Robert John Godfrey

"We are few, but we are together, you and us. Let's have fun." With these words Robert John Godfrey started the first gig of The Enid since many years in The Netherlands. The few people - I think at most forty - who attended this concert at De Pul in Uden, had fun indeed. The two seniors and founding members Robert John Godfrey (keyboards) and Dave Storey (drums, percussion) had assembled three young musicians to play with. They made a deep impression on me during their performances.

The concert opened with an almost complete version of the new CD Journey's End (see review) which was perfectly performed in my opinion. I didn't hear any mistakes, yet lead singer Max Read told me after the show that the band made some minor faults. Mr. Read sang with the help of a vocoder which made it possible for him to do some harmony vocals as well. His strong vocal performance didn't prevent him from playing some additional parts on the guitar and the synthesizer. Talking about having fun, I think bass player and percussionist Nic Willis had a lot of fun on stage. It was a pleasure to see him hitting the timpani and other percussion instruments. It seemed as if he was performing with the London Symphony Orchestra. Well done!

Jason Ducker

Guitar player and third new-comer Jason Ducker is an ex-punk rocker playing progressive rock music with a classical touch. That's something you very rarely see on a live stage. Nevertheless, on both Journey's End and all the songs performed after this album, he proved to be a very good replacement for the former Enid guitar heroes Francis Lickerish and Stephan Steward. During the classic Enid pieces The Last Judgement and In The Region Of The Summer Stars I didn't miss the old guitarists. Those classic Enid-pieces were performed during the second part of the set which was introduced as a sort 'best of' by The Enid. This time, these songs got new arrangements as we can also hear on Arise And Shine volume 1, released in 2009 (see review). We could again enjoy superb renditions with a leading role for drummer Dave Storey who still hits his drum kits as if it was 1976. After the gig he told me that his age is no problem at all to keep playing those great up-tempo beats. The sound of rolling waves on the shore formed a great introduction to the wonderful music of the title track from their debut album In The Region Of The Summer Stars. It was great to listen to the twin guitar parts played by Max Read and Jason Ducker as if they had been playing together for a very long time.

After those two pieces Robert John Godfrey introduced all the band members in a rather funny way. Then he announced the last song of the regular set. Dark Hydraulic was introduced as a kind of stomper which could be translated as a song with many modern dance beats. This is a perfect piece to end a regular set with before coming back for the final encore. Unfortunately, Child Roland from their second album Airie Faerie Nonsense was the only encore. This track was perfectly performed and it made me realize that The Enid deserve a much larger audience, which they got one day later at the Lorelei Festival in Germany.

Hopefully, we don't have to wait another ten years or more to witness The Enid on a Dutch stage again. Playing prog like a classical orchestra, really make them a unique band in the world of progressive rock. They still belong to the best progressive rock bands both on record and on a live stage.

Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)