The Italian progressive rock outfit Phoenix Again is certainly not a stranger to me. Those who read my reviews on this website do know that I am a great admirer of their music. Which is most of all instrumental music with links to bands such as Focus and Camel. Three years ago I managed to get them a concert in the Netherlands (see review). Their first performance on a Dutch stage was at the one of the cosiest venues in our country. Namely 't Blok in Nieuwerkerk a/d IJssel. After the show was over they left the audience speechless and I certainly wanted to see them again one more time. This happened sooner than expected. Even without my help they were on stage at another very cosy venue in the Netherlands. The people of Serious Music Alphen were also impressed by their music, and arranged their second concert in the Netherland sat the Parkvilla Theater in Alphen a/d Rijn.
 

Some people consider Friday 13th an unlucky day. But not the members of Phoenix Again. Even though the concert was held on Friday, April 13 and these men had two car rides of more than 14 hours behind

From L to R: Antonio and Marco Lorandi

them they managed to caputure the hearts of those who were present. During the two sets and final encore they performed the best possible music they could come up with from their back catalogue. A catalogue which includedes the albums ThreeFour (2011, see review), Look Out (2014, see review) and Unexplored (2017, see review). Of course the main focus was on their latest effort. They almost played the entire album and only left out two compositions.

The strong family bonding between the members was very notable on stage and is mainly the reason why they played as such a tight unit. The long friendship between the original members (the brothers Sergio Lorandi on lead guitar and Antonio Lorandi on bass guitar and drummer Silvano Silva) and those who came in later (keyboard player Andrea Piccinelli and guitarist Marco Lorandi, who is the son of Antonio) made the perfect chemistry to play as a very well oiled musical machine. They proved to be very impressive even without percussionist Giogio Lorandi (another son of Antonio) who could not come along! In a more than 2 hour show they played with great craftsmanship and fun. Phoenix Again proved to be a solid collective, of course through the visible warm family ties, but certainly also musically, with lead guitarist Sergio in a central role.

Sergio Lorandi

Due to the large variety of styles, the band did not have a moment of boredom and the audience was fascinated from the beginning to the end. The entire set was beautifully done. With intense rock-oriented pieces combined with more mellow parts they made sure each track sounded different. They integrated influences taken from pure progressive rock music next to more Latin kind of music with also influences taken from jazz and folk. And for even more variety , they also did three songs which had vocal parts. Therefore the crowd could enjoy Marco singing on That Day Will Come and Silver, while Sergio sang To Be Afraid.

The band rightly received a warm applause from the audience for what they had achieved on a Dutch stage for the second time around. The people of Serious Music Alphen made a right choice to let them come all the way from Italy to present their music the best possible way. Therefore it is not so strange that the people behind this great organisation are thinking about getting them back after they have released their fourth album. Again another good choice. Because you never can get enough of a great live act such as Phoenix Again!

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