Alquin

January 15, 2010 - 013, Tilburg (NL)

Sailors & Sinners, the latest album of Dutch veteran rockers Alquin contains music that can hardly be labeled as progressive rock music. I rather call it mainstream rock. However, the band started their career in 1972 and recorded several albums containing great prog tunes. Those tunes are still on the band’s repertoire and therefore a visit to one of their concerts is always a feast. During a live show, Alquin perform their music with a lot of passion and enthusiasm and there’s always room for improvisation. The gig at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands proved this again.

After a short intro taken from a tape the band hit the stage and played The Mission, the opening tune from their latest album. It’s a rather mediocre song, but the way these senior musicians performed it showed that we deal with one of the best live acts from the lowlands. Next on the set list two more songs from Sailors & Sinners followed by Revolution’s Eve, an old piece from their third album Nobody Can Wait Forever (1975). The audience immediately reacted enthusiastically on hearing the first notes of this excellent song. It seemed as if they had been waiting for the band’s old stuff. Guitarist Ferdinand Bakker got a leading role on Soft-Eyed Woman, another oldie from their highly acclaimed album The Mountain Queen (1973). Bakker let his black Gibson Les Paul guitar sound very melodic. Terror Eyes was the first song from the band’s comeback album Blue Planet (2005). I think the songs on this album are slightly better than the material on Sailors & Sinners. The title track was the last song before they took a short break. On the album this track lasts for about fourteen minutes, but the live version is a couple of minutes longer and more powerful.

After the break, I expected a short acoustic set, but after performing the acoustic ballad Holland from their latest album, they changed gear. For Return To The Blue Planet, Mr. Bakker’s electric guitar and the five string electric bass of Walter Latuperissa were plugged in again and the audience was treated to another old song: Fool In The Mirror. The taped intro of new track Kite Runner sounded like an Indian tribe dancing for rain. It made some people in the audience scream-along. After this song, lead singer Michel van Dijk got a piece of paper from a person in the audience. “This is a winning lottery ticket”, he joked. “The first prize is a four-week vacation at Ferdinand Bakker’s place including guitar lessons and free meals.” In fact, he couldn’t read the note without his glasses and handed it over to saxophone player Ronald Ottenhof. The message on the paper appeared to be a request to perform songs from the album Marks, but a band hardly ever change their set list so they continued with the new track Behind The Tree. When I listened to this song on Sailors & Sinners, it didn’t remind me of Camel at all, but strangely enough this time it did. The sound of the Hammond organ played by Dick Franssen was very recognizable for New Guinea Sunrise (1975), certainly one of my favourite Alquin-tracks giving me a lot of joy.

Throughout the concert Ferdinand Bakker’s violin lied on one of the amplifiers. Fortunately, he picked it up for the last two songs of the regular set. Mr. Barnum Junior’s Magnificent And Fabulous City, part 1 from the Marks-album (1972) got a false start, because the violin was out of tune and had to be tuned first. The Hammond-intro of the next song made my heart beat a little faster. For me, an Alquin-concert isn’t satisfying without my all-time favourite The Dance (1973). The first part didn’t include Ferdinand’s distorted guitar sound. He now played the melody with his violin which sounded as if it had always been this way. The second part featured solos on piano, guitar and saxophone. The band’s well-known single Wheelchair Groupie never became a hit single actually, but it is always welcomed as one and therefore a solid choice for a last encore. Together with Central Station Hustle it appeared to be a perfect piece to end the concert, leaving the dedicated fans behind in a great state of mind. Again, they witnessed a wonderful live performance.

Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)



Setlist:

Set 1:
The Mission
Minnie Minnoux
Lillie's Notebook
Revolution's Road
Soft Eyed Woman
Terror Eyes
Sailors & Sinners

Set 2:
Holland
Return To The Blue Planet
Fool In The Mirror
Not In A Million Years
Kite Runner
Behind The Tree
New Guinea Sunrise
The Barndance:
Mr. Barnum's Junior's Magnificent And Fabulous City (Part One)
The Dance

Encores:
Central Station Hustle
Wheelchair Groupie



Pictures Alquin by Arthur Haggenburg

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Line up Alquin:

(left to right)
Dick Franssen:
keyboards
Job Tarenskeen:
drums, backing vocals
Ronald Ottenhof:
saxophones
Michel van Dijk:
lead vocals, percussion
Walter Latuperissa:
basses, backing vocals, acoustic guitar
Ferdinand Bakker:
electric and acoustic guitar, violin, flute, backing vocals







All Rights Reserved Background Magazine 2013