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Queens Day

Weekend musings

Gigs

Last March I rolled around in a foot of snow after a gig. As much fun as that was, I'm glad this weekend delivered plenty of warm weather instead.

On Friday I went to see Alexisonfire and Rise Against at Nighttown. The former were absolutely fab and I ended up buying a hoodie of theirs. Having wasted most of the cash I brought on beer, I actually paid for it with British pounds. I'm always trying to pull off something special, I suppose. Not that I actually pulled a bird, maybe because I am becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Dutch punk rock scene. Guys and girls are really going over the top with their appearance as if rock music is all about fitting in with a subculture. Don't get me wrong, I like piercings, tunnels, tattoos, dyed hair and all that - I'm guilty as charged for three of them. But when every single person in a crowd is starting to look the same it is becoming somewhat lame. At least bring some individuality to the floor! The audience was not alone in exposing "been-there, done-that" behaviour though: Rise Against could not resist throwing in some anti-Bush sentiments into their performance. That too is getting a bit tiresome, folks. I probably would have yawned even if my political interests had not given me a more nuanced opinion than "war is bad, even when it spawns democracy".

Little criticism of government on Saturday: half of Rotterdam was dressed in orange, paying tribute to our unelected head of state for Queen's Day. Highlights of the afternoon were almost ending up in the middle of some small riots between violent drunks and the police at Stadhuisplein and seeing a lot of immigrants wearing orange head scarves. Cute. Went out for a quick drink at night but didn't stay out for too long: the forecasts for Sunday were good so I had to be up at a reasonable hour to work on my tan, which I did. Ended the weekend with some shopping: a book, a DVD and some groceries.

It's dark again outside, but my skin is still glowing from the sunshine. Can't wait until next weekend and I hope it will provide the same amount of fun, beer and sun!

© Copyright 1995-2008 Robert John Kaper. All rights reserved.

Tom has more friends but mine are prettier! (#1/1)