’30 Years Live On Tour’. That’s the slogan that Julian Sas has taken to the many stages of his concerts in 2024. It’s on the tickets too, with an additional ‘Bernie proudly presents’. This will be the 21st time that Bernie Gelhausen has brought Julian to the Harmonie – for much of that time as proprietor of the much loved and missed shop ‘Mr Music’. The Band has changed in that time, but nothing else it seems. A set full of Bluesrock anthems sweated out with love and power to a packed house of faithful fans. If I were to go back to those early concerts even the audience would be the same. It’s as if he has an extra (large) tour bus and packs his audience up each night with his gear for the next venue. So what’s the secret of Julian’s timeless success?
It’s 10:30 pm at the merchandise stall and Julian is reflecting on this as he signs a stack of CD’s bought by a new Sas devotee. He has a large hard core of fans who come to a dozen or more shows every year, travelling around Europe to see him. They wouldn’t do that if he played the same songs in the same set list the same way every night like a lot of bands do he says. “That would be boring for you, and boring for me!” he smiles. In the spirit of his hero, Rory Gallagher, there is no set set-list for Julian’s shows, which is good news for us as fans but I can’t help feeling sympathy for Lars-Erik van Elzakker on drums and particularly bassist Edwin van Huik who regularly finds Julian staring straight at him in expectancy of instant recognition to guitar duels on songs far back in Julian’s long discography.
As always, that core of mainly Dutch fans takes up a prominent section in front of the Harmonie stage. The smile on Julian’s face as he steps onto that stage and sees them all smiling back shows how much they mean to him, but there are faces outside of that familiar circle who maybe haven’t seem Julian before. People to prove himself and his music to. I was standing next to one before the show. He’s the man with the stack of newly acquired CD’s mentioned earlier. It’s clear from the first blistering notes that there is no room in Julian’s mind for complacency, he wants everyone to have a good time – including himself and the band.
Concerning the music, Julian has always kept to the style he does best. But if don’t change a winning team has been his credo for the songs, it hasn’t been possible for his band of course. The hall is so crowded that I can’t actually see the drummer’s head most of the time and can’t move anywhere to make him out. Although I know it’s Lars-Erik van Elzakker I still imagine it’s big Rob Heijne crashing those cymbals like he wanted to break them in two.
I can see Edwin van Huik on his Fender Precision bass clearly though. His eyes seem constantly rooted on Julian as if in expectancy of the unexpected. That lack of a reliable setlist uncertainty, and also the fact that Julian is such an amazing guitar player that he goes into musical corners that only he can get out of, leaving van Huik with hands down from his bass and a bemused smile of sweet surrender.
Julian plays a slow blues in memory of van Huik’s predecessor Fotis Anagnostou, who died off Pancreatic Cancer in 2021. It’s the emotionally charged ‘Falling off the edge of the World’. It’s actually a rare break for audience and band from the steamhammer tempo of most of the set prior to it. ‘Blues for the lost and found’ is a another such respite that Julian announces still resonates with its original inspiration – a place where everyone is lost and afraid “They all look for mercy and they are all aware. For them there ain’t no place nowhere”
As the lyric continues sadly “Things don’t change around here” – it’s from an album that’s 24 years old, and wars are still raging, people are still afraid. There’s a peace symbol on Julian’s white Stratocaster, but sadly no peace on planet Earth. Things don’t change around here.
It’s good though that some things don’t change. Where would a Sas gig be without rocking classics like ‘Tail Dragger’ and a jaw-dropping homage to Jimi with ‘Hey Joe’? “As the great Phil Lynott used to say – “Are you out there?!” shouts Sas at one point. And yes, we are ‘out there’ and rocking, but still, I miss at times the extra texture that Roland Bakker used to bring to concerts on keyboard. Julian does attempt a change of pace to take things down a sizeable chunk by asking for silence (not with complete success sadly) so that he can play some pure blues “Even those of you who come to a lot of shows won’t know it” he coaxes – “we always have a space for this, but it’s never the same twice!”. It is good indeed to just hear Julian playing calmly and concisely. Behind the notes there is sometimes even a jazzy feel, his playing was always great but he seems to just keep getting better still. The ‘quiet’ instrumental even hints that the Man has ability to go in fresh directions musically in addition to the ‘electocoustic’ gigs he is also taking on the road.
He’s not quite Joe Bonamassa but Julian Sas does have a half dozen guitars to pick from. Each with it’s own mojo. Like the Marshall amps his guitar choice is also very much ‘Old school’. His favourites are the Rory style battered Stratocasters but there’s also a Johnny Winter inspired Firebird and even a Les Paul. In these days of customized Strat look-alikes it’s great to hear the real thing played by a Master.
As great as the JSB are rocking out in a sweaty hall, two and a half hours on almost constant high octane is hard going and not just for the band. Managing to reach the stairs at the back leading up to the balcony to catch the closing encore I have to step around several fans sitting under the steps like the losers in a Duracell Bunny stamina contest. When I reach the balcony I’m in time to hear Julian thunder out the opening musical volley of ‘Bullfrog blues’. There are waving arms and smiling faces still in front of him. It’s coming up to 10:30 pm cut-off time and Julian Sas, Duracell Bunny that he is, looks like he could continue all night.
