CONCERTREVIEWS
Saturday 2nd of March and Sunday 3rd of March 2024 – Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
REDFERRIN had the weirdest hair of the whole event, and although it wasn’t bad at all, I went on to check out RITA WILSON,
who was performing at the same time as REDFERRIN. She is a popular
singer/songwriter/producer/actress in the USA and has so far released 5
albums, which also includes a duets album where she did duets with
legendary singer/songwriters like JACKSON BROWNE, ELVIS COSTELLO and
KEITH URBAN and such. Rita herself has a great voice and her
story-telling Americana songs are a pleasure to listen to. After a
while she suddenly says that she wants to do a rapsong and although it
isn’t a bad thing to think out of the box, it wasn’t necessary to do
this during this short show at a country festival, so it got people
moving eventually, especially considering the fact that the following
artist on the main stage was set to become the highlight of the whole
festival! JACKSON DEAN was one of the singer/songwriters/multi-instrumentalists I was looking forward to the most, because his voice is incredible,
and his music is raw outlaw country-rock crossed with a touch of
southern rock, yet with a catchy melodic hook and chorus in each and
every song. He is the youngest country musician to score a number 1
hitsingle, so I guess you can say that he’s got all it takes to become
really huge in the future. Tonight he and his band (the lead guitarist
was sensational in a RITCHIE BLACKMORE DYLAN SCHNEIDER
is another newcomer and he showed that with his strong voice and stage
performance he has got all it takes to become a superstar. Sadly I
couldn’t watch the whole show, because at the same time another very
interesting act was performing on the second stage. LAKEVIEW
is a superb acoustic guitar duo of 2 guys that can truly sing and
harmonize their voices just perfectly. They look like a bunch of
punkpop guys, but their music is super melodic acoustic guitar driven
Westcoast pop/rock and they remind me a lot of NELSON. I wonder if they
plug in their guitars and get a band backing them up, because then they
might sound even better and get ready to rock on a main stage!
It
was a bit less crowded than on Saturday, so grabbing something to eat
was easier, although I would advise for a future festival in the Ahoy
venue that the food area should be a bit more spread over the inside
and outside area, so people can easier get their food, but most
importantly STEPHEN WILSON JR is a singer/songwriter with an alternative Americana rocking sound that fits somewhere between BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, NEIL YOUNG, THE NATIONAL, THE WAR ON DRUGS and TOM PETTY, and he definitely got the attention of the audience due to this tough uptempo heartland rocking sound that had its highlight during the catchy Year to Be Young 1994. No overlaps this time, so everybody could watch Stephen’s full 30 minutes set and then move on to the main stage to see the headliner of Day 2, which was OLD DOMINION.
More info on the event can be found at: https://www.c2c-countrytocountry.nl/line-up (Points: 9.2 out of 10) | |
Saturday 24th of February 2024 – Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands BAD NERVES It
was a rather cold Saturday afternoon when I took the train to the Ziggo Dome
venue in Amsterdam where I was about to see an upcoming band (BAD NERVES) and a
band that has rapidly exploded on the scene in the past few years, because
NOTHING BUT THIEVES from the UK gave two 17,000 packed shows this weekend in Amsterdam!
Considering the fact that only 8 years ago they played a small town club such
as Rotown, they have quickly grown into a stadium act.
The
band itself has now 4 albums out I believe, and I might easily say that they
are soon a stadium rockact that will blast away their counterparts of MUSE,
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, THE KILLERS, U2, COLDPLAY, FOO FIGHTERS, etc. etc. if
they continue to deliver the goods on new material as well. The big surprise for
me is their diversity, which I already mentioned before, because besides the
fact they rock pretty hard here and there, they somehow throw in these smart
pop elements during the catchy hooks and memorable choruses of most of the
songs, but also don’t forget to mix up heavy guitar riffs, funky 80s synths and
experimental progressive rock meets krautrock elements during the instrumental
breaks. Concluded,
a great show of one of the biggest new rockbands on earth, and hopefully also
support-act BAD NERVES will get their own following, because these guys also
have the potential to become bigger, especially if you are aware that NOTHING
BUT THIEVES were also a support act for many big bands not that long ago.
