It rarely happens that we write a concert review of the same band within a couple
of weeks or months. However, when a line up change takes place during the tour it's interesting to report this. Well, this happened to the Cuban progressive rock band
Anima Mundi
when they started their Tales Tour 2014 in August and ended it in September. While reviewing one of
their first European concerts of the tour in Nieuwerkerk a/d IJssel (see
review) I already explained why the line up with which they started the tour
was different from the one they would end the same tour with. For those who
missed it, the short story is as follows; the band's lead singer
Emmanuel Pirko-Farrath wasn't able to
travel to Europe together with his fellow band members and was replaced by
Hein van den Broek. To visit the new
concert venue De Cacaofabriek in Helmond and to see the band in action with
Emmanuel fronting the band was the best option, even more so, because this was the final show of their Tales Tour!
Unkh
|
Jeroen Habraken |
Earlier in 2014, I reviewed an album made by
Unkh. This Dutch outfit had just released
Traveller
(see
review). I labelled the album as a musical mix of influences taken from acts like
XTC,
Muse,
Talk Talk and
King Crimson (with
Adrian Belew on guitars),
along with the so-called neo progressive rock acts as
IQ,
Marillion with
Fish,
Pendragon
and
Pallas. This melting-pot of different influences certainly worked for me, because I
liked the way they hustled all those influences into their compositions very
much. The band dared to look beyond the traditional progressive rock influences
and therefore enriched their music in a very positive way, but still kept their own identity alive! Compositions like
Theme Of The Mighty Mushroom and the two epics
Borderlines.Fr. and
Borderlines.Ca.
were real gems and, for me, the highlights of this release. When I learnt they
would be opening for Anima Mundi, it brought a smile on my face, because seeing
them performing live was one of my recent wishes. The four musicians had been
given 45 minutes to show their capabilities. In a way, I had expected them to
play a compact set with more of their true progressive rock songs. Well they
|
Frits Appel |
must have thought the same and it was exactly what I got. The mentioned
highlights of the album were featured and very well performed. Furthermore, the great tune
Sur Place
could be enjoyed as well. Too bad lead singer and (portable) keyboard player
Jeroen Habraken, drummer
Maarten Habraken, bassist
Matthijs van Nahuijs on bass and bass pedals and guitarist
Frits Appel
(who replaced
Maarten Peerlings, who
played on the album, decided to add another song which had less progressive rock
influences, before they left the stage for the headliners.
Barfly's Last Sigarette
is more of a tune that refers to the none-
progressive rock influences and therefore they left the crowd behind with mixed
feelings, because they believed this to be a true prog band, but in the end
they got the feeling this band had more tricks up it's sleave that they didn't
enjoy that much. Too bad, because they certainly gave a strong performance with amazing music throughout;
including the final piece!
Anima Mundi
|
Emmanuel Pirko-Farrath |
A curfew at the venue prevented the musicians to go all the way at their last
concert of the tour. No party-time until the sun would come up, which almost
did happen in the same town the first time they were in the Netherlands (June
2011, see
review). Even though they had a tight time schedule, they tried to
make this final concert a special one, and I have to admit they succeeded in
entertaining the crowd all the way through their entire performance. It was
obvious a different set could be enjoyed by the audience, compared to the one I
heard earlier, for instance, the opening piece hadn't been played when I saw them in August.
Flying To The Sun
was also the first song which featured Mr. Pirko-Farrath; a song that was originally sung by former singer
Carlos
Sosa, and therefore sounded differently compared to the original version. However, it didn't mean it was
less interesting. Emmanuel managed very well and you heard instantly that he
was in better shape than one year ago, when he had had to learn the vocals on
short notice. This was also true when he sang the next tune,
The Dream Child Behind The Mask, which
came close to the studio version.
|
Anaisy Gomez Fernandez |
It was followed by an instrumental from their latest album
The Lamplighter (2013, see
review).
Endless Star had as in their previous concert again a fabulous drum battle between
Manuel Govin and
Remco Engels from
Mangrove. This time a different guest
could be welcomed, namely ex-band member
Anaisy Gomez Fernandez,
who joined the band on clarinet. She stayed on stage to play the bagpipes on
La Montaña Del Vigia;
another instrumental that was taken from the band's debut
Septentrión (2002/ 2012, see
review). During
Light The Lantern Of Your Heart she played both clarinet parts you can hear on the studio version,
together with keyboard player
Virginia Peraza; only Anaisy
performed them on a real clarinet. During the longest piece of the set
|
Roberto Díaz, Hein van den Broek and Emmanuel Pirko-Farrath |
Emmanuel's temporary replacement entered the stage. Just like at 't Blok, he sang
Spring Knocks On The Door Of Men.
He didn't leave the stage when
Cosmic Man
had finished and sang the vocal parts of this track as well. He got some help
from Emmanuel as he had entered the stage too. A leading role during this piece was for bass player
Yaroski Corredera again. He managed to let his instrument speak in a very strong way. When they
were asked back for an encore, a short conversation took place between the
musicians; they probably decided to play the
Pink Floyd cover
Comfortably Numb
and just like a couple of weeks earlier, they performed it splendidly,
but this time around, the leading vocal parts were divided between Hein and
Emmanuel. In my opinion, the song was the perfect way to say goodbye to their fans who came from all over the world.
Once again the musicians from Cuba and their Dutch friends gave an outstanding
performance which will be remembered until the next time they come to our
country. This will probably be in the summer of 2015, with a new studio album
in their luggage! As for the support act of the evening, I can only be positive.
They proved that bands of international allure can originate from the Netherlands!
Henri Strik (edited by Esther Ladiges)