What a groovy room...

I had such a good time during my first trip to Amsterdam in the fall, that I decided to do it again…and it certainly did not disappoint. This trip was going to be a bit special, with the focus being a Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds acoustic show on Saturday night in a converted church/club that can hold only 1,000 people. Needless to say we were excited, but we will get to that in a second.

With me on this trip was once again my travel buddy Timmy, and we were also joined by his roommate Kurt and Kurt’s friend from college, Mel.

After seeing people tear through the streets on the crappiest bikes I have ever seen last time I was there, I have been chomping at the bit to get out and tear it up. Luckily the weather cooperated and we had an gorgeous spring day to see the sites.

And even stop in the park for a few refreshments.


I tell you in Amsterdam, the beer flows like wine.

As a special bonus, I even took some videos which I have linked below. They aren’t too exciting until you place them in context. Taking the videos was maybe the closest I have come to death since moving to Europe (excluding the beat down from that English hooligan). I mean these bikes are the definition of rickety, the streets are mostly cobbled, there are tons of other bikers zooming by, and of course you even have trams and cars steaming by. Throw in the fact that my camera did not have a safety strap and I was very concerned about dropping it, well that was enough to terrify me. Check it out for yourself by clicking (HERE) and (HERE). Really, it was much more exciting than it appears.

Well after surviving near death, we headed out to the concert.

There is really just one word to describe it: amazing. It was definitely the coolest concert I have ever attended (an opinion shared by most people we talked to), as it was the perfect venue and ambiance, and really it just seemed like Dave was in his element (he actually lived in Amsterdam for awhile and several times spoke in Dutch). On top of all that were so close that you could walk to the bar to get a beer and still have a great view of the show. I managed to take this video (yes that is how close we were), with my only regret that it killed the memory card of my camera or else I would have taken more. Okay, so the sound is off on the video I uploaded, so I am linking to another (not as good, but closer) video for your enjoyment (HERE).

All in all another great meeting, and that is even including the fact that 2 of my travel companions actually ran into and met Dave on the street at 2:30 Saturday morning, but I was of course wondering off somewhere else with the camera. Oh well, I will just have to look for him next time.

Cheers!