Each year, the Amsterdamse Bostheater (located in Amstelveen, near Amsterdam) opens its venue to a wide array of national and international artists. On the 15th of June, it was time for English singer-songwriter Paris Paloma to step into the spotlights of the outdoor venue. The ‘doors’ to the venue opened at 18:00, but fans had been sitting in the queue for a while before that. Most of them were dressed up for this occasion, wearing long, flowy skirts and corsets that made them look like fairies or princesses. They spent their time waiting for the venue to let them in by listening to Paloma’s soundcheck and exchanging messages in envelopes and handmade trinkets, such as paper flowers.
At 19:00, the first support act of the night, Ciska Ciska, took to the stage. As the singer, whose real name is Ciska Dhaenens, is from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, she spoke to the audience in their shared native language between songs. “Hello, everyone. How is everyone doing?” she asked the audience before grabbing her guitar and diving right into the first song, ‘Memory’. After playing it, she told the audience how happy she felt to be opening in this beautiful venue. It was Dhaenens’ first time playing in Amsterdam and only the second time performing in the Netherlands at all. The day before, she had played a set with her band at the festival Best Kept Secret; tonight, she had to do it all by herself.
Dhaenens continued with ‘Brother’ and ‘Angel’, saying how this song is very fitting, as everyone was truly dressed like an angel, “or rather, [like] fairies”. Her vocals also fit this song, as they were simply angelic. Every single song Dhaenens performed truly enchanted everyone, leaving the audience in a silent trance. She next played ‘Coming Home’ and ‘Sweet Sixteen’, which she wrote about “a broken heart of a teenage girl, [which] was me”.
Sixth on Dhaenens’ setlist was ‘Utopia’, which she followed up with the “first and only single released so far”, ‘Biotope’. She stated that “her first born baby” is a song “about finding hope or feeling hope when unable to find it anywhere”; a beautiful sentiment. Finally, Dhaenens played ‘Indoctrinate Me’, which will be a part of the upcoming debut album, and truly stood out from the rest of the setlist as an indie rock anthem with amazing lyrics. “Indoctrinate me, it makes me happy,” Dhaenens sang, closing out her half-hour set.
Only thirty minutes later, it was time for the second support act, Sarah Julia. The sister duo consisting of Sarah and Julia Nauta is currently based in Amsterdam, so they did not have to travel far to play this show. Like Ciska Ciska, they also only spoke to the audience in Dutch. As soon as they took to the stage, a small group of dedicated fans, sitting right at the front, stood up to give the girls all their love and attention. The sisters opened with ‘Use a Friend’, which can be found on the EP Making It Worse, released just last month. Julia played the guitar and Sarah played the mandolin, while both girls sang. They followed with ‘Game of Pretend’, but not before giving a shout out to their mother for bringing the laptop they needed for Sarah to be able to play the keys. Afterwards, they also shouted out the fans in the audience who had shown up waving pride flags and wearing keffiyehs in support of Palestine.
Sarah Julia continued with ‘How Do You Fall in Love so Easily?’, which they wrote about Julia’s fear of commitment, and ‘Daughters’. The latter was written about the fears women feel, for example when they are walking the streets alone at night, and how they do not wish for the next generation to have to grow up feeling the same fears. Several fathers had taken their daughters to this show, which made it a sad but also powerful song to play. Afterwards, the girls wished them a happy Father’s Day and played a song dedicated to their own father. ‘Cairngorms’, the name of a national park in Scotland, was written about forgiving someone and about finding peace and calm in nature, when that often can’t be found in the big city.
Before playing the final song on their set list, Sarah Julia received some gifts from their fans. The final song, ‘Amsterdam’, was written for their mother, whom they left behind when they moved to Amsterdam. They asked the audience to sing along to the “ah”s in the final chorus. Before leaving the stage, the sisters made time to thank their fans personally – everyone who they could not say hi to from up there was welcome to come to their merch stand afterwards.
Paris Paloma took to the stage herself at 21:00, bringing her guitarist and bassist George Cowley and drummer Jim Molyneux with her. She opened her set with ‘my mind (now)’, an eclectic song about struggling mentally, and continued with ‘drywall’. Known for her feminist music, ‘drywall’ tells the story of an abused woman questioning the double standards people hold for the difference in how men and women express their emotions. Paloma has performed in Amsterdam several times over the past two years, so she stated that it “kinda feels like home now”. She also invited people to come stand in the gap between the first seats and the stage to give them a better view. Dozens of fans came running down the stairs to take the opportunity to see their favourite singer up close.
Paloma then moved on to ‘as good a reason’, leaving the guitar she had held up until then behind to be able to move freely across the entire stage. Afterwards, Paloma spoke about how she had been touring with Sarah Julia for around three tours now and that tonight would, sadly, be the final time they would perform ‘knitting song’ together. The voices of the three women fit each other perfectly; one can only hope a collaboration is in the works. “Amsterdam does make the best music,” Paloma stated afterwards, before introducing the next song on the playlist. Paloma wrote the unreleased track ‘good boy’ “in a fit of frustration and very heated emotion shortly before [going] to America” about the false promises of patriarchy. “I can’t think of anything more submissive than a man who submits to patriarchy,” Paloma said right before playing it.
Sixth on the setlist was ‘the warmth’. Paloma took off her guitar once more so that she could crouch down near the fans. She continued with the older song ‘notre dame’, after which her band left the stage and a chair was set up behind the microphone so that Paloma could sit down with her guitar. While Paloma wrote her debut album Cacophony, she was “very interested in themes of burial, archeology and paleontology”, which led to the “kind of love song” ‘triassic love song’. Paloma asked the crowd to sing along to the repeated lyrics “that’s all that I want, darling”, which was eagerly obeyed.
Molyneux and Cowley came back on stage again to play ‘the fruits’. “If you’ve been here since [the release of this song] or a more recent one or even if you don’t know who I am, but got dragged along [..], I hope you’re having a good time,” Paloma stated, giving a shout out to the dads she spotted in the crowd who had most likely been dragged to the theatre by their daughters. Paloma continued with ‘yeti’, asking the audience to hold up their phone lights halfway through. Unfortunately, it was still light outside, making it hard to see it, yet it still gave a magical touch to the performance. Afterwards, Paloma stated she would be playing the final song now, unless the crowd cheered loud enough – then she might play one more! The ‘last’ song was ‘hunter’, during which Paloma received bracelets from fans and held their hands. Both Paloma as well as her band then left the stage, only to come back and finish the night with the feminist hit ‘labour’. The entire crowd sang along loudly, and Paloma skipped around the stage with a pride flag she had gotten from a fan. It was truly the perfect ending to the night.
