The Anatomy of Frank – De Keyserin. Middenbeemster; December 2nd, 2017
When The Anatomy of Frank announced a concert in Middenbeemster in The Netherlands, I had no clue where that was, but I soon learned that it wasn’t all that far from Amsterdam and easily reached by bus from there. I was supposed to be on a cruise between Turku and Stockholm that day, but it was on the way back so why not leave the ship in Stockholm and fly to Amsterdam form there? I did and I have no regrets. The concert, albeit unusually quiet for an Anatomy of Frank gig, was certainly a lot more fun than being bored on a cruise. 😉 OK,I admit it doesn’t take much to achieve that, but really, I enjoyed the concert a lot. It was a lovely night among friends and a nice ending to this year’s tour with the guys. I’m glad I made it there.
My flight to Amsterdam was delayed (what else is new with KLM?), this time due to fog. The important thing was that I made it on time, found the correct bus without much trouble and arrived at a very lovely bed & breakfast in Middenbeemster right around the corer from the venue. The weather was shitty so I spent the time until the concert having a rest and later some amazing pancakes at a nearby restaurant. When I arrived at the venue P., A. and family were already there, the hosts offered tea and cookies and the band was in a good mood.
The small crowd assembled soon, Erica (the host) made an announcement and we were treated to support Gabbi Lieve who performed a selection of her own songs and a few covers on guitar. It was nice music, I liked it. Not something that immediately grabbed me, but lovely to listen to. It fit in well with the guys and she played just the right amount of songs. 🙂
The room was alive with chatter before Erica announced The Anatomy of Frank, but it died down the moment they walked on stage. They were greeted with applause and then people were listening quietly and attentively. 🙂 Kyle started with a passionate delivery of ‘Blurry Part I’. Without much ado Jimmy and Max joined in for ‘Photographs of Inuvik in January’. The sound at the venue was really good. The keyboard as well as the drums seemed more subtle than they did at other concert – perfect for the location. Ørjan was back and did a great job. 🙂 After the gig Kyle exlained to me how he can save the settings he uses for certain types of venues and then just recall them at similar ones. Cool!
‘Minnesota Part I’ and ‘Diagonal North America’ followed with only a small break for people to clap in-between. So far, the guys had not spoken a word. As usual I sang along to the songs, but did it under my breath, because nobody else did. Kyle introduced the band as “Your friendly neighbors from across the ocean” and asked if we were OK which was confirmed. Lovely versions of ‘Patagonia’ and ‘Holy Mountain’ followed. I really liked the soft guitar and the soft singing on the latter. It went straight into ‘Ecuador’ without any break and people kept quiet. I have rarely seen an audience so sensitive to songs that segue into each other.
Kyle asked us for a round of applause to Erica and family for organizing the event and told us how they take care of the band and feed him chocolate by the kilo. As ‘How do we lose it’ rang out he told us all about their plan to record and album on every continent and the amazing album + map poster package to much “oohs” and “aaahs”. ‘Viteri’ brought tears to my eyes once again and ‘La Llorona’ ended the set with the usual sing-along and they thanked us for being such a respectful audience.
We clapped them back to the stage and they joked about wanting to know if clapping meant we wanted more. Kyle thanked his friends who had traveled all the way from the US to see the show and Ørjan before they played ‘Andes’. It was a rocking end to the show. Perfect! Afterwards I stuck around chatting for a while before it was time to say goodbye. I thanked the guys for the fun tour, they thanked me for being there and for the cookies and it was “See you next year”. I walked P. and A. to their car, said goodbye to them as well and took the short walk to my bed & breakfast where a good night’s sleep awaited me. Thank you, Jimmy, Kyle and Max. It was fun!
Setlist
Blurry Part I
Photographs of Inuvik in January
Minnesota Part I
Diagonal North America
Patagonia
Holy Mountain
Ecuador
How do we lose it
Viteri
La Llorona
Andes