Barry McCabe

We had a most interesting time in Holland last weekend. We played three shows and the first one was in a club called "Xinix" , which is in a town called Nieuwendijk. I first played this club with Albatross in the early '90's. They have rebuilt the place completely and it's now a very nice concert hall indeed.

Traffic was very heavy from Amsterdam to Nieuwendijk. We put it down to the time of day (basically rush-hour). Anyway, we got there, set up, soundchecked, had a nice meal and then played the gig. The band played well and I think the set contained a nice mixture of blues and rock and subtle Irish influences. The crowd obviously thought so too because several people said so after the show. One guy introduced himself and said he'd seen me play years ago in Lillers in France. He's a French guy who's now living in Holland. He had a signed copy of an old Albatross record with him. He was really happy we still played a few songs from my Albatross days.

The place wasn't full to the brim but those who were there were in good form. We wondered if this was a normal crowd for a Friday night. We heard there was a big jazz festival in Gorinchem, which is another town that is really close, so we were wondering if maybe they pulled some of the crowd away.

The next day we had to drive to a small town called Gramsbergen, further up in the North of Holland. The weather was nice, the drive was nice, we arrived and set up and went off to eat while the PA guys set up. We relaxed a bit after the soundcheck and talked a bit with several people who'd travelled to see us. The club owner said to wait a bit before starting the show. We waited...and waited...and waited...for the crowd that never showed. I have no idea what the locals were up to that night but if it wasn't for the people who travelled to see us we'd have been playing to quite an empty club.

By this stage we were wondering - 'what's going on here?' Two nights in a row with below average crowds. Then we got some information that helped explain it. It seems the weekend was the start of a holiday period in Holland and a huge number of people had left the country to hit the sunny South (hence the heavy traffic on Friday afternoon). They should have stayed in Holland because the weather was beautiful!! Ok, at least now we realised it wasn't us. Sunday was De Bosuil in Weert (where the Bospop festival is held each year). We were supposed to start in the early afternoon but were told to wait a bit. You start to see a pattern here? Three in a row? Yep, another below average sized crowd - but again a very enthusiastic one. By the end of the show we had 95% of them dancing in front of the stage! 

One comment we heard after every show was how grateful the people were that we played as if the place was full, or as if there was a couple of thousand people there. My reply each time was - well, why wouldn't we? I don't decide to give less because the place isn't full or whatever. I do what I do because I like it so I could never dream of giving anything less than 101%. Funnily enough shows like these often work out really nice because it's kinda intimate and you can build up a real rapport with the audience.

So there you have my report of a rather strange weekend in Holland. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time and I think the band played really well and it was nice to travel around Holland again and play a few shows there. The people who did show up were very kind and enthusiastic and grateful that we did play a show in their town (and give 101%).

Here's a funny thing about how shows get reported - if the crowd was big then with each retelling of the story the size of the crowd grows and grows and with each show where the crowd is small it gets smaller and smaller with each retelling. So mark my words - the story of this weekend will be reported somewhere in the future and if they retell it true to form then it will appear that we performed a private show for just them and their friends!! lol

The host of our Saturday evening 'house concert' wrote me a mail on Sunday and said if he had to describe the concert in a word it would be "fantastic!" Well, I can only say the same thing from our side - and that goes for the two 'house concerts' we played last weekend.

What a fantastic feeling to be invited into someone's living room and have them invite a bunch of their best friends over to listen. There was just the right amount of people at both concerts - enough to make it worth your while to play but not so many that the intimate feeling that made the shows so special got lost. I really want to do more shows like this in the future!!

It's also funny that the two hosts came up with pretty much the same stage design, which really helped to set the mood. They had a few carpets lying around and a lamp on stage (and even a Christmas tree) and the whole approach was very casual and it was all as cosy as could be - a sort of seventies, singer/songwriter vibe.

Of course under those circumstances you're going to dig right into the songs and get the best you can out of them. Also, as Danny and myself play together more that also helps to add a bit of meat to the songs. We changed the set a little bit since the last acoustic shows and I think everything went and sounded really well. I think people are now getting the idea of what a 'house concert' is or what the acoustic show is all about so I think we'll be doing a few more at the start of next year. I don't plan on going out with the band until April, so playing a few more acoustic shows between now and then suits me just fine, fine, fine!!

I was going to say a 'quiet' weekend in Holland but that wouldn't be quite right...giving the interaction between ourselves and the audience in Oss! lol

However, I can say I had a great time playing a few acoustic shows with Danny Vlaspoel (former guitarist with the Rory tribute band Laundromat). I first met Danny when we played on the same stage in Ballyshannon (Rory tribute festival) and then he jammed with us one time when we played over in Holland and we kept in touch after that.

