in
Bergen op Zoom, Holland - 29 October 2005

Event: Golden Music Events "Back To..."
Venue: De Stoelemat
Admittance: 7.30 pm
Beginning: 8.30 pm
Bands: The Shakin Arrows, Magic Dave and the Wheelers, SAILOR, Jan Keizer from BZN, Chris Andrews

Photos by: Katrin Wagner

Henry and Phil at the Nickelodeon

Aerobics with SAILOR?!?...

Phil, Peter and Grant

Henry and Peter during "La Cumbia"

Henry and Peter during "La Cumbia"

Henry and Phil

The end of the show...

The songs that SAILOR played in Bergen op Zoom:

A Glass Of Champagne
One Drink Too Many
Give Me Shakespeare
Sailor
The Old Nickelodeon Sound
Blame It On The Soft Spot
Vera From Veracruz
Traffic Jam
Karma Chameleon
Panama
The Secretary
La Cumbia

encores:
Girls Girls Girls
A Glass Of Champagne
1812

Before and after the show...

The girls are back in town... again! - A concert review by Katrin Wagner:

Concert number 70 starts with a drive to my friend Christel on Saturday morning. We meet at her place in Duisburg, have a nice lunch and then drive to Bergen op Zoom in Holland.
We arrive at the hotel quite early in the afternoon and check in. The hotel has two separate buildings. Our room is in the second building on the second floor. It's not easy to get there at all, as we have to "climb" up some steep narrow stairs to get there with our entire luggage...! SAILOR don't seem to be there yet, but as we sit down at the bar at the main building of the hotel we briefly meet their driver Thomas who has already arrived with the Nickelodeon and all their stuff.
SAILOR are still not there about 2 hours later. We wonder whether they are already in town and maybe doing a soundcheck before they get to the hotel or something like that - which leads us to the eternal question: is it better to stay at the hotel and wait until we can welcome the boys or should we rather go to the concert hall to be able to get straight to the front when the doors open?! Our question is answered soon, as Peter is stuck in England due to a delayed flight. This means that SAILOR will only arrive here very late. Christel and I decide to search for the concert hall.
We find the concert hall a little later - by mistake - as we actually haven't expected it to be where it is... After a few more minutes of waiting outside with the first enthusiastic Dutch people we can finally get in at about 7.45 pm. Most people don't go straight to the front but to the bar(s) to get drinks at first, so that we have all the time and space in the world to pick the best places in front of the stage. A little later we are joined by SAILOR fan Grignion too.
The show named "Back To..." (we still haven't found out back to what though... ;-)) starts at 8.30 pm with a band called The Shakin' Arrows, followed by Magic Dave and the Wheelers. To our surprise, the order of bands is then changed, so that we don't have to wait any longer to see SAILOR. The boys have to set up most of the instruments themselves today, and due to the quick change between the bands the Nickelodeon ends up with its back to the audience for a change today.
SAILOR's show starts a little later with a very good set and a few surprises which are probably a must at all Dutch shows: the song "Sailor" - a premiere for the first time with Henry since the 70s - and "Traffic Jam". According to the band, the sound on stage is not that good, but in front of the stage we all think it is quite good and we really enjoy the show which is slightly chaotic but very funny at certain points! Instead of the "Full Monty" we get "Girls Girls Girls" as an encore today, followed by another full "Champagne". Marvellous!
After the show Christel and I return to the hotel rather quickly to be able to properly welcome the SAILORs before they go to bed. Another eternal problem: will they stay at the venue for a few drinks and only get here late or do they return straight after their show? We never know...
When the boys arrive at the hotel it's 1.30 am. The reception and bar have closed a while ago, so that Christel and I are waiting outside the hotel now, keeping an eye on the street and on both buildings of the hotel to avoid missing SAILOR's arrival. Phil, Grant, Henry and Peter take some minutes to talk to us before going to their rooms and trying to find their ways through the separate parts of the hotel - just like us.
In the morning Henry, Grant and Phil have to leave quite early again, so that we say goodbye to them and then join Peter, who has a later flight, at breakfast...
All in all another very chaotic but funny SAILOR weekend! Thanks guys! ;-)
Katrin Wagner, 31 October 2005

A concert review by Grignion Schrama:

When I read that Henry Marsh was back in the band I hoped for a concert in Holland!
Saturday 29th October they played a concert at The Stoelemat in Bergen op Zoom during a so called 'Back to...' Festival.
I made my order and thought, I will travel by train and hope to see SAILOR's show and still catch my last train...
When I arrived in the venue I saw Katrin already standing at the front of the stage (of course) together with Christel. It was nice talking to her and although we never met before I 'knew' her, well, only from the pictures on the website.
The first band were The Shakin' Arrows from Waalwijk Holland, they played a mixture of rock & roll and some Shadows instrumentals, quite good actually especially the solo guitarist.
Then it was time for (according to some people) the highlight of the evening, Magic Dave and the Wheelers, fronted by a really enthousiastic and driving-keep on going piano player and leadsinger, accompanied by a solid three piece band playing some old rock & roll songs by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Elvis Presley.
A hard task for SAILOR to follow as the third act of the evening...
But as soon as the band came on stage I had already forgotten the two previous bands!
Although it was a one off show in Holland and Peter arrived very shortly before the show, on stage the band played very solid, enthousiastic and more importantly: they played most of my favorite songs!
Starting with "A Glass Of Champagne" it was clear that the soundman did a good job: very good balance of lead and harmony vocals, Henry's keyboard parts as well as Phil's bass keyboards sound came from the speakers very powerfull, maybe only the drums were not that loud in the mix, but still listenable overall.
Hearing "Panama" and "The Secretary" in a live situation really was a thrill for me.
During the show it was clear that I wasn't going to catch my last train, so after the show I tried to get some old singles covers and an old magazine from 1974 with SAILOR on the cover, signed by the band members, but unfortunately the band members were in such a hurry that I only had a very quick conversation with Phil and Grant...
The fourth act of the evening was a famous Dutch singer named Jan Keizer (from BZN) who sang along with a (DAT?) tape, but at the end of his show I had it and I thought, let's hit the town (Grignion's night on the town), but Bergen op Zoom is no Amsterdam so I finally ended up in a shoarma place, drank some coffee and went to the station, listened to some music from my mini disc recorder (SAILOR) and finally travelled back home with the first train (08:07 hour!!!).
When I arrived at home at 09:30 I staightly went to bed, very happy to have seen SAILOR live in concert with at least three original members!
Grignion Schrama, 31 October 2005

Concert Photos