WhoIsWho

Live reviews;
Kayak, de nieuwe Nor / Heerlen 26th of September,
RPWL, de nieuwe Nor / Heerlen 1st of October
Pendragon, Spirit of 66 / Verviers, 3rd of October
Milow, de nieuwe Nor / Heerlen, 13th of October
Porcupine Tree, 013 / Tilburg, 15th of October
The Reasoning, Borderline / London 18th of October.

This marathon started with the Dutch Sympho band Kayak, 35 years in business. In my favourite venue in the lovely South; de nieuwe Nor.
Some of you know Ton Scherpenzeel the keyboard player from his work with Kayak in the 80-ies. Their leadsinger is Edward Reekers a great voice, they added a younger girl called Cindy Oudshoorn, She certainly gives these dusty guys an enormous boost. Perfect sympho played by craftsmen, joking around and giving the public what they wanted to hear from their great colection. If you like sympho with a nice twist you should check out this band, perfect show, perfect musicians, nice girl to look at and to hear ;-) This is certainly not an old band looking for golden oldies but a band with experience exploring new roads. Their latest album is called “Coming up from Air” and is worth a buy. Review at DPRP

Line up;
Guitarist/singer Rob Vunderink (since 2001), singer Cindy Oudshoorn and guitarist Joost Vergoossen (both since 2003) and bass player Jan van Olffen (2005) are relatively new members of the band. But with singer Edward Reekers and founder members Ton Scherpenzeel (keyboards) and Pim Koopman (drums), there are still enough old peddles that give this kayak symphonic speed and grace.

RPWL were on the road to take a ferry for a few U.K. gigs. So they were looking for a place to sleep… . It was really good to see those German friends again. First we had a radio interview, so we drove to Maastricht through the lovely hills of the South.
The band was relaxed and apparently eager to lay down a good show. The Nieuwe Nor is a young club, excellent sound system, stunning lights in a modern venue. We didn’t have a full house, but the crowd was enough to fill the main floor. And maybe more importantly, they were enthusiastic and made some good noise. RPWL laid down a rocky setlist, a few Floydish songs, yes, but most were speedy and danceable. On the big screen behind the enjoyable band, moody videos were projected accompanied by a nice light show. The band was in excellent form, great guitar riffs by Kalle, Yogi singing, playing moog, talking, making jokes & explaining songs, Chris Pottle laying down some rambles, Markus Jelle on the keyboards and a fabulous impressive role for the new drummer Marc Turiaux!

The crowd was surrounded by sounds coming from the back and the front and that with the animated pictures it made it a surrealistic rpwl experience. Great. To remember Richard Wright they played the obscure “Biding My time” indeed a forgotten Floyd song. This is rpwl… hope they come back to the lovely South.

Info; RPWL on this site,
RPWL &
rpwl on My Space.
More Pictures 2008
from Heerlen by Jaak & Wil.

Normally Zabine does the lightshows for rpwl and she is still responsible for the great videos, I was a bit disappointed that she wasn’t there at the rpwl gig, but Lenie was a great replacement. For some stupid reason I didn’t ask were Zabine was. So I was pleasantly surprised that I bumped into her just before Nick Barrett and his buccaneers kicked off their 30th year anniversary tour in the Spirit of 66. She was asked to do the videos and the lights for Pendragon's 30 day tour… So to start with the screen.. yes you could see that it was Zabine's trademark … wonderful. And the Pendies… think they had the time of their life.. wow what an energetic show. The new drummer Scott Higham stole the show several times… Nick was in an absolutely great mood, his voice was pleasant again and his soaring guitar did the rest. Fantastic kick off, and there was time to laugh and talk French but the show was from another world. Was fun to meet Rachel at last and a pity I didn’t have the chance to have a decent chat with Nick (had to go to work ;-)

Pictures by Jean-Luc Cruwels.

Nick Barrett: guitar, vocals Peter Gee: bass Scott Higham: drums Clive Nolan: keys, vocals.

The set list was something like this; The Walls Of Babylon Circus A Man Of Nomadic Trails The Wishing Well: - Sou' By Sou' West - We Talked - Two Roads Eraserhead Stargazing Learning Curve Paintbox The Voyager It's Only Me Master Of Illusion

Pictures from Gianfranco, Rome Oct 2008.

Info;

Pendragon on this site,
Pendragon official &
Pendragon on My Space.

