It’s me again, after a nights sleep spent at someone else’s place, in Amsterdam. I originally planned to go to Amsterdam, Paradiso, and just party when Bonde do role was eprforming. But the day I was planning to go there, I took a better look at my ticket which said: “doors open 22.00. Bonde do Role 23.00”. Oh wait, what? All concerts start somewhere between 20.30 and 22.30, but not this one? Darn, that sucked big time. But, lucky for me, there was no support act, so at 11pm it would be just Bonde do Role. But I did need to leave early, could only stay there for half an hour, at most, to catch the last train home. Getting stuck in Amsterdam isn’t something you do for fun.
But before it was time for good things, something needed to be done, the exam Movie and Cultural history, was awaiting me, and a few dozen other students at 11am. Leaving early, to make sure I was there in time, I managed to greet one of the owners of this house, who was leaving for Paris (yay, MY house!). Quickly throwing some papers in my bag, yes I read everything we had to learn, but taking some with you and learn while on the way isn’t that bad. The exam itself consisted of 5 essayquestions, of which you had to pick three to answer. Answer them all and only the first three are counted. Answer more then 1 question on one paper=disqualified question. Yup, managing to enter a valid exam is somekind of game too.
Luckily there were two questions i immediatly had the answer two, that left three questions…. Time to start the ‘which one is worse’-picking. After a few minutes that left me with one other question, which turned out to be not as bad as I thought. Finished within the hour, I left back home, to enjoy my holiday, over 7 days of no college or books! (University books that is, not my own). After cleaning the house, yup, the owners left a mess, but not a big one, so I did need to clean some parts of the house. Today the garden will be my next project. Anyway, after the exam I sped home, dropped all my stuff and started cleaning, wondering if I would feel really bad if I left during the performance.
I guess I would, but there was nothing I could do about it. With no place to stay and the nighttrains stopping everywhere except for Gouda, I had no option. Taking a taxi would result in a bill of over a hundred euro’s… Anyway, I still needed to get there to be able to get back. Loving to arrive early I left at a quarter to eight and arrived at half past eight or so. Which left some time to find Paradiso, take a look which way I had to go afterwards, to be able to rush toward my tram, and to get a beer in one of the nearby pubs at the Leidseplein.
At some point, about a quarter to ten, I slowly started moving towars Paradiso, where there were allready a few people waiting, trying to get in. Some people just can’t read their tickets, it clearly says open at 22.00, not open at 21.something…. After the doors opene di managed to get up to the stage, a small one, first, a good spot for taking pics. The girl(-s) next to me and I started chatting about the band itself, whether I had any music etc. During this smalltalk it became clear there was going to be a support act *sigh, to start at 11pm? WTF? That would leave me with just the support act and no Bonde do Role? After some consideration I walked up to the stagemanager, explained the whole situation and, since it was allready quite busy, he immediatly asked the support to enter the stage and perform (at about 10.15pm)! The support was ok, took some pics, but we were really there for Bonde do Role.
During this performance I suddenly got the best idea ever! I called my aunt, and managed to get a place to stay for the night on one condition: get there ASAP after the performance since she was quite tired and needed to get up early (as did I). After that call it took another 10-15 mintues before Bonde do Role appeared and damn, were they ugly! The make-up on their faces was horrible, beautiful, perfect to party, perfect for their songs! Standing up front interaction with everyone was intense, real intense, dancing with the performers was possible, the lead singer managed to put a great act together, but all three of them contributed, showing various, erm, scenes 😀 (if you want to know what kind of scenes, just take a look at the lyrics).
Half past twelve did the trick, the show stopped, and nope, they didn’t come back, not evena fter some warm applause and screams from the audience. I can imagine why they didn’t come back to the stage, they were dancing and singing, performing like mad. They must have been totally exhausted, as was I, and most of the audience. After some waiting for the queue to dissolve, I got my coat and took the Tram to the Koningsplein, after which I walked to my aunts house, greeted here, put away my lenses and went to sleep.
The morning after I woke up without a hangover (YAY! victory!). Only to find out, after taking a shower, I made some costly mistake with my contacts. When putting them away, in two glasses of water since I had nothing else with me, I made a mistake which left me with just one contact lens in the morning… Ah well, having just one lens doesn’t really make a difference, so I threw that one away as well and lived ‘blind’ for a few hours. The way to the station is something I can dream, so no probs there. Well, no probs at all. I left at 8.30am, and arrived at my home around 10am. Only to cleanup, greet my cats and start my computer to schedule the next event, London Calling, which will take place at 2-4nov 2007 at Paradiso. A lot of britpop/indie bands will be performing therelike the Rakes, The Wombats, but also New Young Pony Club (highly reccomended) and Jack Penate, Scouting for Girls and Dykeenies.
And, once again, there will be problems with the public transport. Precisely this weekend has been chosen to perform big maintenance at one of the bussiest railways in this country. Leaving me no other option but to leave early, because I have to work saturdaynight…. Ah well, selling my ticket is an option too, or it isn’t really. Sure, money is nice, but a good performance is better! I’ve got a gut feeling I’m going to need next week to regain some of the energy I’m going to lose because of all this partying, but hey it’s my choice, and a good one! (I’ve got a lot more to tell, but this blogpost is far too long)
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