Having returned (4hrs ago) From working in Amsterdam,,,mainly on the streets after a six year absence from this country,,,I wondered if any other buskers have comments on this.

What I reurned to was horrific.

How did you guys find it ?

Ken.

Hi Kondini.
What country are you returning to? I assume the USA.
I know it can be tough returning after spending an extended time on the road.
What did you find horrific? I have an idea but not sure.

Een goede dag verder.

Max

I live in the UK and have worked Amsterdam streets many many times. Returned there for a private gig over Xmas thought would give Dam Square a try,,worked this area a lot in the past and was good for hats.

Upon arrival only two buskers could be seen and they were having a bad day,,,set up did the spiel, hatted and got an ok hat. Early evening brought the dusk with it and also gangs of hoodies and we are talking around gangs of thirty upwards in numbers,,,they paqtrolled this Tourist area as if they owned it and with their arrival the tourists left.

Must add that these gangs were not Dutch kids.

Then the pestering began, the begging, pushing of drugs (Not the soft drugs on the menu at the local Coffee Shops)Really heavy drugs, out in the open, all for sale and pushed for sale with menaces.

I tried another shout up and got a crowd of stragglers proberly twenty five heads,, the odd pushers mingled with my punters and tried to ply their wares in my audience,,,I started to protest as did a few in the crowd but this drew another dozen or more of these idiots over. So I had to burn out.

Packing up the cheeky sods came over to me and tried the force sell on me,,,unfortuanately I blew my top and it got a bit heavy,,,,will not go into the details here (Not that proud of the way I handled things) But it ended up with me being knicked and some prop damage,,plus a few people with head aches!!

Upon conversation with the law!!! It seems that if one gang is removed another three take their place!!! So to them it`s the devil they know attitude or they all want a quiet life.

Now my memories of working this area have all been wonderful with the Dutch people the friendliest in the world,,,the area full of Coffee Shops, Museums,Tourist shops etc and fair hats. This now seems to have turned into a nightmare zone,,,,I wondered if other workers had experienced the change.

Ken