Dec Burke Band in Holland 17/18 December

[catherine]

Just a quick plug - The Dec Burke Band will be supporting Mick Pointer's Script for a Jester's Tour in De Pul, Uden on 17th December, and De Boerderij in Zoetermeer on 18th December. If anyone from here is going, do please say hi - I'll be on the merch desk, selling CDs, and I know Dec & the lads would be pleased to see some friendly faces as well.  

[L33VEY]

and De Boerderij in Zoetermeer on 18th September.

Typo alert?    8-)

[catherine]

typo indeed  :oops: - now corrected.

[Brom]

As the Netherlands is not that big... one would assume that TA would be able to walk to both gigs!  

[Trapezium Artist]

As the Netherlands is not that big... one would assume that TA would be able to walk to both gigs!  

Well, I'm reliably assured by Google Maps that it's 118 kilometres between Uden and Zoetermeer, so assuming 20 hours between gigs, that'd be just shy of 6 km/hr. So yes, walking distance!  8-)

That said, Zoetermeer is much closer to home (less than 25 km), so I aim to be there (by car; what a wimp) on Saturday, as Catherine knows  

[catherine]

I'm just back - completely worn out - from an amazing weekend.

It all started for me at 4am on Friday 17th, when I got up and went to Stansted to catch the Ryanair flight to Eindhoven.
Nick Barratt (Pendragon; guitar in Script), Mike Varty (keyboards, Credo, Landmarq and Script) and Ian Salmon (Arena; bass in Script) were on the same flight as me - I was just across the aisle from Nick Barratt but didn't say hi to him as I hadn't met him before and I don't normally go around airports accosting strange men and asking them if they're Nick Barratt, but we had a good chuckle about it later on.

I got to Eindhoven and then managed to make my way by bus to Uden - in the snow - for the princely sum of 3 Euros. I couldn't believe it was so cheap! Pottered around the shops in Uden, then met up with Dec & the lads once they turned up at the hotel. Then all five of us attempted to fit into the band's two cars to go to the venue, De Pul, which was a challenge. Mercifully it was a short journey. We got there as Mick Pointer's Script was soundchecking, and any lingering doubts I'd had about whether it was a good idea to be doing Script for a Jester's Tear were completely blown away by the fantastic sound of some old Marillion songs that were very dear to me back in the mid-80s. However, there was bad news regarding Brian, their singer - he'd been due to fly from Liverpool to Schiphol that afternoon and his flight was cancelled at the last minute due to the snow, so he'd set off driving to Folkestone to cross on the Eurotunnel. Mick wasn't expecting him to arrive in time for the gig, so asked Dec if he could do a bit longer - an hour instead of 45 minutes.

De Pul was a nice venue - a really warm crowd, and the Dec Burke Band's set went really well. The sound wasn't quite right in the first couple of numbers, but then the sound guy got the hang of it and it sounded excellent. The Script set went surprisingly well even though there was no singer - the audience knew the words by heart anyway, which really helped, and it was good.

The venue had a late curfew so obviously lots of sitting around drinking beer had to be done, and it was. I left early-ish, at about 1 a.m., with Hywel, to go back to the hotel, as I'd been up for 20 hours by this time and was flagging a bit, and he was tired after all the long drive and the excitement.

The next morning we staggered down to breakfast shortly before they stopped serving at 10 a.m., then went to the venue for noon to collect the gear and load the cars for the drive to Zoetermeer. I had a lift from Natalie Pointer and Mike Varty. Brian the singer had arrived by this time - he got to Uden at 8a.m.   118 km in the snow was quite interesting - they had had a pretty thick covering in Holland. The Zoetermeer hotel carpark was very icy and it's a wonder both bands survived intact. Next, off to the venue, where the loading ramp at the rear was also very icy which made it a challenge reversing cars and vans up it to unload. There is a fantastic crew at the venue and nothing was too much trouble for them - from getting the gear in, to really working hard on the soundchecks to get a good sound, and kitting out the bands' dressing rooms with towels, beer, coke, and anything else that we asked for. After the soundcheck the bands and crew had a meal together before the gig and I don't think I've ever had such a good steak as the one I had last night. Dec and the lads were unable to do their steaks full justice as they'd been to Burger King before the soundcheck. I don't think they'll be making that mistake again. Hywel (Flamadiddle) was feeling really tired before they were due to play, so I went and found some Red Bull for him and he drank two cans, which did the trick, and then some!

