Words by Rene Rosierse
Shed Seven visited Melkweg Amsterdam for two shows last week and we joined them for their first night on Friday 26 September.
It was eight o’clock when the venue opened its Upstairs, and although the show was due to start at nine with no supports scheduled, all visitors made sure they were there as soon as the doors opened. The Upstairs is the smallest and cosiest of the different rooms at the Melkweg and was completely sold out for the night. From the 250 people in the audience at least 200 had come straight over from across the pond in the UK for this special evening. They were wearing at least 50 different types of Shed Seven shirts, so the tone was set, the atmosphere right, and we knew this would be a great night.
While waiting for the band to show, the venue played the typical nineties Britpop classics. By the time Oasis’ ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ came on the entire crowd started singing along. And so, we created our own support act with Stone Roses’ ‘I am the Resurrection’ next on our setlist.
The bill showed an intimate night with Shed Seven, so for this intimate night the band had downsized to only singer Rick Witter and guitarist Paul Banks. What wasn’t on the bill was the extra 250-piece choir formed by the entire audience. Rick and Paul were allowed to do the opener ‘Let’s go’ with just the two of them, but with the start of ‘Speakeasy’ the audience accompanied them and did so until the last notes of ‘Chasing rainbows’.
Audiences singing along can often be a tricky and embarrassing thing but not with this crowd. The floor became part of the stage and Shed Seven turned out to be a 252 piece band, Rick and Paul enjoyed it just as much as we did. They made us feel part of the band, shared inside stories, explained songs and put some of the people in the spotlight. Rick shared several of the e-mail requests he’d got with us. There was among them a letter from a young couple who celebrated their honeymoon with us and a mum from Cardiff whose husband and kids surprised her by sending Rick a request.
Besides chatting and joking around there was plenty more time for some great songs, like ‘High Hopes’, ‘Bully Boy’ and ‘Getting Better’. Halfway through the set it was time for a Smiths cover, and once again we all sang along to ‘There is a light that never goes out’. Not only did they play the songs from their nineties classics albums but also a couple from their recent Number One studio album ‘A matter of time’. A good mix of old and new songs on the setlist tonight, and a set that ended with the classics ‘Going For Gold’, ‘Disco Down’ and off course ‘Chasing Rainbows’.
Rick and Paul proved that even with just an acoustic guitar these classics worked just as well as with the full band. We had a great time but would like to see the full band again next time.
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