You blinked and the tickets were already sold out. On October 10, the two Amsterdam Paradiso shows of De Jeugd van Nooit went on sale, a week after they destroyed Ziggo Dome three times to celebrate their 20th anniversary. It could accommodate 17,000 people, the main hall of Paradiso has a capacity of 1,500 people. Those 1500 are looking forward to it tonight, because everyone knows: the roof is going to come off here too.
The evening is somewhat reminiscent of a colorful evening on a family weekend. Not only because of the audience, in which every generation is represented, but also because of the pleasant messiness that is reflected in everything. Some of the grotesque inflatable decor from the Ziggo Dome was taken: a pink butt plug on the ceiling, chimneys in the shape of cigarettes on stage. The start is confusing, the sound is bad, the members of De Jeugd – Wiwa, Faberyayo, Vjèze Fur and producer Bas Bron – their indifferent selves. Faberyayo uncorks a bottle of champagne and sprays it over the audience who are waiting like a pack of wagging dogs for the ball to finally be thrown. They want to sing along, they want to dance. Fortunately, with the 20-year repertoire full of hits, you never have to wait long for that. The audience lives up to it Missed is started and it doesn’t even matter that the singing is unintelligible, there are plenty of people who eagerly sing along to “horny bear, horny fagot, old cock, old pipe”.
The audience is defenseless
“It’s nice when everyone participates, that’s different from Ziggo,” says Vjèze Fur. And the audience really wants to participate, but in the beginning there are fewer big hits like Sliding panther death because the audience’s lack of textual knowledge cannot cope with the unintelligibility. Or when everything happens and is said on stage, but most of the audience misses it.
Isn’t the roof going to come off after all? Of course. Crazy boys is being deployed and that seems to be a turning point. The audience is captivated by the fantastic madness of De Jeugd. There is crowd surfing by band members and audience. There is tongue-lashing during A Barkie. Completely in the spirit of a family weekend, the children of the band members come to participate Watskeburt. More champagne on the audience. Wiwa throws water. The sound remains bad, but The Youth of Today remains irresistible. The audience is defenseless. On command, the hands go up, on top of each other and the floor turns into a swirling mosh pit. Vjèze Fur himself summarizes it nicely: “Of course a lot goes wrong, but a lot also goes right.”
Concert by The Youth of Today in Paradiso.
Photo Andreas Terlaak
Concert by The Youth of Today in Paradiso.
Photo Andreas Terlaak
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