Mega 2016 Catch-Up - Amazing Amsterdam!

Just a few photos from my trip to Amsterdam last May with my mates Glenn and Rob. As mentioned in a previous post we were mainly there to see The Dandy Warhols but we also managed to spend a few days seeing the sights of the beautiful Dutch city. Here are Glenn and I posing in front of the obligatory canal with the equally obligatory bicycles...

More canals and more bikes...

And, of course, trams...

We were staying a 20-minute tram ride from the city centre and they were definitely the best way to get around. And when we got to the centre we found such lovely places as these:

The Royal Palace in bustling Dam Square with added middle-aged Punks

More lovely buildings and waterways

Above is the stunning Rijksmuseum. We didn't have time to properly investigate this huge museum / art gallery / cultural centre but we had a great time wandering around its grounds and just generally hanging out in the neighbouring park and gardens...

( Who let this idiot get in the water? )

 We met a familiar face outside the Van Gogh Museum...

And, of course, Rob had to mess about in the fountains :-)

We had a look around the train station, much to rail enthusiast Glenn's delight...

"Trains!" ( Double-decker ones at that... )

And from the train station we headed down to the waterfront ( not a cue for a Simple Minds song )

I was very tempted to hop on board this ferry and investigate the other bank but we didn't have enough time. And there wasn't enough time for this either:

The infamous Red Light District was certainly eye-opening!

And here's a friend I made at the hotel who helped me eat my breakfast.

All too soon we had to head for home but it had been a fantastic long weekend in a truly beautiful, friendly, laid-back city. It was my first trip abroad for 9 years so I really appreciated the experience and the great company. Hopefully I'll be able to take Sarah there sometime  -  Amsterdam is just too awesome to keep to myself!

Mega 2016 Catch-Up: Gigs ( Part Two ) Dandy Warhols in Amsterdam

A strong contender for Gig Of 2016 ( if not Gig Of The Decade ) was my trip last May to see the Dandy Warhols in the beautiful city of Amsterdam. This jaunt into pre-Brexit Europe was the brainchild of my great friend Glenn, World's No. 1 Dandy's Fan, whose motto is "If you can, you should". So, with those words ringing in our ears and legendary Borrowed Time vocalist Rob F in tow, we hopped on a KLM flight and headed for the Netherlands for an amazing long weekend. I will have to post separately about Amsterdam  -  what a stunning city!  -  but, for now, I'll just concentrate on the gig itself.

The venue was Der Melkweg, a former milk factory (!) which is now an arts space that plays host to gigs, clubs and exhibitions  -  in fact there was a really cool photographic exhibition on when we were there devoted to legends of Hip Hop. Just around the corner from Leidseplein, a vibrant square in the heart of the city, Der Melkweg puts many UK toilet-circuit venues to shame. Glenn and I stopped at Leidesplein before the gig and had a drink with ex-pat Brit and Facebook friend Paul W... and ran into the lovely Zia from the Dandy's. Here are Zia, Paul and myself posing for a photo op:

And later, just before the gig, I ran into Zia again ( I wasn't stalking her, honest! ) and took this great photo:

( I was really pleased with this one )
After all this socialising had set us up nicely we thought we'd better get to the actual gig. Rob didn't come to this because he went to some Anarchist Punk festival instead ( of course! ), so Glenn and I joined crowds of mega-cool Dutch Dandy's fans and filed into the venue.

The band were on sparkling form, definitely an improvement on the last time I'd seen them at the Anson Rooms in Bristol, where they'd been okay but a bit lackluster. This time, probably helped by the fact that this was my first gig outside of the UK ( and my first trip outside the UK in 9 years ), proved to be one of the best gigs in recent years.They played all the old faves  -  Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth, Get Off, the awesome Godless, Every Day Should Be A Holiday ( by a solo Courtney, above ) and, of course, Bohemian Like You. The new songs from the latest album, Distortland, which seem so basic and unfinished on record were allowed to breathe a bit when played live and became deeper and fuller  -  with even as simple a tune as Pope Reverend Jim becoming something of a groove monster, and the repetitive earworm STYGGO causing mass sing-alongs. By the time they had finished with the inevitable Boys Better / Pete International Airport we were one very happy multinational audience. And bollocks to UKip!

 After the gig Zia did her aftershow party / DJ Rescue thing and we had insane amounts of fun, dancing to old Indie, Soul and Ska. I danced with Zia ( again! ) which I haven't done since the Camden Barfly a few years ago and I snapped Glenn and Zia on the dancefloor...

Plus Glenn also met Dandy's guitar hero Pete Holstrom outside the venue, making his night complete:

So that was just one of the highlights of our Amsterdam trip. More to come... and Rob may even put in an appearance in the next post :-)