The More You Live, The More You Love

A-Ha live at the HMH, Amsterdam on 10-10-2010. The support Jimmy Gnecco, and his band Ours which helped him to perform his first released solo-material, had just flown in the other day, maybe in the same plane as the one where Solomon Burke died in just before landing. They were given a change to start up the crowd with a performance of fourty minutes. As said they played material from Jimmy's first solo album The Heart, which sounded very promising for a first listen. At nine o'clock the lights went out and a classical intro was played, after that a keyboard tune followed with Morton singing short phrases over it as if he was practising his voice. Then the band came on and opened with The Sun Always Shines On T.V. It took them three songs, in which Morton wore his sunglasses, to get into the mood. With Scoundrel Days the voice was warm and the band relaxed as if to say the professional photographers are gone it is time to start the party. What followed was a show with a lot of...

Simple Minds & Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark Heineken Music Hall, 26 November 2009 An evening of music of two bands I follow since the early eigthies. I became interested in the Simple Minds with the release of New Gold Dream in 1982, and already knew Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark with their great album Architectury And Morality, which are both albums that I count in my list of top albums if the eigthies. So it wasn't hard for me to get some tickets, when I learned during the Lokeren Festival, where Simple Minds performed with Ultravox, another great eigthies band, that Simple Minds would return to mainland Europe with OMD as their secial guests. At half past seven OMD took of with a setlist mainly filled with singles. It was nice to see the band again after a two hiatus, at least for me. They are working hard on a new album for a release in late 2010, but meanwhile it was a nice surprise to see them on stage again although only for an hour. At nine Simple Minds took of...