Rockin’ At Speakerbox
The weather in Thailand has been rainy to put it (very) mildly these days; plenty of areas are flooded, causing lots of hardship and frustration…
After 3 weeks in the Low Countries, I returned here in the early evening on the 25th of September and experienced the consequences of the day’s heavy rain.
Upon leaving Immigration, there were long queues of people waiting for taxis…
Normally there are heaps of them, but not that day; going online for Bolt didn’t show any taxis nearby either.
The best alternative was the so-called Airport Link elevated train into town, change trains 2 times, get off at Bang Wa Station and try to score a taxi there.
Getting a token took time because there were lots of other people with the same idea, but eventually I got one.
Later I got off at Bang Wa, and it was still pissing with rain…
Standing in line with others, I was the only one without an umbrella, great.
Finally, it was my turn to jump into a taxi, and I was on my way home, normally less than a half-hour drive away.
However, due to the rain, several U-turns were flooded and no longer possible to use; my driver had to make a few extra kilometers as a result.
To finish it off, when we got to the ‘mouth of the road’ toward the place where I live, it turned out that during my absence a few hundred meters of the road were under repair!
My driver wasn’t very happy, driving through potholes…
Upon arrival at my house, I gave him an extra tip; he deserved it after all.
From the airport to my house normally takes me just an hour; today it took 3!
Shit happens, but what has this to do with this post title?
Well, when I was in Holland, my friends (the infamous Wilhelmus von N and the Dishonorable Edward Pastanga) informed me about 2 concerts: Makara on 27 Sep. & Razorback + The Tarantinos on 1 Oct.!
Not entirely unexpected, Makara’s concert was canceled on the 27th due to heavy flooding in the area where they were supposed to perform…
Therefore, my expectations of the double concert on the first were rather low.
But in the end it was fine; that particular concert went according to schedule at the Speakerbox.
Getting there, however, wasn’t easy; as soon as I left, dark clouds appeared, and by the time I had to leave the bus it was raining like Hell.
The short walk to the nearest elevated train station got me almost soaked; my tiny umbrella wasn't much help...
Two train trips and one songtaew ride later, I arrived at BREW where I met DEP who was enjoying his drink.
After ordering a beer, we updated each other and talked a lot of nonsense as usual while waiting for Wilhelmus to show up.
A few beers later, Wilhelmus finally made it; he ordered a pizza and more beer, while contributing more nonsense.
Once satisfied, we left the place, walked across the street to the Speakerbox, and got ourselves tickets.
Inside, we bumped straight into Razorback's drummer, Ross, who told us that they would start soon.
One beer later, they did indeed, and they performed a decent mix of both English and Thai covers, such as Saving Grace, Rak Diow, Som Sarn, Everything is Broken, and Yellow.
Seeing and hearing a farang acoustic guitar player performing Thai songs is rather unusual, but Mike did it quite well.
As a surprise, halfway through their show, they suddenly got a female Thai guest singer (Kitty from Bangkok Amigos) on stage, and she ran through Sweet Child of Mine, Call Me, and I Hate Myself For Loving You!
Razorback ended their show as usual with White Room.
In hindsight, it seemed a bit ironic to have Mike singing a few Thai songs and Kitty only English ones, but no complaints!
Audience reaction was muted, because sadly enough there weren't that many people; blame that on the thunderstorm earlier...
The Tarantinos did the second set; I had seen them before and knew what to expect; they kick some serious ass!
Christoph and his guys were ready to rip, blasting their way through surf rock instrumentals (Rumble, Woo Hoo, Peter Gun) from various Tarantino movie soundtracks and assorted material, including Jack the Ripper, Apache, and La Bamba.
Having a trumpet player on board was a good move; he didn't play that often, but when he did, cool!
By 11 pm, the show was over, a good time was had by all, so we said goodbye, and I got a Bolt ride home.
More about The Tarantinos here: https://www.art58koen.net/single-post/rumble-at-green-room-bangkok
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