The Dec Burke Band played for a full hour again on Saturday night, and that was the best I've heard them yet. The sound was absolutely spot-on. The opening song, The Last Time, was handled beautifully by the sound man and the set was stunning from start to finish. Lovely bits of shredding from Dec and Hywel, stonking drums from Tim and splendid bass from Steve "Pelican Man" Kightley. There's a new song in the set now, from the forthcoming Dec Burke #2 album, and they played Promised, Winter to Summer, Small Hours, and a couple more whose names escape me. They ended with Breathe It In which was magnificent. They were really pleased with how it went, and the audience were really warm and receptive. Then Script came on at 9.30, with a vocalist this time, and wow. So powerful. I never got to see Marillion with Fish, but this made up for it. Forgotten Sons had me in tears - it really was a splendid performance.

And I got to meet TA at last, who very kindly put me up last night and took me to the airport this morning, which was hospitality above and beyond the call of duty, and for which I am very grateful. Also, big thanks to the Dec Burke band for letting me tag along with them - it was such a great weekend! I was able to get back to the UK today - my flight was horribly delayed, but I'm back in one slightly weary but happy piece.

I have some photos (from both nights) which I'll upload soon.

[catherine]

Photos now uploaded and may be found here.

[Trapezium Artist]

Glad to know you got home ok, Catherine, and that you survived for six hours at Schiphol on the parsimonious €6 or so that EasyJet gave you due to your hugely delayed flight  

I'd like to take the opportunity to publicly thank Catherine and Dec for arranging for a ticket for me at Zoetermeer; even though I missed the opening ten minutes or so of Dec and band's set due to the atrocious driving conditions, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of it on what was, rather shockingly, my first visit to De Boerderij since moving to The Netherlands more than a year ago. A splendid venue it is and certainly somewhere I shall be visiting more regularly from now on.

The main act, Mick Pointer and friends playing Script for a Jester's Tear and more, was quite a blast from the past for me too, and very well done overall. Not quite sure about Brian Cumming's dodgy mullet wig and the ineluctable slide from his native Liverpudlian into a cod Scots accent, but he certainly can sing and the rest of the band can play. It was quite a set.

Unlike Catherine, I was lucky enough to see Fish play with Marillion when I was a student at the University of Edinburgh; the glorious interweb reliably informs me that it was on April 27 1982 in the Chambers Street Union bar. I have a memory of there being no more than ten of us in the audience (!) and distinctly recall standing right in front of Fish, who was on a six inch high stage, as he belted out Forgotten Sons in my face. Quite something. I suppose this must have been possible, even though the song wasn't released as part of Script until 1983; the album was recorded from late 1982 to early 1983, and perhaps it had already been a long-term part of their set before that. Any Marillion obsessives care to comment?  8-)

(Speaking of which, if Script was released in 1983, why is Mick Pointer's band out on a 25th anniversary tour in 2010? Am I missing something or is maths an optional extra in the prog world  :? )

Anyway, enough said; a lot of extra snow fell during the gig and it was quite an entertaining drive back home with Catherine through a whiteout; amazing.

[flamadiddle]

Haha.  We ended up packing the cars up at 1:15am and driving back to the hotel.  Steve's car got stuck in the car park, I fell over on the icy loading ramp...  Was a brilliant night, though.  Cheers to everyone who came and spoke to us after the show.

[Trapezium Artist]

Haha.  We ended up packing the cars up at 1:15am and driving back to the hotel.  Steve's car got stuck in the car park, I fell over on the icy loading ramp...  Was a brilliant night, though.  Cheers to everyone who came and spoke to us after the show.

Indeed; good to meet you there, fellow Frost*ling, and nice work on the guitar :-)

[Nellie]

So T.A., you met both Catherine and me within a couple of weeks. What else is left on your Christmas list? :lol:  

[catherine]

:lol:

[rogerg]

So T.A., you met both Catherine and me within a couple of weeks. What else is left on your Christmas list? :lol:  

time to recover, I'm sure!!  8-)

[catherine]

Oi, Rog, watch it!  :twisted:

[Trapezium Artist]

Eh, what, did someone mention me? I'm here, all Christmas business dealt with, pretty much, but still wondering, as the lady pointed out, how to top having met both Nellie and Catherine within the past fortnight.

All good things come in threes, so we're told ... any suggestions?