Fingers crossed for BAD NERVES, and as for NOTHING BUT THIEVES, check them out
as soon as you can, because in the next 10 years they will become the biggest
new young stadium rockband on the planet, especially due to the fact that all
the older bands will be gone in the near future. Amsterdam brought once again
some great new memories for a lot of people, and with a working week ahead of us
for most of the visitors, it was an enjoyable gig that was all worth it making
the trip! Setlist Intro:
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) (Abba song) 1. Welcome to the DCC 2. Is Everybody Going Crazy? 3. Tomorrow Is Closed 4. Broken Machine 5. Real Love Song 6. You Know Me Too Well 7. City Haunts 8. I Was Just a Kid 9. Sorry 10. Do You Love Me Yet? 11. Ce n'est Rien / Gods / Number 13
(Instrumental) 12. Unperson 13. Phobia 14. Lover, Please Stay 15. Trip Switch 16. Futureproof 17. Impossible 18. Pop the Balloon Encore: 19. Oh No :: He Said What? 20. Amsterdam 21. Overcome (Points: 9.0 out of 10) | |
Monday 5th of February 2024 – 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands
SIMPLE PLAN
STATE CHAMPS
MAYDAY PARADE
AIR YEL
It
was a normal Monday evening at the start of a new working week when I
went to the city of Tilburg in order to attend a full blown
mini-festival that was all about Poppunk. I already had a few days in a
row of concerts that went from IAN PAICE (founder of DEEP PURPLE) &
PURPENDICULAR on Friday, THE LUKA STATE on Saturday and a few smaller
concerts of local acts in my hometown, so I was quite warmed up before
the show of SIMPLE PLAN and it’s support acts. In the past concerts
were usually only during the weekend, but nowadays concerts are almost
every night throughout the country and so I took a train to the lovely
venue of 013 where the legendary Canadian band SIMPLE PLAN gave a 3,000
capacity sold out-show. However before they came on stage there were 3
support acts that evening, so all together this felt like a
mini-festival of classic 90s/00s Poppunk that lasted for almost 4 hours.
I
missed the first act AIR YEL due to the fact that I had to work
elsewhere during the day, so I couldn’t make it earlier than 7 o’clock
and that’s when AIR YEL performed their live gig. When entering the
stage a band called MAYDAY PARADE started playing and I have to say
they definitely got the crowd going right from the start. It was clear
that this was going to be a great night of live music in one of the
finest venues in The Netherlands. The enthusiastic crowd sang along to
some of the tunes and MAYDAY PARADE were actually quite good, although
vocally it was not that strong. Nevertheless, they had some very catchy
tunes in the classic 90s Poppunk style, a great guitarplayer and as
already mentioned a super enthusiastic crowd, so this combination made
it definitely worth it watching their 40 minutes set.
Up
next was another band I was not familiar with, STATE CHAMPS, and I have
to admit that they were another great band that got the crowd once
again jumping up and down. STATE CHAMPS were better than MAYDAY PARADE,
because their Poppunk was more diverse and had elements of other rock
genres. The band’s singer DEREK DISCANIO has a great voice, danced and
jumped around all over the stage, and the whole gig of 40 minutes
passed by very quickly. These guys were listed as a support act, but it
feels like they are easily able to do a full blown gig on their own.
The crowd went wild, and quite a few people came especially for STATE
CHAMPS, so it was no surprise there were crowdsurfers popping up here
and there. Without a doubt, you could smell and feel that something
magical was happening here with so much great live music going on in
the 013 temple.
Between
the bands there was about 20 minutes of music being played over the
speakers, and obviously these were mostly classic Poppunk tunes of
bands like THE OFFSPRING, PAPA ROACH, GOOD CHARLOTTE, GREENDAY, etc.
etc., and the crowd was certainly enjoying hearing those songs so loud
and proud in the venue, because they were all sung-along by each and
everyone in 013. Meanwhile it seemed like even more people turned up
when things started to get closer to the moment the headliner SIMPLE
PLAN was about to start their gig, because every square meter of the
venue was filled by people. There was little space to move yourself and
the venue felt cramped, but it was all worth it, because suddenly at 9
o clock sharp the Star Wars themesong started playing, and the whole
venue exploded when the Canadian legends of SIMPLE PLAN started playing
their first song I’d Do Anything. Frontman PIERRE BOUVIER (who is a
close friend of my favorite AOR/Melodic Rockband HAREM SCAREM’s
frontman HARRY HESS, who helped the band in the past by the way..) is a
champions league frontman who owns the stage and the whole crowd was in trance and singing-along right from the start.
