PHOTO REVIEW: Maya Hawke Takes New Album ‘MOSS’ On The Road
We saw Stranger Things star Maya Hawke in Amsterdam, while she took her latest album MOSS on the road. She took Manu Grace with her as support acts and we shot photos of both of them!
Check out all the pictures Christine Mooijer took below:
PHOTO REVIEW: The Hu Take Their Unique ‘Hunnu Rock’ To Amsterdam For Sold-Out Show
Popular and unique rock group The Hu are back in The Netherlands for 2 shows, one in Tilburg’s 013 and one in Amsterdam’s Melkweg! Christine Mooijer checked out proceedings at their sold-out show in Amsterdam, entertaining 1500 fans to the band’s signature throat singing and their native instruments like the Morin Khuur, Tovshuur and Tumur Khuur, or better-known by their definition of their music: Hunnu Rock. Check out what the show looked like in the gallery below!
CONCERT REVIEW: Red & Keith Wallen Play Memorable Sold-Out Utrecht Show
On the way to the venue I meet a couple of fans in the bus, excited to finally use the tickets they bought in 2020, finally getting through all the postponed concerts they had planned for years. On this Saturday evening they were excited to see Red’s sold out show, supported by Keith Wallen, who people might know as the guitarist of Breaking Benjamin.
With doors opening at 7pm, I was somewhat surprised to see a line forming beforehand. I’m saying surprised, because I believed the audience tonight would be slightly older, not really bothered to wait too long. But since the show has been rescheduled from 2020, I’d say they’ve waited long enough
My attendance to the show is mostly due to one of my best friends being a huge fan, so I might be a little biased towards Keith Wallen. His music, while still considered to be in the ‘rock’ genre, feels very ethereal and otherworldly to me, something you can easily dream away on. It seems like the audience did just that, completely pulled into Keith’s dreamlike world. Keith slightly wonders if the audience is enjoying theirselves, but the audience mostly seems to be enthralled by the music
The thing is, Dutch crowds are particularly tough. The ‘Dutch disease’ is an international phenomenon, which basically means we don’t really shut our mouths during shows. The fact that the audience was so quiet, meant they just were completely sucked into the music, as they are supposed to be.
After Keith Wallen’s set it does get a little bit more crowded in the venue, for the main act of the night. Red starts their set strong, earning a completely different reaction from the audience. Where Keith’s set was transporting us to different worlds, Red’s set got right into the core of our own bodies. I experienced some sort of sensory overload, as if I experienced brain freeze for the first time, in the best way possible. The energetic band mentions their first show in Europe was in Utrecht as well, making the connection to the city be a strong one. At the end of the set they still move like they did during the first song, hyping the crowd up to move with them just as much. It’s a shame they couldn’t move the show to a bigger venue, because the band can handle way bigger venues than this one, as a lot of fans seemed to be looking for tickets even until the day of the show. If this kind of response to a band doesn’t warrant a speedy return to Europe, I don’t know what will…
Photographer Christine Mooijer was there to document the evening through pictures, which you can find in the galleries below.
CONCERT REVIEW: PUP Make It Feel Like Friday On A Tuesday Night
My age is showing, but I can’t keep up with all the different pop-punk bands popping up all over the scene. I love the pop-punk revival, don’t get me wrong, but it’s hard to keep all of them apart because let’s face it, most of them exist of white men. I’m curious to find out how PUP is going to stand out during the show in the Melkweg’s Oude Zaal on Tuesday October 25.
Going into the venue, the lines for two shows are combined, which made it difficult to see who the audience is for tonight. I was happy to see the crowd was a very diverse mix, making me feel a little more at ease. The wait begins for the support act, Pom Pom Squad. Around the 8pm mark the audience feels antsy, ready for the show to start, but they kept us waiting a little while longer. I was very happily surprised to see a woman enter the stage, and then two other women followed her on the stage as well.
Mia Berrin, the frontwoman of the band, has spoken out about not seeing herself represented in pop music, as she is a woman of color. Like I stated earlier, I kinda expected something out of tonight and the appearance of this band completely shattered those expectations. Earlier this week Paramore’s Hayley Williams wrote an open letter about being a young girl in the scene, finding a place she could fit in. We’ve watched this scene grow into a place for young girls, queer kids and anybody of color. The theatrical appearance of Mia, her hair braided with ribbons and rocking in a short tulle skirt reminded me of her message and strengthens it. She’s not afraid to show her femininity and still be a badass with killer screams.
