Northern Prog Festival

Odyssice, Minor Giant, Leap Day,
The Aurora Project, Pink Faces

October 12, 2013 - De Uthof, Siegerswoude (NL)


The legendary annual Dutch Progfarm Festival, held at the farm De Harmsdobbe in Bakkeveen, once started in 1997. Its last edition was held in November 2011. During the fifteen years of its existence it had become a cosy festival where devotees of prog rock from all over the world could meet, greet and enjoy fantastic live acts. Unfortunately during the fifteenth anniversary edition (see review), the members of prog band Flamborough Head who organized this festival, called it a day. For me it was the best prog rock festival in the Netherlands ever. Now two years later, some of the former organizers decided to set up another festival in the northern part of our country. They called it the Northern Prog Festival held only a couple of miles away from the location where Progfarm took place: venue De Uthof in Siegerswoude, a community centre with a rather large stage. For this first event they invited five Dutch prog bands.

Odyssice

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Bastiaan Peeters
The instrumental prog band Odyssice had the task to bring the people in the audience in the right mood. Those people came from everywhere in the Netherlands, but there were also German people present! The last time I saw Odyssice play live on stage was in Oktober 2010, then being a support act for the Australian band Unitopia (see review). In the meantime their bass player Peter Kosterman had left the band. Since a replacement was hard to find, Sven de Haan (ex-Salmon, ex-Genesis Project) was willing to help them out during a couple of live performances. Just the other night, they gave one of these performances as a support act for the Italian Rush tribute band La Villa Strangiato. For that reason they hadn't slept much when they entered the stage at De Uthof.
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Sven de Haan
However, I couldn't notice any tiredness at all! They just played an excellent set. Accompanied by a nice atmospheric lightshow, they presented a fine compilation of songs taken from their three studio albums. These albums contain music that can be best compared to the instrumental music recorded by Camel. Especially guitarist Bastiaan Peeters sounded just like Andy Latimer from time to time. However, on the eastern sounding piece Anuradhapura he used his guitar synthesizer, which sounded completely different. When keyboard player Jeroen van der Wiel used his headset he noticed that someone in the audience with a smartphone seemed to use the same frequency thus interfering his. However, it could hardly be perceived that it had any effect on his playing because his keyboard parts still sounded good. After this strong gig the band members told me that the good live show was the result of the warm welcome they got while entering the stage!

Minor Giant

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Rik van Dommelen
The next band already impressed me during their strong performance at the first Progmotion Festival in Uden (2012, see review). At the time it was Minor Giant's debut concert; in the meantime they started recording their debut album On The Road, which is now in the mixing phase, and their bass player Harry den Hartog left the band. Just before the festival they found Rik van Dommelen as a good replacement. Just like last year they opened their performance with the superb title track of their forthcoming studio album. This time they had the opportunity to use a video screen; a perfect way to start a concert. The band played all the tracks that will appear on their debut.
Minor Giant's music seemed to be inspired by Neal Morse (ex-Spock's Beard), but not only the music is in the vein of
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Jordi Repkes
this excellent musician. The way composer Rindert Lammers moved behind his keyboard resembled the act of Neal Morse on stage nowadays. Well, I can't blame him at all because the music Minor Giant played was excellent; it was hardly possible to stand still. Lammers' synthesizer solos and the guitar solos played by lead singer Jordi Repkes were just outstanding. Next to playing their own material they also included two covers. The first one wasn't a surprise at all because We All Need Some Light by Transatlantic was written by Neal Morse, but the Camel tune Song Within A Song was a rather surprising choice. They showed to be capable of performing the music of this great band. Especially keyboardist Jos Heijmans stole the show during this piece. He strongly sang and played most of the synthesizer parts almost similar to the original version. In general the audience was very much impressed by this new and young progressive rock band, just like I was last year. I guess most of them, including myself, are eagerly waiting for their first album to come out!

Leap Day

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Jos Harteveld
The band members of Leap Day were the organizers of the first Northern Prog Festival. Compared to the bands that performed earlier they didn't have had any line-up changes so far. Since they officially started as Leap Day in 2008, they are a rather steady band that released two studio albums to date, namely Awaking The Muse (2009, see review) and Skylge's Lair (2011, see review). The third one called From The Days Of Deucalion, chapter 1 was presented during this festival, so most people in the audience were unfamiliar with the performed songs from this album. The band played five out of eight tracks from the new album and once
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Front: Eddy Mulder (L) and Gert van Engelenburg
Back: Peter Stel (L) and Koen Roozen
again it appeared to be top-notch. Obviously they wanted to share those strong compositions with the audience. They even performed Phaeton, a piece of music that will be included on the second chapter of this concept album which is probably due in 2014! However, we still could enjoy three songs from their previous albums, songs that contained beautiful melodic guitar parts by Eddie Mulder and excellent keyboard parts by Gert van Engelenburg and Derk Evert Waalkens. Before they started Secret Gardener from their debut, lead singer Jos Harteveld dedicated this song to a prog lover who had passed away recently. He strongly believed that he was watching the band from above!

The Aurora Project

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Dennis Binnekade
The music The Aurora Project produces can be labelled best as prog metal. This is also the musical style that can be heard on their latest album Selling The Aggression (2013, see review), which received very positive feedback and reviews. It certainly lifted the band to a higher level. They can easily compete with related foreign bands which they proved during a strong performance at this festival. The audience got a complete live version of the
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Remco van den Berg
new concept album. Unfortunately they didn't bring the accompanying images that should have been shown behind them, but even without these images they succeeded in entertaining the audience. The charismatic lead singer Dennis Binnekade did an outstanding stage performance. With his strong voice and partly dressed as a military man he impressed most of the people in front of him. That also applied to the fine guitar solos of Remco van den Berg and the keyboard sounds provided by Marcel Guyt. After the 'aggression' was over there was some time left to do songs from the two previous albums. In return the people present gave them a well-deserved show of hands! I guess The Aurora Project may look back at a well-performed show.

