Between Christmas and New-Year's day two prog bands
gave a concert that I wanted to attend. I saw
The Dust Connection only three weeks before and I was impressed by
their performance, so I was convinced that I would witness another great show. As
far as headliner
Kingfisher Sky is
concerned, I had listened to both their albums many times and I was looking
forward to see how they would perform these songs on a live stage. On a dark and
cold evening and over slippery roads we drove to the city of Tilburg.
The Dust Connection
The Dust Connection had the advantage of playing a
home match, so to say, for most of the band members live in or in the vicinity
of Tilburg. Many of the band's friends showed up to encourage them. During the
previous concert in Helmond (see review) I was amazed by the energy of The Dust
Connection and also this time they gave everything to make sure that the
audience would have a great time. For me, the strength of the band is their
prog metal base:
Jurg Kurtens on bass
guitar, the fantastic voice of
Jeroen Voogd
resembling the voice of
Iron Maiden's
Bruce Dickinson, combined with the
melodious keyboard sounds of
Sander Heerings,
the heavy but melodious guitar solos of
Martijn Balters and 'madman' drummer
Robert Spanning who keeps it all together. The visual aspects of his
drumming are a real treat and I'm sure that the people who attended this
concert will agree. After the show Robert told me that tennis lessons helped
him to perform powerful strikes and the backhand cymbal crush which create that
pleasant visual effect. With songs like
The
Grand Final,
Path, The House That
Doesn't Exist and
Clouds, The
Dust Connection surely belongs to the cream of the crop of the Dutch prog metal
scene. In addition to the songs they played from their debut album
Trails they performed
Prayer, a song that didn't make it to the
album. However, this piece is far too good to be ignored. It's available on the
band's website as a free download: check it out!
Kingfisher Sky
After a short break it was time for a different kind
of music, but still heavy and tuneful. However, the female-fronted combination
of prog metal with gothic elements cannot be compared to The Dust Connection. A
few years ago drummer
Ivar de Graaf
made the tough decision to leave the successful gothic band
Within Temptation in order to pursue
his own music. Together with his partner
Judith
Rijnveld, he started
Kingfisher Sky
and with the help of bass player
Eric Hoogendoorn
and long time friend and guitarist
Edo van der Kolk,
the base of the band was formed. Later on
Maaike Peterse joined the band, but due
to personal problems she couldn't make it to Tilburg this evening. The new-comers
in Kingfisher Sky are keyboard player
David
Gutiérrez Rojas and guitarist
Chris Henny,
who both played on the second album
Skin Of The Earth.
I think Ivar's choice turned out to be the best
for the audience as we gained a great new sensation. In the first two songs,
the sound and mix weren't optimal yet. The combination of the low rumble and
the high vocals caused that I pulled back from the stage to get a better and
more balanced sound. The musicians performed a great show with songs from the
two albums they released so far. And as Judith stated, it was a pity that the
cello or violoncello of Maaike Peterse wasn't present to create an even better
atmosphere. What we got was Judith Rijnveld, a beautiful vocalist whose voice
was perfect throughout the concert. She danced across the stage like
Kate Bush used to in her heyday back at
the end of the seventies. Both guitarists are able to play many different musical
styles. Sometimes the heavy riffs made you bang your head; at other times they played
very subtle and gentle and with great interaction. The only time you realized that
Maaike Peterse wasn't present was when
Big Fish
started because the keyboards had to do her parts. After twenty
seconds the band members had to laugh and stopped playing, saying: 'we need
Maaike for this song, but let's try again', and after this false start we got a
real nice, but a slightly different version of
Big Fish.
Kingfisher Sky gave an outstanding concert. When the
band returned for the encores they normally perform Kate Bush's
Man With The Child In His Eyes, but
without the cello there was no possibility to play it; just too bad, we have to
wait for the next gig! So the band only played
The Craving as an encore which ended a stunning performance of a
growing band.
Pedro Bekkers (edited by Peter Willemsen)