A Great Night in Schouwburg of Arnhem, Holland! By Rob van der Vaart Tuesday, June 07, 2011 Yesterday's (June 6th) Gilbert mini-concert in the Schouwburg of Arnhem was great!! He was accompanied by his seven piece band, no string quartet this time. They were especially flown in by the Dutch broadcasting company KRO for their one-night event. The evening was a 40 minute mixture of golden oldies, Gilbertville selections and Top of the Pop songs. Tickets were not available to the public and were issued by invitation only! Unfortunately, Gilbert started with a bad voice (cold? or audio problems?) which especially effected the first numbers, including his classic 'Nothing Rhymed' and 'Alone Again (Naturally)'. However, the Gilbertville material, 'Can I Leave the Rest Up to You', 'I Wanna Know' and 'The Allergy Song' sounded fabulous, as did the 'Matrimony' encore and a 10-minute rendition of 'Get Down'. Above all, this great man treated his fans to a second (and much better) performance of his first of many global Gold Records, 'Nothing Rhymed'. [This song was a huge success in the UK and this country.] Gilbert had no intension of leaving his audience with the first performance. As he said Himself, "I sang it so dreadfully, that we'll re-do the song. We could be here all night. Do it twenty times, with the risk that you start thinking it is the worst song you have ever heard, but well re-sing it"! The audience went wild!!!! Having started with 'Thunder and Lightning' and 'Here’s Why' in bad voice, in the end - after some glasses of water - you really felt that myself, the audience in the theatre, the singer and band enjoyed the show! The MiniConcert was aired on Holland's most popular radiostation Radio2 (Theater van het Sentiment). Later that evening they also aired an interview recorded that evening, in which he even mentioned America (and Nashville). And, who knows, perhaps, maybe, one day you'll see the man live too, because although his voice problems made me fear that this could be his last concert ever, the encore proved that his 40-year plus career surely is not ending yet. All the best, Rob The Theater Van Het Sentiment song selection: Thunder and Lightning Here’s Why Nothing Rhymed Alone Again (Naturally) Can I Leave the Rest Up to You I Wanna Know The Allergy Song Nothing Rhymed (second performance) Matrimony (encore 1) Get Down(encore 2) Photos courtesy of Rob van der Vaart