Live Reviews 2009.
Live reviews of:
The Reasoning @ Port Zelande,
Marillion @ Port Zelande,
Gazpacho at W2 Den Bosch,
Mostly Autumn @ de nieuwe Nor,
Io-Festival with Quidam Pure Reason Revolution, &
PBII, Magenta & RPWL.
Newsletter www.mostlypink.net
Live April 2009.
Port Zelande 20 – 23 April 2009.
Happiness is the road.
The Reasoning & Marillion.
Friday.
Arriving in the late afternoon at Port Zelande, golden lighted birds were flying in magic beams of a shining sun which was slowly sinking.
At the entrance Graeme and Erik welcomed me. Ann-Marie Helder was standing in queue before us and so everything seemed to become a great weekend with friends.
The band arrived an hour later, traffic jam, but that was nothing with the last time they came to the Netherlands…
Feeling home and shaking hands with them, we could hear Marillion starting their show, but teaming up and drinking beers was important too, so it became late.
Saturday.
A coffee and a long walk on the beach in a bright sun, yes it came back behind us again ;-) made me feel a lot better.
Believe we all were impressed by the big stage and tent … anyway the Marillion crew was great.
The Wishing Tree did a nice smooth set and the crowd slowly got awake.
However the Reasoning kicked asses with their new opening of “Awakening”, me just 5 meters from the stage could feel the vibe of the 2.500 people behind me. The applause and a “happy birthday to Rachel” was really Top. I really was impressed by their set and energetic performance. And yes mad dog Owain on guitar is a new diamond aswell. But the most credits went to the 3 voices of the Reasoning, which makes their music really special and unique.
After leaving the stage empty and put all the gear back in the van, we went to see Marillion. My first Marillion gig after 21 years… and it was a perfect show, Hogarth and his team are craftsmen and understand was is needed to entertain 2.500 people. The lightshow was unbelieveable stunning. And although I wasn’t familiar with the songs I was absolutely pleased to see this event. And when they started to play the oldie “Garden Party” I was finally singing and even more smiling.
Sunday.
Meting friends from Finland, Spain, Italy (Ross & Gianfranco (thx for the best pics!)), the U.K., my own home Town (Jan you piper!), Andy Smith (Mostly Autumn), Bart, Bert, Janke & Stuart, having some beers, enjoying Ann-Marie Helder and seeing some Marillion again. What can go wrong?
Monday
The time is gone, the party is over… .
Yep happiness was on the road when I drove home, home again.
Sadly knowing that I will miss this bunch of fantastic people for a long time.
So thanks Rachel, Big Dave, Graeme, Vinden, Owain, Gareth, Dyaln & Matthew see you on the road again!
I know you had a great time too and hope you will remember the daffodils and laughs ;-)
26-03-09
Den Bosch W2.
Gazpacho
Sorry we missed the pre pre suport band Steve Merlin, Mindpark was the next and i was impressed by these young gentlemen. Nice songs, top smooth guitar work and good harmonies.
Gazpacho did a wonderful moody set and the audience got in trance and enjoyed the trip in the Norweign mountains, highlands and fjords. Beautiful arragements and dreamy tunes. They played a few songs from the new album "Tick Tock" and they were well recieved. Believe they played everything of "Night". The use of violin added some extra wide landscapes to the set.
Nice gig, dreamy and moody, no extravaganza on the stage, just smooth and relaxed.
I was really please with them.
Fridaynight “nieuwe Nor” Heerlen 3th of April
Mostly Autumn.
Normally I try to attend all the Dutch shows, but if you’ve a family sometimes you’ve to choose for them, so I skipped the P60 gig… family business is important ;-)
Blue sky, a sun brightly and warm, so what could go wrong?
From the Judge, the guitar technician, I heard that the gig yesterday in P60 was one of the best ever “… the band is on fire..”. But he didn’t told me what happened this morning…
Picture by Jaak Geebelen.
de nieuwe nor April the 3th 2009.
The intro of “Heart Full of Sky” filled the venue and the band came on stage, Iain Jennings, Ann-Marie-Helder, Liam Davison, Gavin Harisson, Olivia Sparnenn, Andy Smith, Bryan Josh and… “?!?” no Heather Findlay… mmm some people noticed it, some not…
Yep Heather had urgent family business and flew home in the morning. Unexpected…
The first 2 songs Olivia, who did the lead vocals, was searching, her voice grew, Dave the sound engineer did a marvellous job. The sound was really superb… scad quality.
And Bryan explained that Heather took a plane back to home; family business. Yep that can happen. And although Heather has her charisma and is together with Bryan the face of Mostly my personal feeling was; “Okay we write history tonight, give them a chance”. And yes they took the change, Bryan was indeed in flames, solo’s as diamonds came out his strat.
And the band was there, working hard, maybe they had the urge to compensate the absence of Heather, I don’t know, but yeah there was an extra vibe on stage and the sound was indeed absolute in Saints. Brilliant, and did I mention that Bryan was giving a way solo’s from a unearthly quality? That guy Rocks.
