It is Thursday afternoon, snowing and cold. Rather late i finally get ready to go to Ahoy, Rotterdam, which is not so far from where i live. Ahoy is a place where K’s Choice played before, it is huuuuuge, about 11 000 people fit in! In the metro i keep hoping that it wont snow anymore for today, but the wishful thinking isn’t working enough. Normally i’d go to the concert hall earlier but since besides the weather, it’s really cold and snowy, there hopefully won’t be many fans so far. Tonight it won’t be just K’s Choice, but many Dutch artists will play as well. Actually K’s Choice will be the only international band.
Arriving at Ahoy, there are already a few fans. Besides Mascha and Avery, who were waiting already for quite some time, also some Xander de Buisonje fans were waiting there, let’s say one could compare them with Backstreet Boys fans ;-) After our feet began to freeze and finally more people coming and still some more waiting the doors are opened at 18.30. Avery, Mascha and me get to the right side of the stage, in the front. The stage is kinda devided, so you either stand left or right, in the middle there is a catwalk. The left side is still closed, so everyone has to go to the right side anyway, people who get in later go to the left side.
The hall gets fuller and fuller while a DJ is doing his thing on the little round stage at the end of the catwalk. The DJ is trying to entertain the people, by making all kinda moves and stuff. Actually he is quite ok. He plays all kinda dutch artists, from Anouk (Sacrifice and Are you kiddin’ me) to Krezip (I would stay) and from Marco Borsato to Paul de Leeuw. In the mean time cameras try to catch people, you can see on the big screens above the stage.
At around 20.30 a curtain comes down and falls around the DJ. On the right stage, so just in front of us, a band starts to play. It is Di-rect, a group of young guys, maybe you can compare them a little with Krezip, just that they are male and well, i don’t know how to explain what they sound like. In the mean time The Lau appears on the round stage on the catwalk and they start to play/sing Iedereen is van de wereld. This song is originally from The Scene, The Lau’s band. Most people in the crowd sing along and the party started. The Lau comes onto the right stage as well now and he and Di-rect thank each other before Di-rect goes on with a few songs. During Just the way i do the guitarist (Spike) – who seems to be really popular, since quite some people in the crowd were shouting for him and that s how i got to know who he is J - goes to the stage on the catwalk. There he gets lifted or something and flies over the heads of the audience. Pretty cool! During another song Di-rect is accompanied by the two Klemann sisters of Loïs Lane.
Di-rect leaves the stage and Lois Lane takes our attention to the left side of the stage, while the right side is prepared for the next band. I never saw Loïs Lane live before, but i think i like them better on cd or something, they don’t seem to catch the audience as much as they want, at least not tonight in my opinion. Actually there are a few members of Anouk’s band joining Loïs Lane here! They play both an older hit as some newer hits. There were quite some people singing along. The singer of Roberto Jacketti & The Scooters joins them for the last bit and after that he comes to the right side, where his band is waiting for him. Their music is pretty happy and again the whole hall is taken into the party so to say. Especially when a gospel choir enters stage to sing with them for a while the audience sings along as well on songs like I save the day. It gives a great atmosphere and it s really a good feeling you get when you look around and see so many people (11 000 people if i m not mistaken) having such a good time. The singer of Skik gets on stage as well and he and his band play on the left side of the stage where they sing in the dialect of "Twente", a part of the Netherlands. A couple of years ago already this band had a big hit with Op fietse (i think you can translate that like by bike or something) so the audience is singing along again. While they are playing we see Koen helping on stage getting his instruments ready.
And then there comes the big moment …. Sarah joins Skik on stage to sing along with them in the end of Hoe kan dat nou? – which means How is that possible? (lyrics included, at the end of my review) Wow…this is really amazing. Sarah singing Twents?! Her Flamish accent is so cute! At first she stays a bit in the background (Sarah being shy???) but gmm….wow! J She is wearing her orange trousers and yellow, green shirt with player written on it. Also Sarah changed the colour of her hair into brown. And it looks really good on her, but well, actually everything will look great on her. Anyway, she looks great with this haircolour. (humm..lol, i try to give some details) Just in front of us the rest of the band (Eric with a cute hat – white, red) is waiting for Sarah to finish with singing in weird Dutch ;-). When Sarah joins them they start with Hide. Wooohooo…time to jump! Jan, Eric, Gert and Sarah jump around and so do we. Wow… After Hide there is Losing you, which seems a bit different from the versions i heard before in summer. Great! Again: wooow!!!
Then The Lau joins K’s Choice to sing Onder aan de dijk. Great to see / hear this song live! Too bad not everyone can appreciate it – some really annoying people behind us cant keep their mouth shut and stuff, but well, it was so wonderful to see and hear this song live! Mascha and Avery said that the day before they did this song as well, but then Sarah and The Lau went on the middle thingy on the catwalk, but we were lucky that they staid just right in front of us. The Lau leaves the stage again and when K’s Choice starts to play Not an Addict you can hear that the rest of the audience recognises the song. Towards the end of the song Brainpower, a dutch rapper who just had a big hit with the song Dansplaat, comes on stage and does his thing while the rest of the band plays on. I can’t really tell what he was rapping, because it went rather fast and i was so busy looking at all what was happening on stage. Wow, what an experience! It went all so fast….argh!
