Amsterdamned

hi there

well, well, well. there's been a huge rush, across the internet and in certain music publications (that should know better) to say "i told you so" and that "it would never work or last". this is with reference to how the gig that The Stone Roses did in Amsterdam on June 12 came to an end.

The NME, forever keen to run any story on The Stone Roses, bring you the headline The Stone Roses confirm all future shows after Ian Brown calls Reni a 'c**t' onstage. nice, and only partially true. thankfully, the latter part is where the truth dips a bit.

the regular set ended with Love Spreads, with the audience expecting them to come out and do I Am The Resurrection. instead, just Ian Brown strolled out and said "the drummer's gone home. I'm not joking, the drummer's gone home. Get all your aggro out on me, I can take it."

he added as the crowd threw abuse "What can I say, the drummer's a c**t.".

to my mind, and if you want to call me a Roses apologist that's fine, he's not calling anyone anything, but rather reciting back something that has been said or shouted at him or the band then or during the gig.

obviously i wasn't at the gig, but a little bit of investigation (you tube clips, fan reports) reveals a bit of a picture as to what went on

first off, this was not a good gig. if not the majority then a large proportion of the audience - going on accounts - seemed to not want to be there. very roughly, the crowd seems to have been made up half of Dutch kids who appeared unaware of which band it was they were seeing, and then half British visitors, a large number of whom were too stoned, drunk, jetlagged or generally out of it to "get into it", as it were.

the footage on you tube does tend to reflect an inanimate audience, and there are hints across the faces of the band that they are somewhat bemused to be playing to a full house that doesn't for the most part seem interested in them.

there's a ridiculous claim going around at the moment that the band turned up over an hour late and played a short set. both have been shown as nonsense. the gig was scheduled to start at 9pm, and those interesting in being there confirmed the band were on stage at that time. as for short set, well, here's the setlist :

I Wanna Be Adored, Sally Cinnamon, Mersey Paradise, (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister, Where Angels Play, Shoot You Down, Fools Gold, Tightrope, Ten Storey Love Song,Waterfall, Don't Stop, This Is The One, She Bangs The Drums, Made Of Stone, Love Spreads

that clocked in at 15 songs over 1 hour 35 minutes, easily the longest of the 4 shows they have done thus far.

it's the last song, Love Spreads, that seems to be where "problems" started. here's a screenshot, but if you can rather go and look at the video on that you tube thing.

what you can see there is Reni gesturing that he cannot hear anything at all on his playback,thus effectively leaving him trying to drum "blind". this goes on for the first minute of the song, give or take. yeah, Reni is one of the greatest drummers ever, but asking him to play without being able to hear the rest of the band is a bit much. i think you'd find a Keith Moon would struggle to do that too.

Reni was not the only one with monitor problems. John Squire seems to "lose his place" once or twice, and Mani wanders over to the monitors on a frequent basis.

as for Ian, seems that he was in the same boat as Reni. often during Love Spreads he has his hand cupped against his ear in the hope of picking up the music, and as you can see below made gestures to those off stage saying that he could not hear.

if they cannot hear a thing, it's a wonder they got through the song as well as they did, to be honest. i am no musician, but i have been on stage, and it's incredible how it feels without those all important monitors working. you are, quite frankly, lost without them.

full credit to them for playing it through, then, and the band leaving the stage didn't give any signs of "the wheels falling off".

is that the last we shall see of Reni in the reformed Stone Roses? i think not, really. their representatives, the ones who had to dismiss the drummer out of Dodgy's claim that Reni was terminally ill, said that all shows are going ahead as planned, starting with a show in Sweden on June 14. we shall find out soon enough, then.

as it stands, it looks like it's just NME doing sensationalism once again, then, which is odd so soon after they had to say a big sorry to Morrissey for twisting his words in an interview.

Amsterdam seems to be an unlucky place for The Stone Roses. if i recall correctly, it was there during the 1995 tour that some kid kept racially abusing then-drummer Robbie Maddix. when the band insisted the kid be removed, they were told he could not as he was the venue's owners son. if i have my ducks in order on this one, the infamous High Times In Dopeland bootleg, featyring a less than great performance, came from the same gig.

if, however, the "wheels have fallen off", well then there you go. i am sure we can just get tickets for Will Young or something instead if there's no Heaton Park. if that's the case, i certainly hope all the shows do go ahead!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!