To promote their seventh studio album Force Of Gravity (see review), Sylvan from Germany arranged a short European tour including three gigs in The Netherlands. During the final gig, held at De Pul in Uden, Parzivals Eye was their support act and that was for me one of the main reasons to visit this concert. Bass player Chris Postl from RPWL established his own band lately and they recorded an impressive debut album. Maybe Fragments (see review) is one of this year’s musical highlights. I was very curious to see whether they could deliver the same high standard of musicianship live on stage.

For the album, Chris Postle had invited singers Alan Reed (Pallas) and Christina Booth (Magenta) plus guitarist Ian Bairnson (The Alan Parsons Project) to participate. The participation of these well-known musicians on Fragments certainly lifted the music to a higher level. Unfortunately, for this gig they were all absent, although I was told that Mr. Reed would show up on some of the other gigs during this tour. Afterwards Chris told me that Alan is able to learn new things very rapidly. Therefore, he’s easy to cooperate with. According to Chris, it was difficult for Christina to join the band on this tour because her vocal lines are rather complex and she needed a number of rehearsals. Since there was no time left to do that properly, we had to watch the performance without her wonderful singing. This time Evi Melzer did Christina’s vocals and she did that the best way possible. She did a good job on the Graham Nash-cover Chicago, but still less than Christina did on the album. Evi’s voice differs a lot from Christina’s voice, but Chris asked her anyway since they worked together in the past on the album Terminal Breath by Violet District. Chris did all the vocals of Alan Reed himself, but on Signs and Disguise his voice sounded less than Alan’s voice on the album. I have to admit that Chris’s vocal performances didn’t match those of Alan on the Fragments-album. Of course, in a recording studio, you can make it sound the best possible way but despite that, several songs took me to higher spheres. The only cover performed was Yours Is No Disgrace recorded by Yes in 1971. For Chris Postle, this song was one of the reasons to make progressive rock music in the first place and now it was a perfect way to honour his heroes. The way Chris played the bass guitar came pretty close to the original parts played by Chris Squire. Guitarist Uli Graner also deserves a big compliment for copying the difficult guitar parts of Steve Howe in a very proper way. Uli is a session musician and composer from Munich; he has a cum laude degree of the Berkeley College of Music in Boston. He proved to be a good substitute for Ian Bairnson, who played some fantastic guitar solos on Fragments. Wide World, the last track on the album, was also the last piece performed by Parzivals Eye. No encores this time, although Skylights stood on the set list as a possible option. However, I found the performance of Parzivals Eye well worth watching, even if it didn’t reach the same high quality level of the album.

After a short break, the five Germans forming Sylvan entered the stage. They gave the most extensive show I ever saw of this band from Hamburg. Their two-hour show was mainly meant as a promotion for Face Of Gravity, their latest album. So most of the songs they performed were taken from that album. The band started with the title track followed by the heavy piece King Porn. The sound was okay right from the start and one could hear a band that has grown over the years into a perfect live act. New guitarist Jan Petersen sounded much better than the last time I saw him at the concert in Ittervoort in early 2009 (see concert review). His guitar solos were now a feast for my ears. Nowadays, his solos play a substantial role in the sound of the band. However, the most important part is without doubt the voice of lead singer Marco Glühmann. He mostly sings very emotional, especially in ballads when he’s only accompanied by the fine piano playing of Volker Söhl. Once Sylvan started as a band, they were very much inspired by the music Marillion made on their early albums. That musical style we can listen to on the albums Deliverance and Encounters, which I enjoyed a lot. It’s just a pity that Sylvan hardly ever plays the music from those early days on a live stage. They only play music released in the last couple of years. The band moved to a new musical direction that can be described best as a combination of nu-metal and progressive rock. The music on their latest releases often sound similar and even their performances contain - most of the time - the same kind of songs. This was certainly the case in Uden. It would have been great if they had included songs as No Way Out, Essence Of Life, Deliverance or Artificial Paradise. That would have delighted many people who supported the band from the start. However, it seemed that most of the people at De Pul didn’t miss the old material at all; they all sang along with the recent material. Although I couldn’t sing along with most of the new songs, that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy Sylvan’s performance. Not at all. Without doubt, this band belongs to one of the best live acts from Germany.

After two encores, the show was over and the members of both bands hit the stage to thank and say goodbye to the Dutch audience. During these gigs, I noticed that both bands interact in a very