The British act HeKz already played several concert in the Netherlands. One of them was at the Parkvilla in Alphen aan den Rijn in 2018 (see review). The good news is that they were back in Parkvilla for a one-off concert to promote their new, highly rated album Terra Nova (2023, see review). An album which is hundred percent autobiographic. It is a concept album that tells the story of how one goes from the darkest of places

Matt Young solo (►more pics)

to the light and becomes the person he belonged to be. Compared to the line up of the previous performance at this wonderful venue only band leader and multi-instrumentalist Matt Young is still present. For this show he took care of the vocals, acoustic guitar, bass and keyboards. Nowadays he is accompanied by two excellent musicians from Italy. Namely Mirko Fadda on guitars and Lucia La Rezza on violin. But also from Poland with them is Jerry Sadowski on drums. This special one-off concert was according to Matt already planned six years ago. He wanted to show the world what this band was capable of on stage. Coming with a very explosive performance with many up tempo songs but also with more delicate and intimate tunes as well. I guess after watching the entire show he and his band mates succeeded. But first let me tell you what went on during the three parts consisting show!

Strangely enough Matt chose to start with a short acoustic performance with only him on stage. His only friend on stage was his acoustic guitar. Together they went through several songs. Telling personal stories in between. Like about his first song he wrote when he was a little boy, a song he named Break Out. Of course the song showed that he was at the time not as gifted a song writer as he is nowadays. He also talked about his childhood. How he started as a twelve year old boy playing the bass guitar. This short set also included several covers of his heroes. Such as Highway Star from Deep Purple and from his favourite band Iron Maiden he did Children Of The Damned. After that he supposed to go off stage rather satisfied. However Matt injured his finger when switching on the equipment for the complete band performance. Furthermore while putting a way a chair, he knocked over Mirko 's guitar standard on the dark stage. This did led to an unintentional and unplanned break.

Before the complete band started the first set Matt apologized for the long waiting. So from now on everybody was ready to kick ass. It was obvious that the their latest album Terra Nova would be in the spotlight during this special Dutch concert. Therefore it wasn't that strange that during the first set all of the compositions which appear on the first disc of Terra Nova could be enjoyed. First a couple of more up tempo pieces to bring the crowd into the right mood. Pieces that were all very well done. After that the first mellow song could be welcomed. So for doing a great rendition of So Far Gone Matt stepped behind his two keyboards to be

Matt Young (►more pics)

accompanied by his fellow musicians on stage. After that two more songs followed before the musicians went off with a show of hands from the audience. An applause which was well deserved because they laid down a wonder set of only strong performed songs.

After a short intermission the musicians returned to the stage. Starting off with one more song from Terra Nova. The opening track from the second disc could be enjoyed. Namely Too Far Gone. After that you could enjoy a collection of songs taken from their back catalogue. From their debut Tabula Rasa (2012, see review) the audience could enjoy Bring The Fire and Hashashiyyin. Next up was From Obscurity To Eternity taken from the second album Caerus (2014, see review). That song contained a solo done by our Polish friend behind the drum kit. The second set was finished off by a piece taken from Invicta (2018, see review).However Victorious was this time around done by Matt completely on his own behind the keyboards.
Another track from this album could be welcomed during the only encore. During For Our Lives the band was introduced and several people were thanked for their help and support.

Despite some disappointing circumstances before the full band concert could finally begin, it is clear that the musicians on stage delivered an extraordinary performance. The band made a big impression with the virtuoso playing of all musicians on stage. Lucia's great violin playing. Mirko's excellent guitar parts. The energetic drums of Jerry and the fantastic vocal and bass parts of Matt. Who also made his way behind the keyboards. So thumbs up to all of them for making it an outstanding second performance at the Parkvilla! Bravo! Thumps up also again for the people of Serious Music Alphen for organising this excellent show and the people of Eventco for the perfect light and sounds!

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