According to tradition, Ramai and I made the journey to Rotterdam again. This time we would only go one day to North Sea Jazz, unfortunately. The choice was quite tough, since there were many great artists performing this year. We chose to go on Friday, to see Mr. Carlos Santana, a legendary artist.
As always, the program was planned very shitty, because two of the artists I wanted to see desperately were playing at exactly the same time: Santana and Lianne Lahavas. Eventually, I saw them both. No, I can't be at two places at the same time (God, I wish I could!) but I ran back and forth. Crazy, right?
The first artist we saw was Larry Graham and the Graham Central Station. Last year I won tickets to see him and he lifted me on stage. This year he gave a great show again. He always loves to jam and is famous for his plugging. A few songs of Sly & the Family Stone (his former band) were performed and he invited another guitarist on stage: Mark King.
Too much testosterone on stage, if you ask me. At some point the beats hurt my ears - and that doesn't happen very often. A bit later two other artists appear on stage. One of them looks like a younger version of Prince with an afro. He plays one song along and doesn't even sing. A few minutes later he disappears again.
We left a bit earlier at Larry Graham to see upcoming artist Laura Mvula. Apparently not early enough because 'The Darling' (the hall were she performed, which has seats) was completely full. Quite disappointed as we were, we went back to 'The Nile'. Seasick Steve had already begun and gave a hell of a show as well. Seasick Steve is an old country-rocker from the South.
I loved, loved, loved his sound. He brought many instruments he had made himself: small guitars from beer bottles, car parts, etc. He invited a Dutch girl from the program 'Best Singer-Songwriter' on stage and was extremely full of her.
After Seasick Steve, it was time for the one and only Carlos Santana. I had to admit I didn't know that many songs of him but it turned out to be no big a problem. In the beginning, I was afraid it would be a concert like many others, since he was only playing the guitar (other guys were singing) and Carlos Santana was chewing gum the entire time.
But eventually he became a bit more talkative. He told us he had played at Woodstock and was also wearing a Woodstock shirt. I really loved the versions of 'Black Magic Woman' and 'Maria Maria' that he played. In the middle of concert, which lasted 2 hours, I was extremely thirsty, so I walked through the crowd to get a drink. Not a very good idea, since we were standing front row and there were millions of people.
It was certain I couldn't go back, so I decided to have a look at Lianne Lahavas, who was performing in the hall next to Santana. Great decision, because at that moment she was singing the song 'Age', which is my absolute favourite. She has such an amazing voice, which came out very well in that hall.
Afterwards, it was a quite a difficulty to find Ramai again, who stayed at Santana's concert. After about half an hour we found each other and went to the last concert of the day: Anthony Hamilton.
This guy is such a lady killer, comparable to Marvin Gaye. He played many smooth songs and was almost quitting early, when he returned on stage and played the magnificent duet with Jill Scott (who wasn't there, unfortunately): 'So in Love'. I danced my tireness off and was feeling quite depressed North Sea Jazz was already over for us, when it was continuing for many other persons. Ah well, next year 3 days again if you ask me. That many great artists in one weekend, you just have to be there. In the train back home, when I was almost asleep, Ramai woke me by saying it was Prince on stage. He flew over to play one song with his friends Larry Graham and Santana, before going to Switzerland. We unexpectedly saw Prince again. Crazy world it is.
First photo doesn't belong to me but to www.nrc.nl, but the rest does. The last one as well, unfortunately ;)
