Landmarq & Silhouette

February 8, 2013, Lakei, Helmond (NL)


The last time the British progressive rock band Landmarq visited the Netherlands for a live performance is almost ten years ago; it took place at Plato in Helmond. In the meantime many things happened both to the band and the venue. For instance keyboardist Gonzalo Carrera and drummer Dave Wagstaffe left the band; they were replaced by Mike Varty (Shadowland, Credo, Janison Edge) and Daniel Martin. Lead singer Tracy Hitchings had some serious health problems, which prevented the band from releasing a new album, but fortunately she's now fully recovered. The name of the venue changed into Lakei and opened the doors for several prog rock acts. Therefore it's rather curious that the same venue welcomed Landmarq's return on a Dutch stage. The Dutch prog rock band Silhouette had the task to warm up the audience.

Silhouette

Brian de Graeve
In November 2012 Silhouette supported the German band RPWL at the same venue. Unfortunately this performance (see review) wasn't one of their best. Our reviewer wrote that they often sang out of tune and they seemingly weren't really focussed sometimes. Brian de Graeve's lead guitar had a real thin sound and he could hardly compete with the bass of Gerrit-Jan Bloemink. Furthermore he stated that the vocals of drummer Jos Uffing gave him the idea of attending some kind of musical caused by his rather theatrical appearance that strongly contrasted with the rest of the music.

Well, I then fully agreed with his observations and to be honest, I was afraid that the same problems would occur again. However, while watching and listening to the same songs they also played during the previous
Jos Uffing and Gerrit-Jan Bloemink (r)
concert, I was a bit surprised. This time the band was more inspired and they took themselves more seriously. The vocals were a lot better and especially the harmony vocals even sounded great. This resulted in enjoyable live versions that came much closer to the ones on their studio albums. One of the reasons why they sounded more professionally was that they had practised a lot before going on tour with Landmarq, just like they did before the CD release party (see review) of Across The Rubicon, their latest album. Another reason was the addition of Bart Laan, the sixteen-year old son of keyboardist Erik Laan, who played the electric guitar on Far Away, Breathe and Don't Stop This Movie. Maybe it's a good idea to use him more often during live performances because his guitar sound is better than Brian's. For me the highlights were strong versions of Breathe and When Snow's Falling Down. Hopefully they'll continue doing more such strong performances by practising more seriously, because it certainly bears fruit!

Landmarq

When Landmarq started some sound problems occurred with the wireless system of bass player Steve Gee. It didn't work properly and this made him decide to plug in his five-string wired bass guitar to his amplifier.
Tracy Hitchings
For a moment I was afraid the same thing would happen as ten years ago. Their last performance in the Netherlands was ruined by an awful sound in the final mix. However, as soon as the concert continued it turned out that this time everything sounded excellent. The musicians of Landmarq were in great shape and they perfectly played all songs from their latest studio album Entertaining Angels. Tracy's voice was just as great as ever and I couldn't notice any mistakes at all. Also Daniel Martin, the band's new drummer, sounded as if he had been in the band for years, but this 'gorgeous
Steve Gee
hunk', as Tracy introduced him, had only been a member for a couple of months. In a short period of time he had learned to play all tracks from Entertaining Angels and the songs from the bonus disc of the special edition.

I truly hoped that the band would include some old classic Landmarq tunes, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. However, they had seriously thought of including songs like Lighthouse, Summer Madness and The Overlook from the album Science Of Coincidence (1998), but even without these fantastic pieces they succeeded in performing an outstanding show. Personally I found Stormbrewing, with a beautiful piano solo, Thunderstruck and Calm Before The Storm the ultimate highlights. These pieces contained musical firework with a lot of great guitar and keyboard solos. I have to mention songs as Prayer (Coming Home) and Glowing as well, because these pieces demonstrate the sensitive and emotional side of the band.

I'm already looking forward to their Dutch performance at the Rock Ittervoort Festival in April this year. Landmarq will be the headliners of this event and I'm sure that they again will astonish the people who'll attend that festival just like they did during the show I witnessed in Helmond. I can only say: welcome back Landmarq, you've been away far too long!

Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)

Setlist Silhouette:

Far Away
Breathe
Grendel Memories
Empty Places
Don't Stop This Movie
Anybody
When Snow's Falling Down




Pictures Silhouette by Arthur Haggenburg

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Line up Silhouette:

(left to right)
Bart Laan (guest):
electric guitar
Jos Uffing:
drums, vocals
Brian de Graeve:
vocals, electric and acoustic guitars
Gerrit-Jan Bloemink:
bass
Erik Laan:
vocals, keyboards

Setlist Landmarq:

Mountains Of Anglia
Turbulence (Paradigm Shift)
Personal Universe
Glowing (Part 1: Friends)
Glowing (Part 2: Lovers)
Stormbrewing
Thunderstruck
Prayer (Coming Home)
Walking On Eggshells
Calm Before The Storm
I. Strange But Beautiful
II. Spiderman
III. From The Abyss
Encore:
Entertaining Angels




Pictures Landmarq by Arthur Haggenburg

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Line up Landmarq:

(left to right)
Uwe D'Rose:
guitars
Mike Varty:
keyboards and backing vocals
Daniel Martin:
drums
Tracy Hitchings:
lead vocals
Steve Gee:
bass guitars, bass pedals and backing vocals









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