When Danny suggested doing some acoustic shows together his suggestion came at the exact right time as I was busy with something similar at that moment, so we got busy with it straight away. We didn't want the show to be just two guys strumming two acoustic guitars and singing a selection of our favourite songs or a list of well-known songs, so we drew up a list of my material that Danny would feel comfortable with and augmented that with songs we both liked or thought would suit our styles/the idea we had for the set. After sending MP3's of ideas back and forth we finally got together a few times and put the finishing touches to everything.

The first show was in The Rose, in Beverwijk. The owner is a guy called Jan, a big Rory fan, and it's a great place to visit if you're into music. There was a very good crowd in and they were there to listen, which kinda helps when you're playing acoustic! lol.

We decided to split the show into three parts. That gave the people enough opportunities to go to the toilet, buy a beer, go out for a smoke or whatever. Like I said, they were very attentive and interacted and responded brilliantly.

The next day we headed further South, to a place called Oss. I'd never played this venue before but they knew Danny from his Laundromat days. We thought the gig was supposed to start at 4pm but it was 6pm instead. That was a bit of a pity because some people had travelled from as far away as Germany just to catch the show and they expected to be able to travel home earlier. That's life!

So, showtime. It became very obvious from the git-go that these people had their own stories to tell and so the whole evening turned into this fantastic battle between us and them. Don't get me wrong, they were a lovely audience, really nice people and a lot of fun to play to. It's just they weren't that intent on keeping too quiet. We adjusted our playing style accordingly and dropped some of the subtleties and went for a more in-your-face approach. It was a lot of fun actually. When they recognised a song they sang along and for the rest they listened, answered questions when asked, responded to funny lines or comments, whooped and hollered, danced and drank and had themselves a merry ol' time!

The owners were really nice people too and told us we could come back any time. I threatened to bring the band the next time and play as loud as I could. They all thought that was very funny - and I might just do it you know!

All too soon it was all over. I thought overall everything went really well and I would have no problem doing it again. I grew up playing acoustic gigs and I've always loved to play acoustically. It gives you a real chance to show other sides of your songs and as a songwriter it brings its own rewards. There's talk of some people wanting to organise some ' house concerts' with us and I'd be certainly up for doing those too. So, watch this space as they say...  

What an absolutely great time we had at the Notodden Blues Festival this year. It was a real pleasure to be back. It's always nice to play Notodden!

We flew in on Wednesday evening and were immediately picked up by Trond, the owner of the club where we were going to play. He took us to this wonderful house up on the hill where we stayed until Friday. We never stay over in private accommodation any more but when you're offered the free run of a huge and beautiful Norwegian house for two days and the owner is a really nice guy and one of what we call the "Norwegian gang" then for that we make an exception.

The Norwegian gang is a group of the most wonderful people you could ever ask to meet. It all started with one of them, a guy called Leiv Ryen, ordering my music at CD Baby, we got in touch, we kept in touch and the rest as they say is history. Leiv single-handedly turned a whole bunch of people on to our music and spread the word far and wide.

The first time we played in Notodden we played to a sold-out club! We went back to play the festival last year and were asked back again to play it this year too. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

We were booked to play on Thursday evening and a bit earlier on Saturday. I really enjoyed the show on Thursday night and we had a great crowd in. I'd changed the line-up a little for this weekend by bringing along a good friend of mine, Bas Kleine, who just happens to be an ace harmonica player. It's always nice to mix things up a bit or change things around so this was the first time I played in Notodden with a harmonica player, which wasn't really a problem obviously as it was a blues festival after all!

On Friday evening we had the opportunity to catch the Fabulous Thunderbirds, who not only had Kim Wilson playing harmonica but Charlie Musselwhite and James Cotton as well. After that we caught Little Feat's set. I must say I really enjoyed it. They can still do it - really nice playing.

Friday we also moved slightly out of town to the big hotel on the hill where all the musicians stay during the festival. This hotel always reminds me of the hotel in "The Shining" film and I guess I'm not the only one because I heard  "here's Johnny" a few times over the weekend. It's a great place to stay during the festival because it has this huge dining room/area with a running buffet and so everyone is always coming and going and helping themselves. Because of that you never know who you might find sitting there. We bumped into Pinetop Perkins, Ray Davies (The Kinks), Jerry Portnoy (harmonica player who plays with Clapton), Chris Layton (Stevie Ray's drummer), Kim Wilson and his partner and a host of others.

Then in the wee wee hours, after most bands have played their sets and returned to the hotel a jam session ensues in the bar area. Ian Segal led the session mostly on Friday night, with our own Bas blowing some fine, fine, fine harmonica as well. As I still had to play on Saturday I didn't stay up too late. It looked to me like some of them were aiming at making it an all-nighter!

