Sometimes they say that history repeats itself! This might also refer to the CD release parties which the Dutch
progressive rock act
Mangrove did in June 2009,15 years ago, for their album
Beyond Reality (2009,
see
review)
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Album art "Bridge To Fiction" |
and the release party for its successor
Bridge To Fiction (January 2024, see
review). Both concerts started
with a first set containing a selection of songs taken from their back catalogue followed by a second set presenting
the new album before it ever was heard by their fans. Both concerts were also held at the same venue and city.
Namely at Gigant in their hometown Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. Only the circumstances were different.
Back in 2009 it was Summer and it was rather hot in that venue. The temperature almost rose to thirty degrees
Celsius. Which was no problem for the musicians at the time. Now 15 years later Winter was knocking at the door
with temperatures below zero outside. Even inside the venue it was rather cold. Again, no problem for the musicians
on stage because they were in the limelight presenting their old and new songs. As for the musicians on stage
also some changes could be seen. A different drummer and keyboard player compared to the bands last CD release party!
When you play a selection of songs from the albums released earlier there is always a possibility that you might
disappoint several of your fans. Because you can't play all of the songs from the albums you have released so
far.
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Roland van der Horst and Pieter Drost (r) (►more pics) |
But I guess if you are a band who have always released strong albums you hardly disappoint anybody. Therefore,
each and every song selected and played during the first set gave much pleasure to the ones who were listening
to them. From their debut
Massive Hollowness (2001), an album which might not been available anymore, they
played
Zone divided into three parts. From the follow up album
Touch Wood (2004) one of my all-time
Mangrove tunes was featured as well.
Wizard Of Tunes has everything which makes a prog heart beat much
faster. Music wises its the best of
Camel and
Genesis with lots of strong solos performed on the
synthesisers and electric guitar. Unfortunately, other highlight from the album such as
Fatal Sign,
Penelope
and
City Of Darkness were not played. Instead, we got
Back Again from the same album, which is of
course also a great tune! From
Facing The Sunset (2005) they did only the title track as the opener of
the first set. Unfortunately, from this album
There Must Be Another Way was not done. Without any doubt
one of my all-time classic Mangrove tunes. On the other hand, all of the songs of
Facing The Sunset I love
to hear during a concert. With songs taken from the bands masterpiece
Beyond Reality we got lucky. Because
the band chose to play
Daydreamer's Nightmare,
Time Will Tell Part 2 and
Voyager.
Voyager
is of course the perfect song to end a set. With an incredible musical ending the right way to say goodbye! Just
ending the first set with a BANG! A set on which the band still showed that they can do even better live renditions
of the sometimes too clean recorded studio versions of those songs.
Just like 15 years ago some of the songs from the to be released new album were already part of the live set before
the album came out. Songs such as
Bridge To Fiction,
Reflection,
Stay and the oldest of all
A Call To Arms were already played during other performances from the band. But unfortunately, they haven't
stick in my brain yet and therefore most of the compositions from the new album
Bridge To Fiction sounded
rather new to me when they were performed during the second set. Done in the same order as you can find them on
the new album. At first when you hear the new songs, you realise that the band didn't want to make a
Beyond
Reality part two. Which lead singer and guitarist
Roland van der Horst mentioned after the concert
as well. They just wanted to broaden their horizon and bring in more musical influences from a band such as
King
Crimson, as you can hear on
A Touch Of Light, next to elements that were already
present from bands such as Camel and Genesis on songs such as
Bridge To Fiction and
A Call To Arms.
Even a mix of jazz rock, fusion and progressive rock was brought in on a song such as
Chasing Something.
Sometimes the band sounded rather experimental on those new kind of different sounding songs. But also, it seemed
as if the drum parts of
Lex Bekkernens were more upfront in the new compositions.
But in the end, it is still Mangrove that you hear on stage. The excellent live reputation is still there. The
passion of the musicians still radiates from the stage and you can still expect orchestral keyboard parts, rumbling
bass sounds, driving drums and lyrical guitar work as usual. The sometimes-polyphonic vocals intersperse the songs,
which are played dynamically, excitingly, but sometimes also subdued are still present. All in all, everything
you always expect during a Mangrove concert. And if you end with an encore such as
Beyond Reality the whole
performance is just complete and perfect for me.
So well done Lex Bekkernens on acoustic and electronic drums and some of the excellent backing vocals!
Also well done to
Ebert Zwart on keyboards and backing vocals! Well done to Roland van der Horst on lead
vocals and electric and acoustic guitars. Last but not least well done also done to
Pieter Drost on the
bass guitars and bass pedals! Thanks for again setting the stage on fire and giving so much pleasure everybody in front of it!
Henri Strik (edited by Dave Smith)