Yesterday we saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds live 
They played at Heineken Music Hall. Since the big Heineken Brouwerij (brewery) building is just a 5 minute bike ride away, we took our bikes out about 90 minutes before they were supposed to be on stage and rode over there. Unfortunately, Heineken Brouwerij is not the same as Heineken Music Hall. Doh. Fortunately, the metro in Amsterdam is very reliable, and Amsterdammers give very good directions.
Nick Cave has an amazing stage presence. There were some minor glitches, one organ stopped working, one line forgotten from a song — funny, but none of it detracting from the performance. The Bad Seeds had two guys playing drums and three guys alternating on organ, guitar, bass, concert flute and an electric violin played like a guitar; the drum rhythms got incredibly complex at times.
But, the audience was a bit … spiritless. Maybe Dutch people just don’t make that much noise during concerts? At the end of the concert, Tiril’s voice was all spent from trying to yell (and sing) for a dozen people at once.
UPDATE: According to a Native Amsterdammer™, the Heineken Music Hall is built especially so that each audience member’s own voice is flung back at them. I guess that might explain the lack of audience noise?
Men så var det jo faktisk også helt fantastisk moro
(Selv om jeg mistet stemme og de som stod foran oss så veldig stygt på meg som et resultat av alt for mye brøling i alt for høyt toneleie..)
Cadenza says : I absolutely agree with this !