The bus trundled (with a new accelerator) from Zwolle to Amsterdam, where me and Guy were dropped with all of the musical gear at the Concertgebauw concert hall… I had already seen its ridiculous level of grandeur a few months back… Lamposaurus and our crew began their beery journey back to England whilst we piled our battered guitar cases backstage with all the instruments and drums and stuff… only the first example of two very different worlds colliding – our equipment instantly kinda making the storage area a little scruffy compared to the, say, eleven double basses meticulously stored in their own room, the newest having been built at least 50 years before the telephone was invented…

See – this gig was immense… not saying we were freaked out by it… we were good for it man… Jules Buckley, our ally, guide, mentor and orchestrator acted as the interpreter (and occasional firewall) between civilisation and the tribesman (not sure who was who) – and we were excited by the gig, and the week of preparation… rehearsals for 3 days (big orchestras don’t factor-in mistakes – there won’t be any)… dress rehearsal… double soundcheck on the day… I mean – this was the most prepared we’ve ever been for a gig, by a mile… that’s about as many days rehearsals as we’ve done in the past year in one week for one gig!… we just wanted to soak it up…

(the view from the cheap seats – Photo by tommy n lance)

So we did… the first day of rehearsals was just orchestra, but we wanted to hang anyway – check it out – hear the classical pieces not in mp3 quality, but like mp100 quality… it was great… the Brittens and the Rouses and our classical compatriots in this gig… it was gonna run classical pieces, Fink pieces, classical pieces, Fink pieces kinda vibe – we built our own kinda chill out area to hang during the classical pieces (we asked for a couch and a bar – no such luck) and for Ivan the conductor, who was daily rockin the conductor chic vibe, to hang (I don’t think conductors “hang” actually – I guess they kinda “ruminate”) when we were bashing away… Jules and Ivan kinda tweaking up the arrangements with Mr T, who was fast becoming the captain of the good ship Fink – the keeper of the knowledge – with me and Guy kinda staring at him every track – mouthing – “is it now?… now?… sing here?… drop here?” etc…

(rehearsing Trouble’s What You’re In – Photo by Tommy N Lance)

We got to know a whole new set of traditions and live behaviour – we even saw Beethoven conducted by Harnoncourt – awesome… a large part of the Fink contingent had been in the bar before the gig – “dude, what do you do if you need to go to the bathroom?” – answer – “you don’t, bro…” So an atheist writes an immense hour long Mass for his mate to get Cardinalised to…. the conductor, a bit of legend apparently, took like the classical equivalent of a disco nap between movements… it was just on such a grand scale… the orchestra, having rehearsed with us all morning, then sessioned all afternoon, then played Beethoven all night – and we were going to see them again bright and early for rehearsals in the morning… these guys really worked hard… they were lovely with us – all smiles and encouragement… Jules had pointed out a few allies to us beforehand who we vibed with in the café during the union-obligatory tea breaks…

And then – eventually – like a large ship docking with the time and the place – the gig was upon us… Wags had been flown in, Peter CEO from Ninja was there, Adam the agent, some serious VIPs from mgmt had flown in… iron your trousers… and the bell tolls… and everyone switches off their mobile, the Royal Concertgebauw Orchestra get cracking with a violent version of Adams’ “Short Ride”… Jules had done an awesome job of orchestrating Berlin, Yesterday, Trouble, Perfect Darkness, Walkin In The Sun and Sort Of Rev – and in the middle we were gonna drop our Wheels / This Is The Thing kinda acoustic vibe…

(Perfect Darkness at RCO – Photo by Tommy N Lance)

And that was that – we walked on, focused up, and did it – it was strange for us – a couple of tracks then a big break – then back out there for a few more – and so on – having little gaps in the set… the motor gets running then you cool down – but apart from that – we got to experience the gig from right there – the 100-piece symphony orchestra at our backs playing our music…..the double basses enjoying a hefty version of Sort of Revolution, a riff born in the brighton loft and now being played by arguably the finest bass section in the world… it was immense in the chill zone, we were treated to the entire cello section on these big modern classical pieces… in fact – hearing an orchestra that up close is a really awesome sound – with the conductor easily having the best seat in the house… like the world’s most expensive hi-fi… in full HD stereo… for real…

