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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”.

Nick Lowe

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”.

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”.

Tom Freund

I saw Tom Freund perform a month ago on the Blue Highways festival in Utrecht, The Netherlands. I listened to his latest album Collapsible Plans to get into the mood and was immediately interested.

The performance was fun and diverse. Accompanied by great musicians he delivered a very detailed show and enjoyable from start to finish. The next day I almost visited his show at the Paradiso, Amsterdam. I definitely wanted to see and hear more, but unfortunately I had other obligations.

His music has been compared to Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and many other great singer-songwriters of the last 50 years, but Tom Freund creates a folksy blues-tinged genre all his own. So the comparison gives a hint of what to expect, but expect a personal sound different from his predecessors.

He has been working with Ben Harper and Jackson Browne. You can find several movies on YouTube to get an impression.