Nick Waterhouse at Paradiso Noord
Amsterdam
February 18, 2017

The geeky, bespectacled, white ex-record store clerk turned rhythm & blues cult favourite, Nick Waterhouse, finally hit Amsterdam again to promote his latest album Never Twice.

The set was naturally heavy on new material, but a few favourites from the previous records like ‘Holly’ and ‘This is a Game’ were thrown in there too.

Another standout was a slow, moody rendition of ‘I Can Only Give You Everything’ by Them, prominently featuring the wonderful backing singer Carol Hatchett.

While not being much of a chatterbox, he did take time to address the current political situation in America and even made some parallels with the rise of racism and intolerance in Holland without being preachy and self-righteous. Right after the little rant promoting empathy and diversity he and the band launched into a rousing ‘Say I Wanna Know,’ which got the crowd really cooking.

The catchy ‘Some Place’ and ‘Old Place’ came next and were and then followed by an extended encore featuring an epic cover of The Seeds’ 60s garage classic ‘Pushing Too Hard.’ It could’ve done without the uninspired drum solo, but the sax freak-out was a hit.

He’s no Wilson Pickett, but he sure is more passionate than some of the other neo-retro vintage performers who produce slick and rocking records, but can’t translate that energy to the stage.

-Marko Petrovic