There
was no single weak moment during the 100 minutes that SIMPLE PLAN was
on the stage, and despite the band is known as a real Poppunk band,
especially during cheerful tunes such as Jump, Shut Up!, Your Love Is a
Lie and such, they also have songs that could be classified as pure
Melodic Rock (HAREM SCAREM fans will understand what I mean) and also
sorta FOO FIGHTERS kinda rock and roll moments. A song like Addicted
even has a chorus that almost reminds me of DEF LEPPARD (!), so you can
smell melodic rock and rock and roll influences during their songs, yet
they are all being brought in a polished punk/rock and roll version or
SIMPLE PLANized so to speak. Sometimes the band also sounds like a
rocking Popband, but it doesn’t actually matter what you call these
legendary Canadian rockers, because everything they do this evening is
magic and striking gold with the crowd. Welcome to My Life is of their
biggest hits and therefore a real crowd sing-a-long tune. Nobody leaves
the venue and everyone keeps singing along to the happy cheerful music
of SIMPLE PLAN, and there are a lot of funny moments during the set,
such as a guy running around
in a Scooby Doo suit (What’s New Scooby Doo?), big beach balls being
passed on into the crowd (Summer Paradise), confetti all over the venue
a few times and all kinds of special lightning and visual effects (such
as during Astranaut).
The
crowd goes wild when the band leaves the stage, but of course they
return for an encore of a lot of extra songs, which includes Where I
Belong where singers of the support acts also come back on stage to
sing as well and how about a great cover mashup of classic popular
tunes like All Star, Sk8er Boi and Mr. Brightside that are all
sung-a-long by the crowd as loud as possible. Although the show ends
very calmly in an acoustic setting of the song Perfect, it was a
wonderful Poppunk evening that showed that SIMPLE PLAN is a champions
league act that will last for a long time in the future!
3,000+
people went home in a happy mood, and they probably all had a great
sleep afterwards before the alarm clock would wake them up early next
morning to another normal working day, yet with a lasting memory of
great live music and that’s what life is all about, even on a Monday
evening…
(Points: 9.0 out of 10)
KAMELOT, EPICA and KOTIPELTO - Boerderij, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands - 5th of April 2005
I was really looking forward to this package, because it presents the best ‘new’ music of the last couple of years. Kamelot being the best band of the US, Epica is at the moment the most promising band in the Netherlands and Kotipelto is of course the singer of Stratovarius which is one of the most influential bands of the nineties. Three years ago Kamelot should play the Boerderij, but they had to cancel because of a throat infection from Roy Khan. In 2003 we traveled to Paris to see them live with Sonata Arctica and they blew me away with an one hour gig. Tonight would be the last gig of the package, so it could be a very special night. At 19.45h Kotipelto and his solo band entered the stage. A few months ago it looked like this was his new band, but after Timo Tolkki has made it up with his band members, I think it will be a project. Kotipelto gave away a good performance with songs of his both solo albums and ended the show with the Stratovarius songs “Hunting high and low” and “Black Diamond”: A very cool thing was that during a bass solo our national hymn was played. After a short break Epica came on stage. You could clearly see there were a lot of people coming mostly for them. I’ve listened a couple of times to their debut album, but I must say that Simone is live even better then on CD. Epica had the best sound of the day, what is really strange mostly the headliner got the best sound. Their set was a mix of new songs and songs from the upcoming album. “Crying for the moon” their most popular song closed their performance. A few minutes past ten the intro of ‘the fourth legacy” blasted through the P.A. followed by ‘Until kingdom come’. The supporting acts had a good sound, but with Kamelot the bass was too loud. The first couple of songs you couldn’t really hear Roy Khan sing. Later on you could hear the voice better, but on the faster songs the bass tone was still overshadowing the songs. Nevertheless Kamelot played a great show, the band sounded the best (in particular Roy) on the slower songs like ‘Nights of Arabia”, “The haunting” with Mark Jansen (including the wig) instead of Simone singing the female parts and the ballads “Wander”, “Don’t you cry”. On this last song Roy stood on the bar in the back venue. Besides the sound there was another little critical point if I heard it good the backing vocals were running from tapes. After all it was great evening with three very good acts.
