Strangely enough most progressive rock concerts are
held in the western part of the Netherlands. Or even every now and then fans of
the genre can enjoy concerts held in the south of the Netherlands-however
almost never in the eastern or northern parts. Therefore progressive rock
magazine iO Pages, record store Blue Music and music venue 't Ukien decided to join forces to organize progressive
rock events in this part of our country in the future. The place where it all
should take place is Kampen and the bands that are the first musical fruits of this collaboration are the Dutch acts
Silhouette and
Cartographer! This all was
presented under the banner of Progkampen, a progressive rock festival that
should take place more often in the future and therefore without a very good
initiative. Most of all, bands from our own country should get a chance to
present themselves in front of a progressive rock audience!
Cartographer
|
Cartographer on stage |
Cartographer from Tilburg had the task of opening this
series of concerts. I had already seen this outfit when they opened for
Sean Filkins
(see
review) during the Dutch Exposure Project event in the Netherlands in 2012. So I already knew they have
no less than three guitarists in their line-up and play their instrumental
music without a keyboard player. At the time they mainly performed songs which
came from their 2012 released eponymous EP. During their concert you could
already hear that they were mostly inspired by bands such as
Oceansize,
Muse and
Karnivool. Now
three years later they could show me and the people who came to see them if
they had grown as a band. With their first full-length album
A Sea Of Sunshine in their baggage they
|
Yoep de Ligt |
climbed the rather small stage of the venue. It was a lot different compared to
the venue where they had their release party for their debut. Last year they
presented in a sold out 013 their first CD, which received rave reviews
everywhere. But this time around they played mainly for people who are fans of
the second band on the bill. So they were at first approached by them a little
bit skeptical.
The tracks they played were mainly from the newest album. But the more songs they played, the more the crowd liked them and moved along with their music. This music can be described
as instrumental post-rock. Or 'post progressive rock' as they named their style
themselves. The compositions they perform sometimes contain very relaxed, sparkling,
clean and dreamy harmonies. Other times the same tracks almost explode with
their heavy guitar sound. Sure their well-structured music is very cleverly
done, but you can't deny that sometimes you get the feeling that most of the
songs sound much the same. In a way you have heard it all before during their
set. But I guess it's just a matter of taste if you dig this kind of
instrumental music. But like three years ago, most people in the audience loved
their music and that's just what matters once again! And yes I guess they certainly have grown as a band!
Silhouette
|
Goodbye Gerrit-Jan |
The band that entered the stage as the second act of
the evening had already impressed me earlier this year. Their performance at CELEBRATE!
2015 (see
review) was of a very high level. At Pop and Cultuurpodium P3 in Purmerend
they managed to set the stage on fire. Moreover they were more or less
responsible for the fact that those who were in front of it became overheated
by their music. All in all, they could look back at a very successful
performance. I guess for that reason it was in a way rather obvious that the
same kind of show was done three months later. Meaning with the same images
projected at the back of the stage and that almost the same musicians would
play the same compositions, again with an extended line-up. Once again were
Brian de Graeve
(guitar and vocals),
Erik Laan (keyboards and vocals),
Rob van Nieuwenhuijzen (drums),
Daniel van der Weijde (guitars) and
Jurjen Bergsma (bass and vocals) accompanied on stage by
Sophie Zaaijer (violin),
Tamara van Koetsveld (clarinet) and
Bart Laan (guitar). Unfortunately
another guest,
Mary O, had to withdraw at the very last moment due to health problems. However also without
this fine musician the main set still included once again most of all of songs
taken from their 2014 released 4th album, titled
Beyond The Seventh Wave
(see
review). An album that was voted by
|
The Award |
the readers of iO Pages as the winner of the iO Pages Prog Award 2014 for Best
CD created in 2014 by Dutch or Belgian bands. The award was presented to the
band by Bert Treep during this show. So congratulations to the band
for winning this award! Original bassist
Gerrit-Jan Bloemink,
who decided to depart from the band last year, was also present
during this presentation for an album on which he for the last time could be
heard as a band member. Furthermore, he got the chance to say farewell to his
audience by playing on his instrument during
Second Time Down from the bands second album
Moods
(2009, see
review).
It was probably a surprise to the audience that
Unreal Meeting was done too, another track from the same album.
This song proved that they already did write strong compositions at the start
of their career. The other songs performed next to those of their latest release were taken from
Across The Rubicon
(2012, see
review). Concert opener
Grendel Memories, regular set ending tune
Don't Stop This Movie
and the second encore
When Snow's Falling Down.
During the last mentioned title the crowd was asked to sing along with lead singer de Graeve. However, this was something which was not done wholeheartedly as three months earlier in Purmerend.
Well I guess not everybody
in the audience wants to participate, even though the lyrics aren't that difficult to sing.
Besides some technical difficulties with Brian's strings
on his twelve string acoustic guitar and a too early end tune from the mixing
desk, not much went wrong during this excellent performance. Maybe the stage
was a little too small to put all nine musicians on but it didn't prevent the
band from entertaining everybody present with superb music and cool videos
throughout the entire concert. What else do you need on a Saturday evening in April? Nothing more I guess!
Henri Strik (edited by Robert James Pashman)