First The Rolling Stones did their SIXTY tour rehearsals at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, The Netherlands during May. Then they returned to Amsterdam to perform a show at the Johan Cruyff ArenA on June 13. The show was cancelled late at 6pm on show day, after doors had opened, due to Mick Jagger testing positive for covid that afternoon. Then the show was rescheduled for Thursday July 7, and they returned for the third time this summer to Amsterdam, following a two weeks stay in London UK.
From now on during the tour, I do not go home to Norway between every show. It is simply too stressful, too much travel, too many delays and cancellations. By staying on the tour, I get an extra day “off travel” every four days. So I arrived from London to Amsterdam with British Airways the day after the 2nd Hyde Park show, and I had four days to stay in the same place, same hotel, Holiday Inn right next to the venue. I was so happy to have some extra time with no travel.
Ever since I was a small kid, I had a relation to The Netherlands. My father was a gardener, and every year, in the fall, we got many large wooden boxes with flower bulbs marked “Hylkema Hillegom Holland”, with bulps of tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, and my favorite the narcissus poeticus, the late blooming beautiful white poet’s daffodil. For me, Holland was all about these flowers, which were planted in sand during the fall, buried in the ground sealed off frost, then taken in to bloom for the holiday seasons, mainly Christmas and Easter times. Later on, I got work which took me to many trips to the Netherlands, including cities as Oldenzaal, Zeist, Enschede, Breda and so on. I became a big fan of the Grolsch beer, not just because of the special bottle, but also because it was a great beer.
I was on my first day in Amsterdam on this tour. Looking out of the metro, on my way to the city of Amsterdam, I noticed a farm with some cows, just two stops from the Arena. I was amazed to see a farm so close to the city center. Next day, I took the metro there, left at the Deuvendrecht station, and looked for the farm and the cows. It turned out it was the farm “Mijn Genoegen of Duivendrecht“, on Rijksstraatweg 186, an old farm, still running. The area was so quiet, I went back there every day to walk, dine at the local restaurant “Lotgenoten Eetcafe”, then I also found out I could take a bus to see the largest old style wooden wind mill in The Netherlands – Windmill De Gooyer.
When I purchased stamps for my postcards to send home from Amsterdam, I got special picture stamps, with five of the important symbols of The Netherlands: A cow, a windmill, a tulip, a bike, and a small narrow city house. I saw a lot of bikes, I saw cows on the farm, I saw both old and modern windmills, and many narrow old style city houses. Unfortunately I did not see any tulips, as their natural season is in the spring, or like we had them for Christmas when they were farmed by my father in the greenhouses. Still, I managed to find a great poster with tulip fields, reminding me of our trip to Keukenhof, where I took my mother and father many years ago. I just love the Netherlands!
Outside my hotel Holiday Inn, we had some seagull nests, and one of the seagulls had three “kids”. Every time I walked the stairs the seagulls watchen me through the window, they were on a low stairs roof on the 3rd floor, well protected from dangers. It was nice to see they were doing great out there, urban life is not just for people, but also for birds.
Show day, the area is so busy, I take the metro the two stops from Bijlmer ArenA to Duivendrecht, order my food and drinks, get served with no delay, then back to the ArenA. Then I am inside the Johan Cruyff ArenA, it is soon show time. As the clock pass six in the afternoon, I think about the same time 24 days ago, when the show got cancelled. This time we get no such message. The show is on, a great one!
For show reports and pictures please see the IORR reports pages:
The Rolling Stones
Johan Cruyff ArenA
Amsterdam The Netherlands
Thursday July 7, 2022