Points: Artist Music performance Sound quality Audience reaction Overall Kotipelto 8 8 8 8 Epica 8 9 8 8,3 Kamelot 9 6 9 8
BRYAN ADAMS - Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands - 28th of March 2005
BRYAN ADAMS visited Holland once again for another small tour, just for fun and it was like all his other concerts also fun for us, the audience, to go and watch, so in the end everyone was already having a good time, even before the show had started. It was sold out as one could notice when entering the hall, and after watching a pretty boring support act hailing from the UK, playing a typical British Post Modern Rockstyle a la RADIOHEAD, COLDPLAY and that sort of stuff, it was time for Bryan to hit the stage, and play a 2-hour set. The songchoice wasn't that different from most of his other recent visits to Europe, and so we were pleased with a mix of classic Bryan Adams rockers (as usual a lot of songs from the man's best release 'Reckless') and newer songs (from the recent 'Room service' album). Like always Bryan was making good contacts with the audience, with asking a girl to come on stage singing "When you're gone" and walking alongside the first rows, shaking hands during the song "The best of me" and from start to finish running around the stage like a madmen. It was good to see the man in action again. The line-up of his band was also different than the last time I saw Bryan in concert, when he had only 2 other musicians backing him up (guitars and drums). He played bass back then, but this time he played some rhythm guitar, although Keith Scott was playing most of the solo's. The arrangements of the songs however were sometimes quite different than the originals, such as "Summer of 69", where Bryan invited the audience to sing-a-long, but this was on each song the case... Eventually the audience sang almost ever song along, making it 'a night to remember'. Bryan's performance on stage is always perfect, the song choice could have been a bit rockier, but in general speaking everyone enjoyed another great BRYAN ADAMS concert, with no less than 4 encores, all performed by Bryan acoustic on his own in front of 10,000 people, not many people are able to do that!
Points:
Artist
Music performance Sound
quality Audience
reaction Overall
Supportact (name
unknown!)
6
7
6
6,3
Bryan
Adams
9
9
9
9
HIGHWAY CHILE & ACES at Loose End, Reeuwijk, The Netherlands - 19th of March - 2005
It was three years ago when we saw HIGHWAY CHILE on their come back tour with Robert Soeterboek on vocals, now Stan Verbraak (HELLOISE) is doing the vocals. Of course Martin Mens and Ernst van EE (also HELLOISE) were also present again. But before we could see HIGHWAY CHILE, we had to survive the support act. The support act was a local metal band called ACES and it was one of the most boring acts I have ever saw with guitarists who couldn’t play any guitar solo’s, very simple songs and last but not least a singer who was even more worse than most Idols candidates. After a few songs I went to the back (thinking what I was doing here), where it was very crowdy (seems everybody had the same idea) to wait when it was over. After a forty minutes break the intro started and HIGHWAY CHILE came on stage. And after a few songs I totally forgot the support act and the waiting. They did most of the songs of “Storybook heroes” even the beautiful ballad “Endless trail” and two new songs (one is called “Poison”) which were very good and a lot heavier than the old stuff. During the concert they get tighter and better. Stan was really singing his balls off and Ernst even broke a snare drum (TRUE METAL). After the HIGHWAY CHILE songs it was time for some HELLOISE songs, especially “For a moment” sounded incredible. They ended the gig with some cover tunes (earlier they did “Detroit Rock City”) and the crowd went wild with “Black Tiger”, “Sin City” and “Cold sweat”. Now it is waiting for the new album.
Points:
Artist
Music performance Sound
quality Audience
reaction Overall
Aces
3
3
5
3.7
Highway Chile 9
8
8
8.3
THE DONNAS & THE LULABELLIES - De Melkweg, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 19th of February 2005
Arriving at the Melkweg we saw a large row standing for the ticket box. We didn’t knew that The Donnas were so popular in Holland. Happily we already had tickets and could easily go into the venue. The support act already started playing. The Lulabellies play fast punk rock with sometimes aggressive vocals from the female singer. They are hailing from our home town Rotterdam and their line up exists of a female singer (who also plays guitar) another female guitarist, a bass player and of course a drummer. They have released one CD and they played most of the songs from this CD. The Lulabellies gave away a good performance and didn’t have any stage fright for such a big audience (approximately 900). After 35 minutes they left the stage. It took 30 minutes to build on the stage before The Donnas came on under big applause from the audience. They opened with “On the rocks” from “Spend the night” and then went further with mostly all songs from the new album “Gold medal”. The fans reacted very good on the new songs and that was a surprise because the new one is very diverse to “Spend the night”. It was a pity that the sound of the bass was too loud, so it was harder to hear the voice and the guitar. (the bass was way too loud!). With one of their last and popular songs “Take it off” the crowd went wild, guys taking off their shirts and teenage girls stage diving(??). After just sixty minutes the concert was over, which was very short. The reason for this is that the drummer of the Donnas is still recovering of a hand injury. Hopefully next time a longer set list and a better sound. Points:
Points: Artist Music performance Sound quality Audience reaction Overall The Lulabellies 7 8 7 7.3 The Donnas 8 6 8 7.3
FOR ABSENT FRIENDS + RICOCHER + NICE
BEAVER - September 22 - 2001 - Interval, Papendrecht
Although I have lived for a couple of years in Dordrecht (the city on the other
side of the river 'De Merwede', only a few kilometres from the place in
Papendrecht where I was going to see 3 top Dutch Progressive Rockbands at one
evening), I never had actually been in Papendrecht. Happily, it was very easy to
find the place called 'Interval' where FOR ABSENT FRIENDS was supposed to
present their new CD, but as the evening developed it became clear that the new
CD was at that same moment being printed somewhere else. So actually there was
no new CD that they could sell, but they informed everyone to wait a while,
because the delivery would take place the same evening. Of course around one
o'clock after midnight people didn't want to wait any longer and left although
FAF (For Absent Friends) played on, but after standing for 6 hours in a row,
you're tired and want to rest, so I also left the place, although I need to say
I would have loved to stay and watch the rest of the fantastic show.
