Diane Birch @ Bitterzoet, Amsterdam
March 4, 2010
My day was already pretty good when I got to Amsterdam. Tried to see if I could get into Bitterzoet early (it was still between 6pm and 7pm) to see if I could talk to the musicians themselves, maybe persuade them into setting up an e-mail interview, but the door was very, very closed. So I decided to come back later and see if I have time afterwards. Made my way to my favorite Irish Pub in Amsterdam to kill some time with Kilkenny’s (no pun intended).
So then I made my way back, door was still very closed, but more people were waiting. As time went by we were wondering if they were ever gonna open the doors, haha, but they did. So everyone got in, found a spot and waited for the show to start. It was supposed to start at 8:30PM but it ended up starting around 9:20PM instead. The stage was really low, so it was hard to see sometimes, but Diane and her band put on a very splendid show. It was done in about 45 minutes and then another 10 minutes for encore. Which wasn’t such a bad thing for me, since I had to make my train to get back home. So unfortunately there was not much time for talking to anyone, but I had a good time.
March 4, 2010
My day was already pretty good when I got to Amsterdam. Tried to see if I could get into Bitterzoet early (it was still between 6pm and 7pm) to see if I could talk to the musicians themselves, maybe persuade them into setting up an e-mail interview, but the door was very, very closed. So I decided to come back later and see if I have time afterwards. Made my way to my favorite Irish Pub in Amsterdam to kill some time with Kilkenny’s (no pun intended).
So then I made my way back, door was still very closed, but more people were waiting. As time went by we were wondering if they were ever gonna open the doors, haha, but they did. So everyone got in, found a spot and waited for the show to start. It was supposed to start at 8:30PM but it ended up starting around 9:20PM instead. The stage was really low, so it was hard to see sometimes, but Diane and her band put on a very splendid show. It was done in about 45 minutes and then another 10 minutes for encore. Which wasn’t such a bad thing for me, since I had to make my train to get back home. So unfortunately there was not much time for talking to anyone, but I had a good time.
Diane and her band played most of the songs off “Bible Belt” (an album I would highly recommend to all of you!). For me the highlights were Rewind and Ariel. She also did songs like Fire Escape, Fools, Valentino (crowd favorite), Magic View, Forgiveness and several others. And another absolute highlight was her cover of Haddaway’s What Is Love?. A very, very solid performance by this gifted young lady and her excellent band.
I was very impressed and somewhat surprised by how comfortable she was on stage and the ease with which she connected to her audience. This girl has stage presence and killer vocals. If she’s playing a show near you, you might want to check your calendar, cause it really is worth it. I went in just appreciating her music, but I came home a fan.