Preface:

In the 70's,The Babys were more successful in the USA than in their home country, England. This meant that american fans regularly had the chance to see the band live. And when John Waite went solo, the same thing happened: success in the States with a # 1 hit „Missing you“ and several tours in the USA. Also Bad English went on the road a few times in the USA. But what about Europe, how about John's home country ?! The Babys went to England just once, in the spring of 1977. It wasn't a huge success however.

England was into punkrock and The Babys seemed to be in the wrong country at the wrong time. John Waite, during his solo years, saw a lot of european TV studio's to playback hits, but he never played live on the continent. In fact, his last live shows in England date back to 1986 !!!

Excitement:

Knowing this, one can imagine the excitement of european fans when, in August 2001, they found out that a european tour was finally planned. John's record company, Gold Circle, based in Holland, had planned to release the new album „Figure In a Landscape“ by late august. And a european tour was thought to boost sales. Plans were made for shows in Holland, Germany, UK, Italy and Japan.

Ticket sale:

Just days after the release of the new studio album, tickets went on sale in Holland on september 4th. Fans informed each other by means of telephone and e-mail. Everyone was excited. Some fans from the early Babys days had been waiting for a quarter of a century for this moment. In Holland, one show was planned: In a theatre called
„De Boerderij“ on September 27th.

John arrives in Holland:

Although the dutch fans had no real inside information about John's travel schedule, they put one and one together and concluded that John most likely would arrive on sunday, September 23rd. Several fans met at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam and checked the incoming flights from New York and Los Angeles. Early in the afternoon, one of the fans recognised Damon Johnson. A bit later, John arrived. He travelled together with Buck Johnson and his tour manager. The fans welcomed them to Holland, took a few pictures and handed John some presents. A guy from Gold Circle accompanied John and his party to their hotel.

Radio shows:

During the week that followed, John and the 2 Johnson's were regularly on dutch radio, doing interviews and playing live there. Of course,„Fly“ was played live frequently. This was to be the first single in Holland. During one of the radio sessions, John played „Time Stood Still“ live which was quite unique. This song had been a hit in Holland in 1991 and according to John, he had never ever played this song live.

The concert:

Thursday, September 27, 2001, was the big day for dutch John Waite fans. John arrived in the afternoon at
„De Boerderij“ where he did an interview with dutch magazine „Aloha“. At 9 pm Magna Carta opened the show. At 10.20 pm the lights dimmed and John took the stage with Damon on guitar and Buck on keyboards. John was wearing a long white shirt and black striped trousers. They opened the set with a steaming version of „Keys to your heart“. In between the songs the audience were calling out for requests. Several fans from Germany and Belgium attended the show. Other european fans had decided to wait for the London show. Of course, John played the hits like
„When I See You Smile“ and „Missing You“. But the audience also got a few more songs from the new album. The concert lasted for one hour and the fans were absolutely thrilled. One song was especially done for tonight's show: „Time Stood Still“ was a tribute to the dutch fans. The sound in the venue was excellent. Approximately 400 to 500 fans attended the show. Several dutch celebrities were in the audience, people like Bert Heerink (who covered several songs from John in dutch language) and Adrian Vandenberg.

Meet and greet:

Shortly after the show, John did a meet and greet which was highly appreciated by the fans. One german fan brought his whole collection to be signed by John. But in general, fans were satisfied with one signature and a photo together with John. John took a lot of time to talk to his dutch fans and afterwards everyone agreed that this had been...

A night to remember

Set List:

Keys To Your Heart
In Dreams
When I See You Smile
NYC Girl
Change
Whenever You Come around
Thinking About You
Downtown
Missing You
Fly
Masterpiece of Loneliness (partly)
Isn't It Time
Time Stood Still
Head First (Encore)

Thank you very much, Adrian, for this Insight.

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