by Henrik Tuxen
Henrik Tuxen and friend Peter Veeenhoven in Amsterdam.
Tour opener 2014 and 2018 and supposed closer Europe Summer Tour 2018. All double nights; Amsterdam is a Pearl Jam favorite classic.
I was there for both shows at the Ziggo Dome in 2014 and truly had a blast. Great shows, great town. In company with a fine lady, friends, family and a lot of backstage action.
Here’s a piece from the book from a summer when music, travelling and soccer were ruing the agenda:
“AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS-SPAIN
The arena is incredible, the sound sublime, out seats are primo and we’re singing along all the way. So too is everyone else in the crowd. Lots of humorous touches from the stage. Animal has a special meaning that day, with the line “1, 2, 3, 4, 5 against 1.” The day before the concert, the Netherlands national soccer team crushed the reigning world champions, Spain, 5-1 at the World Cup in Brazil. The victory was also celebrated on stage.
[…]
This time around, we run into more familiar faces backstage after the concert. Mike rolls in with his eight-month-old son Henry in a stroller. I’m convinced that Mike named his son after me, but Mike assures me that the moniker comes from his grandfather. And when I ask if Henry can play Eruption lying on his back, Mike tells me of course he can. After all, any true McCready should be able to pull off Eddie Van Halen by the ripe old age of eight months.
Stone has his own private room, where a small yet festive gathering congregates for the next couple of hours. Stone tells his friend Steve, who’s there with his family from Seattle, that he and I go way back, 18 years, and have been through thick and thin. Stone’s arithmetic is on point, even though our encounter in 1996 was relatively short and I mostly spoke with Ed that time around. We talk about the concerts in Spain with Fastbacks. I add that my daughter was 14 days old at that time, and that I probably shouldn’t have been there. “No, you probably shouldn’t have,” says Stone with a smile. But, of course, I was, and it’s now part of my story - and Lulu’s, for that matter. During my visit to Seattle about six months earlier, while visiting the pop culture museum EMP, I saw a T-shirt with Pearl Jam and Fastbacks that was dated “Paris, November 7, 1996” - the same day that Lulu was born in Copenhagen. Stone asks if I heard Light Years the day before, and he says that he was thinking of me as they played it. I tell him that I did in fact hear it, thanks to my brother.
Eddie pops into the room, but I don’t notice because I’m sitting with my back to the door. I had caught a glimpse of him earlier, but he leaves the room before we manage to greet each other. Then, Mike and Jeff drop by and we all hang out for a while. Despite their appreciation for baseball, the NFL and all the traditional American spectator sports, Pearl Jam has really gotten into soccer and they’re following the World Cup closely.
One week later, they’ll be playing a sold out show at San Siro in Milan (the home field of Italy’s professional soccer teams Inter and Milan).”
Baseball, basket, NFL, surfboards. PJ is truly a sportband. But not just all American. I wouldn't have predicted an 'Animal" five against one" repetition in Amsterdam. But the historic soccer super power Netherlands, sensationally failed to qualify for both European championship 2016 and World Cup 2018, but qualified with style for now postponed Europe 2020. So what song could have been more fitting to salute the orange Dutch ballplayers, other than to open with Comeback.
