An amazing 36-hour experience. We leave England on the 7:50am from London Stansted and arrive in the restored Dutch city of Nijmegen just before lunchtime after the short 77-mile drive from Dusseldorf.

The Concert De Vereeniging, a magnificent landmark building and only a five-minute walk from our hotel is our first port of call. In addition to Laurie Brace and Steve Russell’s van, there are three large resplendent ‘Dutch TV’ vans parked around the back. There is kit everywhere, much of it rolling off the artics and into the hall by a crew of at least 20 personnel. This is going to be some production.

Hours pass. We wander. There are absolutely no posters or references to tonight’s concert in Nijmegen, even at the venue itself, to be seen anywhere. The doors open just after 7.30pm. There is no support band. ‘Seven Moons’ and ‘Living out of time’ [CD + DVD] are among the items for sale on the merchandising table along with several JB titles.

The hall is an exquisite setting of truly operatic proportions. There is ample standing space on the flat in front of stage plus balconies at three levels for those who prefer to sit or stand from those vantage points. We count at least five TV cameras, here for the shoot.

Laurie and Steve are on stage working alongside a whole host of technicians supporting Jack, Gary and the TV crew. The kit for the musicians is laid out in one straight line. Jack, to the left, has a large Hartke rig. His is the only microphone. In front of the mike is Jack’s music stand. Its light illuminates Jack’s lyric sheets below.

Gary’s two-tone coloured Pearl kit is centre-stage. Robin, nearest to us, on the right hand side, has two Cornell 100s, heads and cabs. Only one head is switched on, the other presumably a back-up.

Robin, Gary and Jack walk on stage at 8.40pm to massive applause from the near capacity 1,800 crowd of all ages [The cheerful Dutch 10-year old who sneaks in at the front of the stage tells us he has dragged his parents along to see the show!].

Robin is wearing one of his signature shirts and designer jeans. Jack is wearing green trainers, maroon jeans, white shirt and black jacket. Gary is kitted out in a grey long sleeve top with matching trousers.

Jack welcomes everyone “we made it … you’re here … we’re here … we’re making a DVD …” The show begins with note-for-note renditions of ‘Seven Moons’, ‘Lives of Clay’ and ‘Distant Places of the Heart’. The sound is near perfect. If anything, Robin’s signature Strat is a little on the quiet side. Jack’s vocals and bass are crystal clear. Gary’s drums and cymbals are as bright and crisp as ever.

Four songs in and it’s the first Cream rendition of the evening – ‘Sunshine of your Love’. It seems weird hearing Robin Trower breaking into its classic opening riff. It ends with, something I may well never ever see again, Robin playing the same straight chord for the best part of three minutes while Jack lays into some nifty bass improvisation over the top. Afterwards Jack describes Robin as ‘the best guitarist in the universe’ and talks about his own roots from the ‘universe’ of Govan.

The next choice of track is a big but nonetheless most welcome surprise. ‘Carmen’ is the only number in tonight’s set to resurface from ‘B.L.T.’ or ‘Truce’. Then something rather odd happens [but I suppose, remembering this is a film shoot. entirely inevitable.] The trio burst into ‘She’s not the One’. At the end, Jack says “do it again!” So they do.

‘We’re going wrong’, an excellent cut from ‘Disraeli Gears’, is next followed by ‘So Far to Yesterday’. Robin breaks into ‘Perfect Place’ but Jack reins him back and we are treated to ‘Just Another Day’ first.

This is my favourite track from ‘Seven Moons’ and sounds equally gorgeous ‘live and direct’! [It’s credited to ‘Bruce/Trower/Watts’ on the CD. I presume that’s the great Richard Watts? A song which might have been ‘work in progress’ from the ‘Go My Way’ sessions?].

By the way, the lighting for the show is absolutely stunning. ‘Perfect Place’ is followed up by ‘Bad Case of Celebrity’ with Robin very much in his element playing some mean blues guitar and then ‘The Last Door’. Jack and Robin face each other. Smiles and nods all around.

By the time he breaks into ‘Come to me’, Robin is in full flow. There’s a fabulous extended jam at the end of the piece with all three top musicians exchanging lines. All three are clearly, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

‘I’m Home’ and ‘White Room’ round off the proceedings. Our heroes take a well-earned bow to massive applause before returning to the stage. The encore is ‘Politician’. Jack announces the band will play some of the songs we’ve heard already. Presumably ‘Take Twos’ for the TV cameras?

For the second time, we are treated to ‘Seven Moons’, ‘Lives of Clay’ and ‘Distant Places of the Heart’. One wonders where on earth Robin finds the energy and emotion he pours into these songs, second time round. His powerful playing and solos on ‘Lives of Clay’ are a particularly strong highlight. Our three heroes exit stage left for the last time at 22.41hrs having played for two hours solid.

This has been a fantastic concert featuring three of the world’s greatest musicians on the top of their game. Like us, they have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

We feel honoured to have been a part of it. We realise we have just witnessed something rather special. Wow!

There’s time to say goodbye to Laurie and Steve before their 357km drive through the night to Worpswede, the location for tomorrow’s fourth and final show.

We dash back to the hotel to send an immediate communiqué to Steve Shail in Canada, detailing an extraordinary evening.

Set List:
Seven Moons; Lives of Clay; Distant Places of the Heart; Sunshine of your Love; Carmen; She's Not the One; She's Not the One [Take Two]; We're Going Wrong; So Far to Yesterday; Just Another Day; Perfect Place; Bad Case of Celebrity; The Last Door; Come to Me; I'm Home; White Room
Encores: Politician; Seven Moons [Take Two]; Lives of Clay [Take Two]; Distant Places of the Heart [Take Two].

Martin Hughes, John Waters and Alan Howard
Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Saturday 28 February 2009.
Words and pictures by Alan Howard.