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The Paradiso venue in Amsterdam is a far cry from the 60,000-plus strong venue of Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, or even the 10,000-plus capacity of Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena, which is what I have been hitherto used to, as the capacity was approximately 500!  With that in mind, this was a whole new experience for me as there was no security, for example Tony Kirkham arrived on foot from their hotel in the next street, bags slung over his shoulder.  In fact, after the sound check, the band went around the corner for some food, and passed the queue, which by then was at least 50 people, without being spoken to by anyone.  A stark contrast to that of any event they would hold in Britain.

This meant that the gig itself was a lot more intimate and we were able to meet and greet the entire band, except Kelly who eluded us.  We were also able to listen in on the sound check and overhear a song that we didn’t recognise at all – something Kelly’s writing for his next album perhaps?

Support were a US based outfit named Cracker, and although their set was short, the music was a lively and uplifting mix between Country and Western style music, and good old fashioned rock.  The Dutch audience were polite in their appreciation, although they seemed to be unenthusiastic about their music – perhaps not entirely unrelated to their penultimate song, “Euro-Trash Girl”, which seemed to put the crowd into a state of shock.  I liked the song though, as it was cheeky and fun.  Their last and best song, “Low” is an old favourite of mine, and left us all - as any support band should do – ready for more!

Stereophonics set opened as it had done on the winter 2001 tour of the UK, with the rather eerie introduction to Mr Writer.  The only difference here is there are no fancy screens with weird flame effects on them; just a large curtain draped over the back wall of the stage with the green JEEP logo sprawled across it.

There are only slight changes, from that previous tour, to the set-list too.  Traffic, More Life in a Tramp’s Vest and Same Size Feet have been left out, but they have started to play Don’t Let Me Down.  As Kelly introduces this latter song, he admits to the crowd that they haven’t played this live very much yet and they’re actually worried they will forget it, looking at Richard who raises his eyebrows in an equally nervous manner.  Having said that though, they go ahead to play it just right, even the high notes at the end are pitch perfect, and this was an indication that their whole performance has a much more polished edge to it.

Previous performances have had moments where the sound wasn’t quite right, I was at Birmingham last November and that was a prime example, Kelly spent the whole night shouting back stage for things to be corrected.  It could however be argued that this was a much smaller venue and hence easier to get the sound sorted out.  Other performances have also had timing problems, too – Kelly has a tendency to slow songs down, perhaps without realising it, but this time round, the production was more of a team effort and they really do seem to be a lot more adhesive.

The highlight of the evening has to be just before the encore where the boys where presented with Gold Discs for Just Enough Education to Perform.

There was a rapturous response from the Dutch crowd, for this, and throughout the gig, and the aforementioned tightening of the live side of their act would perhaps be an indication that their recent successes in the States have given them further encouragement.  Perhaps the rest of the world is finally starting to sit up and take notice of what us Brits already know and love.

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Set-list:

Mr Writer

Vegas Two Times

Thousand Trees

The Bartender and the Thief

Hurry Up and Wait

Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio

Have A Nice Day

Nice To Be Out

Just Looking

T-Shirt Suntan

Watch Them Fly Sundays

Step On My Old Size Nines

Handbags and Gladrags

Roll Up and Shine

Not Up To You

Local Boy

Don’t Let Me Down

Everyday I Think Of Money

Rooftop