On Stage: John Coffey at Paradiso Amsterdam

Dutch rockers John Coffey are having one heck of a year. Their latest album The Great News is doing very well and got good reviews, they landed a spot on the Pinkpop festival and since then the band never looked back. When they announced a show in the Paradiso main hall I was pretty surprised, since that's quite a venue for a band that doesn't make middle of the road rock songs. Even better, they managed to sell it out way ahead of the gig.

John Coffey at Paradiso Amsterdam, October 17 2015



A John Coffey show always is a wild party which I already experienced at the Best Kept Secret Festival earlier this year. Little did I know how this night would turn out. When you think you've seen bands take Paradiso by storm, or impress with magical shows, you don't get surprised that easily. Support band Steak Number Eight did a good job warming us up and stretching our ear drums for the main act of the evening. A cellist starts playing, that turns out to be sitting on the balcony right above us. It's a quiet and nice beginning of the show, where you notice the crowd are waiting with anticipation. Something's buzzing tonight and after this intro it explodes right away when the band goes into 'Broke Neck'. The hall turns into a crazy whirlpool of jumping, dancing, crowd surfing pile of people going absolutely mental. And the band simply is loving it.



Like with every good concert this inspires the group to even play better and work harder than they probably have ever done, which means a lot since these guys always deliver. Yes, it's one of those nights where band and crowd reach perfect synergy and rise above themselves. Singer David Achter de Molen climbs onto the balcony, uses every corner of the stage, jumps into the crowd and is all over the place while the rest of the band is one big ball of energy. It makes the crowd even more crazy and by now there's a steady flow of stage divers that climb the stage from everywhere.



The group loves it and doesn't slow down the pace except for a short moment in the set for 'Jean Trompette' where the trumpet solo enables everyone to regain their breath before once again the venue explodes when the song leads into 'Heart Of A Traitor'. I don't think I've ever seen such a wild party that has people absolutely going out of their minds and with such good vibes. Tonight everyone is winning here and this show turned into an absolute epic one, one people will still be talking about for years to come. Did you ever see people in a banana and gorilla suit jump off a stage at a concert? I mean, a guy in a gorilla suit! Yes, it was...wait for it...completely bananas (kaboom tsching).

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Setlist: 01. It's Beginning To Change
02. Broke Neck
03. Dirt & Stones
04. Relief
05. Son
06. Bright Companions
07. Redrum
08. The Singing Ship
09. I've Got a BASTARD VIRUS and I Don't Even Know Where it Came From
10. Featherless Redheads
11. The Well
12. Me vs. I
13. Jean Trompette
14. Heart of a Traitor
15. Oh, Oh, Calamity
16. Breed (Nirvana cover)
17. Romans
18. Eagle Chasing Flies