Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder

We visited the “They Drive By Night” concert in the Carre theater in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. After years Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe returned to our country to play their favorites for the fans.

Originally the two would be joined by Flaco Jimenez, but the Tex Mex accordion player known from the Texas Tornados couldn’t attend as the result of a hernia.

The Carre theater is beautiful and has a nice atmosphere, but I hate it being stuck in comfy chairs between the aging audience sitting passively. I prefer some room to move and appreciate more involved listeners. The overpriced tickets didn’t help either. Still I wanted to see the person responsible for some great music and I wasn’t disappointed. Not the most the exciting concert or any big surprises, but still a great evening.

People say Ry Cooder doesn’t like to tour, but from the start he walked on the stage he was in control and at ease. I think the band was enjoying themselves very much. The mutual respect was obvious. They played good and the concert had a good relaxed feeling. I loved Ry Cooder’s hat and his suite, Nick Lowe was great with his horn rimmed glasses and the orange polo shirt.

Ry Cooder played a few items from the triology Chavez Ravin, My Name Is Buddy and I, Flathead. However the majority of the numbers were classics from the past. He played “Crazy About An Automobile”, “One Meatball” and “Teardrops Will Fall”. The audience frequently shouted requests, an activity I never have understood. Ry Cooder ignored them politely “We have many requests, so many requests, the following number is one of these requests”.

The girls from the opening act, Juliette Commagere and her pianist, added some nice background vocals. In particular a must have for the song “Chinito, Chinito”.

Nick Lowe

Nick Lowe

Of course the majority of the material was written by Ry Cooder, but Nick Lowe took center stage at regular intervals. He played “Half A Boy, Half A Man”

They ended the concert with a great final. Nick Lowe finished with a beautiful performance of “What So Funny About Love, Peace & Understanding”, the original song known from the Brinsley Schwarz band. Then the band played “Little Sister” and “He’ll have to go”.