May 18 1997
Eindhoven
Effenaar
HOLLAND
attendance: 400
time: 80 minutes
support act: Soul Suckers
setlist: FINGERTIPS PT.III/ SUSAN'S HOUSE/ MY BELOVED MONSTER/ SPUNKY
GUESTLIST/ LIVIN'LIFE/ MENTAL/ 13/ FLOWER/ FUCKER/ A MOST UNPLEASANT MAN/ NOVOCAINE FOR THE SOUL/
RAGS TO RAGS/ NOT READY YET/ YOUR LUCKY DAY IN HELL/ EXODUS PT.3/ DEAD FLOWERS/ BEAUTIFUL FREAK/
HELLO CRUEL WORLD
May 18th was a weird day. I was actually at the PINKPOP festival with some friends, but we
decided to travel 100 kilometers to Eindhoven to go and see EELS.
When we got to the venue almost no people were there. This due to the fact that the audience who
would normally go to see EELS was either at the Pinkpop festival or at the Dynamo Open Air festival.
Outside we bumped into E who was just coming out of the tourbus. He saw our Elmo doll and he told us
he loved Elmo. E signed my cd booklet for me and my girlfriend's diary; "DEAR DIARY, LAST NIGHT I SAW EELS, THEY ROCKED! -E-"
Meanwhile he asked us about the Pinkpop festival. We told him
that they were playing up against Silverchair (Pinkpop has two stages). E said that they didn't want to play the
festival at all, but they had to on demand of the record company. The band had been touring Europe for two months
and they were tired and wanted to go home. I asked if it was o.k. if I taped the show. "I don't mind", said E, "just
don't tell these guys (pointing at a guitar roadie). It's illegal!" E left to get some food and we decided to do just the same.
When we got back the venue was already opened and the support act Soul Suckers had already started their set. Soul Suckers surprised me.
They were really good! Check them out if you get the chance!
Then it was time for EELS. They started out with FINGERTIPS pt.III and that was followed by SUSAN'S HOUSE.
At that point I realised something was wrong with my recorder... IT WASN'T RECORDING!!!
Luckily I managed to find the thing that was wrong....my microphone was turned off.
Nevermind, it was a really good show, one of the best I've seen by them! I managed to tape the rest of the show, so I do have a souvenir.
Before playing MY BELOVED MONSTER E told the audience that this was their last regular gig of the European tour and that the band was "fried".
They went through the song as if it was their last gig EVER! It was really brilliant! Halfway through the show the band thanked all their crew
by giving all the crewmembers the spotlight. "A guy in Germany requested this song, but we forgot to play it.... maybe someone can tell him we played it here" introduced
A MOST UNPLEASANT MAN from E's second solo cd. It was the first time I heard this song and I really liked it! It's a pity E's solo albums are unavailable in Holland.
EXODUS pt.3 is really great! It a solo performance by BUTCH, impersonating a bird! Great stuff!
The rest of the band returned for DEAD FLOWERS and BEATIFUL FREAK, then the houselights came on, Sinatra music was playing and a
large part of the audience was already leaving. After about 10 minutes the band returned for a joyful rendition of HELLO CRUEL WORLD. This really finished off the show.
We all got a setlist from the guitar roadie that was with E. Then we saw Tommy walking outside. We walked up to him and asked him to sign some stuff as well.
In Evelien's diary he wrote "I ROCK, THEREFORE I AM! -TOMMY-" (quoting the artist formerly known as Prince here...)
We talked about the PINKPOP festival, about their forthcoming European tour (starting August 13th) and about the gig that was cancelled in Groningen.
"Oh yeah, that was a fiasco, we shouldn't have cancelled that one", says Tommy. He explains that they were supposed to do a TV show in England instead, but that also was cancelled,
so everything had gone really wrong. Tommy (smiling): "Let's just say that we don't like those people and we'll never play for them again!"
We said goodnight to Tommy and decided to go back to our tents the Pinkpop Festival. EELS is sceduled to play there the next morning at 12.30 hrs........
radio/tv: no radio/tv recordings were made
bootleg: one incomplete audience recording was made
pictures on this page by Evelien Eenhoorn - copyright © 1997 Edgar Kruize
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