Please raise your hand if you know who Xavier Rudd is. Are you raising your hand? A few months ago, I wouldn’t have. However, if I would’ve been asked if I know the Dutch Sunweb commercial I would’ve put both hands in the air. I hear “Follow the Sun” bursting from the radio every day on my way to work. That’s why, when my friend suggested to go to a concert of one of her favourite singers, I decided to follow along.

TivoliVredenburg Utrecht

The show quickly sold out completely and we missed our chance to go, he seems to be more popular than I thought. We were lucky because he decided (or his management decided) to tack on another show. That’s how I ended up in TivoliVredenburg a day after returning from Warsaw. The venue is dubbed as “a musical city-within a city”. There are five completely different rooms and multiple bars and food stalls to get refreshments from.

The location is perfect for an out-of-towner, since it’s right next to Utrecht Central Station and there are plenty of parking opportunities in the vicinity.

Setting the Stage & Opening Act

The concert was in the Ronda room. It fits 2,000 people and due to the roundness of the room, it’s possible for everyone to stand quite close to the stage. It gives the show a very intimate feel. If you like to watch shows from above, the room accommodates that as well with a big balcony in the back. The opening act was good; but due to the aforementioned intimacy and the closeness of the bar to the stage it was a bit too noisy to enjoy it. People were walking in and out and ordering drinks waiting for the main act. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I don’t remember the name of the opening act and I can’t find him anywhere! Xavier Rudd didn’t look far for him though, because he was also the drummer during his own show.

Xavier Rudd

Then came the main act! He walked onto the stage with only some dungarees on. No shirt, no shoes, just dungarees. Don’t forget that I didn’t know this artist, and I didn’t really bother googling him before the show because I wanted to be surprised. Boy, was I surprised! In a good way obviously, I’m sure I don’t have to explain why when you look at the below picture….

That’s just the outside though, I’m not so vain to only judge an act based on that. What I liked most was his mellow attitude. I’d like to describe him as the stereotypical Australian hippie do-gooder who wouldn’t harm a fly – and that’s what he channels in his music.

Not all his songs are slow, actually most of them are quite upbeat, especially when he grabs his didgeridoo. I thought I wouldn’t be dancing at this concert, but my friends and I were all over the place. It’s impossible to not get infected by his beats.

Granted, at times the rhythm slows down a bit, that’s when people start talking and disturbing the show.

He doesn’t always seem to notice that the atmosphere is lagging, but after a few songs you forget all about that when you’re jumping around on the beats of the awesome didgeridoo. For the people who thought you have to keep it firmly on the ground (see a photo in my post about the Blue Mountains in Australia), that’s not at all true.

Conclusion

I’m happy I stepped out of my “comfort” zone to see an artist I hadn’t heard of before. I already knew that new things can happily surprise you, but it’s tricky with music sometimes. To make a long story short, I don’t think I’ll be a full-fledged folk/reggae fan from now on, but I’ve learned to be open to it. Xavier Rudd, if you decide to make your way to the Netherlands again, I’ll definitely be coming to dance my socks of to your music again!