The British band Also Eden and the Dutch bands Silhouette and Flamborough Head joined forces to do a triple concert in April 2009 at the StarSound Studio in Utrecht (see review). Now six years later two of those bands once again came to the same venue in the Netherlands to do a double headliner concert. Strangely enough both acts Also Eden and Silhouette have gone through some line up changes since those concerts in 2009. From Also Eden only guitarist and founding member Simon Rogers is still in the band. From Silhouette only lead singer and founding member Brian de Graeve and keyboard player Erik Laan are the musicians I also saw climbing the same stage six years ago. So you could really say time didn't stand still for both bands and they went through the usual split ups that bands go through! Furthermore this concert was for both bands the start of what they called the "Wings Unfurled" mini-tour. A tour which would bring them to the UK to do four shows together. Only Also Eden would do an extra show at the Prog The Castle Festival in Heidelberg in Germany after this show in Utrecht.
 

Silhouette

Vocals by Jurjen, Mary and Brian

Sometimes you hardly see one of your favourite bands doing concerts in the Netherlands. However this is absolutely not the case with the Dutch outfit Silhouette. The year 2015 is still very young but so far I have seen them in action two times already. First as the headliners for CELEBRATE! 2015 (see review) held in Purmerend in January. The second time was in April at Progkampen (see review) when they received the iO Pages Prog Award 2014 for Best CD created in 2014 by Dutch or Belgian bands. And now one month later the third time already. Well did I care? I guess not! Because watching such an excellent Dutch progressive rock band isn't really punishment. In Kampen they couldn't perform in the complete line-up they present as Silhouette XL. During those XL shows the five musicians are assisted by four extra guests on stage. This way they can come very close to the studio versions of the songs from their awarded album Beyond The Seventh Wave (2014, see review). In Kampen backing vocalist MaryO had to withdraw at the very last minute due to health problems. But this time around she was present and gave something extra to the show.

Bart and Daniel

A show built around the new album and completed with tracks taken from Moods (2009, see review) and Across The Rubicon (2012, see review). This time I will not go into detail which songs were performed from the albums mentioned. But I can tell you they did perfect renditions from the complex studio versions. Neither will I mention each and everybody who played during this once again excellent performance. The band just kicked ass. Just as I had expected. A very well oiled machine is on stage. Every musician can count on the other one who is next to him. As mentioned the band was going on a short UK tour after this show. But unfortunately those who attended their concerts had to do it without the four extra musicians. So no XL for them. But I guess even without them the British audience have seen one of the best progressive rock bands from the Netherlands! A band that has grown to an international level! Something that wasn't the case when they performed at the same venue six years before. Well sometimes we are all into some pleasant surprises, aren't we?
 

Also Eden

Also Eden from Wales are certainly no strangers to me either. First seeing them twice at the Progfarm festival, where they played an acoustic three piece set and one year later a whole band set which featured members of the original line-up. After that I was at the aforementioned gig in 2009. The last time I witnessed them was again at the StarSound Studios in 2012. During this time several

Rich Harding

members had left and were replaced by others. From this show nowadays drummer Lee Nicholas, guitarist Simon Rogers and lead singer Rich Harding are still in the band. However for Mr. Nicholas it was his farewell tour because he had decided to leave the band. Having seen them so often certainly didn't mean I wasn't looking forward to see them a fifth time. In my review of their latest release [REDACTED] (2013, see review) I already wrote that hopefully the band will visit the European continent soon to perform the story of [REDACTED] in front of a live audience. I was very curious to see how they perform this wonderful album on a stage. Well not the complete album was done but a large part of it was included on the setlist. They even started with a track from this album, namely Distortion Field which was followed by another one from the album. After Extend & Embrace was completed in a perfect way they played a part of their earlier released concept album Think Of The Children! (2011, see review). This is again a very strong concept album with maybe even stronger compositions on it. Singer Harding introduced Think Of The Children I with a nice anecdote about his son. He heard about the album title and misunderstood it and warned his father not to talk and sing about "think of children" because the police might not like it! Another part of this album was next with the three piece Oversight/Cijfers/The Greater Game. After this strong piece of music the band returned with A Lonely Idea, Chronologic and Decoded of their latest concept album. An album that deals with the aftermath of a devastating traffic accident, which happened to Rich years ago while riding on a motorbike. Finally their set came to an end with two excellent tracks taken from their EP Differences As Light (2010, see review). Both Seeing Red and Reality Cheque can be regarded as real classic Also Eden pieces of music. They both gave guitarist Rogers a chance to shine.

Graham Lane

Although the band doesn't play music from their first two albums About Time (2006, see review) and It's Kind Of You To Ask (2008, see review) anymore, it didn't mean the band's performance has become lesser to when their original singer Huw Lloyd-Jones fronted the band. No way! His replacement Rich Harding is not just an excellent singer but a real entertainer on stage as well. Sometimes in Dutch, sometimes in his mother tongue he told interesting stories in between the very well performed songs. Moreover the new boys in the band Andy Rigler (keyboards) and Graham Lane (backing vocals, bass and acoustic guitar) made sure that together with the other guys on stage the music was done in a perfect way. Even though they couldn't do a soundcheck before they went on!

I am sure both bands will do a double headliner concert at the StarSound Studios in Utrecht some day, which will probably be just as fantastic as the one I witnessed the first weekend in May of 2015!

Henri Strik (edited by Astrid de Ronde)