On stage with Larry Graham

Remember I told you I had won 2 tickets to the concert of Larry Graham (former bassist of 'Sly and the Family Stone') and that I was on radio6? Well, tuesday the concert finally took place. We arrived in Utrecht a bit early, but we enjoyed the atmosphere that was already in the air at Tivoli (which is very small by the way). As many times, we were among the youngest in the audience. Logical of course, if you think about the fact that Sly & the Family Stone was booming in the seventies.

Anyway, Larry Graham and Graham Central Station (his band, which consisted of a guitarist, a female singer, a drummer and two other musicians from which I can't recall what they did!) were giving a quite good ode to the swinging seventies. Though Larry must be around 60 years old, he jumped around the stage like he was only 20.

Initially, I was afraid I couldn't sing one song along, because I didn't know any of his songs. Thank god, their playlist didn't only consist of their own songs. Stevie Wonder's 'Living for the City' passed in review, Tina Turner's 'I can't stand the rain' and Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera's 'Move like Jagger'. The last song didn't really appeal me, because it just wasn't their thing. Besides, the average age of the audience was over 30 years old I guess, so it wasn't their thing either. And the main reason, I simply hate the song.

Fortunately, Larry Graham performed some of the 'Sly & the Family Stone' songs as well, like 'Dance to the Music', 'Family Affair' and 'Everyday People' (the song of the contest I won!).

They were all dressed up exquisite, with a lot of glitters and shiny things. I thought it was fabulous. Larry Graham really captivated the audience, he had many funny anecdotes about for instance his hair (and then I mean his used-to-be afro) and his wife, who came at the stage as well during a few songs.

In the end he was making all these compliments about how talented Dutch people were. To show that he was true, he asked if all the talented people wanted to come on stage. I secretly cursed my parents for not letting me play an instrument seriously. I did play a flute when I was young, but that was just rubbish. Anyway, a few men were allowed to play on Larry's guitar (but no one could do the 'plumping' technique as good as he can) and one girl sang. Wow, that was really beautiful.

In the end the band picked a few people (about 10 I guess, maybe a few more) to come on stage and dance along. Eventually, he picked me too! I was really afraid I couldn't climb on stage (and you know, everyone would see it), but the skinny Larry Graham lifted me up. Yes, there I was on stage, dancing next to his wife!


I had a lot of fun and the concert was really, really great. I sincerely hope I get to win more tickets in the future, cause I'm very thankful towards Radio6. They made my evening (: