Oh, What A Night

So tonight was my first gig at Maxims.

After much anticipation (I was, after all supposed to start playing there 6 days ago when I first arrived in Amsterdam) I headed down to the bar, set up my equipment and did a sound check of sorts. Of course, the fact that the electricity still wasn’t back on was only a small concern. To enable them to open tonight, they had set up a generator meaning the lights occasionally flickered, there was the dull roar of a generator in the background and the pervading smell of petrol in the air. All part of the ambience…

I was due to start at 10pm. “or thereabouts” the barman explained. “Thereabouts” seems to mean that I don’t start playing until some people come into the bar. I will eventually post photos of the bar I’m playing in, but let’s just say the exterior is not the most inviting in the world and it is difficult to tell the difference between open and closed.

By 11.30pm, one man came into the bar and it was suggested that I should play some songs.

Relieved to be playing again finally, I start my set and to my surprise, people start filtering into the bar. Requests start streaming in. Drinks start flowing. Hope rises that this will be a good night.

Sure, the lights flicker occasionally and at one point we lose power completely and I play a brief acoustic section of my set. But that is remedied quickly and the night continues.

Until the generator catches on fire.

The lights had flickered significantly, so one of the barman headed in to put in more petrol. But the tank was still full and petrol spilled onto the generator and its electrical socket and caught alight.

Everyone is quickly ushered out of the bar and remains surprisingly calm. The fire is quickly extinguished with no major damage done (except to the generator, of course which is no longer functional). A couple of people are a little traumatized by the event and the crowd-that-was dissipates off to other venues in the vicinity.

By 12.45pm my first night of work is over and after a few drinks in the dark at the bar I head back to my fridgeless apartment (did I mention that my apartment here has no fridge? How does the girl that lives here normally get by without a fridge???)

Apparently tomorrow night there is a group of people coming to the bar at 9.30pm to celebrate a 30th birthday.

I think I will avoid playing “Light My Fire”.

Of course if there’s no electricity still, I could have another free weekend in Amsterdam.

It is getting a bit old though.

At least my first gig at Maxim’s is one I’ll never forget. One could say that my music set the crowd alight. Or at least the bar. Literally.