April 2017 I witnessed a concert by Karnataka at De Pul in Uden (see concert). It was lead singer Hayley Griffith's last concert in the Netherlands as a member of this band. It wasn't because this band didn't tour anymore in our country. Not at all. A different reason was to blame. Band leader Ian Jones decided to sack the whole line up, including Hayley. However, it appears that she is a very strong woman with the urge to continue making progressive rock related music. Because nowadays she is the band Zion and also works with Touchstone. Moreover, she managed to form her own band; The Hayley Griffiths band. She has already played some concerts in the UK and on the mainland of Europe but never before climbed the stage in the Netherlands. But that's history now because the amazing ProgFrog team booked her for a one-off concert in our country. Griffiths returned to the stage here with her brand new show and was joined by former Karnataka band mates Cagri Tozluoglu (keyboards) and Jimmy Pallagrosi (drums) alongside newcomers Jordan Brown (bass) and former Franck Carducci band member Mathieu Spaeter (guitar).
 

At eleven in the morning the band arrived at the venue having just returning from a concert in Bergkeller Reichenbach (Germany) the evening before. But there were no signs of tired musicians at all, when they climbed the stage at approximately 3 'o clock in the afternoon. The band was full of adrenaline during their almost 2 hours long performance. Anybody who has already seen Hayley during a show with her former band, knows that she is an excellent vocalist

Hayley Griffiths (►more pics)

and performer. She gave everything vocal wise and jumped and danced around the stage full speed. It was a real pleasure seeing and hearing doing her stage act! But she was not the only one on stage who shone all the way. Her fellow band members showed that they are real top class professional musicians. Yes, Hayley managed to form a superb band. They made it possible for her to make the songs done on stage sound perfect. After the show she confessed to me that she was really proud of her boys in the band.

It was of course obvious that many songs of Karnataka would be played because several fans of this bands were probably in the audience. Therefore, they enjoyed full live versions of Because Of You, Poison Ivy, Forbidden Dreams, Borderline, Fairytale Lies, Feels Like Home and a small part of Secrets Of Angels. All these songs are taken from the award winning album Secrets Of Angels (2015, see review). They are compositions she all had co-written with the earlier mentioned Ian Jones, therefore she was allowed to do them. After the show she asked me if those songs sounded differently or maybe not as good performed by her new band. Well I assured her full hearted that they were as strongly performed as by her former band because they played them with a lot of energy and most of all with a lot of passion.

Next to the Karnataka tunes the crowd enjoyed a couple of Hayley's solo singles. Like the ballad Aurora which she released in 2018. It included an excellent guitar solo by Mathieu, or by Matthew as he was named by his fellow

Jordan Brown and Mathieu Spaeter (►more pics)

band members. You have to know that he specially flew over from Estonia to do this amazing concert. Separated By Glass, another ballad released in 2009 as her debut single, was done as well. Of course, her brand new single Haunted, released earlier in 2019, was part of the setlist as well. This is a great poppy sounding up tempo tune which fits her musical style perfectly.
A rather short acoustic set came next.. Sitting on a stool she performed together with her band members the Queen cover No One But You (Only The Good Die Young) and the traditional folk songs Black Is The Colour and I Know My Love.

But it was not only Hayley who was in the spotlight all the time. Jimmy got his own solo spot by doing an incredible drum solo. Also Jordan and Mathieu was given time to do some fantastic solo stuff. The Steve Vai cover Crying Machine was the perfect vehicle to show how talented they are on their instruments. While the boys were having fun doing this strong instrumental Hayley took the time to change her outfit.

This concert went very smoothly and moved as was planned. So, thumbs up for Hayley and her amazing live band. Also thumbs up for the amazing ProgFrog team for getting such fine and above all lovely musicians to the Netherlands! Otherwise I never would have known how good they can entertain an audience with excellent performed songs from Karnataka and Hayley's solo career.

Henri Strik (edited by Dave Smith)