Originally published by L.S. Media. October 24th 2010.

Amsterdam may have been quiet on the recording front this year and only playing a select number of live dates, a critically acknowledged tour alongside The Wonderstuff and a sell-out evening at the Liverpool Academy amongst them, however when they have performed, the music is the same high quality, full of frustration, anger at the way of the world and beautifully, unarguably sentimental.

Amsterdam opened the night at the Stanley Theatre with the fantastic Arm in Arm. There are a lot of bands that would balk at the idea of kicking off a gig with such a powerful and lyrically impressive song but with Ian Prowse at the helm of this much loved Liverpool band, anything is assumed to be possible and conventions are there to be broken.

One of the highlights of the night was hearing Ian’s story behind the song Joe’s Kiss and it is fitting to have heard this story in the venue where Joe Strummer, one of the iconic men of the 70’s and 80’s music scene, played his last gig before being taken cruelly from us at the young age of 50. The emotion in Ian’s voice when he tells the story of how he was introduced to Joe backstage of the Stanley Theatre never fails to move an audience.

For one night only the membership of the band increased dramatically as Ian Introduced special guests to add to the extravaganza the night was becoming. With the legendary Carl Hunter from The Farm, Miles Hunt from The Wonderstuff and Damien Dempsey joining in on certain songs throughout the night.

Amsterdam always manages to entertain their audience to the highest order and never ones to shy away from taking it easy. The band will long be regarded as one of the exponents of the modern wave of guitar driven Liverpool music and quite rightly so.

Ian D. Hall