Lamb; Support : The Ramona Flowers, at Paradiso Amsterdam 27.11.14

Lamb. Support : The Ramona Flowers at Paradiso Amsterdam Following their show in Luxembourg earlier this month, I had somewhat mixed feelings about attending this show. We skipped the Ramona Flowers altogether as we were running a little late with dinner, and they had not really convinced me at the previous show.

We got to the venue about 10 minutes before Lamb took the stage, and the venue although not sold out was quite packed, contrary to the show in Luxembourg which had only a tiny crowd.  The Paradiso is such a neat venue that even though I was not totally blown away by the show at the beginning of the month, I still had high expectations, as Lamb has always had an intimate relationship with the Paradiso, where they also recorded their farewell gig when they went on hiatus, so I was hoping they would add a little something for this show.  The stage setup however was exactly the same as in Luxembourg so right upon entering the venue my expectations were lowered a little.

The band was heavily applauded upon taking the stage, and Jon Thorne (now walking with crutches, but still rocking out his soul a few songs into the gig) had a face that showed his pain.  As in Luxembourg they started with In Binary, but luckily the Paradiso has a better sound than the venue in Luxembourg, and with that the sound seemed fuller, but still in my opinion is missing a full back-up band which in the early 2000’s rendered their shows even more powerful and their sound more organic and driving.  The light show was also pretty much the same, but due to the height of the Paradiso had a much stronger effect when during Satellites the entire venue was covered in white dots reflecting of 2 mirror balls, almost magic.

The set list was identical to the one in Luxembourg, which considering they even mentioned their special relationship with the Paradiso was a bit of a letdown, and a little something extra would have earned them even more massive cheers.

For me the highlights were the final songs from Nobody Else onward, a few of them with Andy on a limited drum kit, and Lou pounding a tom, right away felt much more alive and organic than the rest of the show, so even with a small drum kit the sound went a long way, imagine it with a full band, and you’d be blown away.  Gabriel was a great performance as usual, but to me the song has sort of reached a saturation point where even the live performance does no longer blow me away.  Overall I’d say it was still a great show, but I have seen Lamb where they totally blew my mind, for example last year with the Amsterdam Symphonietta, or back in the day with a full band.  If you have not yet seen them, absolutely do so, but if you have been blown away before, you might consider keeping the better memories.

Lamb ; Support : The Ramona Flowers, at den Atelier 11.11.14

Lamb. Support : The Ramona Flowers at den atelier The venue was far from filled when we got there, and The Ramona Flowers had already taken the stage.  We caught a few of their tracks, but ultimately their music is not for me, so I opted to get a little rum and coke buzz going, talking to some friends outside while waiting for Lamb.

Around 9:40pm Lamb did get on stage, in what I consider a light line up, Andy, Lou, and Jon Thorne on bass.  They started off with In Binary, and the sound was crisp, but could have been a little louder.  The Bass sound was nice and natural, Andy’s sound was thick, but in my opinion was missing some support from a "real" (full time) drummer, which would have rounded the sound out even a bit more!  We Fall in Love, and Butterfly effect followed, and then with Little Things they picked up the pace a little bit! Lou was dressed in white, and looked stunning as always, sound even better than she looks, Andy was in what looked like a good mood as well, and was quite active behind his gear. Jon on bass took it a bit easier, as he had injured his foot a few days ago at another show.  Looking at the crowd which was not very dancing much either I can understand that Jon opted not to strain his foot more than necessary.  The one thing Luxembourgish crowds are quite good at is their applause, so even though the venue was far from filled, the cheers were loud and very welcomed by the band.

Overall the set was relatively quiet, with Satellites, Backspace Unwind, What Makes us Human, Doves & Ravens. Strong the Root for me stood out as bit of highlight when it was performed. Gabriel was as good as always, although even though it’s probably their most popular track I think could do with a little live do-over, a little change here and there to make it sound a bit fresher again. Nobody else went by relatively fast, and then came the Highlight section of the show, at least for me, a powerful rendition of B Line, and Seven Sails ended the regular show.  They came back for a very gnarly version of What Sound, with some of the only real drums (albeit a very limited kit) of the evening, and right away, the sound was so much thicker, organic, and with that just added the little extra that made the song go from great to WOW.  Gorecki finished the 1^st encore.

Following cheers from an even more thinned out crowd they came back to deliver a stunning and powerful Trans Fatty Acid, which, to me sounded pretty close to the recent Pure Filth Mix!

Overall it was an excellent evening of Lamb, but in my humble opinion adding a drummer to the lineup would have made the gig perfect.  Sure the drummer might only have had to work for 50% of the show, as some of the newer tracks have little in terms of percussion, but these would have stood out more as well, if the older stronger grooving tracks had been supported by an organic drum sound.  I am sure they had their reasons to go with the stripped down lineup, but if one has seen them in the past one just knows how much more powerful they can be!  In any case I am still looking forward very much to catching them again on this tour in Amsterdam at the end of the month! And if you have not yet seen Lamb, I suggest you go ahead and do so while they are still around!