a great
disappointment to me. I am crazy about drums and this act is my personal
highlight of the show. As the crowd kept calling out for more, John reappeared
and asked if everybody really wanted more. He said they had kept something
special under their hats: the taiko act!!! While the drums were being put into
their positions John explained they keep this act as the last of the show, as
they completely exhaust themselves plaing the drums. He then warmed up the crowd
with the Gauranga mantra. Those of you who have witnessed this act before know
what an enormous spectacle this is. The audience went totally wild and they
gladly complied to John’s request to clap along with the rythm. It was a
raving end of the show. As the boys left the stage, John picked up the discarded
drumstick, which turned out to be broken. He kissed it and threw it into the
audience. I made a grab for it, but missed....
After the show Anita and I went to the foyer, where
Tina had posted herself with the merchandising. We were wondering if only Alan
would make his appearance to do some signing, or if the others would surprise us
this time by joining in. To be honest we already suspected we knew the answer to
this question, and sure enough, guided by two security people Alan came to the
foyer. He had quite some signing to do, on CD’s, caps, photographs and even on
hands. He asked me to go into the hall and ask for someone to announce that he
was doing a signing session. Unlucky enough all the amps and mikes were already
unplugged, so I couln’t comply to his wish. Around half past ten he had had
enough and returned backstage. Anita and myself thought that this was a good
time to start making our way back home. We had a long drive ahead and I had to
work the next day. But we left in the knowledge that the Dutch tour will start
in only four weeks time. We will see them every day for a whole fortnight.........
(except for poor Nannette who will be in hospital by then)
Lucienne