So yes I missed Heather, her looks, her warm voice, but yes I had a great gig and I was glad I saw the band surviving. The “nieuwe Nor” wrote history with an enthusiastic crowd and a band that survived.
“Turn it On again”, was their last encore a cover from a band that lost their face and voice and even went bigger after that, this is not the case with Mostly, Heather will return, sometimes family business are more important… please turn it on again!
A day later Olivia started with absolute more confidence and by her first stroke she smashed the audience and I believe I heard some glasses break. She has pure and high voice.
Tears in my eyes with "Pocket Watch" ... shine on you crazy diamond.
Did i mentioned that the band was in flames? The whole band including the crowd? Did i mentioned that BJ was indeed a better looking Jon Bon Bovie, with the looks of Jon Davie Gilmour (in his early days) and the fingers of Mr. Blackmore?
Yes he was fab ... they all were..
What more to say about the gig; soaring guitars, a lot (also from the quite genius Liam), loaded drums, subtile keyboards and that pretty looking dreamish flute from Ann Marie that carry your emotions to a higher level. And our dear Livvy gave some people really the shivers with her crystal clear voice. Certainly during her guitar duel with her love at "Never the Rainbow". Happily they had plastic cans instead of glasses, else a lot more of them would be broken.
The band got some emotional points, during “Evergreen”, “Heroes” and “Tearing the Fairy taele”, and the crowd loved it.
Bryan announced the band during a slow intro of Turn it on Again (a cover from Genesis), the band peaked, the audience was singing a long and the party was over.
PS Gavin ;-) Yes you could see that his girlfriend was arround .. lol!!!!
Thx indeed one of the best gigs... and that without Heather, unbelieveable but true, the band was in flames.
10th of April The Rock Tempel Kerkrade.
After, Quidam & Pure Reason Revolution.
After was nice, not really impressed by them, but okay, think they tried to give a good show. Quidam was really good, wanted to see their set
last longer, nice Prog with flute and great songs and some winks to our heroes from the past (Riders on the Storm and Hush). Boys who understand how to
play. And they had the guts to add some jazzy tunes in their songs aswell, yep good band.
But Pure Reason Revolution was the band of the night with a mix of metal, avant-garde industrial & danceable proggy tunes. Something new and refreshing.
Okay their stage act could have had more going on, but the music was really interesting. Their last CD is notable for the fresh wind that runs through
the music. They used a lot of samples and tapes and that is dangerous, but they did it well, I was really impressed. Mmm… A band to keep an eye on. Top
band, top evening.
PS about their stage act; I noticed that they used videos in the Boerderij and probably that made it more interesting, in Kerkrade there was no room for
videos.
11th of April The Rock Tempel Kerkrade.
PBII, Magenta & RPWL.
PBII
Old fashioned Prog, great musicians. Nice smooth show and a mix of Genesis and Camel stylish music. Sadly we missed Heidi Jo Jones, who was
present in de Boerderij, but not in de Rocktemple. Think she could add something more fresh and news to their show. But; yep i was impressed; well done.
Picture by Bert Treep from De Boerderij Zoetermeer 10th of April.
(With Heidi Jo Jones).
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Pictures by Bert Treep from De Boerderij Zoetermeer 10th of April.
More at his site.
More info, pictures and info at my place.
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11th of April The Rock Tempel Kerkrade.
PBII, Magenta & RPWL.
Magenta
They really rocked the boat, sparkling performance by Christina and the lads. This Welsh Prog Goddess really knows how to set the crowd on fire. Rob Reed the keyboard wizard is the main creative force on the Magenta team, but Chris Fry on lead guitar is given space to deliver some astonishing solos.
They played some classics from their album Seven and some shorter songs from their latest, Metamorphosis - only 22 minutes long! It's a shame they don't
tour more, 10 out of 10 for their show! Magenta is indeed the colour of Prog.
Magenta:
Kieran Bailey: drums
Christina Booth: vocals
Colin Edwards: guitar
Chris Fry: guitar
Dan Fry: bass
Rob Reed: keys, vocals
RPWL
A mix of well crafted Prog and Rock made a good impression on the 90 people who attended the festival. Sometimes funny, sometimes emotional and always holding a high musical standard. Kalle Wallner like Chris Fry is a great guitarist, with his own unique style. Kalle laid down some fab solos. And Markus on keys freaked a few times and proved he's more then just a keyboard player. Tight drums, rumbling bass and a Yogi who can certainly do some transcendental tricks. What more do you want? Only a longer set on a bigger stage, with their creepy videos!
More reviews:
Mostly Autumn review at dprp.
Gazapacho review at dprp.
Mostly Autumn in Uden @ backgroundmagazine.nl
Progwereld the Io
Festival @ de Boerderij in Dutch.
3voor12 the Io
Festival @ the Rocktemple in Dutch.
Please keep Prog-rockin',
Peace!
Nick from the lovely South of the Netherlands
@
www.mostlypink.net &
www.myspace.com/.mostlypink.
Torn from my face and from my heart, time has ended.
Do I fall in love? Oh, I think I do
My life is open, and open it will remain
The world is a live.
From Troy Donockley's new album.
