After (finally) a quiet night in at Marjan’s (thank you Marjan!) we arose feeling resasonably rested for a change and headed into Amsterdam, collecting Maurice, Doug, Karin, Carina and Guido on the way, and set off to see some sights. We visited a photography exhibition with great pics of C Berry, F Domino, J Brown, J Cocker, Stones, Who etc, and peeked into several others in the arty Speigelgraacht area, wended our way over several canals, saw the Beginhof (an old convent, a bit of peace in the centre of the city), rooted through a huge record store, ate pancakes and still were on the steps of the Paradiso by 6 pm.
December 5 in The Netherlands is Sinterklaasavond, the festival of St Nicholas, when schools have no lessons and a half-day holiday and people exchange gifts of special chocs and cakes. In particular, it’s traditional to get a lovely bar of rich chocolate in the shape of the initial letter of your name. So Evelien (Marjan’s daughter, the young fan whom Southside brought on stage to dance with him in Amsterdam last year) made up a Santa sack with nicely wrapped chocolate letters for each of the Jukes and crew and delivered it to the stage door of the Paradiso.
The Paradiso is a venerable venue, which the Jukes have played regularly since they first stated coming over here, and they really seem to like it. It is indeed a lovely place; an old church converted, but still with stained glass windows behind the stage, a high ceiling and two tiers of pretty balconies over a packed dance-floor and a high, wide stage, where the Jukes could really stretch out. Before that, we got a local band called the Juke Joints, whether in tribute or not I do not know, but they played straight r’n'b, with lots of harp, and we got another, quite different version of Bullfrog Blues (last heard from the support at Glasgow), this time featuring mandolin.
Sean introduced and South entered to the strains of “Happy Birthday” from the Dutch fans who didn’t make it to Osnabruck. He announced “We’re NOT having a party, goddammit” – and went straight into Party, which really set the mood, with Bobby L rocking the piano and the four horns promenading the big stage to huge acclaim. Fool, with Eddie and Shake ‘Em Down, with more rollicking piano and similar tenor from Joey, kept up the momentum till South paused to draw attention to Ricky’s new guitar strap – in a fetching shocking pink fake fur. “Does it match my eyes?” asked Ricky. Then we got a lovely Wrong Side, the first verse just with ensemble harmonies and lovely piano from Bobby L, who tonight, it was claimed, was “just 16 years old” (the Jukes take years off you) “but he’s on his last legs. They’re not even his legs, he had a hip transplant. And a penile implant.”
All I Needed Was You was really impassioned tonight, in honour, South said, of his having played the Paradiso since 1979 “or 1923, or 1629… Why don’t you do a madrigal, Ricky?” Ricky played a delicate figure, rejected by SJ as a “Spanish madrigal. How about an English madrigal? Oh, you’re from the Bronx – ok, an Italian madrigal”. Which turns out to be some kind of Italian wedding knees-up… So South goes: “People, learn from this: when you’re in trouble on stage, always turn to the horns” and starts Without Love, which sounded wonderful echoing in that high space, so much so that he had the horns repeat their part slower and softer – how lovely. And BL and RB sounded lovely on it, too.
So then Ricky got an intro – preceded by an explanation of Bobby B’s absence: “he tried to join a nunnery but they wouldn’t have him; so now he’s in a monastery. In Alaska. He’s renounced the guitar. And sex. Well, maybe not sex” – and got to play a storm on Living With the Blues, giving every impression of relishing the genre and making the most of it. South did a heartfelt coda about how “she’s long gone/ you’re left to carry on/ She’s out on the street, you’re inside with cheap whiskey/ While she’s out there in her short leather skirt, being frisky/ She didn’t give you much, though you gave her all you have/ Just a taste of it, that’s all she gave/ That taste is still on your lips/ While she’s out on the street, shaking her hips…” and played harp alongside Ricky’s guitar in a moment that again felt real atmospheric in that high hall.
Cadillac Jack led into a version of Night Train in which we actually got the vocal refrain from South and Eddie took a solo which was extended so we could hear just how low he can go… again, stunning in that hall.
