Rock Ittervoort 2015 Sylvium, Arena, The Gentle Storm March 28, 2015 - CC de Mortel, Ittervoort (NL)
On March 28th, Rock Ittervoort 'The Anniversary Edition' featured a very interesting line up. Dutch band Sylvium
were there to celebrate the release of their 2105 album Waiting For The Noise, Arena included
the festival in their 20th Anniversary and Unquiet Sky tour, and The Gentle Storm played
the second gig of their The Diary tour here.
Sylvium
Arena After a short change over, during which Sylvium had to remove their gear from the stage, it was time for UK proggers Arena. This band should need no introduction to regular visitors of Background Magazine... Founded by Mick Pointer (ex-Marillion) and Clive Nolan (Pendragon) the band has been around since the mid nineties, and were dubbed as a 'superband'
The Gentle Storm With Arena finished, another change over took place on the stage, to set things up for The Gentle Storm. A new set of keyboards for Joost van den Broek, a huge drum kit for Ed Warby, guitars for Ferry Duijsens and Merel Bechtold, and of course microphones to capture the voices of Anneke van Giersbergen and
The show at Ittervoort was slightly different than the one at Amsterdam, but just as energetic. Anneke knows how to grab an audience, and her 'right hand' on backing vocals Marcela knows too, which led to a few nice moments of combined singing - to each other and to the audience. All of this supported by a very tight band of skilled musicians. I am still wondering how Johan van Stratum can play bass and leap in the air at the same time without missing a note. A lot of attention in the audience went to Merel Bechtold, the 23 year old guitarist of MaYan, Purest Of Pain and Delain, who shares Arjen Lucassen's guitar parts with Ferry Duijssens on stage. As small and young as she may look (and be) she is a master on her instruments, and knows how to play with the audience as well. She
To top it off I'd have to mention that the musicians in these bands are not only all very good at what they do, they also showed appreciation to each other's fans by showing up in the audience at each other's performances, talking to people in the audience and also being available for autographs and photos after the show. I got some photography advice from Sylvium's Richard, enjoyed (and discussed) the guitar playing of Merel Bechtold with Paul Manzi during the The Gentle Storm performance (what an enthusiastic and nice person he is) and talked briefly with John Mitchell about the mixing and mastering of Lonely Robot (see review, follow up pending!). Meanwhile, Anneke van Giersbergen and some other members of her band were around 'on the floor' as well. I had a great evening, and from the comments I heard and the faces I saw I wasn't the only one. I hope to visit CC de Mortel for more great gigs in the future. Angelo Hulshout (edited by Astrid de Ronde) |
Setlist Sylvium: Quietus Signal To Noise Fade In/Out Part I: Revelation Part II: Confrontation Part III: Reconciliation Altered State Headlong Fragile Coda ( For A Dream ) |
Pictures
Sylvium by Angelo Hulshout Click on the picture to enlarge.
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Line up Sylvium: (left to right,picture from Sylvium webste) Antal Nusselder: keyboards Fred den Hartog: drums Richard de Geest: vocals and guitars Gijs Koopman: bass guitar and pedals Ben van Gastel: guitars |
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Setlist Arena: The Demon Strikes Rapture Double Vision Crack In The Sky Moviedrome How Did It Come To This? Butterfly Man Salamander Bedlam Fayre Serenity Unquiet Sky Traveller Beware City of Lanterns Riding The Tide Hanging Tree The Tinder Box Encores: (Don't Forget To) Breathe Crying for Help VII |
Pictures
Arena by Angelo Hulshout Click on the picture to enlarge.
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Line up Arena: (left to right)Mick Pointer: drums Kylan Amos: bass and bass pedals Paul Manzi: lead vocals Clive Nolan: keyboards and backing vocals John Mitchell: guitars and backing vocals |
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Setlist The Gentle Storm: Endless Sea Heart Of Amsterdam Brightest Light The Storm Eleanor (The Gathering) New Horizons The Moment (acoustic) Valley Of The Queens (Ayreon, acoustic) Comatose (Ayreon, acoustic) Cape Of Storms The Greatest Love Waking Dreams (Ayreon) Strange Machines (The Gathering) Isis And Osiris (Ayreon) Encores: Fall Out (Devin Townsend Project) Shores Of India |
Pictures
The Gentle Storm by Angelo Hulshout Click on the picture to enlarge.
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Line up The Gentle Storm: (left to right)Johan van Stratum: bass guitar Joost van den Broek: keyboards Marcela Bovio: backing vocals Merel Bechtold: electric guitars Anneke van Giersbergen: lead vocals Ed Warby: drums Ferry Duijssens: electric and acoustic guitars |
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