On October 12, 2013 the people of the Northern Prog Festival took over the torch that once was held in the hands
of the people who organised the legendary Progfarm festival. During the fifteen years of Progfarm's existence
it had become a cosy festival where devotees of prog rock from all over the world could meet, greet and enjoy
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fantastic live acts. Its last edition was held in November 2011. 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: This time around the venue was De
Uthof in Siegerswoude, a community centre with a rather large stage. Again a cosy festival where devotees of prog
rock from all over the world could meet, greet and enjoy fantastic live acts. Now ten years later in 2023 the
festival is still going strong. Even though the Covid 19 and following years were difficult to survive, I can
tell you that they are for me personally still the best prog rock festival in the Netherlands.
The 2023 edition of the festival is the 10th anniversary edition of the Northern Prog Festival. So congratulations
to the people who make this event such a special event every year. Since the pandemic the line up of the festival
only contains 4 bands instead of 5. For me personally that's the right number of bands, because when the fifth
band entered the stage a lot of people had already gone home or were too tired or sleepy. For this year the following
Dutch bands were booked:
Casual Silence and
Mangrove. Mangrove was already booked for 2021 but had
to withdraw on short notice that year due to personal circumstances. Also the following year they were not able
to climb the stage of the NPF because their keyboard player was no longer in the band. Lucky enough their line
up is stable again and we could finally welcome the band. Also the Italian band
Mad Fellaz was on the
bill to close the festival. And of course the band who organize this event each year was present. Namely
Leap Day.
Casual Silence
The band that opened the festival was disbanded in 2011. But the six musicians still saw each other occasionally.
Towards the end of 2022 they decided to resurrect Casual Silence and bring the band to where the they belong.
On a stage in front of an audience where they could perform their large back catalogue. For me personally I was
very glad they came to the festival. I had not seen the musicians for twelve long years. Way too long I guess.
So it was a warm welcome again. Some problems with one of their cars did not prevent them to starting on time
on the NPF stage. Doing an excellent set with songs taken from their entire career. The band was really on fire
and you couldn't tell they were absent for so many tears. Classic Casual Silence songs such as
Vertical Horizon,
Dress Code,
Shamelessly Dressed and
Lambrusco Evening could be enjoyed. All done in a perfect
way and always introduced in a humorous way by lead singer
Rob Laarhoven. A man with a gifted voice that's
for sure. But also the musicians next to him showed that they could handle their instruments in a perfect way.
Keyboard player
Henry Meeuws, bassist
Eric Smits, drummer
Igor Koopmans and the two guitar
players
Mark van Dijk and
Ernst Le Cocq d'Armandville are certainly no amateurs. Being together
again and having so much fun together resulted in writing six brand new compositions. One of them was already
present on the festival. Titled
Back Again! Well they are back again and it is with a bang! Thx guys for
playing your strong tunes again. You have been away much too long...
Leap Day
Last year I mentioned that Leap Day performed on the NPF 2022 edition a bit too much of their well know songs
of their repertoire. But you won't hear me complain because they are also favourites of mine without any doubt.
Not sure they thought about it when they made up the setlist for the NPF 2023 edition. But maybe they did. Because
several new songs were played this time around which hadn't been played for many years. Songs such as
Signs
On The 13th and
In The Shadow Of Death. They even included a brand new piece of music. The strong instrumental
Viral Cage. I loved them all very much! Last year they gave a rather strong performance which mainly was
focused on their latest release
Treehouse (2021, see
review). Only
May 5th and
Autumn were
left out. The last mentioned title is certainly my favourite of the album. It wasn't played because they were
still working on it to be able to play this song live. Now one and a half year later still most of the songs came from their
latest studio album and guess what?
Autumn was one of them. And done in very strong way. So I can say they
made me a happy spectator. But not only that title was done very strong. In a way you could say that their complete
set was very well done. So thumbs up for Leap Day for giving once again a fine performance with only 24 carat
progressive rock tunes!
Mangrove
May last year I had already enjoyed the new line up of Mangrove at the Parkvilla in Alphen a/d Rijn (see
review).
With their brand new keyboard player
Ebert Zwart they already performed songs from their soon to be released
new album
Bridge To Fiction. Namely the title track,
Stay and
Reflections. Now one and a half
year later they climbed the stage of the NPF doing almost the same kind of songs. However
Bridge To Fiction
was this time around left out and the only new pieces that could be enjoyed were
Stay and
Reflections.
As for the final they skipped
Beyond Reality and replaced it for one of my favourite classic Mangrove tracks.
Which has the title
Wizard Of Tunes. With songs done like
Daydreamer's Nightmare and
Voyager
you can only be happy. Because they present the best of the musical abilities this band has to offer. Excellent
progressive rock tunes on which you can dream away on the fantastic guitar solos done by lead singer
Roland
van der Horst. By saying this it doesn't mean the other musicians aren't good as well. No way. Take for instance
Lex Bekkernens, who certainly belongs to the best drummers in the Netherlands. He sometimes sounds like
a modern version of
Bill Bruford (
Yes &
King Crimson). Or listen to the fantastic bass
player
Pieter Drost. Who might be considered as the Dutch version of
Jonas Reingold (
The Flower
Kings &
Karmakanic). And last but not least the man who replaced keyboard player
Chris Jonker.
The earlier mentioned Ebert Zwart who seemed to fit perfectly in the band. Together they made sure that most people
could enjoy a great set of excellent songs. Only those visitors who were talking throughout their entire set missed
a lot of good music that's for sure.
Mad Fellaz
At first I was a bit surprised that the Italian band Mad Fellaz was booked as the closing act for the NPF 2023
Edition. I had listened to this band several times and I must confess it was not the kind of music I listen to
on a daily basis. Therefore it was for me personally a bit strange they took the long trip to the Netherlands
to entertain all the people who came to the festival. However after seeing the seven people on stage performing
their songs, I had to change my opinion drastically. Those six men and one woman from Italy certainly know how
to entertain a crowd. Their fresh sounding music with influences taken from jazz, fusion, rock, soul, pop and
progressive rock was technically of very high quality! No doubt about that. All musicians mastered their instruments
the best possible way and the female singer certainly knows how to sing a song the right way.
So bravissimo to
all of them as they say in their native language. As for the songs performed I certainly had my favourites. Most
of all the two instrumentals
Myth Of The Cave and
Tennouheika No Sakura were of a very high calibre
music wise. Sorry
Alessandra Perozzo. It didn't mean that I didn't enjoyed your singing. Most of all those
who enjoy the music of
Snarky Puppy had a great time while the band was on stage.
I can only say that the tenth edition of Northern Prog Festival was once again another festival with only musical
highlights on stage. So once again thanks to the people who booked all the bands! And again a thank you goes out
for the people of De Uthof who made it possible that everybody had enough food and drinks while watching the four
fantastic acts. Also thanks to the people for the sound. The Northern Prog Festival was for me personally once
again the best festival in the Netherlands!
Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen)
