The Nits are probably an unknown name to most of our readership in the U.S., so this live review is also intended to serve as an introduction to the band. Despite a career spanning nearly 20 years and 15 albums, with some songs that gained remarkable popularity on the European continent, this Dutch band has never hit it big world wide. Maybe that is because they never caught the wave of a current trend and probably never wanted to. Their style of pop was always timeless, and a touch too intellectual to attract an even larger audience. But over the years, they acquired a solid base of avid fans, not to the least with their great live shows. This explains why the venue of 1,500 people in Zurich still sells out easily, even after the greatest hits are 7 years old.
The three core members, lead vocalist and guitarist Henk Hofstede, keyboarder (and comedian) Robert Jan Stips, and drummer Rob Kloet, are still going strong, despite a few grey hairs. On the current tour, they are reinforced with a bassist and an additional percussionist. Of course they play a bunch of newer songs, some of their greatest hits, like "J.O.S. Days", but also a surprising number of old tunes, like "Cabins", "Port Of Amsterdam", or this reviewers favorite, "Typist Of Candy". Old songs, most notably the classic "Sketches Of Spain", are reworked drastically, to make this a highly interesting encounter. This is completed with some unusual cover versions and audience requests. The whole show is very well balanced, subtle ballads change with powerful songs, creating a high tension. The almost 2.5 hour set leaves back an ecstatic audience, which gets a well deserved additonal encore long after the lights went on.
It's hard to explain in a few words what makes The Nits such a special band. One thing is that they can play their instruments, which not all bands could claim. All of them even play multiple instruments, drums and violin are a particularly interesting combination. Then they just write great, intelligent pop songs with excellent, sometimes weird, and often hilarious lyrics. And last but not least, what mainly comes through in their live shows: they enjoy playing, and entertaining the audience. You'll hardly see another band laughing so much on stage, and this positive attitude makes you want to see them every day. While other bands prefer to insult the crowd, Henk brings his video cam during the encore, and films the audience.
The current release of The Nits is a greatest hits compilation titled Nest (also in a video version, "Vest"), which gives a good introduction to the band. For compilation haters, we recommend the twofer Henk/Kilo ('83/'86), their best-seller In The Dutch Mountains, or the wonderful live double CD Urk. More information can be found at: http://sunserver1.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de/~steinj/nits.html
