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John Waite Live in
Zoetermeer/Holland, Boerderij
Lights off, John Waite is coming...
He catches the audienceī attention instantly and my exhaustion is history. At
full tilt he hurls "Change" into the audience, followed by "Back On My Feet
Again" without a pause, a thumbs-up "Keys To Your Heart", John gives us hardly
time to breath. Wow! And heīs got charisma. As he always had... And a great voice. The charisma even catches the male fans, the voice did its best
to follow but it wasnīt hardly enough because the sound wasnīt as better as it was at the Marcel Singor Bandīs show.
Disappointing. John was screaming his head off - in vain. The band drowned him and after the third song
and some meaningful eye contact with the sound engineer at the right side of the
stage
it was obvious that the problem wonīt be solved. It seemed to me that John slowed down a bit
then but this does not mean
that he lost faith, no way! His show was rather like an explosion that you have to take cover from, literally.
At one point I already felt his foot in my face, another time the mikestand
flew that tight over my head that I had a hairbreadth escape but thatīs okay,
really!
After 5 years waiting I would have cope with a black eye, too, I mean - who else can say that
he was knocked out by John Waite? *grin* Jokes aside, beside my trivial problems John had to fight the cable of the microphone that was caught in the blower several times (Menno proved to be a knight in shining armour when he threw it back
again and again and John thanked him with a nod and and an irresistible smile), and,
of course, the sound.
Well John made the best of it, and even if you could hardly hear his voice, at
least you could enjoy his show. Me for myself, I liked the way he expressed his
frustration, so he took Anthony Krizanīs microphone,
and sang a few lines into it to demonstrate the
technical failures because Anthonyīs mike to all appearances didnīt work
at all... So
"Imaginary Girl" turned out to be a prime example of what we didnīt want
to hear. I didnīt
recognize it really...
"Missing You" didnīt receive the usual frenetic applause as expected,
whereas "Hard Way" aroused much more enthusiasm, or is it just my own imagination? Anyway,
"Midnight Rendezvous" raised the roof (which is still a mystery to me, but thatīs another story, isnīt it Paul? ;-)
and my very own highlight this evening was "Rockīn Roll". In the afternoon Menno
told me that he never heard John
sing that song and we
were wondering whether it could have been The Babysī "Rockīn Roll Is Alive and
Well"? It would have been a surprise to me because I donīt remember John performing
this song ever in his solo career. Besides, itīs not really one of my Babys favourites,
and the album "On The Edge" not either. But you never know what to expect when it comes to John Waite and even though I donīt like this
song, I liked the idea. (Why we didnīt ask Paul? Next question please...)
John Waite had a hard time in balancing the engineering deficiency
but as the professional that he is, he did a great job on this.
May the audience have been disgruntled, John blew it off with ease. One has ungrudging to agree
that thereīs no flies on that Lancaster redhead as soon as he enters any stage. Speaking of Lancaster,
there was a group of male fans standing right behind me that cheered him on vociferously. I think it was Wouter that told
me that these boys came over from Lancaster just to see John and after a brief chat between two songs they confirmed this.
Unfortunately I didnīt understand Johnīs comment to one of their numerous interjections...
Conclusion
To see John Waite live is a chance that has to be taken at least once in a music freakīs life because this English
lad succeeds easily (and by failure of equipment with gallows humor) to convince with his energetic show only.
Some fan might has been pissed that he ignored the encore shouts that didnīt relapse into silence while the roadies
already disassembled the stage. "Girl From The North Country" was supposed to be the last on the list and
I didnīt stop hoping for an acoustic encore... maybe? John Waite all alone on stage with his guitar - wonderful imagination!
Unfortunately the wish stayed father to the thought, and the fact that
we donīt have the chance to see that guy very often in these parts of the globe didnīt change his mind.
On the one hand comprehensible the fansī frustration. On the other hand, diehard
WaiteCrazees know about
the importance of musical standard and what it means to John Waite, so please sympathize with him.
But a diehard WaiteCrazee also knows that he often appears for a Meet & Greet after a gig... So those that held out patiently have been rewarded with
a very special encore...
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