The Rural Alberta Advantage – Bitterzoet, 9 March 2018

According to a recent study* conducted by O2 and Goldsmith’s University Associate Lecturer Patrick Fagan, attending a live music gig can help you live longer. Apparently, experiencing a gig for just 20 minutes can result in a 21% increase in feelings of well-being. Further research found a direct link between “high levels of well-being [and] a lifespan increase of nine years”, therefore suggesting that being exposed to live music could help you live longer.

I can’t speak to the science but anyone who was at the Rural Alberta Advantage show in Amsterdam this month will vouch for its findings and an increased feeling of well-being.

Iron and Wine – Paradiso , 27 January 2018

What better way to start the musical year than with Iron and Wine, live on the Paradiso main stage.

The Shins - Paradiso, 30 March 2017

The Shins seems like the poetic place to start writing again on VP Music Blog.

Over a period of about two and a half years we attended exactly 100 live shows and wrote exactly 99 reviews. For all the experiences, opinions, theories, and emotions that we tried to convey from these shows, there was one that left us.... speechless?

Not speechless in the blown away sense, more in the... uninspired sense.

Gary Clark Jr – Paradiso, 27 May 2014

May 27, 2014 was a night to remember. A night that on the surface may have looked like any other night in Amsterdam, but was in fact a unique, one-off, never-to-be-repeated event.

This was the night that I unwittingly found myself in a Louisiana blues bar, seeing the best blues guitarist I have ever seen live.

Angus & Julia Stone, Amsterdams​e Bostheater​, 1 July 2014

A long time ago, in a land far, far away, where the sun always shines and the air is always warm, there lived a young man. A young man who for some unknown reason dreamt of living where the sun rarely shines and the air is rarely warm, but where adventure and new experiences are always at hand.

Kings of Leon - Ziggo Dome, 2 June 2014

In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the Kings of Leon have become a really big band. Almost shockingly big. And partly because of this, and partly because of the changes in their sound over the years, they are a band that divide many fans.

Regina Spektor – Paradiso, 31 July 2013

The definition of whimsical, per the English Oxford Dictionary:

ADJECTIVE

1. Playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way;

2. Acting or behaving in a capricious manner;

3. Regina Spektor.