PS Martin Orford was the Pendies' support act. Maybe some of you are aware that he left IQ and started to write his solo album. And he finished it! Live he was pleasant, he played keyboard and guitar.
For some stupid reason I didn’t buy his album.. so I’m waiting on it till it arrives. Stupid, heard some good things about it.

So I had a week to relax and restore the music balance in my life again. On a sunny Monday I went to see Milow, again in the new Jail. Milow is a Belgium singer song writer, not my favourite kind of music, but they did well, they did extremely well! I really had a great time with them. And again a band that knows how to interact with the crowd in an almost sold out venue. Nice Belgian attitude and musicians who knew how to entertain and make good rocky songs. Yep think they’ll go to Canada someday and Neil Young will like them too. Had some drinks with friends and the Staff of the new Jail and biked home.. at least I arrived home and safe….

Their support act was a 16 year old kid… lovely… please check him out on his MySpacePage. He really deserves it! Jasper writes about love and his muses, because he hasn’t much experience in life… fun. Listen to his cover “Crazy” and be flabbergasted.

Japer Erkens on My Space.
Milow on My Space.

Porcupine Tree had 2 sold out gigs in 013, so almost 3.000 people… My son and I went to the first night of the dvd recordings. Mmm what must I write… an excellent gig, without a doubt, 3 big screens, a great set list (with “Stars Die”!). This is a top band that will probably play in stadiums soon. But it didn’t grab me. The sound was not perfect, too loud and too much bass. But maybe we didn’t choose our position well; just before John Wesley was maybe too close… Steve had the air of a super rock star and the crowd treated him that way… almost Beatlesque scenes. No this not my cup of tea. But again the setlist was great, the band did a great job, and Steve interacted with us, he told short stories, explaining he was nervous before 15 cameras etc, so yeah I enjoyed it. Their last album “Fear of Blank Planet” was played in its entirety and the concept of the album got a visual boost with the video. Lasse could win a Grammy for his job. “Halo” was the grande finale. Hope my Reasoning shirt will make the dvd shoot ;-))) I’m looking out to the dvd version of those gigs, think it will be sublime again.

Richard Barbieri - keys
Colin Edwin - bass
Gavin Harrison - drums, percussion
Steven Wilson - guitar, keys, vocals
John Wesley - guitar, vocals

16 OCTOBER: Fear of a blank planet My ashes Anesthetize Sentimental Way out of here Sleep together Normal Stars die What happens now Open car Dark matter Wedding nails Half light Sever Blackest eyes --- The sleep of no dreaming Halo

17 OCTOBER: Normal Drown with me Stars die Cheating the polygraph Anesthetize Prodigal Wedding nails Strip the soul / .3 Half light Sever Way out of here Sleep together --- Fear of a blank planet Trains --- The sleep of no dreaming Halo

Info:

Porcupine Tree on this site,
www.porcupinetree.com
www.myspace.com/porcupinetree

Speaking about the Reasoning; they were awesome, Rachel was willing to feel some asses and the band played like down to earth superstars. And the crowd went mad as a hatter… No the greatest venue of my tour, but even without a high definition screen and 10.000 euro’s of lights you can entertain 150 people to the max. And give them the night of their dreams.

 

The new songs have already become highlights and crowd favourites: I heard some of them during the Dutch tour; Dark Angel, Sharp Sea & Breaking the 4th Wall, so it wasn’t all new. It was really great to hear the crowd sing-a-long with the older stuff. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the band have made big steps forward again. There were some hilarious jokes and even more toilet talk and some great interaction with the crowd. Certainly the song “Absolute Zero” was carried by the crowd as Rachel got everyone singing along and the 4th wall was certainly not present!
The band is in great balance, 2 excellent guitar players giving both their touch to it, keyboards, an nice looking bass player, powerful drums and those three magnificent voices …
A band that is worthed to see, but i must confess all of the bands mentioned above are. But if you've to choose go for the Reasoning before they play in rugby stadiums ;-)

Info: The Reasoning on this site,
www. thereasoning.com
www.myspace.com/thereasoninguk
Pictures by Mike Evans

An review by friend Tim (Cardiff Oct '08).

Review of Dark Angel on line 02-11-08.

Please go and see them all!!

Owain at the Point a day before.

 

Nick singing & Nick from the lovely South of the Netherlands with an rpwl shirt ;-)

Thanks to Graeme, Ross, Gianfranco, Will, Jean-Luc & Mike.

Please give birth to smile,
Nick from the lovely South of the Netherlands.

 

 

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Updated 28-10-2008 by Nick.

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