Somewhere halfway through Wednesday’s show in Amsterdam, Josh Franceschi asks his crowd who is seeing You Me At Six for the first time tonight. A couple of hands go up, getting a joking, “cutting it really close there, but better late than never!” response from the singer. In case you missed it, You Me At Six is calling it quits. The band that started their journey in 2004, and subsequently grew into one of the biggest staples of the European alternative scene, decided that after two decades it’s time to say goodbye. Before they say their farewells, they embarked on their last world tour, with stops in The Netherlands on Monday 2nd (in Eindhoven) and Wednesday December 4th as a ‘Final Night of Six’ in Amsterdam.
They don’t have to go at it alone, as they brought along two support acts from the UK for the European tour. The evening started with special guests Mouth Culture, who get followed by The Xcerts. Both bands play really solid sets, getting the fans that came early ready to dance. It appears they’ve gotten some fans over the last couple of dates, as most of the front row is singing along to them too. The first couple of rows got VIP tickets to be let in early, no matter how much they like the first bands, they’re mostly just getting more anxious by the minute, waiting for the headliner of the evening.
When the room lights turn off and Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” starts to play, the crowd starts buzzing with excitement. You Me At Six prepared a long setlist for us, with a whopping 22 songs. It feels like they don’t want to leave us, stalling the inevitable ending as long as they can. The band has performed in Amsterdam since 2009, usually in the smaller OZ across the hall from today’s show. They’ve wanted to play today’s ‘main room’ at least once, so this sold out show in here, must feel very bittersweet for them too. They’ve really gone all out for their final hurray, with a riser for drummer Dan Flint and bass guitarist Matt Barnes, getting each member of the band a lot of room to shine. All the members get their own spotlight tonight, starting with Chris Miller’s guitar solo in one of the earlier songs.
The emotionally charged evening is palpable wherever you look. You can feel how bad everyone needs to enjoy and take in every single moment, because every time the fans hear a song, it’s likely the last time they’ll hear it. There’s mosh pits, crowdsurfing competitions between the British visitors and the Dutch home crowd, sit downs and more. We’re all a little older now, and even though our knees and backs could give in any moment, it’s now or never. Singer Josh takes a couple of moments in between songs to tell the crowd how they came to be, and more moments they experienced over the last 20 years together.
You can tell the emotions in the band are running as high as the emotions in the crowd, as it sometimes seems Josh is rendered speechless by the crowd’s energy, especially when they keep applauding for longer amounts of time. There’s a small acoustic session with just Josh and guitarist Max Helyer, giving the audience (and some of the band members) a necessary moment to breathe, before everyone gets back to give their all in the ‘encore’ with fan favorites “‘”Bite My Tongue,” “Reckless” and lastly, “Underdog.”
Some of the night has been filmed for their upcoming tour documentary, giving the fans a lasting memory of the tour. There’s a couple of people leaving around 11pm, to catch the last trains out of the city, but 99% of the crowd stays right where they are, not wanting the night to end just yet. The connection between You Me At Six and Amsterdam has been very strong since the beginning, and tonight’s show is proof of the mutual love for each other.
Now it might be the end of the last show by the band you’ve loved for so many years, but the music and the memories will be with you forever. This sentiment hopefully makes the fans less mournful, but if not, there’s still time to catch them on their upcoming Australian leg (January 2025) or the final tour in the UK/Ireland, running until April 2025.
GALLERY: You Me At Six, Mouth Culture & The Xcerts at Melkweg in Amsterdam (December 4, 2024)
