In recent years Oor has lost an awful lot of subscribers, and people often complain that the tone is "too cool and smart". Pity, because Holland needs a Dutch Rolling Stone.

On Monday 4 April, however, all was forgotten as Oor celebrated its 40-year existence with a lengthy line up of acts at Paradiso. The newly-hyped The Naked And Famous and Morning Parade were the highly anticipated acts, plus other well known artists like Freek De Jonge (Dutch cabaret) and Ernst Jansz (former frontman of Dutch reggae act Doe Maar).

The night started with a way too noisy set by Okkervil River. Even though it's an acoustic act, it was loud for the Paradiso main hall. A shame, since Okkervil River suits the magazine and its public pretty well. Maybe it was just too early for this kind of music; the crowd was more busy chatting about their weekend and working.

On to Selah Sue, the next best thing from Belgium straight after dEUS and Soulwax. Still, the small room was too tiny for this good-looking Belgium singer with an Amy Winehouse style: Her music was intense and of incredible quality. You've never heard of her? Get her debut album (and tickets for her May tour).

One of the Dutch headliners in the main hall was Alamo Race Track, a psychedelic post-rock band from Groningen. They're your typical Oor style, and the main hall was loaded with people along these lines. The band never really appealed to me, but okay, plenty of others would disagree. The room was full and the crowd was quiet as they played what was probably the best set of their career. It left me thinking, "We really do have some good musicians in Holland."

Which easily leads me to Happy Camper, a project from Job Roggeveen led that night by frontman David Pino of El Pino & The Volunteers. Together with several guests, Pino led the crowd through catchy summer tunes about things that happen while camping (for example, one of the singers apparently took a crap on someone else's tent). Good songs, good singers; it has everything one needs for a good, summer ride.

Hop back over to the main hall and Morning Parade began playing songs everyone that night came to hear. These new lads from the UK ripped out mainstream pop rock and radio friendly tracks that everyone will dance and sing along to in a few weeks time (like their current hit "Under the Stars").

The band members were clearly enjoying themselves and gave a good first show in Holland. They'll be back playing Bitterzoet in a few months, so check ‘em out.

After Morning Parade came and went, the hype arrived and it was time to see if the main act, The Naked And Famous, was really that big of a deal. They were a mix between MGMT and Tool (if that's even possible) from the Down Under (NZ). Even though the sound was way too hard, they were able to play a perfect show. They proved to be an excellent band that will be very popular this summer across all those Euro festivals. You'll definitely be hearing more of them.

After their set it was bedtime for most, but others waited for one of Holland's best export products of the recent years: Bettie Serveert. She was a good and healthy portion of female vocal rock, and an excellent way to end the night.

Source: www.mokumgroupie.com
All photos by Sander Baks at www.sanderbaks.com