More about that later on in this review, but fist I would like to take you back
to the 29th of April 2001 when FOR ABSENT FRIENDS played a concert in Vianen, a
small village close to Utrecht. It was a free admission concert, organised by
some sort of dull motorclub. It was very hard finding the damn place, as it was
hidden in the middle of nowhere, somewhere hidden behind an area of houses in a
small park. When we (me and my brother) arrived, we both had to laugh, because
it didn't look like the place you normally expect when you are visiting a
concert. It was a damn shame only a few people were actually coming to see FAF.
Anyway, FAF was already playing when we arrived, so we sat down and watched the
excellent performance of the band. The show lasted about 2 hours, so definitely
worth seeing. They played a nice collection of songs taken from their 6 albums
put out so far. Highlights of the show were definitely "Into love", "Silly love
song" (from their new CD, out now!) and closing track "Attitude". The sound
wasn't too loud, partly due to some annoying women and children who told the
organisers the music was too loud (for God's sake FAF normally sounds a lot
heavier and then still sound very calm for a rockband!). FAF sometimes sounded
like a nice melodic poprockband instead of a sympho AOR band, only because some
of the lousy people who didn't even watched the show were complaining about
noise!!! Anyway, putting everything aside, FAF still performed an excellent
concert and I already knew I had to see them live again, but then with a 'real'
audience instead of the 7 (!!!) people who made up the audience of this FAF
concert.
And indeed on the 22nd of September in the city of Papendrecht, FOR ABSENT
FRIENDS would be presenting their new CD. The whole event turned out to be a 'Sympho'
festival, because also other Dutch Progressive/ Symphonic Rockbands RICOCHER and
NICE BEAVER would perform that night, as well as of course FOR ABSENT FRIENDS
who headlined the show. First up was the local band NICE BEAVER. This hot new
band recently released a CD, which they presented a few months ago in the same
club where this show took place, so they had already a lot of people supporting
them on this beautiful evening. It turned out that the keyboardist of the band
also was the singer of the band and he really was a funny guy. Between each song
he made some nice jokes, while still musically the whole band in fact sounded
very professional. Musically NICE BEAVER played typical 80s typed neo-prog with
Sympho influences and of course a lot of influences from 80s MARILLION, but on
the other hand, also influences from Hard Rock were shown, especially during the
straight-ahead rocker "Could I be wrong, could I be right". This song is
actually a part of the semi rockballad "Hope you don't mind", a song sung by
guitarist Hans. The band played several songs of their CD, but also some newer
songs, such as the progressive rocksong "Lima". The best songs however were kept
till the very end. These are "Where the river runs" (fantastic uptempo chorus,
easy to sing-a-long and even reminding me of PRISM!) and final track "Meet me in
London". By far, this last track turned out to be the winner for everyone, as
the crowd loved it, and it really is a fantastic uptempo Sympho rocker (a la 80s
MARILLION's "Incommunicado" and ARENA's "Welcome to the cage") with a very
catchy chorus. Later on I heard this song was an old demo track, but I believe
the band is considering re-recording it for a future CD release. Anyway, I was
very glad to have seen NICE BEAVER, because I had never heard of them and their
set impressed me a lot!
Up next was RICOCHER, a great Sympho/Prog band from Brabant, whom I had already
seen a few months earlier at the ARENA fanclubday. Back then they did a very
good performance, and tonight they even did a better performance. They played
about an hour, including the 4 songs of their CD 'Quest for the heartland' and a
bunch of newly written songs, such as the AOR song "For you" (with the dut-dut
keys), "The fugitive" and "The child inside" (with excellent keyboardwork a la
PENDRAGON). The highlight was again "Your pride", a very cheerful uptempo
progressive AOR rocker a la ARENA. On all other shows the crowd goes wild when
this song is played and also in Papendrecht it was the favourite of the audience.
With RICOCHER, we have another great Progressive Rockband from Holland, but the
best was yet to come.
