Category: Gigs Abroad

Gigs From Abroad Part 16 – Eindhoven and Den Bosch

On our lad’s trip in 2018 a decision was made to return to the Netherlands and to the city of Eindhoven. It is the fifth largest city in the country and its wealth was initially built on textiles and tobacco before two significant companies DAF Trucks and Philips were founded there. The latter firm’s name is referenced in their famous football club PSV (Philips Sport Vereniging) Eindhoven. It has a large student population and contains the Muziekcentrum Frits Philips, a classical and pop music venue which is renowned across Europe for its excellent acoustics.

On our traditional Day 2 jaunt we traversed over to nearby Hertogenbosch, which translates as ‘the forest of the duke’. It is known locally as Den Bosch and is the established location for an annual high profile grass court tennis tournament and it also staged the start of the Tour De France in 1996. It is a bonny city with a plethora of bars and hostelries and a protected townscape with ramparts which surround most of the boundaries. The ex-Man United footballer Ruud Van Nistlerooy started his career at FC Den Bosch and famous previous residents include the scholar Erasmus, artist Heironymus Bosch and one of the finest ever female cyclists, Marianne Vos.  

As we exited the train station, we were instantly approached by one of the locals with the leading question ‘are you here for the festival?’ for which my ears perked up. My ears reduced to semi-perk state when informed it was a jazz festival which is probably my least favourite genre, but my gig addiction was piqued by the possibility of unexpected bonus venues forthcoming!

Den Bosch Festival. Image Credit denboschtips.com

It is the ‘free jazz’ style that doesn’t personally move me and can in fact be a tad nurofen inducing but I am more conducive when it is incorporated in a more blues domain synonymous of what I would imagine would be played in a Bourbon Street bar in New Orleans.

However, we took advantage of the festival hitting the town and our first venue was Den Bosch Stadscafe Basiliek which is a cosy brown café located near St Jan’s Cathedral with a comprehensive choice of beers. They regularly have live music and we saw a band under the name of Paul Sproetska. We then headed over to Den Bosch Kerkplein where a combo called Groupo Des Cargos were playing. The next site was at a square at Den Bosch Minderbroedersplein where they had an outdoor stage and performing there was Zwerm Koeien.

At this point in time, we had an attack of the munchies so decided to obtain some food from one of the numerous stalls dotted around the large expanse of Den Bosch Market which is surrounded by many grand old buildings including the 14th century Town Hall. Located at the market was the festival’s main stage where you expect the red letter acts to be performing. However, whilst we were awaiting our tucker, we were comprehensively underwhelmed by the Stark Linnemann Quartet who are comprised of 75% Dutch and 25% Greek origin.  

Our final performance was at Den Bosch Uilenberg where we witnessed the Jurgen Burdorf Band. Jurgen has crossed over into many other genres in his career including indie pop, 1960’s musicals and has also played mandolin in a Dolly Parton tribute show. The entire festival had an inclusive relaxed vibe about it and was well attended. In the last pub next to the train station, I recall the FA Cup Final being on in the background with Chelsea defeating Man United in that year’s final.   

Cafe Altstadt. Image Credit thisiseindhoven.com

We returned to Eindhoven in the evening and visited Eindhoven Alstadt which was located next door to a terrific rough and ready rock bar which we frequented both evenings and where they had a fine noisy jukebox.

The Alstadt is a lively bar and was funded from January 2017 by the Performing Arts Netherlands to become a Core Stage live music venue and has acts on most nights of the week and is open until 4am at weekends.  On the night we visited a soul band called Herman Brood Academie were playing who are named after a music college in Utrecht.

On our return day on the Sunday, we had two-star spots, the first being when a couple of the chaps espied the actual Hollies in the hotel breakfast area in the morning. Following that at the airport there was a further double take when we saw the darts legend Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor who had been competing at an exhibition event in the area and subsequently got on our flight and was sat in the row adjacent to myself.

Phil Taylor. Image Credit Sky Sports.

