1. Kölner Kreativ Rock Festival
InVertigo, Jack Yello & Martigan
December 10, 2010
Yard Club / Die Kantine, Köln (Cologne) (Germany)
It doesn't happen that
often that a progressive rock festival takes place in Germany. Accordingly, most
Germans have to cross the Dutch or Belgian border to attend such a festival. However,
this time they could visit the first Kölner Kreativ Rock Festival in Köln
(Cologne) to witness three excellent German acts! Unfortunately the Yard Club
wasn't crammed with devoted prog heads. Bad luck for those people that weren't
present; they certainly missed a special occasion. Apart from that, this
festival proved that Germany brings forth superb progressive rock bands. The
Germans don't need bands from abroad to show them how progressive rock should
be made. The three bands that performed all sounded very professional and
delivered tremendous performances. Unfortunately, due to the mixing desk, the
sound wasn't always perfect. InVertigo, the first band to perform, probably had
the best sound of the evening.
InVertigo
The five musicians of
InVertigo all hail from the industrial Ruhr-area and together they form a
rather new band in the German prog scene. Their music can be described best as
a blend of rock and neo-progressive rock. Sometimes they sound like bands as
Sylvan or
Porcupine Tree. Lead singer
Sebastian Brennert sometimes sounds as
Mariusz Duda (Riverside).
|
| InVertigo |
Their debut album
Next Stop Vertigo
released earlier this year already
made a strong impression. For that reason I was very pleased that they replaced
Shades Of Dawn at the last minute.
The keyboard player of this German band had some serious health
problems and couldn't give a concert during his recovery. However, InVertigo
were a good replacement as I could notice during the 75 minutes they were given
to show the audience their musical talents. They started with a nice science
fiction intro to get in the right mood followed by the first song
Take Your Time.
The band proved that they had no difficulties at all to perform the
material of Next Stop Vertigo
on stage. Almost the entire album was perfectly performed. Only
Saturday Evening
was left out of the set, but instead we
could enjoy three new pieces that sounded quite similar to the already recorded
songs. They all sounded very pleasantly. During
Dr. Ho, the band's final song, we could notice that the band members
don't take themselves all too serious. Keyboard player
Michael Kuchenbecker and bassist
Matthias Hommel wore
funny wigs to point out that the song deals with hair (see pictures below). The final notes
of this song included some parts of Deep Purple's
Black Night.
I couldn't find out why they ended the gig
this way and I just forget to ask! Nevertheless, the band may look back at a
very good presentation enjoyed by most of the spectators.
Jack Yello
This year Jack Yello released the album Xeric
(see review) which is a real masterpiece in my opinion.
|
| Dirk "BoViE" Bovensiepen |
So logically I had high expectations of their performance. When they started
the set with Shadows Of A Nightingale
it was obvious that the man behind
the mixing desk didn't succeed in getting a satisfactory sound. Apart from that
the volume level was a bit higher than with InVertigo. However, after a couple
of songs the sound improved a lot, although the music was still a bit too loud.
I also noticed that some songs got a heavier rendition than on the albums
Thorns Of Anger (2003) and
Xeric which was mainly caused by the way
Lutz Grosser played the
electric guitar.
For Jack Yello this concert was special because two band members had decided to
quit the band: bass player Dirk Hülpert
and drummer Uwe Poprawa.
They already found a new drummer in Marcus Arnrich.
He used to play in Darius
in which the current Jack Yello-vocalist
Dirk Bovensiepen sang as well. He still resembles
Fish during his
Marillion-era, but he's also
a great entertainer who knows how to communicate with the audience.
He seemingly suffered from the hot old-fashioned stage lights, but that didn't
prevent him and the other musicians from delivering a fine performance. Bravo! Unfortunately
Jack Yello didn't come back for an encore, although it was requested by the audience.
Martigan
For most people the final band was the main
reason to attend the first Kölner Kreativ Rock Festival. That also applied to
me, I guess. Earlier this year Martigan gave an incredible performance at the
same location which still remains my favourite live show of 2010. During this
concert (see review) the band's performance had a big impact on me and I wanted
|
| Kai Marckwordt |
to make sure that this wasn't just an incident. Could they again grab me by the
throat? Well, they did and I enjoyed every second of their concert. All
musicians were in great shape. It was just a pity that lead singer Kay
Marckwordt had some feedback on his microphone
at the start of the concert, but this problem was fixed after the second song. As
I had expected, the set list was almost the same as the one they performed
during the Progfarm Festival in November 2009. Only the final encore
Craze This Town
was left out. Again we could enjoy the epic piece
Boatman's Vision that certainly belongs to my
personal favourites. The wonderful guitar parts done by Björn Bisch
moved me repeatedly. Also the drum solo of Alex Bisch
was included in the middle-section of Red & Green.
Martigan were the only band that returned on stage for an encore.
Again we could enjoy The Pride
from the album Man Of The Moment (2002).
Kai Marckwordt wore his long
coat and had put his white hat on while entering the stage for the last time.
This song was the last treat from a band of which the music never gets bored,
no matter how long they play. I've seen them three times now and every time
they perform like real professionals. What more is there to say about a band
that plays beautiful and perfect progressive rock music? I can just compliment
them with their great performance!
I would like to thank the
organizer of the festival. He made it possible that three German bands could
give excellent performances for people who had the courage to drive all the way
to Köln. He made the promise that more of such festivals will be organized in
the future. Hopefully more people will attend these shows than the hundred that
showed up this time.
Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)
|