Although on the tickets was mentioned that FAF would play around 9.30, it turned
out to be one hour later. Partly due to the fact the previous bands already
started playing 30-45 minutes later, but also the fact that the CDs were not
ready yet, but were supposed to be delivered the same evening. So FAF decided to
start later and even had a 25-minute-break after 1 hour! Nevertheless, the
performance they did was superb. Singer Hans van Lint has a wonderful voice and
guitarist Edwin Roes is an outstanding player who really shines during the
guitarsolos. Having said that, the songs are all great very melodic Sympho AOR
songs. It surprises me how close FAF is to purest AOR, because none of their
songs are that Prog orientated like the 2 other bands of the evening. FAF is
definitely more like an AOR band than any other band in the Sympho/Prog scene.
Having said that, the highlights of the show were "Into love", "Attitude" and
the songs of the new CD, such as "The one", "Giving up", "The big room", "Silly
lovesong" and "If love". During "If love" old keyboardplayer Peter De Jong
climbed the stage and played keyboards on this song. It turned out to be a
farewell song for him, because after playing with FAF for 15 years, he decided
to leave the band. The song itself was a beautiful AOR ballad a la SURVIVOR,
JOURNEY, and I must say that singer Hans did a terrific job on this tune, as his
voice made this song one of the highlights of the show, it just couldn't sound
better. Hans really proved to be one of the best vocalists in Holland! There
wasn't a single weak moment during the entire FAF show. Everything just sounded
perfect, much better than in Vianen a few months ago.
Like I already said earlier in this review, the only problem was the fact that
the CD presentation of FAF turned out to be a disaster, because there was no CD!
Around 1 o'clock after midnight, the CDs still had not arrived, so I decided to
leave, because the whole event started 6/7 hours before and after such a long
time you're getting tired. The last song FAF played was "Attitude", but they
said they would return on stage about 10-15 minutes later to entertain the
audience, while waiting for the CDs to arrive. I don't know if that actually
happened, because I and a lot of other folks decided to leave the place as it
were getting very late. Anyway, the day after I heard the CD did arrive half an
hour later, but it turned out to be that it wasn't a CD with music on it, but a
CD with data info, so everyone had waited for nothing! But who cares, because
eventually we will all buy the new FAF CD, as their excellent performance of
that evening is unforgettable. In January the band will perform some more
concerts and I will definitely be present at one of their shows again (for the
third time in one year!).
(Points For Absent Friends: 9 out of 10
- Points Ricocher: 8.5 out of 10 - Points Nice Beaver: 8 out of 10)
THRESHOLD + ARK - 16th of September
2001 - De Boerderij, Zoetermeer
Right after the summerbreak, this would be the first concert the Strutter'zine
camp would pay a visit. And although both bands were announced as the top in
progressive metal, opening act ARK was definitely a very disappointing support
act. First of all, the music of ARK was a mix of Techno-Progressive Metal and
Industrial Metal and secondly, their lead singer JORN LANDE was singing very
badly. I was not impressed with the 2 ARK CDs and live it even sounded terrible.
Jorn can sing very well, like he has proved on the CDs of MALMSTEEN, MILLENIUM
and his solo albums, but on the ARK CDs and at this concert he was killing his
voice. He was more screaming a la MACHINE HEAD, than singing melodic vocal
lines. So after a few songs, I left the place and got myself into the bar
outside, just sit and enjoy some nice background music by the likes of THE
FLOWER KINGS and PALLAS while waiting for the headliner THRESHOLD.
Around 10 o'clock the UK Progressive Metal band THRESHOLD started to play and
rightaway you felt one with the band, as their music is very appealing to fans
of all genres within the progressive world. The guitars are heavy, but the
vocals and chorus are super melodic. After a few songs, I suddenly realised that
the lead singer (Mac) used to be in the band SARGANT FURY (fantastic German
Melodic Hard Rockband a la BONFIRE), so therefore this band sounds so melodic
perhaps. Anyway, their set was made up of songs taken from their 5 studio CDs
they released so far. They played a lot of songs from their latest release
'Hypothetical', with as highlights the fantastic songs "Turn on tune in", "Light
and space", "Long way home" and "The ravages of time". This last mentioned track
was the definite highlight of the whole show, because also the crowd were
singing along the words "I can tell the world", very impressive tune! Well, the
band played a perfect show, and if they ever come again to town, then I'll be
there to see them once more, because THRESHOLD has proved to be one of the best
in the Progressive Metal scene, while ARK was a big disappointment!
