From L to R: Peter Vink, Pieter van Hoorn and Mark Bogert

Knight Area are a Dutch symphonic rock band and founded by keyboardist/main composer Gerben Klazinga back in 2004. Through the years the band has released five albums and they are planning to release their first live DVD called Hyperlive (named after their latest album Hyperdrive, see review) in November 2015. There was a special 'DVD release party' organized for the fans who contributed to the crowdfunding for the production of the DVD on September 6th at Cultuurpodium Boerderij in Zoetermeer.

It started for me by watching the sound check, which sounded very promising! The band also 'rehearsed' on how they would enter the stage before the actual performance. After the sound check the venue slowly started to fill up with fans and friends. Before the band came on stage they showed a 'thank you video clip' on the screen.
How the band entered the stage was hilarious! They made a small video (which they showed on the screen at the back of the stage) with bassist Peter Vink, entering the backstage entrance of the venue with a walker and acting like an old man who could barely walk. Not much later the band came on stage, including Peter behind his walker.
The sound in the venue during the gig was very good. The band had fun on stage, all the members were really enthusiastic while playing, especially keyboard player Gerben Klazinga. It has to be said that Mark Smit, their

Mark Smit and Pieter van Hoorn (r)

singer, has a very good voice live on stage. Peter Vink was very present with his bass guitar and it boomed briskly, which I really like. Guitarist Mark Bogert knows how to bring his guitar solos (and got in the spotlights as well) and above all don't you forget that Pieter van Hoorn is a great drummer. The audience was a bit tame in my opinion but I'm sure they really enjoyed the experience.

During the concert the band played almost all tracks from their latest album Hyperdrive. Very special for me was that during the track Running Away the bandmembers put on a bracelet that contained flickering lights. I didn't know why they only did that for that track. However a few days after the gig Gerben told me, while chatting on Facebook, that it was a gimmick to 'thicken' the important message of the lyrics of that track. It's about escaping from hectic situations such as stress or a big city that's too crowded. The band furthermore also played a compilation/medley of tracks from their previous albums. That was a very cool idea, but I actually hoped they would play some tracks from their previous albums, especially from Realm Of Shadows (2009, see review), which is my favourite album. After the medley the band played two brand new tracks from their upcoming album, and they sounded very promising!

Unfortunately the band only played an hour and a half, which is way too short for such a great band! After the band finished their performance they asked the venue's man in control to enter the stage. They thanked him for making this gig possible. He announced that the band would be the headliner on the first day of the Progdreams V Festival on April the 1st, 2016! That is just awesome! Because I can hardly wait to see the band live again during Progdreams V!

Iris Hidding (edited by Astrid de Ronde)