Well my good friends you will be pleased to hear the SMILER touring party managed to all meet up in Amsterdam eventually and enjoy one of the more memorable live shows of the current Live the life tour to date.
With most of getting up at the crack of the dawn to make our flights I arrived at Schipol airport quite refreshed and actually ahead of schedule which was a surprise after surviving the near full frisking body search security checking malarkey at Luton! Hey Iām a tourist not a terrorist I informed this over zealous security person and was just meeting up with my Rod pals , but hell she still took my beer off me!!!
Phoned switched on and goodwill messages and greetings from Steamy, Martin Baker and a few others flashed up on landing but thanks to good old O2 network problems my phone did not work and I could not contact any of my pals including the legendary Mike Walton (who had been given a special day release licence from the authorities to see Rod in Europe, yesā¦. the clogg wearers still remember him from the Body wishes tour of 83!). Being me , I waited an hour for Mikeās Manchester flight to come in and was so pleased to meet up with him, Carole , Tommy , Vernon , Christine and young Vanessa, who kindly used her reliable state of the art phone to let our fellow SMILER’s know we had all landed safely.
Making our way to the train station was laughable as we spent half an hour constantly walking round the airport 1st floor before I eventually asked someone the way. When we got to the station Tommy said āNo need to buy a ticket Dom as my mate said the conductor comes round and will take the cash on the train and we may even get away not paying at all.ā OK so train arrives and the sign says Amsterdam left and not Amsterdam right. We all troop on and after 20 minutes begin to wonder why we are seeing windmills instead of concrete city blocks. At this time a larger than life ( no oil painting lady conductor) appeared and told us to shut up and be quiet as we were sitting in a Silence only carriage and on top of that were on our way to Rotterdam not Amsterdam. She was great though and took pity on us as we could have been fined 35 euros for travelling with no tickets and she kindly told us how we could get back to town. By this time, the rest of the SMILER on tour guys were all in the pub waiting for us but we just did not know which one and whereabouts as our phones were still useless.
Eventually though we got to Amsterdam central and started walking towards Dam square which at least Mike and I could remember from previous excursions and tried in vain to find Oriellys the Irish bar Martin had picked out for the meet. After asking several locals for directions nobody could find this place and the girls were still trying to contact Steamy and co to find out where to go. Pausing in Dam square a text message flashed up on Mikeās phone we are all in the majestic bar but omitted to tell us where that was. As luck would have it and by pure chance it was right in front of us so after a 2 hour non planned excursion to see some windmills and canals we were altogether. Marty was pleased we had made it and kindly showed us the way to the bar which at Ā£8 a pint was a bit to pricey for us Englanders!! Beverley bless her had found another watering hole ( a football pub as well) which was much more the ticket and there we met up with Dimmo and Shaz and a few other SMILER members and proceeded to get merry ahead of the gig.
We all agreed to meet around 5 and make our way to the Ziggo dome and this part of the journey went really well ( quite surprising really as Tommy , Mike, Vernon and me plus the girls had a few more slurps at the aptly named CafƩ Roo bar right opposite our hotel before getting the tram and metro.
When we got to the Ziggo dome Mike and I were impressed by the Ajax stadium and megastore (not as big as Old Trafford though) and we joined the que for the arena floor. We later found out some people had been queuing there since 9.00 am when were still travelling and getting well acquainted with the locally brewed Heineken and Dutch persons. Turned out to be the right call as we waltzed straight in up to the front right hand side of the stage. Martin B ( what a guy) had bought Ā£50 worth of drinks vouchers and despite having consumed a few Jack Daniels and cokes plus a gallon of Heineken he bought over 8 pints right through the crowd to us all at the front to make sure we were all topped up. By this time Amanda and Beverley were with us and the Rod squad were ready for the show.
Que Moya on stage (in a fine and very nice low cut black top) with a good crop of competent musicians. Moya has a great voice and the sound was basey and clear. I thought her drummer was superb and she thanked Rod repeatedly for giving her such a good break on this tour. Rod fans should check out Moya music as this lady is a very underrated FINE SINGER.