Pink Faces

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Jos Harteveld
The final act was Pink Faces, a Pink Floyd tribute band, which is more or less revealed by the name of the band. They were formed in 2011 and some band members had played with the Pink Floyd Project, another well-known Frisian Floyd cover band. You might say that Pink Faces are a more stripped down version of the Pink Floyd Project: less stage props and visuals, but with the same outstanding music of this legendary band. Two members of Leap Day also participate in Pink Faces, namely lead singer Jos Harteveld and guitarist Eddie Mulder. However, they could still shine during this second performance for which I would like to compliment them! In fact all band members deserve a big compliment, because the way they performed the Pink Floyd stuff was very impressive and came close to the original versions.
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Pink Faces
During the performance they played certain parts of Floyd albums. They started with In The Flesh? followed by The Happiest Days Of Our Lives and Another Brick In The Wall, part 2, all taken from The Wall (1979). Next to it we got parts of Dark Side Of The Moon (1973) and Wish You Were Here (1975). To my surprise they also included two songs from Pink Floyd's psychedelic period, namely Julia Dream, the B-side of the single It Would Be So Nice (1968), and Fat Old Sun from the album Atom Heart Mother (1970) of which the latter included an excellent guitar solo by Mr. Mulder. During the encores One Of These Days and Comfortably Numb some people in the audience felt the need to start dancing in front of the stage. It certainly contributed to a good atmosphere of the festival that ended with a superb guitar solo by Eddie Mulder during the classic Pink Floyd piece Comfortably Numb.

Looking back at the first Northern Prog Festival, I can only be positive. All of the five bands gave excellent shows and the organizers managed to keep everything under control. Thanks to sound technician Dammes Nienhuis the sound during all gigs was perfect and that also applied to the stage lights. There was enough to eat and to drink for the visitors. Although the catering was done well, we sometimes had to wait rather long! Enough people showed up to call it a success, so a second edition of this event has already been confirmed for the first of November 2014, maybe this time with some international acts that previously have never performed in the Netherlands. This was also one of the principles of the Dutch Progfarm Festival. As far as I'm concerned the Northern Prog Festival was the best progressive rock festival in the Netherlands in 2013 and a splendid alternative for Progfarm. Thank you guys!

Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)

Setlist Odyssice:


21
Losing Her
Anuradhapura
Colours Of Silence
And So Am I
Continental Motion
Chinese Waters
The Final decision
A Prophet's Dream Part 2



Pictures Odyssice by Arthur Haggenburg

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Line up Odyssice:

(left to right)
Bastiaan Peeters:
guitar synthesizer, electric guitars
Menno Boomsma:
drums
Jeroen van der Wiel:
keyboards
Sven de Haan:
bass guitars
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Setlist Minor Giant:


On The Road
Dream With Eyes Wide Open
We All Need Some Light
Lead Me Home
Hand In Hand
We Are Strangers Here
Song Within A Song
The Last Road




Pictures Minor Giant by Arthur Haggenburg

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Line up Minor Giant:

(left to right)
Jos Heijmans:
keyboards and backing vocals
Roy Post:
drums
Jordi Repkes:
electric guitar and lead vocals
Rindert Lammers:
keyboard
Rik van Dommelen:
bass and backing vocals
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Setlist Leap Day:


Haemus
Changing Directions
Ambrosia
Walls
Signs On The 13th
What Would You Do
Hurricane
Phaeton
When Leaves Fall
Secret Gardener
Little Green Men




Pictures Leap Day by Arthur Haggenburg

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Line up Leap Day:

(left to right)
Koen Roozen:
drums, percussion
Peter Stel:
bass guitar
Jos Harteveld:
lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Derk Evert Waalkens:
keyboards, backing vocals
Eddie Mulder:
electric guitars, backing vocals
Gert van Engelenburg:
keyboards, backing vocals
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Setlist The Aurora Project:


Dualistic Consciousness
Turning Of The Tide
Selling The Agression
The Oil Supremacy
The Sense Of Reality
Speeding Up Of Time
Newtopia
Unspoken Words II /
       The Untold Prophecy
Photonic Reunion
Shadow Border




Pictures The Aurora Project by Arthur Haggenburg

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Line up The Aurora Project:

(left to right)
Marc Vooys:
electric guitars
Rob Krijgsman:
bass guitar
Marcel Guyt:
keyboards and backing vocals
Dennis Binnekade:
lead vocals
Joris Bol:
drums
Remco van den Berg:
electric guitars and backing vocals
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Setlist Pink Faces:


In The Flesh?
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Another Brick In The Wall Part 2
Coming back to life
Speak To Me/ Breathe
Time
Julia Dream
Fat Old Sun
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Have A Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Money
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse
Encores:
One Of These Days
Comfortably Numb




Pictures Pink Faces by Arthur Haggenburg

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Line up Pink Faces:

(left to right)
Johan Overzet:
bass guitar, backing vocals, electric and acoustic guitars
Edwin Veenboer:
bass guitar
Jos Harteveld:
lead vocals and acoustic guitar
Eddie Mulder:
backing vocals, electric and acoustic guitars
Arie Zwart:
keyboards
Remko Hoitsma:
keyboard (guest @ last song)
Albert Schoonbeek:
drums
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