While K’s Choice leaves stage again (L ) Brainpower, the singer with some more rappers and dancers and stuff goes on with their songs. But we are not the only ones watching Brainpower. At the side of the stage we see Sarah watching as well! Ok, now it’s hard to keep the attention with Brainpower, to be honest. Sarah, thanks for waving at us! (yeah..now it was definitely not too interesting anymore to watch the rest of the show ;-) )Then there’s the dancer coming out of a suitcase and turning all his bones around, pretty scary and i wonder how he can do all these moves, au!
Anyway, Acda & de Munnik, two guys who do cabaret and sing, come on stage to join Brainpower for their last song and do a funny dance together. Acda & de Munnik are pretty popular in the Netherlands, actually quite a few of my students are their fans and when i told them i’d see them tonight they were pretty jealous. ;-) Sarah still watches a big part of Acda & de Munnik performing. They play for example Kapitein II, Als het vuur gedoofd is and Ren, Lenny, ren. Frank Boeien joins them, and he for a change is joined by Rob de Nijs. Both older dutch men sing songs that quite a lot of people now. Dj Ronald Molendijk, then, comes on the catwalk to join Rob de Nijs for one of his latest hits Banger hart. Two members of Rowwen Heze – the singer and a guy with a "trekzak" - join Rob de Nijs for a song. Some K’s fans must remember Rowwen Heze still from Sweelpop…humm *no comment * ;-) It s actually pretty fun when everyone is singing along with " ‘t is een kwestie van geduld tot heel Holland Limburgs lult" which says something like it is a thing of patience to wait till the day everyone in the Netherlands will speak some kind of dialect they speak in the south-east of the country. Some members of Volumia join them and also Xander (and now his fans go crazyJ ) comes on stage. Xander has an old guy as a guitarist, which was in Herman Brood’s band. In the end Xander grabs this guys humm..how to say that, cross? Eek!
….The evening is almost over…the presenter, a blond woman called Manuëla Kemp, gets on stage again (she sang along before a little with some artists, but at the moment i can’t really remember what she did, it might have been with Frank Boeien or Rob de Nijs, maybe someone else can fill me in or something) and asks the audience if we want more..well, of course we do want more K’s Choice ;-) The "grand final" is that all artists get back on stage singing songs by Ramses Shaffy. Also Sarah sings a few lines, dont ask me which though, maybe someone else remembers? She stays next to the gospel choir and together with the rest of K’s Choice and The Lau she tries to dance along with them. Really funny to see! J
After this Ramses Shaffy medley and some more confetti it is over…It seems that K’s Choice left stage already before the others finished the medley. Oh well…it was G.R.E.A.T. K’s Choice, thanks for a great evening again! I actually wonder how K’s Choice got into this, since they were the only international band in the show. (and well, i found it a nice experience to go to an evening like this, don’t think i would have gone there if K’s Choice wouldnt have played there ..hehe..) Anyway, the confetti, the singing along and the all people holding hands almost sound like a Frans Bauer gig but no…seriously now, it was greaaaaaaaaaat! (and yeah, now i’m about to try to get tickets for another day…)
Lyrics Hoe kan dat nou?
Skik - Album: Niks is zoas 't lek (1997)
't Was vleden weeke nog wel aordig, 't was vleden weeke nog wel schier
Toe ko'j nog wel op de buuten wezen, toe was de zunne nog te zien
't Blad zat gruun nog an de bomen en ogenschienlijk nog goed vast
Nou ben we net 'n weeke verder en opiens is't zo kaold as wat
't Regent as 'n grote, 't blad is geel en bruunig
Alle blad dat weijt mij met 'n noodgang deur de tuune
Ik stao der bij te kieken
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou?
't Was gistermiddag nog wel lachen, 't was gistermiddag nog wel leuk
Mar tegen de aovand weud 't duuster, da's 'n eeuwenaold gebruuk
Dus daor stun ik nie van te kieken, mar waor ik wel deur weud verrast
Was dat mien wichie zo opiens zee dat heur liefde veur mij over was
Ik zee daorop tegen heur, ku'j dat misskien motiveren
Mar toen peuk ze heur jaase, ze wol 't nie iens proberen
Ik stun der bij te kieken
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou?
Vanmorgen stun ik mal te kieken, ik was mirakels slecht te pas
Pas nao 'n halve liter koffie kreeg ik 't zeil weer in de mast
'k Krabte de assche van mien koeke en ik dacht hiel bijdehand
Gien weersomstandigheid, gien wichie stek mij de fietse in de brand
Die gedachte meuk mij vrolijk, ik kon me nie bedwingen
Om zachies te gaon fluiten even later ston'k te zingen
En daor stun ik van te kieken
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou, hoe kan dat nou zo gauw?
Hoe kan dat nou, kan dat nou?