ALAN CHADWICK had always said he fancied seeing Ayers abroad and once there was a sniff of a European tour I realised that he wasn't joking. The telephone calls that were made and letters that were written in order to find out details are an article in themselves and as travel arrangements came and went I fully expected to see that West Midlands Transport (Alan's employer) had suddenly installed a number 49 doubledecker bus on a Birmingham to Holland circular route. But in the end he set off with his excellent lady and moral guardian KATHRYN HARNEY and they sent us the following report. Cursing my luck that Ayers never seems to tour anywhere in the school holidays, I could only watch, green with envy, as they rode into the sunset.......

Hearing of an Ayers tour of Europe, selling the idea on the basis of the art and sights of Holland, we were in business. Kathryn would go anywhere, providing plastic OK and reasonable drains. A few phone calls to hotels, with as you might guess, staff who spoke impeccable English, a few to travel agents flogging flights, and a five day, three Ayers concert tour was organised.

We kicked off our stop at Delft, bearing in mind that the Rough Guide warned against using Rotterdam Station at night. Have these people every seen Manchester Piccadilly late at night? Delft is a magnificent town and a splendid example of all things Dutch. Canals, bridges, bikes, narrow gabled buildings, wonderful beers and amazingly friendly people. From Delft, a short train journey to Rotterdam in search of our venue, The Popular. Asking ourselves, not only would we find it, but would Ayers turn up?

We found the venue to be fronted by a large expanse of glass with no obvious sign of an opening. Even worse, no external (nor internal) sign of it being a venue which suggested music that night, let alone the name of Ayers in neon lights. The Popular is a modern cafe-bar which used to be a complex of small cinemas. The people in the cafe looked too young and healthy to be Ayers followers. After a time, the appearance at the bar of four less well preserved people speaking English reassured us. They were here. Not sure of three of them and as to who they were. 0 out of 10 for not spotting Leggett, 20 years on. These guys look serious, their drinks are modest. Is all well?

I had an important mission; to spread the existence of WAWS, around Holland. The man on the door remembered the Manchester ticket booking and responded to my query on distributing the journal by saying go and ask Kevin. Clearly not a man who had seen English doormen at work. A hesitant approach and a look of surprise from me, they already had a copy I'd been pre-empted by Ron de Bruyn who had already donated his copy to Kevin and explained the aims. All present seemed impressed and liked the contents with one exception, Archie Leggett, who was quick to point out "I'm not in it". I assured him he would appear at length in future editions (Martin please note). By now all at the bar had been identified and this was certainly a tight, professional group of three aided by a Manager called Dave. To wit:

Kevin Ayers on lead and acoustic guitars

Archie Leggett on bass

Kevin Armstrong on lead and acoustic guitars

It was to our ears and eyes a new approach to an Ayers band - no drums, no keyboards and alas, of course, no Ollie. They kicked off in front of an estimated 80 strong audience who were rather reserved and scattered at different levels within the room.

The longish set had some new interpretations of old songs and a smattering of the more recent material in the Ayers archive. During the packing up process, Archie commented that he had been doing considerable session work as of late and remarked on a record by 'The Wise old Men' made with Grahams Nash and Dunnett. Perhaps Archie or a reader will please confirm. A late night punctual, double-deck train (British Rail eat your heart out) journey back to Delft where upon the bars were still lit and contented customers drank. The senses were still intoxicated with the events of the night; roll on Apeldoorn for more of the same.

The journey eastwards across Holland was made via Amsterdam so as to take stock of the Rijksmuseum and other assorted sights. The Friday evening found us at another interesting venue in what appeared to be yet another former cinema now a night club called 'Gigant'. On arrival we were greeted warmly as they inquired as to whether we had actually journeyed across from England. The affirmative being given as an answer to several people including much to our astonishment the music critic, Henk Waninge, of the local morning newspaper 'Apeldoornse Courant'. A man keen to give his readers a laugh and play on our willingness to travel abroad for entertainment. As he said himself, 'I'm aware you have travelled a great distance - it will give a new angle to a review', 'What is the music of Kevin Ayers all about?' 'Why the journey to Apeldoorn?,; and many more questions came forth. Easy to answer and happy to oblige; but not really convinced any of it would appear in print as he strove to meet a midnight deadline to be in the promised following morning's edition.

