Artful dodging and Sharleen's bout of flu

I originally posted this on August 6th, 2006.

Arnold and I went to a Heather Nova concert on Thursday, August 3 - she and her band played Effenaar, a small venue in Eindhoven (the Netherlands).
We found a spot about four yards form the stage that enabled us to see Heather and guitarist Berit (we're both not exactly tall). We were people watching and I soon found myself dodging women's boobs. Why was it that when a lot of  women tried to walk past me they actually turned to face me and before I knew it I was staring at a pair of boobs passing me. Thankgawd it didn't cause a whiplash or something...
Even though he's younger than I am, Arnold and I are very similar in a lot of ways: sense of humor, sense of fashion (or my lack thereof). I watched a documentary several weeks ago on Discovery Channel about twins and got the eerie feeling that even though Arnold and I aren't twins we do share the same kind of connection. We regularly say the same thing simultaneously or finish eachother's sentences, because we were thinking the same thing.
At one point two attractive brunettes walked by and I couldn't help myself and looked at Arnold to check whether he had noticed them, too. He had, and we found ourselves snickering "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?": our gaydars pinged.
I actually got more into Heather's music through my brother who has almost all her albums.
The opening act, Sylvan (a Dutch band) was alright but didn't do it for us; my brother and I both felt that after two songs everything sounded exactly the same.
Heather and the band kicked off the set with "Maybe an angel" and (one of my personal favorites) "With or without you" "Heart and shoulder". After a while it was obvious that the songs actually rocked - I can't listen to an entire Heather album in one session, since the songs are a little too tame for my taste. Heather seemed to be having a good time, taking a few opportunities to talk to her audience, and she also alerted staff when someone in front of the stage fainted.
Guitarist Berit was obviously enjoying herself, and it's great to see her step into the limelight more; she's kinda shy and when I first saw her play several years ago. Berit mainly focussed on playing the guitar and she was practically glued to the spot. Now she actually moves around a bit and does backing vocals. Until Thursday I hadn't heard her singing voice clearly and I was surprised how well it blends with Heather's. It was a delight to see her handle her guitar - signaturely slung low ;p ..... I was fascinated by her technique; she can make her guitar scream and wail with just the flick of her wrist, and I was curious about her gear.
The setlist: Maybe An Angel / Heart And Shoulder / Motherland / Redbird / I Wanna Be Your Light / Walk This World / I Miss My Sky / New Love (acousticly performed) / Everytime (acousticly performed) / Winterblue / Done Drifting / London Rain / Island / All I Need / Just Been Born / Make You Mine.
(Encore 1:) Drink It In / Someone New (Heather's duet with Eskobar)
(Encore 2:) Sugar.
On Saturday, August 5, my friend Myrtle (she got us tickets) and I drove down to Lokeren, Belgium to see Scottish band Texas headline their festival that night. The funny thing is that when I checked the festival site shortly before my vacation in Chicago, Il. I found out that Heather Nova was also plying that night; I got to see two great bands for a little over 16 Euros :)
We went in search of a little place off the crowded Markt to have dinner. We had a good time exploring the city center and watching people while doing so. I spotted lots of lesbians (there to see Sharleen?) and somehow somewhere I started a joke that became the running gag for the rest of the evening: "D.Y.K.E. - the new fragrance" (would I be sued by DKNY?)
We found a Grand Cafe that had a small but excellent menu. The food was good and around nine we walked towards the festival site - which we had tried to scope earlier (I only recognized sound checking for Heather Nova). Myrtle and I managed to get reasonably good spots at the site.
Heather and her band played a set that lasted a little over an hour (pretty much the same songs as they'd played in Eindhoven, minus the acousticly played songs). They didn't sound as well as they did in Eindhoven and Berit started out singing backing vocals in a slightly lower key - which was a little odd to my ears. Heather's music wasn't exactly up Myrtle's alley, but she had a good time watching the band and Berit. She agreed with me that, even though Berit is too butch for her taste (Myrtle is straight), Berit playing the guitar is very hot.
Texas kicked off their set with "I don't want a lover"; I was pleasantly suprised (it was their very first single in 1989). I was watching singer Sharleen Spiteri on a screen when I noticed she didn't look well. A little later she told the audience she was actually suffering from the flu and that she'd seen a doctor earlier that day who "put a needle in her arse" (lucky guy *lol*). I love listening to her talk: that Scottish accent is just sooo sexy. Myrtle got what I meant with the accent thingy after this concert (it was her first Texas concert), heck even if Sharleen speaks French (she's lived in Paris, France for a while) c'est sexy.
The band played a mix of their greatest hits and songs off "Red Book": In Demand / Summer Son / Halo / Everyday Now / Getaway / Sleep / Black Eyed Boy / When we are together / Can't Resist / So Called Friend (especially for Belgian superfan Dirk) / Say what you want (I will try and post the setlist later).
Sharleen and the boys in the band were visibly having a good time and Sharleen, despite the flu, was horsing around (her accent came up, too *lol*) and talking to her audience - or as she had said it: "I'm standing here with a microphone going yak-yak-yak" (complete with hand gestures).
She wore a shirt that she didn't care to button up - I didn't mind. The lights somehow made it see through and I could tell she wore a black bra ;p Somewhere during the show the shirt started shifting, revealing more and more of Sharleen's front. And I think Sharleen noticed too, because she immediately buttoned up a bit... (Too bad, eh?)
Those 90 minutes went by way too fast: kudos to Sharleen who gave an awesome performance.
I don't know whether she's writing new songs or when a new album will be released. I only know that I'm hoping to catch another concert of their next tour :)

Driving home I certainly was in a hormonal mode... I was singing along to "I don't want a lover", altering the lyrics slightly into "I don't want a lover, I just need a f*ck" - instead of "... I just need a friend..." (I was being bad.)