A few weeks ago I visited the first edition of the ProgCity Festival in the city of The Hague. Once I entered
the venue the ambiance was already great. Everything was well-organized and the soundchecks in between went smoothly
and fast in my opinion. So, thumbs up for the organization and for everyone who worked at Musicon that day. Three
Dutch bands were scheduled this evening:
Infinite Mind,
Armed Cloud and
Cartographer. I've
seen Armed Cloud during the ProgFrog Festival (see
review) three weeks earlier and then I really enjoyed their
performance. I was curious about Infinite Mind and Cartographer; I'd never seen them perform live.
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L to R: Jim Meyer and Sven Schuurbiers |
Infinite Mind
The first band to perform was Infinite Mind. During their performance it was very dark on stage; the lights were
dimmed, which helped to create the right atmosphere for the band's music, which is dark and alternative. It reminded
me of
Tool, a bit of
Oceansize and early
Amplifier. I really enjoyed what I heard; the band
played very well and tight.
Francis van Dijke doesn't only play the drums, but also the synthesizer. What
I also noticed were the many effect pedals on stage. The great singer
Sven Schuurbiers used those
special effect pedals that were connected to his microphone. He made a joke about it by telling the audience that
everyone can be a good singer by using these things. Infinite Mind's performance was short − less than an
hour − because the other two bands had to finish before midnight as well. I really hope that I'll see this
band live on stage again soon.
Armed Cloud
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L to R: Wouter van der Veen, Daan Dekker and Rico Noijen |
Well, what can I say about Armed Cloud? This band is great to watch live, just like their performance at ProgFrog.
They lean towards symphonic progressive rock with a tendency to metal. The band members also show a lot of energy,
especially singer
Daan Dekker. He used the complete stage for his performance. After playing the track
|
Remco van der Veen |
Obsidian Desert he started talking to the audience about the terrible terrorist attack that happened in
Paris the day before. After playing a couple of tracks again, Daan pulled out one of his shirts and showed it
to the audience. It had the logo of The Dutch Treat on it, a well-known Dutch radio show in the prog scene. He
thanked the man behind it for all his efforts, not only for Armed Cloud, but for all the bands he worked for.
The next song was
Meltdown which they played as a special 'thank you' tribute for him. The audience demanded
more songs when the band announced that they would leave the stage for Cartographer. Armed Cloud deserve more
than just one hour. I hope they'll tour a lot in the near future and get more time to do their show!
Cartographer
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L to R: Yoep de Ligt and Marvin Roerdink |
I thought that Infinite Mind had a lot of effect pedals on stage, but Cartographer had even more. They have as
many as three guitarists in the band, which is also quite exceptional. The sound and keyboard effects were triggered
by a laptop that operated on stage. You may call Cartographer an instrumental post-rock band having progressive
rock influences and even ambient-like passages. During the louder parts the band members showed a lot of energy
by jumping around all over the stage.
|
Bart den Ouden |
Once again the lights were dimmed during their performance which enhanced
the dark atmosphere. Some people in the audience started to sing a birthday song because it was bassist
Desmond
Kuijk's birthday; other people soon followed. He was surprised and thanked the audience for singing along.
It was also the last gig for drummer
Bart den Ouden. His bandmates made a joke about him by saying that
he was going to 'retire' because he's getting old. The band's performance was fantastic and I really enjoyed the
music I'd heard.
Unfortunately I had to catch my last bus so I couldn't stay that long. For that reason I missed the last tracks
from Cartographer. I really need to find a solution to make sure that I will never miss the last pieces of concerts
again. I hope there will be more editions of ProgCity in the near future, because I had an awesome evening!
Text and pictures by Iris Hidding (edited by Peter Willemsen)