The people of the amazing ProgFrog team tried several times to get the Canadian progressive rock act Red Sand on their stage. However to make their official debut on a stage in the Netherlands seemed to be almost impossible.

Tribute to Ko Molenaar

Not that the band wasn't willing to please their fans in our country. Other reasons prevented them crossing the Atlantic Ocean. It was Covid-19 and terror threats that spoiled it all. Well to cut the story short they eventually climbed the stage of 't Blok in Nieuwerkerk aan de IJssel on the first Sunday of October. They did this together with their Polish friends from Retrospective, who had already visited this cosy venue in 2018 and 2019. Both bands joined forces to do a seven dates European double headliner tour which brought them already to Poland (3 gigs), Germany (2 gigs), Belgium and finally the Netherlands. At a sold out venue the audience was waiting for them to give them a warm welcome!
The same audience and both bands also paid tribute to the late Ko Molenaar that passed away only a couple of weeks earlier on a much too young age. A picture of him was on the stage during both performances. Ko was well know in the progressive rock scene because of his many tattoos on his body of well know prog acts. He will be missed without any doubt.  

Retrospective

Jakub Roszak (►more pics)

For those who are not really familiar with Retrospective, I can tell you that they were formed in 2005 in Leszno, Poland. It started off with drummer Robert Kusik and guitarist Maciej Klimek. They have released 5 studio albums. Namely Stolen Thoughts (2008), Lost In Perception (2012), Re:Search (2017), Latent Avidity (2019) and iNtroVert (2022). Music wise the band sounds like a combination of Riverside and Pink Floyd. During the bands excellent performance they really sounded like a solid musical unit. The rhythm section, comprising of bassist Łukasz Marszałek and the earlier mentioned Kusik, created together with rhythm guitarist Darek Kaźmierczak a simple but strong basis on which the other members could shine. It was most of all lead singer Jakub Roszak who was most of the time in the spotlights. Jumping and dancing like a professional boxer he kept his audience focused all the time. Together with the two female singers Beata Łagoda (also on keyboards) and extra guest Magda Perszewska they came up with strong vocal performances. Music wise it was most of all Klimek who got all of the attention by playing some excellent solos on his guitar. As for the songs the band performed, I was very much surprised that they played their latest album iNtroVert completely. The songs were done in the same order as on the album. Starting with the strong opener Log Out and ending with Self-Control. The additional songs on the setlist came mainly from Latent Avidity. With songs such as What Will Be Next and Loneliness. All in all a rather entertaining performance to get in to the mood of the other band.
 

Red Sand

Steff Dorval and Simon Caron (r) (►more pics)

Our friends from Canada come from Quebec and started their musical career in 2003. So far the band released 10 albums. The bands leader is multi instrumentalist Simon Caron. Who played on the band's latest releases guitars, keyboards and bass guitar. On those albums he is assisted by classically trained vocalist Stéphane Dorval (aka Steff) and drummer Perry Angellilo. Music wise the band sounds like early Marillion and Pink Floyd. During the band's live performance André Godbout can be found on the bass guitar. Godbout is certainly no stranger to the band because he played on several of the band's releases. In the past the band hired a keyboard player. But this time around a keyboardist did not get a ticket to fly with the other musicians to Europe. Therefore during the concerts the keyboard sounds are triggered by Angellilo by pressing the button of a musical devices next to his drum kit. For the live performances Caron is completely focused on his Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. So on stage he doesn't touch any keyboards or basses.

As for the first concert on a Dutch stage, a dream came true for many of their fans to see them for the first time. I guess nobody present regretted buying a ticket for this special show. A show in which the musicians were on top of their game. The rhythm section was just top notch. Giving the guitarist and lead vocalist all the space to shine. Simon's guitar parts were breathtaking and Steff's vocal and acting performances were one of a kind. The songs done came most of all from their latest albums The Sound Of The Seventh Bell (2021), Crush The Seed (2020) and FoRsAkEn (2019). With only one song taken from the band's debut Mirror Of Insanity (2004) and its follow up Gentry (2005). Progressive rock lovers who love to be entertained by a lead singer who loves to change outfits on stage came certainly to the right place. Dorval played many roles by putting on many different costumes. This way he could express the songs performed.

For example during his entrance on stage, while the band was playing Were They Born Like That, he was wearing a cape and mask. And during Hello To The Last Goodbye he was wearing a blindfold. During Woman he was acting like a young and old woman. For his role of the elderly woman he put on a mask of an old woman. A bit like Peter Gabriel was wearing an old man mask while performing with Genesis The Musical Box. While singing Blame he put on a straight jacket. For the song Very Strange he put on a black and white striped jacket to look like a prisoner. He even acted as if he was put behind bars and wanted to escape from his cell. While doing this he reminded me of Marcel Marceau. The famous French mime artist and actor which Steff actually didn't know about, as he told me after the show. While the band did the brand new piece Breaking Wings during the encore, he put on a Jersey hockey shirt and acted like a player who scored a goal. Watching all his acting performances was certainly a lot of fun to look at. Just as much fun to hear the musicians perform all of the songs in an excellent way. I guess I couldn't have asked for more. This first performance on a Dutch stage was one to embrace and to remember for a very very very long time!

The people of ProgFrog once again put two excellent bands on their stage. Both bands were great to watch and music wise was there a lot to enjoy. So thanks to everybody who made it possible to have again a wonderful Sunday afternoon during another Indian summer!

Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen)