It must have been about eight years ago when I was invited to see this artist Admiral Freebee play the Paradiso, in the small venue. We were blown away by his mix of rock, singer-songwriter, and his stage personality. I remember pretty well, also because a friend of mine had made copies of the first albums, and managed to copy the songs in reversed order. After all these years, and many shows in between, the Admiral took on the Paradiso again last week, but why in the small venue, again?
After we saw the Admiral for the first time, I got something of a fan-like for the guy. I mean, shortly after, he played the Melkweg, also in Amsterdam, and after that in Utrecht, each time trying to invite as many people I could to introduce them to the man and his music. I must admit those two shows weren't Admirals best gigs, and I strongly suspect him being drunk both times. He played sloppily, playing his songs either too fast, or slow, his timing in singing was a bit off as well.
Still, in 2006, Admiral Freebee released his third album called 'Wild Dreams of New Beginnings', and he made a great gig in the big hall of Paradiso, at which he curiously played with a pair magnum sized ear phones. The Admiral virus inspired, aparently, because me and my mate Niels decided to go all the way to Brussels to see him play again. Well, it was a good reason to visit the notorious Ancienne Belgique concert hall, anyway.
The next time I witnessed an Admiral show, was when he made a tour of theatres. I took my misses to visit Gent, Belgium, and had a good time. Funny to see the Admiral by himself doing a mix of some sort of stand-up comedy, and his fantastic strong song book on just an acoustic guitar. At the end of that particular tour he came to Amsterdam again, and we saw him at the Bitterzoet. I realized that the stand up part was a bit more scripted than what it had looked like in Gent, but funny enough.
Frankly, I was ready for the man to pick up electric again. So, I was very happy to hear about this new album, called the Great Scam, and the accompanying tour that would bring him to the Paradiso again. But, to our great surprise, he was scheduled to play the small hall again! It almost looked like he had made the whole circle in eight years, but hadn't gotten anywhere in the meantime! I think this is really curious. I mean, he played all the shows in the Netherlands, even got to play the Lowlands festival. This could have something to do with the fact that his music is not so much for the average listener (certainly not as much as Blof, who played the big hall that night), his performance not necessarily crowd-pleasing. Even though I wish him all the succes he wants to have, we can also be content: the smaller venue at Paradiso is as good as you can get to see a show real close-by. I even got to meet the Admiral for the first time afterwards, which wrapped up a great evening. 
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