SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY & THE ASBURY JUKES
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Halloween with Southside Johnny

ASBURYJUKES.NET – 31.OCTOBER 2009 – The trip from Amsterdam’s IBIS Hotel to Den Haag’s IBIS Hotel was as smooth as it could be. Empty Dutch motorways are a real treat for somebody who’s used to the Autobahn… and the rush hour as such. Den Haag, is a place where Johnny has been the last time more than 10 years ago, playing the Koniginnen Naach Festival in 1999 on his semi-acoustic comeback tour. Den Haag has almost the same amount of spectacular museums, the same nice cafes and eateries, as many bicicles, and the same boring IBIS room layouts and furniture as Amsterdam. Just the road-map is much, much easier, since they don’t have that many canals and one-way-streets…

Now, since the IBIS rooms were no highlight at all, it was a real highlight that the Paard was in 2 minutes walking distance, and it’s been a place where I and (to my knowledge) Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes have not been before. So this was Southside Johnny & the conquerors from New Jersey again. A new night, a new place, a new audience… and EDDIE MANION on a Halloween Saturday!

Eddie, who’s got to play a couple of solos at the Madison Square Garden in New York City the night before, made a difference to the Amsterdam show. The thing with that horn of his is just magic. The moment you hear it, the moment you realize how much you’ve been missing it!

Well, the show… if Amsterdam was loose, the night before, then this show was… loosier? At least in regard to the crazyness on stage it’s been absolutely on par with the night before. Although we’ve got more of a regular setlist (is there such a thing with the Jukes?), the fact that the audience & Hood have been well prepared for a Halloween Bash made it a Halloween Bash. Wonderfull!

Joe Belia just lost his cover. Now, everybody witnessed, that this man is not human. He’s a Cylon android who can catch Lollipops thrown at him with full speed while he is playing. He catches them with HIS MOUTH! I just wonder how the Cylons managed to pack that much soul and feeling into that machine?

My highlight? Johnny singing a Bert Brecht / Kurt Weil song (Alabama Song). For somebody who has a college degree in German literature, that’s been irreal… like something I have been waiting for ever since… well, I didn’t know that I’ve been waiting for it. But big thanks to John for making it true!

I briefly spoke to the promoter, an extremely nice woman, who was just smiling, beeing extremely happy about the band, when I met her. When the show was over I was having a smoke outside. I was just watching the people coming out of the venue. Smiles everywhere! Then I saw John… and HIS smile did light up the whole block.

If there’s another show in Den Haag going to be, I’m going to be there again! That’s for sure!

Now, go and re-conquer the island, boys! There is going to be a storm coming over the United Kingdom of JUKES!

And alotta smiles!

All Pictures Copyright (c) by Klaus Böttger – 2009