(Sort Of Revolution at RCO – Photo by Tommy N Lance)

We were dazed and amazed – it was over in a flash, it really felt like 15 minutes… we did something so few artists of any calibre ever get to do – play with one of the worlds greatest symphony orchestras… maybe just once… maybe just for one night… but we did it… 3 guys who met in the Holly Bush in 2005 to talk about recording some music for Ninja Tune were walking offstage of the Concertgebauw with flowers… strangely we analysed the gig like we do any other gig when we got backstage – Guy thought he was rushing a bit on Yesterday, I thought Berlin was a little stiff, was PD a bit slow? – but then we had to kinda check ourselves… what were we talking about?… however it went, it went, and it went awesome… that was that – and before we knew it we were in the Conductors ante-chambre via a secret passageway (just to add to the bodice-ripping drama of it all) drinking champagne, shaking hands and doing the equivalent of a backstage scenario at a gig – only with all the lights very firmly on, no-one is wasted, and we’re the youngest people in the room…

Thank you Mark Van Dongen for making us feel very welcome and guiding the ship into port (it was his analogy of the orchestra as an Oil Tanker, as expensive to run and just as difficult to manoevre), a diligent, tireless and unique dude – I look forward to his guidance on classical music – he’s gonna be like my classical Yoda… big thanks to Marianne, the fixer, who fixed us… she asked before the dress rehearsals – “so, what are you wearing?” – we were like “Black tee shirt, like Black jeans etc” – she was like “that is a real problem” – and we’re like – “hey – just be thankful it’s clean” – incidentally – out of all the classical megaminds there she was the ONLY one to guess who it was on Mr.T’s tee shirt… so – full kudos to her!!! – Robbert-Jan from the Entrée organisation really did his utmost to kinda be the classical equivalent of a tour manager!! – bless him – he was great – as was everyone else at the RCO… Rob-a-licious had to balance band sound with un-mic’d orchestra sound – did amazingly well in that room and Jules Buckley – well – it was his night too… I feel for him in a way – he creates these amazing events, and they only happen once, and that’s that… I was staring at him during my scary Purcell duet with the orchestra for guidance – he was sat next to Rob – mouthing the cues as big as he could – he pestered, and pestered, and nagged, and even called me names (lazy, coward, chicken etc) to get me to do this damned Purcell piece with lyrics about freezing to death – but he did it, and it was so worth it – definitely a highlight of the gig – a 17c composer done in a Leonard Cohen style….

(Flowers aren’t gay, they’re traditional – Photo by Big Al)

I walked drunkenly buzzing back to the hotel with the Wag – bouquets in hand… just kinda with everything that week and that evening, even just walking home, thinking “how often in your life will you get to do this” – even just walking, walking back to the hotel, Wags heels in one hand, bouquet in the other, walking past life size posters of me en route… really proud… really happy everyone had been satisfied… and just a little sad that it probably won’t happen again… But I guess that is the truly beautiful thing about big events like this… I hope those who came maybe even felt the same way…

The only thing we’re allowed to put up is below, Yesterday – and it’s really gracious of the RCO to let us put this on YouTube…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvsfRSm9Au4

and with that we took a deserved day off – the one day we wanted a little chill and quiet contemplation was Queen’s Day in Holland – imagine Notting Hill Carnival in Orange – about 150 yards from our hotel – so we camped out in the hotel garden and digested what had happened – we still are really… the next day we got up and had to sit in the empty hall and do like a DVD commentary for the iApp – so we got to see it, briefly – it looked amazing… to everyone who emptied their piggy banks to come (the ticket was as cheap as the RCO could possibly get it – but it was still a lot !) – we hope it was as worth it for you as it was for us…