Nice to be back on the boards on Saturday and I deliberately wanted to change the set a good bit for the Thursday show. Someone joked that when they went to see Bruce Springsteen two nights in a row in Dublin he played eight different songs. I don't know what length of a set Bruce did but we had a two hour set and we played seven different songs, so I reckon that wasn't too bad, was it? We actually had eight songs ready but ran out of time, so seven it was.

That evening we went off to catch Mick Fleetwood's set, which was really, really enjoyable. I'll write a bit more about Mick in another blog!

Of course there was another jam session on Saturday night but I'd had enough music by then, so I had a beer or two and then headed off to bed. Mind you, it was around 4am...

I had the privilege of doing an interview for a Canadian guy [Mako Funasaka] who was over shooting and interviewing some of the artists for  his company Talkin' Blues - documenting the passion behind the blues music of today. A lot of his work has been broadcast on Canadian TV and it's very worthwhile work that he is doing.

As always, it was lovely to meet all our friends up there. They always make us feel so welcome and there is nothing they wouldn't do to try and make your stay as smooth as possible. Of course that all adds to the special feelings we have when we play in Notodden. It's billed as Europe's biggest blues festival and people come from all over the world to visit it. This rather small town swells from around 5000/6000 to over 50,000 for the weekend and even though a LOT of beer is downed there is always a very laid-back atmosphere. You could do worse than plan it into your schedule for 2009. I know I will.

Well, who've have thought it when we all said goodbye to each other in Italy about a month before that we'd all end up playing together again in Holland? Unfortunately, Mick was not up to appearing/playing at this moment in his life so Snowy was kind enough to say "I do" for a second time! A glutton for punishment, isn't he? 

We had the chance to rehearse the day before the festival this time, which gave us the opportunity to work out which songs might sound the best or best suit Snowy's style of playing. It all fell into place quite quickly to be honest, so keeping in mind that wise old saying - "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" - we didn't labour too long in the rehearsal studio. I'm not a great lover of rehearsing myself so it suited me fine to be in and out of there asap! Get the job done and leave is my motto when it comes to rehearsing.

We decided to get to the festival ground quite early because it just puts you in the position of being on top of things when you get there in time. Bospop is a big ol' festival and so just getting from point A to point B can take time on a day like that. We had a nice lunch when we arrived, which was great because that meant I could eat lightly for dinner (always a good idea if you're the singer!!). We got a chance to listen to some of The Bangles set and shortly after that they trouped into the dining area. Yep, that was them alright - looked quite like I remembered them from those TOTP appearances.

We shuffled on over to our dressing room after that and they were all laid out in two long lines, facing each other. Mick Hucknall was there already so we said hello to him. One of the guys from Crowded House came in as well and then I spotted Steve Lukather and you know after that you just sort of gave up on everyone coming up to you and saying "how's it going, Barry?" lol.

I decided to go for a ramble and check out the stage that we would be playing on. Danny Bryant was playing at that moment and it sounded powerful I must say. After that I heard a little from Crowded House's gig and a little bit of Mick Hucknall's gig.

Then it was our turn to take the stage. Everyone working the gig (in all areas) had been really friendly and helpful and professional up to then so I had no worries that something could go wrong in that area. The sound was spot on, monitors were good and they even had two cameras rolling at all times, which meant the audience could also watch the show on two big screens on each side of the stage.

Sixty minutes can be a lifetime or a blink of an eye, depending on whether you're enjoying yourself or not, and all I can say is as far as I was concerned it was all over before you had time to say "jack rabbit". I reckon we must have done alright because after I said 'thank you' and turned to put my guitar on the guitar stand this almighty roar erupted from the crowd and to be honest I had to turn back around to verify that it was for us!! That was just amazing and it sure gave me goosebumps. We had time to do another number real quick, which we did.

Shortly after our set, Snowy and myself went to a designated area where people could get their CD's, T-shirts or whatever signed and it was also an opportunity for people to have their photo taken or ask questions. After that I had to go backstage to do a few interviews.

With all the work done, I decided to go back over to catch Buddy Guy's set. Buddy is a real trouper and he had them in the palm of his hand. It was fun to watch a master at work. People came up to me and they all had really nice things to say about our gig. There were people from Spain, people from England, Australia and lots of Dutch people of course. Some of them knew me and some of them didn't. They all thought the combination of Snowy and ourselves worked really well, so that was nice to hear. After that, I took some time to catch some of Santana's show. It was just amazing to see all these great artists doing what they do best - play good music. At this stage we decided to head back to our hotel and chill a bit for the rest of the night. It was about a 30 minute drive from the festival site.

All in all, I think you could say it was a job well done. I certainly enjoyed myself and it was a real thrill to play with Snowy again. I hope we can do it again soon. For those of you who we met for the first time, welcome and for those of you who've seen us before, hope you enjoyed the show!!