Originally published by L.S. Media. September 15th 2009.

Self confessed Liverpool boy Ian Prowse, and his band Amsterdam took to the stage at the Picket to great applause from an audience made up of local people and the odd delegate from the T.U.C Conference.

The great thing about Ian is that you know before he even opens his mouth to belt out much loved scorn or words that will make you think for a while, that he will give it all he has got and then dig deep in his reserves and give you another blast of his own version of fire and brimstone.

Opening the set with the Amsterdam intro, the band showed early on why they are well thought of within the music industry as their music remains unaffected by the rush (in some quarters) to sell out quickly and then take leave of the values that formed the band in the first place.

With the promise of a new album in the near future the band went straight into a track that should appear, Coming up for Air and Joe’s Kiss from the studio album The Journey.

With a huge back catalogue of their own to call upon, it was refreshing that the band played a magnificent version of the Clash classic London Calling which highlighted how good Anna Jenkins is on the violin, as this criminally underused instrument in rock music really gave the song new life.

The band finished an incredible set with a glorious version of the classic Twist and Shout, for which Amsterdam gave their own particular spin on.

As ever with great bands, that wasn’t the end as Ian Prowse, Anna Jenkins and Johnny Barlow took to the stage once more to play Feels Like Growin Up which for the second time in the night bought the house down,

Much praise must be put on chief organiser/ promoter for getting Amsterdam to play a part in this year’s working class festival, as they are a superb band to catch live and should go down as one of the Liverpool greats.

Ian D. hall