Paul Chevrolet and Tennessee Session in Zusjes De Boer Photo: Corn� Sparidaens
The pubs are open again and after two years of corona, the Asser Blues days were finally back. Saturday evening it was as usual strolling past fifteen bars where bands performed during the 35th edition.
It takes some getting used to, especially for the older audience. In Zusjes De Boer aan de Brink there are mainly young people. ,,Are there Blues days?’, a boy asks his comrade. Yes, Paul Chevrolet and Tennessee Session are just kicking off their first session. Funny, the drummer sits under a life-size painting of two pigs in women’s clothing, a la Miss Piggy from the Muppets. He doesn’t care, taps his sticks three times and then it comes loose. Two elderly ladies sit in the front and tap their shoes to the measure of the blues.
A door further it is a lot quieter. At Bodega Manolitos, Dave Warmerdam gently touches the keys of his Hammond organ. Sonny Ray doesn’t open his guitar either and strums happily. They are right in front of the window. The crowd here is forty plus, but the pub isn’t full. More people can join, apparently not everyone dares to stand in the full pub in the post-corona era. But hey, the blues night in fifteen downtown cafes started just half an hour ago.
From the window across the street in café Lodewijk Napoleon you can see singer/guitarist Richard van Bergen of Rootbag swinging. If we take a look, it is almost impossible to get through. Here too many young people in the back and the older guard in the front. But the music is great, Rootbag won the Dutch Blues Award for best band 2015 for a reason.
We stroll further through the city center and hear Sean Webster’s dark voice through the windows of De Bakker and De Schenker aan de Brink. The Brit with only his guitar shows why he is a welcome guest, including in the theater show with which Johan Derksen travels through the country. With his rendition of Feel like Rain John Hiatt gets the audience to sing along. “Hoooo, hoooooho.”
Another rising star is Emily Hill, a five-piece Dutch blues band with the young singer Emily at the center. In the lobby of Hotel de Jonge she manages to silence the audience. Even the beer tap is not running.
And then a victim of corona, good old Lefthand Freddy would perform in the De Poort van Assen, but Freddy and his left hand were felled by corona. Veldman plays as his replacement with bassist Tenny Tahamata as a striking appearance. His bowler hat is lit in purple by a bright lamp.