Wat Chip er zelf van vond.

  

Chip Taylor's Road Journal. Nov 3, 2017 – Borger – Venue – Van Slag

After a little listening to 45 minutes of an episode of Bob Dylan’s radio show.. loving it by the way… we arrived in Borger at around 2 o’clock at the Beige Hotel..  a very comfortable place… immediately across the street from the venue.

I had a couple of hours to relax with Joan and work on some tour notes of the previous day’s show.

This is always been a favorite venue of ours. It is an old church ..part of it built 400 or so years ago and a small section of it built actually 700 years ago.

The church-like seating holds about 100 people. Tonight we are totally sold out .. there will be about 120 in attendance.

Aside from the warm and comfortable look of the place… One of the things that John and I remember most are the folks that are involved in it… They’re kind and good folks working very hard at what they do… Jaap , assisted by his wife Berlina, book the shows .. The venue/church is owned by a fellow named Henk who spends a great deal of effort in keeping this state of the art place looking amazing.

We arrive at 5:30 and have a leisurely sound check with a great sound man named Bert who is also an amazing guitar player ..he and his wife.. a wonderful vocalist… Lende .. perform all over Europe and beyond .. about 50 or 60 performances year.. they are great! We are blessed to have them working with us on sound tonight show. it’s great to recall how warm sounding this room can be … very much like you’re playing in a church. Also… Thanks Peter for your assisting with this effort.

After sound check we enjoy a typical Dutch winter meal… Cooked by Henk’s wonderful wife, Janje.. thanks so much my friend great to see you again!

Just after dinner my great friend and tour guide and manager for many years, Milan stopped by to say hello… It was so so good to see our old friends… It seems like yesterday very good yesterday!

We have about a 50 yard walk back to our hotel room to relax for about an hour before the show… this is a big blessing for us… On the road you want to be as comfortable as possible… And the upstairs green room for the artist is very comfortable but there’s nothing like having your own little hotel room so close to the venue.

The Show

First Set

I love looking out at the audience from the rather high stage at this place… There’s enough light to see everybody’s face and everybody’s expression and yet the lights are dim enough to keep a certain warmth floating in the place.. immediately the sound is good for John and I on stage and very easy to work with.

Again we are featuring the songs from the 70s on Warner Bros. Records… Last Chance, Some of Us, and This Side Of The Big River.

And again, we start with the first five songs from Last Chance.. I love the vibe of all of these.. Last Chance totally rocks… John’s solo was amazing… And I remember how chilling it felt singing Son Of A Rotten Gambler… That was such a warm connection with the audience on this one. After a rocking version of I Read it in Rolling Stone we were on to the song that I wrote with my brother Barry, The Coalfields of Shikshinny.. there was a very special connection with the audience with this one… And then came I Wasn’t Born in Tennessee with the crowd singing along with the Merle Haggard section… and cheering at the end.

Then came one of the intimate moments of every show .. Sharing thoughts about love at first sight ending up with the song that I wrote for my wife Joan..  Joan Joan Joan. This certainly has been a highlight of every set on the entire tour.

Then it was off to the title tune of the new album “A Song I Can Live With” ..also dedicated to Joan… We ended the set with a chilling version of “Angel of the Morning” … John was magnificent on this and on basically all the songs in the set .. I specifically remember the chills I was getting on Son of a Rotten Gambler and “the Coalfields of Shickshinny” .. John is one-of-a-kind ..so inspiring to me on the stage!

Set two

This certainly was one of my favorite sets in recent memory… for me there were so many touching moments on stage… Can only happen when you are totally connecting with an audience and they are influencing your feelings and every note you play and every word you sing.

It was that way throughout this whole set.

We played my first hits from Warner Bros back in 1975., Me as I Am… Then moved on to a totally rocking version of my biggest country get, “Early Sunday Morning”. Then came a very special moment… With a tribute to my father and the entire audience singing along to the chorus of “Some of Us”.

We rock to my big Dutch hit from back in 1975… “Same old Story”.. then came another special special silent moment with our story about our friend John Tucker… With “John Tucker’s on the Wagon Again”. when we played this I could see so many in the audience closing their eyes rocking a little back-and-forth and singing along with me.

Then came and audience favorite “Dance With a Hole in Your Shoe”… I’m not sure of the order of the last several… But some where in there we did “Clean Your own Tables”… The song Johnny Cash covered of mine… with the audience singing along with all the choruses… This was so much fun… somewhere in here we get a requested version of an old fan favorite of mine, “Holy Shit” especially for my German friends Matthew and Jennifer.

“Wild Thing” had special place in the show tonight .. it was sort of spiritual and fun at the same time to sing this along with the audience from start to finish… One what one of my favorite live versions of ” Wild Thing” ever.

Then came my song for the prisoners, “Fuck All the Perfect People”… which become a viral hit on Spotify.. and again the audience was singing along with this one like it was a prayer… Which it really was tonight.

We stayed in the prayerful my mood… With a totally chilling version of “Refugee Children” with everyone singing along at the end… There is nothing more beautiful than hearing that.

What a night… What a special warm audience… Loved seeing you guys and love talking to so many of you later hope to see you all again!!

Special hi to all friends Vincent and  Nienke and mom Judy… So good to see you guys again tonight… Big hello to Matthew and Jennifer… Thanks so much for crossing the border it was wonderful seeing you before the show… I will look forward to seeing you again and again!

Another special hello to my friend Arnold … So good talking to you… loved your wonderful stories about your wife’s birthday party from 10 years ago… Please send Lowke our best wishes!

Hi Gerard… Good seeing you again thanks for making the long trip to see two shows and.. please send my very best regards to Ine.. hope to see you guys before too long.

Hi Bert and Appie.and Joke .. and Patrick and Anita and Cor.. and Tiemen.. so good to talk to all you guys

Special hi to the brothers my old friends Wietse and Pieter.. and little sister!! . Hi Wobbo.. and another Joke .. and another from the north, Joukje.. special hi to Eef.. thanks for telling us about the great reaction to Mart’s Radio show..

At breakfast the next morning we said hello to Barry and Lucy… And Bokke (“Bob”) and Martha.. so good to see you all.

Again huge thanks to our friends Henk and Janje .. loved your son’s beer… Special stuff!… We are stashing it to bring to our daughter and son-in-law!!

Jaap and Berlina.. so great to see you as always huge thanks for your efforts for us… Definitely look forward to seeing you guys again

Thanks Bert for the great sound! Again, hello to Lende .. look forward to hearing your beautiful voice and your beautiful playing on your new CD.

Thanks for your help Peter… Good to see you

And last… But certainly not least huge thanks to the wonderful efforts of our great friend and Ronald… Who has done all the hard work on this tour… And kept us free to just think about the music .. what a blessing.

PS can’t wait to see you Milan.. look forward to seeing you very very very soon again Joan sends big love and a big hello!