Flip The Switch offered a frantic, farewell breakfast show
Date: June 29, 2005 00:31
Sunday June 26. A warm, sunny afternoon. Gorgeous girls with long legs and flip-flops biking in the Amsterdam's dockyard. Yet, the epicentre stood beneath, in the dark Panama club facing the sea, where Flip the Switch offered a dazzling farewell concert to an enthusiastic crowd of 800.
They hit the stage at 3.50 am, something a bit uncommon for a wild rock'n'roll set, but indeed a perfect time. To revive the wildest, haunting hours of Stones' history, what could suit better than a breakfast show? A minute sooner, you were drinking a beer at the terrace, looking at the Panamanian cargos outside the Panama, Then you watched your step to dive in the vault. You felt suddenly boosted in a twilight zone.
All of sudden, the clock was back in a no man's land of flamboyant, eccentric, and eerie world of shaking guitars.
Flip the Switch played three hours, no less, Stray Cat Blues being the highest point of the show, IMO. No funky bass solo, but a raunchy Gibson sound on the right screwing your mind, Mathjis giving his best to match the legacy of the concerts which blew the mind of thousands of young Americans in 1969, young Britons in 1971 or young European in 1973. Witness the dark versions of Dead Flowers, Midnight Rambler, Let it Bleed, Moonlight Mile and frenzy You Can't Always Get What You Want, where snaky singer Duijf was to been seen in the middle of the volcano, standing on a stool to tease a crowd getting wilder at every moment. So was I, dancing like a mad on the balcony, greeting, jumping, caught by the invisible whip hustling the crowd.
Yet digging in the best roots, the early Taylor years, the band didn't perform a DNA copy of the Stones' genetic code. So there is no point to compare note after note. The bottom line was in the spirit. Drummer Remco and bass guitarist Hayo recreated an almost perfect Stones' combo on Can't You Hear Me Knocking, Hey Negrita and Miss You. Remco had even bettered since the last time I hear him in Lede. His strike was smart, smooth, matching the sober, inventive Hayo who carried a big part of the show, especially when playing counterpoint fills on Let's Spend the Night Together, Street Fighting Man, 100 Years Ago or Paint in Black - all songs of which pop or oriental influence differ a great deal from Chuck Berry's classics, leaving more room to melodic bass. IMO, every number was great, the only weak song of the show being perhaps Dance Pt (1), because of a strange mix : a too noisy guitar attack overruling the funky signature of the song.
Rhythm guitarist Erik deserves the final toast. I don't know FTS musicians as individuals, and I maybe totally wrong, but it seems to me he was the one giving the biggest part of his heart in this final show. Gently mimicking Keith when playing in open tuning – you know, when you can afford a loose left hand because of the capo –he seems also to have a nostalgic insight of the time passing. His band. A generous band. RIP Flip the Switch.