The Rock Ittervoort concert was one I was looking forward to for a long time. Main reason; two bands I highly regard
(
Kingcrow and
Threshold) were booked and after
visiting previous concerts of both bands the expectations were quite high. But
first of all, a big thank you to the organisation of the annual concert for managing such an event.
On this sunny Friday we drove to Ittervoort, parked the car, and after a quick
snack we walked to the venue. To our surprise we saw a sole camper standing
outside, which turned out to be the home of Kingcrow during their Dutch
adventure. Nice as these Italian guys are, we quickly got to into a more than
friendly conversation; talking about music, recording of the new album, and
other future plans. When the doors opened, the place filled up with musical
companions who, like us, were hoping for a night filled with great music, beer and friends.
Nem-Q
|
Paul Sieben |
On stage the first band got ready to start their show.
Nem-Q
is almost a local band that lives around the corner from
Ittervoort. Just a few weeks before the show, I was given their second album
301.81
(2012, see
review)
|
Twan Bakker |
to listen to and I just could not hear why fellow reviewers were so positive about this band. But hey, perhaps the live show would change my first impression about the
band's music. Right.. that didn't really happen, the band tried hard and I
really have to credit the drummer for his enthusiastic way of playing, but the
spark did not reach me. After a few songs it seemed they were repeating
themselves, the compositions sound alike a lot, but for warming up the audience
it was alright, we could get a beer, buy a T-shirt and get in the mood for what was about to come.
Kingcrow
|
Ivan Nastasi |
As written above, I had high expectations of the band Kingcrow, who had played in
Uden (2013, see
review) last August and totally blew me away with a magical
performance, so my personal question was whether they could come close to that
performance. The answer was YES; the band entered the stage with a kind of
energy that immediately was absorbed by the audience and was returned to the
band in multiple ways. What this band shows on stage is power, intimacy and a
lot of pleasure. I guess two days of driving and been locked up in a small
campervan has to find a way out. For guitarist
Diego Cafolla the energy showed, while he was jumping around
playing this parts flawless; rough power chords and emotional solos were
|
Diego Marchesi |
blended perfectly together. On the other side of the stage guitarist
Ivan Nastasi was playing the more
technical parts;
impressive melody lines and
technical soloing.
Kingcrow's eye-catcher is the more than impressive vocalist,
Diego Marchesi. He lets himself go
completely during a performance, his mimicry showing all the emotions that a good song can fill you with.
Drowning
Line,
Morning Rain and
In Crescendo are perfect samples of his
mix of emotion and power. During the longer instrumental parts and the unexpected encore, bass player
Francesco
D'Errico left his spot in the back of the stage to join both guitarists in
the front. His playing is flawless and on stage he might not be the guy that
wants to be in the middle of attention, but he is a real monster on the bass.
Another monster was right in the middle, at the back.
Thundra Cafolla
provides the power, including the subtle percussive
parts that make him stand out. As a keyboard player it usually is hard to get
the attention that you deserve being positioned behind your rig, but
Cristian Della Polla did a great job
and without his input, I suspect Kingcrow's music would not be the same.
Kingcrow closed the set with the highlight of the previous album,
Phlegethon, but for me the whole set was
a succession of highlights and the unexpected encore was just perfect. The
audience, who felt the energy during this performance, needs to be credited as
well. Their response to the band was amazing every time; yelling and clapping,
and I had the strong feeling they wouldn't have had any problem with a dozen more songs.
Threshold
|
Damian Wilson |
When Threshold entered the stage, the atmosphere was still filled with Italian
energy, and the band got the audience's attention from the first second when they
came on stage. After a nine month hiatus, during this reunion concert, as vocalist
Damian Wilson named it, you
couldn't notice they hadn't seen a stage for so long; it was like the band only
gained enthusiasm. During the entire show, guitarists
Karl Groom and
Pete Morten
were fooling around and searching each other's company to play those impressive
double leads the band is famous for. I guess you can see true friendship between
these musicians when they play live. The moments Karl and Pete were not in each
other's company, there was always bass player
Steve Anderson they
could fool around with. It seemed to me that the latter takes front of stage
more often and gets the attention he deserves. As always, centre-point of
attention is vocalist Damian Wilson, whose performance is always flawless. He
|
Karl Groom |
really excels in the personal bonding with the audience, he knows people by
their names and is seen by many fans as part of their family. This evening was
no exception. He was telling stories and blended the whole show to a perfect evening.
Richard West also was
pointed behind his keyboards, but he definitely got his share of attention with
super solos and backing vocals; even the grunts in
Slipstream
seemed to come from his microphone. At the last minute,
the band changed the set-up and deleted a new composition from the list, thus
preventing a lot of pre-release Youtube video's of the song. Instead we got a strong version of
Avalon. Other
highlights were
Mission Profile,
Long Way Home,
Pilot In The Sky Of Dreams
as well as compositions of their previous album,
March Of Progress (2012, see
review). My
personal request to the band would be to position the drums closer to the
audience next time, for there is one hell of a one man show going on at the back of the stage. Drummer
Johanne James is more than the average drummer; he is without a doubt, a stunning performer.
Threshold ended with a double encore of two masterpieces;
The Ravages Of Time and
Ashes.
However, with all this positive energy still floating through my veins, I do have one
remark. This isn't in regard to any of the bands, but has to do with the venue the concert was held.
It's too bad the acoustics were terrible. I know the regular marching bands
that play there don't have any problems with this fact, but during a heavy rock
concert the sound is bouncing back and forth all over the place. Therefore the
overall sound was not perfect and I heard numerous people complaining about
this. For the organisation: this is meant as positive criticism and perhaps
curtains on the wall would increase the sound quality.
To sum up; the evening was awesome, great bands, good music and well organised.
After the show the band-members took the time to talk to their fans and answer their
questions as well as take photographs with them. After a night well spent, we
drove home and tired but satisfied we headed for our beds. Thanks for a wonderful evening and see you next year!
Pedro Bekkers (edited by Esther Ladiges)