WAY, WAY, WAY OUT WEST EUROPEAN TOUR - 2011: Gig 8: Sunday Night 4th Sep

It's north, towards Hoorn......we cross the border from Belgium to the Nederlands, already you can tell the roadsigns are changing. We spy our first Windmill, we're headed in the right direction. Around Amsterdam and into Hoorn....a great little town with more small roads to navigate the big old tour van, but once again very picturesque. A very clean looking suburb, we slowly wind our way through the narrow streets then get stopped by some sort of official guy and in front of us stands a small set of traffic lights which activates a large metal post that contains red lights on the top and rises from the ground so as to not allow vehicles through. The guy activates the lights to allow the pole to descend into the ground but apparently we must be quick as it comes back up out of the ground in a certain amount of time and has been known to strand vehicles with wheels off the ground.

We find the venue in the middle of a group of cafes, etc and find a parking spot, amazingly enough, that will fit the mammoth van. We get out and within minutes a guy rides his bike past us immediately asking if we were the band....guess it was pretty obvious I suppose :). We load in and right next door is a 'coffee shop', I was looking at it when a local said....."ah, ya don't get "coffee" there". Yep, the smell of the infamous green weed was prevalent, we aren't far from Amsterdam that's becoming obvious, hahahaha.

As we are grabbing a bite to eat before our show, our friend Marielle drives by in her 64 Chevrolet Impala stopping to welcome us in town. She arrives back a little later with friends in tow and we prepare for our first and only 3 set show for the tour. The venue is quaint and reminds us a lot of The Gem....intimate, wooden bar, floor and a great vibrant crowd there to have a good time. Sound was great, crowd was great.....all about that night was just spot on....the band performed and absolutely sweet three setter. We were honored with some very positive comments and managed to sell some more merch too.

What a crazy night, plenty of laughs.....Leo caught up with a few old friends from his past who are living both in Amsterdam and the UK, etc. I had some old times revisited with good friends Marielle and Jeff and made new friends with Anneke and Michel who helped line up the show for us.

So another successful show down, but some sightseeing is to be had the next day in Amsterdam! Let's go!