Pure Mastery

I am of course taking about a 60 year old Grandfather playing live in Amsterdam last night. A pot belly hidden by ablack Fender strat, wisps of gray hair floating under a sea of colours, right shoulder lifting with each beautifully played bendin note, a glass like voice breaking above the beautifully voiced chords underneath, a rendition of his new album which supassed even my expectations, a second set of covers from one of the greatest (and I dont use this word lightly) rock bands of all time.



Yes, I enjoyed it .... I loved it .... it was masterful .... a lesson to ANY musician of how to play to a spellbound audience. No egos ... no pre recording .... no click tracks ... just pure enjoyment by both the musicians and the fans. The clarity of the sound was unbeliveable. I have only been to one concert there before (The Heineken Hall), and that was the Symphonic Yes tour. that was good but last night you heard every fret buzz, string buzz, plectrum placement and every word. My only complaint was the usual one of not hearing the cymbals enough ..... (I know I know) and Dave (as he allows me to call him) was sometimes a little too prodominant in the mix. .... oh and one other thing .... Rick Wright was Shite ..... Dave's Guitar strap broke mid way through a song .... but the band covered it superbly, he made a joke of it as well which was just so cooly done.



He played the whole of his new CD with an order change which I think helped, then Second set was Shine on (with a lovely acoutis section in the middle) a couple of old songs including Syds Domino (Nick, please remind me the second song again), Wearing the inside out (that was rubesh), Breathe / Time / Breathe Reprise, High Hopes (Beautiful), Echoes. This was absolutely the highlight of the show, I had forgotten what a great song this was. Encore were the standard Wish You Were Here and Comfortably Numb .... sheer bliss.

What a night!

Can't say anything else really except make sure you get the DVD when it comes out ....... and you know what? the gig cost £35 ...... Sting costs about twice this as does U2 Madonna etc etc ..... even "The Boss" was around £90 ..... no way could they even come close to the standard of performance last night.