Ralphy's Concert Reviews

All reviews will be graded between 0 and 10.

0 meaning "shitty" and

10 meaning "perfect"

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Old Concert Reviews:

Thursday 19-11-98: Platte Zaol (Maastricht): Ilse DeLange

Ilse DeLange is the new Dutch country-phenomenon from the city of Almelo. This year she got a deal with Warner Brothers in Nashville for 7 (yes, seven) albums. Later this year her first album, "World of Hurt", will be released in the U.S.A., in The Netherlands the C.D. already sold more than 100,000 copies which earnt Ilse Platinum.

Although I don't consider myself a true country fan, Ilse's first two singles "I'm not so tough" and the album-titlesong "World of hurt" impressed me enough to buy her album and tickets for her concert in Maastricht. The concert was almost cancelled (2 previous performances had to be postponed) due to troubles with Ilse's vocal chords, but luckily she recovered in time for the concert. When she talked in between songs you could hear it a little bit, but otherwise her voice was outstanding on this evening. The opening of the concert was perfect with the high-geared "Flying blind" which immediately proved the vocal talent of Ilse DeLange for bluesy country songs. I myself liked the uptempo songs like "Tap dancing on a highwire" and the new single "I'd be yours", performed twice in different versions, and (new for me) "Happy girl" better than the ballads. I believe that Ilse's hard, but pure voice comes out much better in songs with a little speed and guitars. The best example for me was the highlight of the evening "All the woman you'll ever need", in which both Ilse and her band sparkled fiercely. The more softer songs were not bad, but if you aren't really into country they won't convince you otherwise. Ilse performed all 14 songs from her debut-album, plus some extra's like a duet with opening act, J.W. Roy. I grade the concert in average with a 7.5.

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Thursday 08-10-98: Platte Zaol (Maastricht): De Dijk

It was around 8.45 PM when the opening act, the local band Network, started. They were able to spark slight enthusiasm with the crowd with covers like "Hush" by Kula Shaker, "Remedy" by The Black Crowes and "Basket case" by Green Day and they also played a couple of their own songs. The Van Dik Hout-cover "Stil in mij" ('Silent in me') was the climax of their pre-show and the circa 1,000 men audience was ready for De Dijk now.

Shortly after 10 o'clock it was time for the main act. De Dijk (which simply means The Dyke, which has no sexual submeaning in The Netherlands) opened with a rage with "Laat het vanavond gebeuren" ('Let it happen tonight'), but after that the first part of their performance moved on a bit too gently. The gestures of singer Huub van der Lubbe make him look like a Dutch (moderate) version of Joe Cocker and his cliché-filled one-liners don't help either. The real fire in the show only started when the public joined in for the ballad "Als ze er niet is" ('When she isn't there'). From that moment on the Hot Haarlemmerdijk Horns, the 2-man-hornsection, proved to be in excellent shape this evening and they pulled the level of music playing of De Dijk to great hights. .

Songs like "Ik kan het niet alleen" ('I can't do it alone'), "Stampvol cafe" ('Extremely crowded bar'), "Mag het licht uit" ('Can we put the lights out') and, to me, the absolute climax "Niemand in de stad" ('Noone in town') entertained the audience immensely. There was also time left for 2 encores, the familiar and unsuperceded "Dansen op de vulkaan" ('Dancing on the volcano') and as finisher of the evening the tranquil and melodious "Groot hart" ('Big heart'), which they just re-released. Personally I was disappointed that they hadn't played their single-success "Nergens goed voor" ('Good for nothing') and one of my personal favorites "Het gevoel is weg" ('The feeling is gone') in tonight's setlist. On a scale of 0 to 10 I rate this concert with a 7.0.

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