Riverdogs, who, where and when:
Rene Brilman
Milky way, Amsterdam, August 28, 1993
Line up: Rob Lamothe, Nick Brophy, Ronnie Ciago, Cary Beare and Michael
Dan Ehmig (keyboards)
This was the first Riverdogs concert in the Netherlands. Nearly everyone I
spoke to who was there (and some I spoke to years later) says this was a
great show. I guess you could call this one legendary (at least over
here in the Netherlands). The acoustic radio shows with Carola and
Countdown
Cafe were the day before and the day
after this show.
Scum, Katwijk, October 30, 1993
Line up: Rob Lamothe, Nick Brophy, Ronnie Ciago and James Michael(bass)
The Scum is a very small venue in the town of Katwijk (near The Hague).
The Riverdogs opened for Psychotic Waltz. This was the first time I
talked to Rob (and I have a picture of the two of us, if only I could
remember where it is!) I had my entrance ticket signed by the whole
band. It's hanging in my toiletroom, together with a whole lot of other
entrance tickets from other shows and other bands. Other pictures of
this evening can be found on Sacha's European Riverdogs/Rob Lamothe Page.
Rijnhal, Arnhem, October 31, 1993, during the Aardschokdag.
Line up: the same as the day before in Katwijk.
The Aardschokdag (Earthquakeday) is a hardrock/heavy metal festival in
the Netherlands. The other bands that day were (in playing order)
Channel Zero (Belgium metal), Damn the Machine (with ex- Megadeth
guitarplayer Chris Poland), Freak of Nature (with Mike "White Lion"
Tramp), Riverdogs, Paradise Lost, Warrior Soul and headliners Dream
Theater. The Riverdogs performance was an absolute disaster. What should
have been there big breakthrough in the Netherlands became a very, very,
very sad event. Everything went wrong. Rob even ended up with his
trousers on his feet, because he was looking for a way to entertain the
audience during some technical problems on stage.
The audience didn't like it...
Hardrockcafe Leidsedwarstraat, Amsterdam, March 30, 1994.
Line up: Rob Lamothe, Ronnie Ciago and Spencer Sercombe.
This was a showcase in the Hard Rock Cafe to present the Revolution Man
CD-single. Originally it was meant for Carola (the female DJ of a Dutch
radioshow) to host this, but due to some car problems (accident?) Jan
Koster (ex- Highway Chile, at that time the drummer with Sleeze Beez,
now Jetland) took her place. It was a short acoustic set with a lot of
fun. The cafe was filled with press and music company people and some
fans (including me). One of the fans tried to write down the chords Rob
was using on some of the songs, because he couldn't figure it out
himself.
I got myself a copy of the cd-single by asking a guy from the music
company why it took so long for the single to be released, because it
should have been out half a year before. He looked at me, asked me "are
you waiting that long?" and gave me a copy. Do I have to say that the
first thing I did with it was to have it signed by the band...
Later that evening in the toilets, I ran into a (nearly) drunk Ronnie
Ciago. He didn't know much anymore, but he sure knew he had some serious
fun...
Zaal Struik, Heino, April 1st, 1994
Line up: same as two days before in the Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam.
Zaal Struik is a small venue in the town of Heino, near Zwolle in the
eastern part of the Netherlands.
The evening consisted of a package of four bands (in playing order):
Shotgun Symphony, Backbone Slide, Riverdogs, Tyketto. Part of Backbone
Slide was a blonde haired female background vocalist whom Rob wrote a song
.
I've heard him say this twice during his solo
performances. (He probably doesn't know that there are people who know
what he's talking about). I just don't know which song. I think Pull me
under, but I'm not sure.
Tivoli, Utrecht, April 4th, 1994
Line up: same as the Hardrockcafe and Zaal Struik.
Tivoli is a club in the city of Utrecht. The same bands as in Zaal
Struik were playing. I don't know much anymore about this evening only
that I liked this Riverdogs show better than the one in Zaal Struik.
Back
Home 