South then started on harp and stopped to comment: “I remember a moment in the studio: me and Steven, wondering what to do… and in walks Goofball from Freehold, and says, ‘I got a song for you’ and we say ‘Oh, yeah?’ and it’s…and goes into All The Way Home, lovely, with Bobby L, Muddy, Joe and Ricky just the perfect quartet. “We’re gonna walk down the street/ Smiling at everyone we meet / Like we don’t care, we’ll sing sha la la la la… There’ll be snow and rain on our heads, I’ll have on my suede shirt and you’ll be wearing my sneakers, and still we won’t care, we’ll sing…” Beautiful.
Better Days was a request from Evelien and sounded great, on, I think, its first outing, and then South mentioned the new CD: “It’s the Jukes do polka” and went into “I don’t want her…” but it was really an intro to “a Philly soul song, written by Phillip Soul” – Don’t Call Me Baby, of course, sounding magnificent. This led straight into a most riotous Happy, on which South first handed the maracas to Marjan (my friend and host) who, after playing them (in perfect rhythm) for a while laid them down for the next person – another friend, Maurice – to pick them up. South, noticing this, took away the maracas and handed Maurice his harp, which Maurice blew so manfully that South held the mic for him so we all could hear – and he did such a good job, he got another solo later in the song and got presented with the harp. (South took it off him later as he needed it for another song, but he made sure Maurice got to take it home).
My own request was rejected on the grounds we’d heard enough from me (in which he’s darn tootin’) but it didn’t matter ’cause someone else called for Hearts Of Stone and it was wonderful. Then Ricky was told to stand up straight, shoulders back and hold his belly in – as much as possible anyway – because it was time for him to introduce a friend of his, a young woman from Alabama, now based in Belgium, Beverley Jo Scott, who joined him and South singing a great, soul-revue-style Soothe Me. This led to All Night Long and a South-and-Ricky swapped Rolling and Tumbling, Ricky’s playing just getting better and better. South gave thanks for the chocolate letters: “I got a J for John, and an Fand a Y – don’t know what that’s for…” and went into Rita, which was what I wanted anyway and which drew spontaneous applause for Chris and Neal’s playing on that Mexican horn part. This led to another Chris feature on Tired Skin, which also sounded specially moving in that hall. After a rousing Nothing But A Heartache, on which Bobby L was encouraged to play “dirtier than that” and did, we got a very fast Baby Don’t Lie which suddenly turned into a beautiful moment when Eddie came out and turned his solo into a lovely account of Merry Christmas To You. Then we got Blue Christmas, sung by South this time, very deep and croony. Then a straight-ahead Fever on which Bobby L swung the organ, Chris did a soaring, muteless solo and we were exhorted to sing “moon at night” in Dutch, or Swahili, but ignored this, South commenting “funny how much these languages sound like English”. And the set ended on an all-togther IDWTGH.
Coming back out, South held up his chocolate letter and asked for songs beginning with J. He started Gigolo, remembered that starts with G and did a bit of Jingle Bells (the horns parping along) until Ricky saved the day by coming up with Jumping Jack Flash. Talk To Me had Muddy as well as Chris bouncing behind Joey’s solo and introductions for the whole band, with a thoroughly deserved solo for Joe B, a prolonged “Eddie” chant and a big hand for “Ricky Byrd on hair”, and an ending: “Talk to me… I got money, I got a red cadillac with black leather interior, and we can drive it until we fall into a canal, and land on a boat, and end up going out to sea…”
Called back again, Southside said it had been “one of those goddamn tours” and specially thanked the crew, the Druids (who failed to take their bow, were discovered in the balcony, and exhorted to jump), the merch guys, Tony and Paul, and tour manager Graham Swinnerton “who’s been skivvying for me for 30 years”, and the Jukes did a short reprise of Party. But the crowd were still calling, and once more South had to come back after the venue’s music had started. This time he came out just with the horns and unexpectedly sang Tell ‘Em I’m Broke with only the horns backing him; they all ended up out front so you could really hear the separate parts in that horn riff and it sounded totally great. We loved it.
All the Jukes came out to sign things for ages afterwards, and, hard as it was to believe it was all over, it was even harder to take in just how much they have given us in the past three weeks. All I can say is: thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
