Sarah Bettens "Never Say Goodbye" Tour - Concert Review

By Contributing Writer on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 19:20

by Lil' G - Contributing Writer

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008.

With a friend, I lined up outside the Effenaar in Eindhoven. Sarah was to play the big hall, which has standing room for 1.300 people. Once inside it turned out that it was a partially seated concert, but I asked my friend if she was okay with not taking a seat: the front rows were already taken, and with a tall person in front of me I wouldn't be able to see much of the stage. So we chose a spot from where we had a good view at both the stairs leading down to the exit and the stage. Further to our right there were several people in wheel chairs. 

My friend was wondering about the support act, and after about an hour it became apparent that there wasn't one. When Sarah and her musical partner-in-crime Tom Kestens walked on stage, the framed silver screen showed a picture of Marvin Gaye. While Sarah and Tom took their seats, there was an audio quote by the late Marvin in which he spoke about his music. After that, the spotlights came on and the duo played "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", followed by Ella Fitzgerald's "Everytime We Say Goodbye".

The rest of the set included "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay" by Otis Redding (the audience whistled along - yes, I did too - much to Sarah's amusement), "Just The Two Of Us" by Bill Withers, "Long December" (my favorite song) by Counting Crows, "Do That To Me One More Time" by Captain and Tennille, "Three Times A Lady" by the Commodores, "Money Money Money" by ABBA, "Cry Me A River" by Julie London, "Ne me quitte pas" by Jacques Brel, "Little Red Corvette" by Prince (one of my favorites by this little guy), "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian, "I Will Carry You" by Woodface (yes, that's her brother Gert's band).

Normally, Sarah's set lists don't include that many covers - more like one or two. But for the "Never Say Goodbye" tour Sarah wanted to share songs she likes and that inspire her with her fans. The fun part for me was to recognize the artists from the pictures and the quotes. I had already browsed the internet for set lists, so I had a general idea of the songs shed’d be playing. Even thought it was a bit cheesy at times, I was pleasantly surprised by some of her song choices (Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding?), but also that she didn’t play anything by the Indigo Girls. Sarah's a big Indigo Girls fan, so I expected an IG song. Granted, the ladies never had a hit song on this side of the Atlantic (that I know of - unfortunately) so it's not that strange.

Sarah and Tom did play 3 new songs: "I Can Do Better Than You", "Slow You Down" and "Win Me Over" which she wrote for her girlfriend Stephanie, who was in the audience. (That immediately explained why Sarah suddenly switched from Dutch to English…) I couldn't help but think "Crap, I am so not going to like that song". But I did. There was no "I was lost but now I'm found" line in the song, which definitely helped. They also played "Shine", which Sarah wrote for her stepdaughter Taylor.

The last song she played was Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me". Sarah's voice really shone in this intimate setting - if the venue had been any smaller, it could've been a swanky night club - sans smoke. The Effenaar is a venue in which all kinds of concerts take place; from speed metal to old skool hip hop, experimental dance performances, open mic nights, stand up comedy and even photography exhibitions. The audience can be as diverse. That night, the majority of the audience were women, and most of them were undoubtedly lesbians.

And this is where I need to rant a bit: why is it that certain lesbians think that it's ok to assume that because there's an out artist performing they can behave like complete @$$es? They down a few beers, and they suddenly lack manners. As far as I'm concerned, they can have as many beers as they want, as long as they keep their crappy comments to themselves. (Why bother to get tickets to a concert if you don't like the artist or the music?) If you want to talk: keep your voices down, or save your comments till the intermission. End of rant - sorry about that. 

After the show, some die hard fans lined up for autographs, a quick chat and a photo opportunity with Sarah. I think this is a regular Sarah Bettens post concert ritual. Despite the cheesiness factor I found it a very interesting night - certainly from a musical point of view.

Pictures used with kind permission of the photographer Hans Kreutzer. To learn more about Sarah Bettens, go here to read Natazzz' portrait of her.