Casual Silence Farewell Concert
July 3, 2011 - De Lakei, Helmond (NL)
Back in 1999 someone gave me a copy of
Shamelessly Dressed, the first mini-CD but the second album of the
Dutch progressive rock band Casual Silence,
formed in 1993. They had already released their debut
Bad Side Memories on vinyl in 1997. I
liked the music on Shamelessly Dressed
so much that I decided to follow the band as much as I could. After the
marvellous recordings Once In A Blue Moon
(2003) and Lost In Life (2007, see review),
Vertical Horizon (see review) is the band's latest -
and probably their final - album that came out earlier this year. Unfortunately,
the band decided to call it a day lately. Keyboard player
Henry Meeuws
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Rob Laarhoven |
is looking for new musical challenges, so he decided
to quit. The impact of his statement was so great that founding members guitarist-singer
Ernst Le Cocq d'Armandville and lead
singer Rob Laarhoven decided
to quit as well. In practice this means that after eighteen years of friendship
Casual Silence disbanded. However, their final effort once again shows that the
band belong(ed) to the top of the Dutch prog rock scene.
In order to give their fans the opportunity to witness the band for the
last time, a farewell concert was arranged at the venue that had been very
important throughout their career. Lakei - previously known as Plato - is
located in the band's home town of Helmond and on this stage they celebrated
the release of a number of albums. When I noticed the people outside the venue waiting
until someone would open the door, I had mixed feelings. I wasn't sure whether I
was going to a kind of funeral of a good friend or just saying goodbye to someone
who just had retired. Should I be sad or happy? Well, I guess I got the answer
after the band performed the final song of this farewell gig.
I wasn't sure what to expect music wise. It was obvious that Casual
Silence would perform songs spanning their entire career. However, how would
the musicians deal with the idea that they had reached the end of an era? After
a short instrumental intro the band members entered the stage and kicked off
with two brand-new tracks from their latest album
Vertical Horizon. The band played very solid and the sound was
rather good. One could hear that they had practiced the new material a lot,
because The Other Side and
The Chance came pretty close to the
original album versions. After these songs the audience made a trip in a time
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The guitarists |
machine. Captain Rob guided them through the history of the band with
selections from all recorded albums while telling some anecdotes in between. The
time machine started in 2003 with a couple of tracks from
Once In A Blue Moon
including the band's classic piece Lambrusco
Evening.
Next they got further back in time and performed the first
two songs the band ever wrote for their debut album
Bad Sides Memories. These songs,
Free To Be Free and Valentine's Day,
must have taken them down
memory lane. The next was Lost In Life,
an album recorded as a tribute to their former keyboard player
David Natall, who passed away too soon.
Well, I think he could have been proud of the songs performed from that album. They
also played Haunted By The Past, one
of the band's best songs recorded for their debut album. Henry Meeuws added
some extra keyboard parts to this piece. The song
Shamelessly Dressed, that once
introduced me to this wonderful band, got an excellent live version. After this
song the time machine returned to the present continuing with the title track
of their last studio album followed by My
Fifth Season.
Both tracks were very well performed! Casual Silence ended
the regular set with Empty Hands,
another piece from the mini-album Shamelessly Dressed.
Obviously the band would give an
encore. Without leaving the stage they asked the audience if they had any
requests for an encore. I'm not sure if I heard someone call
Casual Silence, the song named after the
band, but they played it anyway. This fine live version proved again that it's
a great pity Casual Silence decided to quit. These fantastic musicians
performed their music with passion and emotion and I could also notice their friendship
on stage. A couple of days after this fine performance they gave their definite
last gig being a support-act for Threshold.
Only time will tell if they ever reunite, but one thing's for sure: one or two other
bands will rise out of the ashes of Casual Silence. Maybe this concert was a
funeral after all...
Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)
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