Pausing for the short interval before the main event Mike and I got chatting to this young German couple from Frankfurt who turned out to be genuine SMILER followers and real Rod fans . Hilariously they even asked us if we knew of SMILER in the UK and Mike had a good laugh in letting them know that WE WERE SMILER (on tour) at which point the silver curtain started fluttering and the unusual Big Country theme tune bellowed out from the PA speakers. (Much prefer the stripper opening or pipes ahead of this but what the hell).
Bang on timeā¦..Rod is here and straight into the opening number canāt stop me from the new album Time which went down very well with our new German friends and local folk. The band was missing Jimmy Roberts, Janna and Katja for this first number which sounded great. Rod was well up for this one and straight away left no time to acknowledge all his friends from the UK who had made the trip over to see him and promised us a good set.
Next number up āSome guys have all the luckā which in Rodās case is a very true given the lovely backing singers and talented female members of his band on show. Janna was now at Rodās side for you wear it well which sounds as good today as it did the first time around in 1973 with superb violin playing from this excellent and talented lady. Rodās vocals were clear and strong and he was easily over the recent virus (which always seems to hit him when on tour.) Tonightās the night was followed by a gutsy and fresh twistin the night away which set the tone for a great show. Jimmy Roberts was superb on sax as indeed was the new guitarist Emerson who brings something new and different to Rodās band.
A night on the town appeared to be the theme as we were treated to first cut is the deepest which was accompanied by an excellent string quartet arrangement and superb vocals from Rod and of course the crowd. Forever Young and Rhythm of my heart took the set places of the new tracks It’s over and Brighton Beach
(We suspect this was down to Time not yet being fully promoted in Europe) but both still went down very well with the Ziggo crowd as did the Van Mo classic Have I told you lately. Rod looked pretty cool in his blue silk suit before changing into a really eye catching bright green one with black and white polka dot shirt and matching polka dot socks ( which he must have nicked off Charlie) . Rod was working hard doing his stuff across the stage and despite it being very warm inside the venue he had the lights turned up for I donāt want to talk about it -sung as ever with gusto and pitch perfect vocals.
The acoustic set continued the night on the town theme which included a superb version of the killing of georgie – a song I wish Rod would do live more often as the lyrics are sublime and the song is still as fresh as when he wrote them in 76. One of the highlights no doubt, but of course a prelude to my number Sweet little rock n roller which brought the house down. Emerson and Jimmy Roberts can sure play some kick ass rock n roll and as you all can guess I was in heaven . I donāt know why it is such a simple number with 3 easy chords and a basic melody hits the spot but Rod loves it too and even gave me a wink as he sung it right in front of us. Thank you Rodā¦worth the 3 .00 am start just for that number.
After your āe in my heart , the backing singers took over for Sam & Daveās Soul man with the rest of the girls in the band dressed in Flintstone leopard skin style dresses giving Rod time to change his ear monitors and have a sip of port and brandy. Dressed in a superb versace white jacket with classy swirl colour designs it was time for some footie. Cue Hotlegs and the customary distribution of personally signed footballs into the Ziggo crowd. Rod kicked a fair number of them at this show and seemed rather pleased he managed to get a couple into the top tier of the arena. [I bet those who caught them were even happier!!!]
Janna took up her red mandolin and Don K launched into those familiar chords for Maggie May which still reminds us all of why we are all Rod Stewart fans. Upping the tempo Chuck Kentis then took us into Baby Jane and I was surprised how well this number went down in Holland as it did the last time I was here in 83.
Sailing had the scarves and flags waving as the silver curtain started its descent. Our new found German and Dutch friends applauded as if the show was over only for the curtain to rise up once again for the funky and loud DYTIS, where the sax players really excelled. Rod waved to all his friends and hailed us the best fans ever as he made his way back stage.
Martin turned to me and said that was bloody brilliant Dom ā¦.how does Rod do it? I just said I donāt know Mart but Iām bloody glad he does.
As we all said our farewells and goodbyes before making our way back to the City Mike perked up, Dom weāve lost Vernon!!! With the phone connections safely restored Christine texed to say he was fine and still in the bar using up the last of his ZIGGO vouchers. What a trooper! Thank you my travelling companions and who will ever forget Amsterdam 2013? I think it is fair to say we live the life you love and love the life you live just like our Rod. Till next time.
Review by Dom Murphy
Rod photo by Mike Walton
SMILER’s photo’s by Martin Baker