By now a good sized lively, responsive audience had built up, two or three of whom could be heard on occasions singing along. This was turning out to be an excellent Ayers gig even if Kevin did have to speak on one occasion to some ardent conversationalist near the front. Perhaps Archie, in particular, will remember the banter which he so eloquently dealt with by bantering back. The band's performance was excellent and well appreciated, for in the audience we found people who were delighted with the event, happy to sing along word perfect with the lyrics of certain songs and expressed gratitude for being there. Mr Ayers is an Apeldoorn hero.

For us, the following morning turned out to be something of a shock. Having only spent a total of 15 hours in what seemed to be the Dutch equivalent of Norwich, the morning newspaper led with the Windsor Castle fire and on page 13 gave us much food for thought. We cannot read Dutch, but although flattered to be mentioned, we were, and still are, embarrassed to lead the article. Subsequent translation of the article does not flatter us too much, as we understand, it rather suggests that our heads have been hit by windmills, although the author is impressed by our apparent willingness to follow Ayers to Timbuktu. As Keith Floyd (a BBC personality) would say 'hello to our latest chums, Gerrit and Marian of Apeldoorn' who very kindly translated the article when we met up later than day in Uden.

Firstly, our curiosity led to a longish train journey to Maastricht to see the sights, have an excellent lunch and continue our stare at page 13 in puzzlement. Then north to Uden, a bit of a backwater in the east of the country. The Venue, De Nieuwe Pub, was similar to Rotterdam, front bar and rear hall. Greetings with white beers from Gerrit and Marian were followed by many more of the same as the local support act hogged the stage until late into the night.

The Ayers band hit stage at a very late hour, somewhere close to midnight. By this time they were playing to a very noisy, boozy and chatty audience, it being the rural equivalent of a Saturday night ,wind down,. If the first three to four rows of people were very committed Ayers aficionados, the back of the hall was peopled by the noisy disinterested. As all were not concentrating - and that includes Alan in the guilty count as he was being distracted by questions on the act - Ayers' patience ran out. He simply left the stage to be followed by Messrs Leggett and Armstrong. This was to the audience, now aware of what was taking place, a great shame. Gerrit took to the stage (with hall management permission) to lead a passionate plea to his fellow Dutch (and the English) to show more consideration for the occasion and quieten down. Message understood. Ayers duly reappeared and completed his planned set, which on subsequent listening seemed to us to be a very good performance. The applause was given by many, some of whom we know had journeyed from as far as Groningen in the north of the country.

We waited to say our farewells, for by now, the band were being very kind in acknowledging our presence and calling us by our first names. By change Marian was keen to obtain the Ayers' autograph on her favourite album so we headed backstage and wished them good luck for the rest of the tour. They looked tired and none of us envied them their punishing schedule. We promised to check out the possibilities

of a Manchester area venue at the end of the tour of Europe. However, Manchester and Lancashire Concert Hall Managers gave varied, but predictable responses varying from it being too short notice; not able to consider as the concert programme is set two to six months ahead; not our type of act; to the disgraceful person who asked if a copy of some material could be sent before any commitment could be made. We're still keen to get something organised, any suggestions? As for recording potential - well have any of you out there got access to facilities to help create another slice of Ayers music magic?

For Ayers, he said in one of our earlier conversations with him that the tour was a low key approach to a fresh start. He was determined to win over a new audience whilst continuing to play for the old. He is right to strive for these goals and it was a joy to see him looking comfortable in the company of such excellent musical colleagues as Archie and, Kevin. We know he found the Dutch audiences at the three venues to be respectively, too quiet; too noisy; and far too noisy, I'm off now! However, the Dutch audiences seem to welcome the rarity of the Ayers gigs and greeted Kevin and company as it they were long lost friends. We can understand that feeling for it was for us an opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the Ayers magic and hear the latest interpretation of many standards and new songs in this stripped down version of an Ayers band. We think it works and can strongly recommend that you take every opportunity to see them in action. Holland is an ideal place to do just that.

ROTTERDAM Popular 19 November 1992

APELDOORN Gigant 20 November 1992

UDEN Nieuwe Pul 21 November 1992

ALAN CHADWICK