Gigs from Abroad – Part 15

In the years from 2016 to 2018 we decided with some friends to undertake an annual jaunt to visit the Christmas markets in Germany.  In the first year we headed to Stuttgart for my debut appearance there, and it was appropriately exceptionally cold. The city is the largest in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg and is in close proximity to the Black Forest and is also Germany’s ‘car capital’. Famous previous residents include the footballer Andreas Muller and the current Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

The Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt is one of the largest and oldest Christmas markets in Europe comprising of over 280 stalls in the city centre. It contained an absolutely superb model railway, an artefact I am always eternally fascinated by. Our accommodation was next to the Sudheimer Platz and in the corner of the square was Germany’s first ever funicular built in 1929. It is virtually still in its original format including the old cable car which is in itself a listed building! It takes you on an interesting 550 metre journey on a 28% gradient up to the hilltop area of Waldfriedhof.  

Stuttgart Christmas Market. Image Credit europenbestdestinations.com

In 2018 we returned and this time desired to head out on a train trip to another market and Esslingen was referenced to us as a good place to visit. The market town is located on the River Neckar and lies about 9 miles southeast of Stuttgart and one of its twin cities is Neath in Port Talbot.  When there we traversed up and down the considerable number of lung busting wooden steps to reach Esslinger Burg, the old fortress which once protected the city and the accompanying panoramic views.    

The main rationale for our visit to the town was to attend their famous Medieval Christmas market and the olde world ‘Game of Thrones’ vibe of the event was very enjoyable. It felt novel as alongside the obligatory food and drink and traders selling other wares they had jugglers, minstrels, acrobats and fire magicians. There was also musical entertainment in two separate areas thus we saw a band called Oro on Esslingen Market Stage 1 and a chap called Gudbrugger Goldstein on Esslingen Market Stage 2.   

In the middle year we headed to Heidelberg, and this was the second time I had visited the city.  Heidelberg has considerable history in that around 400,000 years ago ‘Heidelburg Man’ died in a nearby town and his jawbone was discovered in 1907. It was subsequently confirmed that his remains were the earliest evidence of human life in Europe.

The city is in the same large state as Stuttgart and is in the warmest region of the country and also contains Germany’s oldest University, founded in 1386. The city hosted the 1972 Summer Paralympics and famous residents include Friedrich Ebert, the first ever president of Germany, racing driver Nelson Piquet Jr, German football manager Hansi Flick, musician Jackson Browne and actor Michael Fassbender of 12 Mens A Slave and X-Men fame. They were also referenced in Harry Potter as having a high quality Quidditch team called Heidelberg Harriers!

We encountered another funicular which is used by 1m passengers annually. It heads up to Konigstuhl where on our visit we encountered some snow showers, the halfway point is the Castle where we took a break for a beer in the huge bar room.  

Heidelberg Funicular. Image Credit klook.com

Our train trip that weekend was over to Mannheim, which is an anachronism for a German city as the streets are built on a grid pattern (like Glasgow) and are numbered accordingly, this quirk results in its nickname of the Square City. One more famous Mannheim resident to cite here is one of the finest ever tennis players Steffi Graf.

I recall having a sally around a huge department store where there was a comfortable seated area showing Saturday afternoon football on several TV screens which unsurprisingly was populated by primarily the male population! Whilst in attendance at the Mannheim Market we saw the Mannheim Brass Orchestra.

On our last night in Heidelberg, we made the catastrophic error of imbibing too much vino tinto creating a perilous journey the following day. Two further challenges abounded, the first that it is a 50-mile commute back to the airport involving a couple of changes on the rails.

The second was the below freezing weather resulting in us waiting on the runway for an interminable time at the vast Frankfurt Airport before fortunately being given the all clear to depart. Prior to setting of we then had the strange and unfamiliar experience of the plane going through the equivalent of a car wash to clear off the snow. We had a very early night when we arrived home that evening!

Before I depart this week, I want to pay my own homage to Steve Albini who died this week at the tender young age of 61. He was an excellent music producer and undertook the task by concentrating solely on enhancing the band which resulted in hardening Wedding Present’s sound and creating my favourite Pixies album ‘Surfer Rosa’, amongst many other achievements.

Steve Albini on stage. Image Credit rollingstone.com

I caught his later band Shellac once, but my abiding memory is witnessing the intensity of Big Black when I saw them on their penultimate ever British date at Manchester Boardwalk in 1987. The gig gods smiled on us as we only heard about the date on John Peel four days before and queued at the venue at 8pm to obtain one of the last remaining tickets, an unforgettable night!