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.
 

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

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

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)