Between Christmas and New-Year's day two prog bands gave a concert that I wanted to attend. I saw The Dust Connection only three weeks before and I was impressed by their performance, so I was convinced that I would witness another great show. As far as headliner Kingfisher Sky is concerned, I had listened to both their albums many times and I was looking forward to see how they would perform these songs on a live stage. On a dark and cold evening and over slippery roads we drove to the city of Tilburg.

The Dust Connection

The Dust Connection had the advantage of playing a home match, so to say, for most of the band members live in or in the vicinity of Tilburg. Many of the band's friends showed up to encourage them. During the previous concert in Helmond (see review) I was amazed by the energy of The Dust Connection and also this time they gave everything to make sure that the audience would have a great time. For me, the strength of the band is their prog metal base: Jurg Kurtens on bass guitar, the fantastic voice of Jeroen Voogd resembling the voice of Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, combined with the melodious keyboard sounds of Sander Heerings, the heavy but melodious guitar solos of Martijn Balters and 'madman' drummer Robert Spanning who keeps it all together. The visual aspects of his drumming are a real treat and I'm sure that the people who attended this concert will agree. After the show Robert told me that tennis lessons helped him to perform powerful strikes and the backhand cymbal crush which create that pleasant visual effect. With songs like The Grand Final, Path, The House That Doesn't Exist and Clouds, The Dust Connection surely belongs to the cream of the crop of the Dutch prog metal scene. In addition to the songs they played from their debut album Trails they performed Prayer, a song that didn't make it to the album. However, this piece is far too good to be ignored. It's available on the band's website as a free download: check it out!

Kingfisher Sky

After a short break it was time for a different kind of music, but still heavy and tuneful. However, the female-fronted combination of prog metal with gothic elements cannot be compared to The Dust Connection. A few years ago drummer Ivar de Graaf made the tough decision to leave the successful gothic band Within Temptation in order to pursue his own music. Together with his partner Judith Rijnveld, he started Kingfisher Sky and with the help of bass player Eric Hoogendoorn and long time friend and guitarist Edo van der Kolk, the base of the band was formed. Later on Maaike Peterse joined the band, but due to personal problems she couldn't make it to Tilburg this evening. The new-comers in Kingfisher Sky are keyboard player David Gutiérrez Rojas and guitarist Chris Henny, who both played on the second album Skin Of The Earth. I think Ivar's choice turned out to be the best for the audience as we gained a great new sensation. In the first two songs, the sound and mix weren't optimal yet. The combination of the low rumble and the high vocals caused that I pulled back from the stage to get a better and more balanced sound. The musicians performed a great show with songs from the two albums they released so far. And as Judith stated, it was a pity that the cello or violoncello of Maaike Peterse wasn't present to create an even better atmosphere. What we got was Judith Rijnveld, a beautiful vocalist whose voice was perfect throughout the concert. She danced across the stage like Kate Bush used to in her heyday back at the end of the seventies. Both guitarists are able to play many different musical styles. Sometimes the heavy riffs made you bang your head; at other times they played very subtle and gentle and with great interaction. The only time you realized that Maaike Peterse wasn't present was when Big Fish started because the keyboards had to do her parts. After twenty seconds the band members had to laugh and stopped playing, saying: 'we need Maaike for this song, but let's try again', and after this false start we got a real nice, but a slightly different version of Big Fish.

Kingfisher Sky gave an outstanding concert. When the band returned for the encores they normally perform Kate Bush's Man With The Child In His Eyes, but without the cello there was no possibility to play it; just too bad, we have to wait for the next gig! So the band only played The Craving as an encore which ended a stunning performance of a growing band.

Pedro Bekkers (edited by Peter Willemsen)