This Living Room Concert I'll Never Forget...

If this guitar could talk, it wouldn’t start about beautiful venues or applause. It would start about a living room in Neede. And about one song that landed in exactly the right place.

It’s 2012. First album just out. 3FM Serious Talent. I’m on the road a lot and decide to start doing living room concerts. Because you get close. Because songs have no distance there. And because as a musician in someone’s living room there’s nowhere to hide. No posing.

After a club show in Hengelo I get booked by a man named Robert. The email exchange catches my attention. He’s in a hurry. The concert couldn’t have happened soon enough for him.

I arrive at a large detached house. I ring the bell. Robert opens the door. In a wheelchair.

I don’t ask questions. It doesn’t feel right.

The concert begins. A full living room. The atmosphere is warm and so are the people. During the break Robert comes to me with one request. Would I please not skip a song. Let Me Lose From My Body.

Then he tells me. ALS. He doesn’t have long left. Months maybe. That song was about him. That was the reason I was there.

I play it. Everyone cries. Everyone.

I drive home with a strange feeling. Grateful that music can do this. Sad because I’ve met someone who doesn’t have much time left.

A few months later I get an email. Robert has decided that enough is enough and is planning his own funeral. Would I play that same song. At his farewell.

I do, of course. Because music is sometimes not there to entertain, but to carry.

That my song got to be there, as comfort, for him and the people around him. I honestly can’t imagine a greater compliment.

And that’s exactly why I still do living room concerts.

For this spring and summer I’ve opened my calendar again. Not for numbers. Not for venues. But for moments that matter.

Maybe you know such a living room. Or such a reason.

Book your living room concert today. Do it directly via this link: boeken.edstruijlaart.nl and use the discount code HUISKAMER5 for 5% off your booking.