Silhouette & Credo

April 4, 2014 - De Pul, Uden (NL)


Sometimes we have to make decisions; some of them are difficult, others easy. This time I had to choose between two prog rock events held at the same day. I asked myself which bands I really wanted to see and which venue is closest to my home town. Taken this and some more things in consideration, I made my way to one of the best and cosiest venues in the Netherlands: De Pul in Uden. Two bands were on the bill that night and both are considered to belong to the best neo-progressive rock bands in their country: Silhouette in the Netherlands and Credo in England. Both bands had put together a short European tour, but they were stricken by bad luck. The other gig in our country had been cancelled earlier and the German gig had been rescinded at the very last moment because somebody had passed away! So, this short European 'tour' only consisted of one gig: the one I saw together with other people who just like me decided not to visit the Progdreams III festival at Cultuurpodium Boerderij in Zoetermeer.
 

Silhouette

The Dutch musicians from Silhouette were the opening act of this evening. They got one hour to show what they're capable of and to be honest: my expectations ran high.
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Brian de Graeve and Gerrit-Jan Bloemink (r)
The last time I saw them play at the same venue they opened for Landmarq (2013, see review) and performed an exceptionally strong show! This was mainly due to the two new band members Daniel van der Weijde (guitars) and Rob Nieuwenhuijzen (drums). In the review I stated that maybe someday Silhouette will finally become a real live act, which wasn't always the case! Well, after the last notes of When Snow's Falling Down I knew that they hadn't let me down.

This ultimate song of the set was performed as strong as the remainder of the concert. The set list mainly consisted of tracks from their acclaimed third album Across The Rubicon (2012, see review), except for Second Time Down from Moods (2009, see review) and the brand new piece Web Of Lies. This song will appear on their forthcoming record Behind The Seventh Wave. Just like all the other pieces written by
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Daniel van der Weijde
the band, this new tune contains strong instrumental parts. Especially Erik Laan and Daniel van der Weijde excelled on keyboards and electric guitar respectively. The latter's finger picking showed that he has been influenced by John Petrucci (Dream Theater). The new song revealed that prog rock devotees have something to look out for at the end of 2014.

Not only music wise the band grew, but also their stage presentation looked better than before. Front man and singer Brian de Graeve got more room to walk on stage after he handed over the most important guitar parts to Van der Weijde. By doing so he's able to focus on other things and to improve his vocal capacities. However, it didn't always look that good to see him deliberate that much with Erik Laan, the other singer in the band. But I will forgive him because together with the other musicians he succeeded in fully entertaining the audience! What more could one ask for? And guess what? They have become a strong live act after all!
 

Credo

The last time I saw Credo on a Dutch stage was three years ago. During the iO Pages Festival in 2011 (see review) they were the headliners of the second day of this festival. In the meantime their third album
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Tim Birrel and Mark Colton (r)
Against Reason (2011, see review) saw the light of day and drummer Martin Meads quit the band. He was replaced by Gerald 'Mully' Mulligan. Although he could hardly be seen behind his drum kit he did an excellent job. He exactly knew which toms he had to use during the intro of the opening piece The Game. I guess he had practised the band's back catalogue thoroughly. However, he wasn't the only one who had done his homework properly. All band members had crossed The English Channel well-prepared for this one and only European concert.

Despite the fact that it was their only performance on the Continent, and that only few
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Jim Murdoch
visitors attended this concert, they did their utmost to entertain them! Lead singer Mark Colton was the host of the evening. Once again he was dressed in a shirt having skulls on it. He made some funny remarks about the drummer who had left the band and about the cowboy hat the excellent guitarist Tim Birrel wore. He even compared Birrel with the American singer-songwriter and country legend Kenny Rogers. After the show Tim Birrel told me that he didn't care at all. He wore the hat to prevent the lights from reflecting on his thin grey hair. During the ninety-minute show of Credo they performed music from their second album Rhetoric (2005, see review) and from Against Reason.

Mark Colton informed his fans that the new album is only to be expected in 2015. But who wants to listen to new material if you can enjoy fantastic epics as Too Late... ...To Say Goodbye and From The Cradle...To The Grave? Towards the end the first epic included a tribute to all fallen soldiers, just like they did before. The second one was played as an encore. It was slightly ironically introduced by Mark Colton as being their version of Grendel or Garden Party (both Marillion), Supper's Ready (Genesis) and 2112 (Rush). This encore was a perfect ending of an amazing performance by a band in great shape!

No matter what difficult decisions you have to make in life, in the end you'll probably never know if you made the right ones. You never know what you've missed if you should have decided otherwise! However, when you had a good time the choice you made is always the right one and this was certainly the case when I witnessed Silhouette and Credo.

Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)



Live video
recordings

   by Henri & Roel Strik

X Don't Stop this Movie (11:46)
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When Snow's Falling Down (9:07)

Setlist Silhouette:


Grendel Memories
Breathe
Web Of lies
Second Time Down
Don't Stop This Movie
When Snow's Falling Down



Pictures Silhouette by Arthur Haggenburg

>>> Click here to view all pics on one page.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

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Line up Silhouette:

(left to right)
Daniel van der Weijde:
electric guitars
Rob Nieuwenhuijzen:
drums
Brian de Graeve:
vocals, electric and acoustic guitars
Erik Laan:
keyboards, vocals
Gerrit-Jan Bloemink:
bass guitar
X




Live video
recordings

   by Henri & Roel Strik

X Staring at the Sun (10:41)
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Skintrade (6:59)
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Round and Round (11:47)

Setlist Credo:


The Game
Round And Round
Skintrade
Staring At The Sun
Too Late...
...To Say Goodbye
Insane
The Letter
Encores:
From The Cradle...
...To The Grave





Pictures Credo by Arthur Haggenburg

>>> Click here to view all pics on one page.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

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Line up Credo:

(left to right)
Tim Birrel:
electric guitar
Mark Colton:
lead vocals
Gerald 'Mully' Mulligan:
drums
Jim Murdoch:
bass guitar, backing vocals
Mike Varty:
keyboards, backing vocals
X





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