I am so enjoying my new civilian life on dry land - after many years of working on the ships and being away from regular, simple pleasures like going out in the evening with a friends, having a drinks, enjoying cinema or concerts (or simply having unlimited Wi Fi like everybody else, instead of looking everywhere for "Starbucks") now I am actually able to pick up where and how I will spend my free time. So when I found out that Mavis Staples is coming to Amsterdam, the decision was swift + it was a birthday present for an old friend and it worked out perfectly as a surprise (I have actually managed wonderful seats with the best view on the stage).
Before lady herself took the stage, local Dutch soul singer performed his own set - I was naturally not familiar with Alain Clark who apparently is fairly well known around here but my initial reserve actually melted very fast because the guy was very good in a mellow, acoustic way and even though his between-the-song pattern showed that he was very nervous and excited to be on the stage of such prestigious music institution as The Royal Theatre Carré (not to mention opening for legend like Mavis Staples) the music was excellent, specially as towards the end he invited his own father to perform duet "Father and Friend" which got us all in tears and it made perfect sense as lady herself sung her whole life with her own father Roebuck "Pops" Staples who was leader of wonderful The Staple Singers.
I have just finished a book about Staple singers and was familiar with their music, but somehow in my head I always imagined Mavis as she was decades ago, this beautiful black woman with sensational voice - so it came as a shock to see now 80 years old tiny grandmother arriving on a stage, still energetic and sweet but tiny tiny in comparison with everybody around her (I wondered were Staples so small?) and out of her came this volcanic King Kong voice like Earth Mother herself - I have never ever in my life felt such a huge affection towards performer on a stage, really she was absolutely adorable and we all wanted to embrace her (in fact, audience was constantly disturbing the concert by shaking her hands and showering her with gifts). I even wondered why is she touring and going trough such exhausting schedule at this late stage in her life, but from I read in her interviews this is conscious decision to continue work of her father and as the rest of Staples eventually passed away, Mavis decided to continue carrying on their mission. Since their work was always in gospel/inspirational music it makes a perfect sense that she still wants to go on, because whatever work they did back in 1960s, the world is still not a better place - she mixed old and new material and it all sounded absolutely current (the audience lapped it up), we all loved seeing her enjoying herself and she even danced a bit, such a wonderful, wonderful person and sensational singer. So happy and honoured that I have chance to see her live. This is one of the highlights of my music life.
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