(Points Threshold: 9 out of 10
- Points Ark: 5 out of 10)
ARENA + RICOCHER - 3rd of June 2001 -
Tivoli, Utrecht
The English neo-prog band ARENA is one of the most popular Progressive Rockbands
in Holland and therefore the second fan meeting day was organised in Holland, to
be precise, in the city of Utrecht. Tivoli may not look like the place where a
big meeting could be organised, but when I entered the hall where the meeting
was it didn't look that bad, actually it looked very friendly. The event would
last almost the whole day, but I actually came to see the live performance of
ARENA. Support act of ARENA was the Dutch prog band RICOCHER, a very nice band
of whom I recently reviewed their debut CD 'Quest for the heartland'. The band
played a very nice set of tunes, with as favourite song the uptempo "Your pride"
that got a great response from the crowd. RICOCHER is a very good band and in
the future they may headline somewhere, because their neo-prog rock sounds very
impressive.
I just bought a bunch of CDs (like at every prog concert), when suddenly
headliner ARENA started to play. Well, actually it wasn't the official start of
the concert, because it was just keyboardplayer Clive Nolan and drummer Mick
Pointer playing a few acoustic/keyboard orientated tunes as a short preview for
the coming ARENA concert. Then the crowd was warmed up to see the real thing:
ARENA! The band started with the opening tune ("Chosen") of their latest CD
'Immortal". A very good way to start the evening, because this song is damn fine
midtempo progressive rocker with a catchy singable chorus. What followed was a
great set of tunes of all the ARENA albums, and the best was kept until the very
end with the ARENA classic "Welcome to the cage", a crowd favourite, uptempo
progressive rock with a very catchy chorus and a big keyboardsound. And so came
an end to a perfect night of neo-progressive rock, a big thanks to ARENA for
proving to be one of the best bands in the neo-prog scene!
(Points Arena: 9 out of 10 -
Points Ricocher: 8 out of 10)
URIAH HEEP - 8th of May 2001 - 013,
Tilburg
Just a few weeks after the HENSLEY/LAWTON BAND concert, 2 former HEEP members,
the all-original URIAH HEEP performed a concert in the south of Holland. There
was no support-act, so I thought it would turn out to be an easy livin 'Uriah
Heep' night. 013 in Tilburg is a big venue, and although the show wasn't sold
out, I counted about 1,100 people who came to see these old rockers. And
although most of the members were indeed quite old of age, they still knew how
to rock! All the URIAH HEEP classics were played, such as the very heavy "Look
at yourself", "Easy livin", "July morning" and "Gypsy". Surprisingly also a lot
of songs from their last studio-CD were played, and as you might know this album
was a good AOR/Melodic Rock orientated record. I really enjoyed the songs played
from 'Sonic origami', namely "Only the young", "Between two worlds", "I hear
voices" and "Heartless land".
The final track (the 2nd encore!) HEEP played was
probably the highlight of the show, as this was the all-time sing-a-long HEEP
classic "Lady in black" with a drop out in the middle of the song where 1,110
people sang 'na na na na na na etc.' with each other. After a 10-minute version
of this song, HEEP said goodbye and so this excellent show was ended, but
definitely be continued, because late December they will again perform a concert
here in Holland and you can definitely read a review of that concert in our next
issue. The HEEP concert was great, but unfortunately on our way back home we saw
a big fire ahead of us on the road, so we stopped and although it looked like a
small fire, after 20 minutes it started to spread and we had to drive back.
Happily we didn't suffer from the fire that much, because an hour later we were
on our way back home safely via a different route.
(Points: 9.0 out of 10)
LANA LANA + TOYZ - 27th of April 2001
- De Boerderij, Zoetermeer
One week after the HENSLEY/LAWTON BAND, in the same venue I found myself
enjoying the likes of LANA LANE and ERIC NORLANDER, who together performed a
superb concert. Support act was a local band called TOYZ, well gee this was kind
of weird band. They started their set with a few nice progressive metal
instrumentals. Then suddenly some girl got on stage and started to sing with the
band, these songs somehow reminded me of a cross between LITA FORD and LEE
AARON, but without calling it impressive, because the songmaterial definitely
lacks with this band. Towards the end of the set, TOYZ started to look like a
band whose members wanted to show off each other, because the blond girl wanted
everyone to look at her, while the guitarist at the same time was very busy with
sounding like MALMSTEEN (which he did NOT!) and turned out to be a poser stepped
out of POISON! The TOYZ performance was quite hilarious, not bad or anything,
but a bit too diverse and also very hard to follow, because at one point you
were asking yourself if this band should be taken seriously!