I had to actually remind myself that I was at the show for PUP tonight. Pom Pom Squad did a good job of making the crowd at ease with each other, which only made the crowd so much more hyped for the main act. From the very first notes of PUP playing, the moshing and crowdsurfing already begins. This is why I love this particular venue so much, its small stage making interaction between the audience and the band very easy. After the first song, lead singer Stefan Babcock asks for one thing: for us to look around and say hi to the people around you. They are your friends and strangers all there for the same thing, to have fun. After covering the basics, he also holds up a key that someone already seemed to have lost in the one song they played. It will be one of many items making their way to the front, including more locker keys, ID’s, cellphones, shoes and T-shirts.
“You are making it feel like Friday on this Tuesday”, Stefan states as well, loving the audience’s reaction to them. It also feels like a show the midst of summer, not in the end of October, because the heat radiating from the crowd is intense. There’s a mosh during his stage banter, followed quickly by stage diving. Some of the audience even showing off their backflips on stage before diving back in. A couple of men are being escorted out because they overheated to the point of fainting. Stefan gets so carried away with the enthusiasm too, he starts singing the wrong song mid-set, just pushing through with the song that’s supposed to be later on in the set. The enthusiasm can be heard from the other side of the venue; some of the audience from Duncan Laurence (performing in the Max) bleeding over into the Oude Zaal, to see what it’s all about. The enthusiasm is really speaking for PUP, making the show being more than just a generic pop-punk band. Musically there might be room to grow their voice more, to stand out from all their peers in the scene right now, but the feeling they left with me is the thing that sticks the most. PUP made an effort to make everyone feel welcome tonight, showing in their choice of support act, the big trans flag on the speaker on the left of the stage, and the interaction with the crowd. You can experience some of this feeling through the pictures below.
PHOTO REVIEW: Spiritbox Play Sold-Out Debut Show In The Netherlands
After seeing Spiritbox’s insane performance at Rock Am Ring earlier this summer, we were ecstatic to witness the band again – this time in a more intimate setting of their own indoor sold-out show in TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht. Photographer Christine Mooijer went and checked it out!
CONCERT REVIEW: The Driver Era Charms And Leaves Us Hungry For More
June 2nd 2020. November 24th 2020. May 13th 2021. January 25 2022. It took a while, but The Driver Era finally had their forever-postponed show in The Netherlands on Friday evening in Utrecht. The band just released their third studio album Summer Mixtape this September, but this show is originally billed as part of the Girlfriend tour, due to it being postponed for years. Christine Mooijer was there to experience and capture the evening.
It was a long wait for the fans, super excited to see the brothers Lynch. And that doesn’t mean just the duo that’s the headliner: we start the show with the support DJ-set by Ryland. Ryland is one of the brothers of Ross and Rocky, the duo that forms The Driver Era. He warms up the crowd with remixes of some of his favorite songs, amongst them songs by Taylor Swift and ABBA.
The fans are so loud, the screams are seeping through our ear protection. I have to admit that I hadn’t heard of them until last month, but the songs instantly got stuck in my head. I was somewhat worried the songs wouldn’t hold up live, the way that they sound on record was almost too good to be true. I was familiar with Ross’s acting on Disney’s Austin & Ally and Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and thought most of the hype for his band, was due to his work on TV.
I am happy to admit my worries were unfounded. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to find a band that sounds even better live than they do on record, and The Driver Era are one of those bands. Sure, Ross easily charms the girls from front to back (I’m not immune to that smile either, sue me), but his brother Rocky is in no way in the shadow of his younger brother- and neither are the other bandmates. The family connection between the band makes the show in general feel very personal as well. The venue has a capacity of 2.000 and it is filled to the brim, but none of that takes away from the intimate feeling tonight. Around 4 songs in, Ross announces he’s lost a nail from shredding his guitar too hard, playing the show with a bit of tape around his pointer finger for the rest of the night, apologizing for looking frustrated with his predicament. The audience also threw some cowboy hats to the stage, and around the end, the band happily wore those- one of the many examples of interaction with the crowd.
The concert had a bit of everything, much like their music. It doesn’t really fit into just one genre, having some more pop-punk songs, mixed with indie vibes, but R&B influences can be found in there as well. Midway through the show, there’s an acoustic segment where the audience lights up the room with their cellphones, highlighting the intimate feeling once again. And then before we knew it, the show was over already. Somehow the three hours flew by, leaving the audience hungry for more.
If you missed out on Friday’s show, or are as obsessed with them as we are at the moment, or if you’re just curious to see what the fuss is about: The Driver Era are returning to Tilburg’s 013 on November 6th. Tickets for that show are still available! In the meantime, check out what their show in Utrecht looked like in the gallery below.
