Left a drizzly Rotterdam at midday Sunday for a short train ride to the city of Breda, NL in the south of the country. Just one stop on the Eindhoven-bound Intercity operated by Nederlanse Spoorwegen. The fare was 11.4 euros. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The walk from Breda\u2019s train station to the hotel took me through a beautiful public park with dozens of chickens running around. I\u2019m in Breda for just one night to see Remember Sports, the great Philly band on their first-ever European tour. Their show last night on the closing day of Left of the Dial at Cultuurpodium Perron was excellent. The band ended with Out Loud. Each of the four members took turns singing on the number off the 2021 LP Like a Stone. Lead singer Carmen Perry unwound her cord and walked back her mike to drummer Julian Fader so he could do the final vocal part. It was a moment the crowd seemed to love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In that same venue earlier in the evening, the Welsh band The Bug Club brought in what appeared to me to be the Dial fest\u2019s largest audience. Bass player Tilly Harris observed the crowd size early in the set. \u201cIt\u2019s a bloody full room!\u201d she said. Their tune Flower in the Rain sounded incredible. What\u2019s unique about the song is that it\u2019s one of five numbers recorded together in one take and released under the name Intelectuals. A five in one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The card reader at Perron wouldn\u2019t accept my plastic as I tried to buy a big cup of Grolsch. Anxious patrons in line behind me grew impatient before a guy told the beertender he\u2019d pick mine up. I tried to pay him in cash but he wouldn\u2019t take it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A long corridor leading from Perron\u2019s entrance to the two-stage main room included hundreds of free lockers (with keys) which people were stuffing their jackets and things into. Again, smart and forward-thinking but impossible to imagine at a US venue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at Foo (an ice cream shop doubling as a fest venue) to see the Leeds band Mush.\u00a0 They were great.\u00a0 Early Stones, Ultimate Painting sounds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of the escalators in Rotterdam\u2019s busy public spaces don\u2019t activate until one enters. Smart. I don\u2019t think I saw a single member of law enforcement while circulating Rotterdam. It appears whatever program(s) the city\/country advances, it\u2019s leading to at least the appearance of less than rampant scenes of suffering. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Left a drizzly Rotterdam at midday Sunday for a short train ride to the city of Breda, NL in the south of the country. Just one stop on the Eindhoven-bound Intercity operated by Nederlanse Spoorwegen. The fare was 11.4 euros. … Continue reading