Anyway, we all came to see LANA LANE, and when ERIC NORLANDER started to play on
one of his keyboards (a big wall of keyboards and synthesisers surrounded him),
the 300 people who showed up were already impressed. What followed was an
impressive performance with songs from LANA LANE's albums, ROCKET SCIENTISTS and
ERIC NORLANDER's solo-albums. Highlights of the show were "Through the rain" (a
song from Lana's debut, but this version really blow away the old one),
"Escher's staircase", the MARILLION cover "Season's end", "Love is an illusion"
(another one from her debut) and "Symphony of angels". The Prog fans must have
also enjoyed this concert, because Eric Norlander did some excellent stuff in
his keyboardhouse. I can not come up with any negative points, because this LANA
LANE concert was just perfect and if they come to Holland again, I will
certainly be present.
(Points Lana Lane: 9.0 out of
10 - Points Toyz: 7 out of 10)
HENSLEY/LAWTON BAND + JAN RIJBROEK
BAND - 19th of April 2001 - De Boerderij, Zoetermeer
Former URIAH HEEP members KEN HENSLEY (keyboards) and JOHN LAWTON (vocals) came
together a few years ago and decided to start a new rockband, the HENSLEY/LAWTON
BAND. Of course they played a lot of the 70s URIAH HEEP classics of the days
when they were also part of the band, but also songs of Ken and John's
solo-albums are played at the concerts. One of their concerts took place in the
city of Zoetermeer in April 2001. Around the same time, the first CD, a live
one, would be released through EAGLE RECORDS. Most of the songs of that live CD
were also played at that evening. Before HENSLEY/LAWTON BAND entered the stage,
we had to listen to an average support act called JAN RIJBROEK BAND. This band
formed around guitarist Jan Rijbroek is a local favourite, but musically the
Bluesy Melodic Hard Rock with some slight WHITESNAKE references, didn't do that
much for me and other HEEP fans.
Everyone (about 250 people) came to see the HENSLEY/LAWTON BAND and although the show started very late (around 11 o'clock), the 2-hour show was very good. Lawton sang at the top of his lungs, while Hensley became a Keyboard/Hammond-God towards the end of the show. Most of the songs were the well-known HEEP classics, such as "Easy livin'" (crowd favourite), "Free me" (big German hitsingle, simple but effective sing-a-long rocker), "July morning", "Gypsy", "I'm alive", "Lady in black" and "The wizard". But the surprises for me were also the songs of Ken and John's solo-albums, such as "It's up to you" (lovely uptempo melodic rocker with lovely harmonyvocals), "Guard your heart" (lovely AOR ballad) and "Tonight" (another lovely ballad). I also need to mention the fantastic version of the Heep Classic "Wise man".
All HEEP fans returned home with a good feeling and
probably bought the live record of HENSLEY/LAWTON BAND that was released a few
days later. Unfortunately it was also the last record the two former HEEP
members would make together, because a few weeks after their excellent
performances here in Holland, they decided to split up and go their own ways. So,
I guess you can say that this was a very unique concert, and back then it was
also a good warming-up for the coming URIAH HEEP concert a few weeks later (see
review below).
(Points Hensley/Lawton Band:
8.5 out of 10 - Points Jan Rijbroek Band: 6.5 out of 10)
LABYRINTH - 10th of April 2001 - 013,
Tilburg
In the eighties all the good metal bands were coming from England, United States
and maybe Germany. But this changed in the late nineties, being influenced by
Progressive Metal (Dream Theater), Power Metal (Helloween, Blind Guardian),
Classical and medieval music, there came a whole new Metal scene from Italy. The
leading bands are Rhapsody and Labyrinth. While Rhapsody gets a lot attention
from the Metal press and fans, Labyrinth has to do with much lesser. That was
also shown before tonight's show: no promotion, no merchandising and even a
cancelled support act. So it was not a surprise that only about a hundred people
showed up. But I was very curious to see this act, because for me their album
from 1998 "Return to heaven denied" is at the top of the list for best albums of
the nineties. I have to add that they were playing in the little hall of 013 (Capacity
for 350 people).
When the intro started of "Chapter one", everyone was
getting close to the stage. Labyrinth has a very good and charismatic singer,
who stirred up the public. The rest of the band (five in total) could hardly
move because of the small size of the stage. After their first song they played
"Kathryn", followed by a favourite from the wild acting audience called "Moonlight".
They played, without any break, seventeen songs in a row. Two from their first
album "No limits", eight from the second "Return to heaven denied" and seven
from their last album "Sons of thunder". My personal favourites that evening
were "Lady lost in time", "New horizons" and "Save me". I hope this fantastic
band, with their Proggy Power Metal, will return to Holland again in the near
future, but then for a much bigger audience.
(Points: 9.0 out of 10)