Three years ago during one of the hottest days in June (the temperature was above 30 degrees Celsius) the German
musicians from
KariBoW climbed for the very first time a stage in the Netherlands (see
review). Band leader
Oliver Rüsing and his fellow musicians found 't Blok in Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel such a great venue that
they wanted to come back one year later. Something which the crowd present certainly enjoyed a lot, because their
performance at the time was just brilliant. However we all know what happened the following years to come. Covid
19 ruined everything. Year after year the concert was postponed. Finally all lights turned green in 2022 and the
stage belonged once again to all the musicians in the world. So the return of KariBoW to the Netherlands and
to 't Blok was a fact.
During the lockdown, the very talented singer and multi-instrumentalist Rüsing released lots of new progressive
rock albums under the moniker Karibow. Such as the revisited version of
Three Times Deeper (2020, see
review),
the live album
Essence (2020, see
review) and the latest studio release
Age Of Amber (2021). So
it was obvious that the upcoming concert would more or less focused on the latest compositions written.
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L to R: Oliver Rüsing, Philipp Dauenhauer, Felix Jäger and Gerald Nahrgang (►more pics) |
Thank God the weather was this time around better than three years ago. Everybody loves a real sunny Sunday afternoon,
but too hot, nobody really enjoys that. As for the band. Without doing any concerts for two and a half years and
with almost exactly the same line up as the last time the members of KariBoW entered the stage. Only keyboard
player
Guido Seifert was absent. Therefore all of the keyboards were triggered. During the short instrumental
intro tape it was first
Gerald Nahrgang who went behind his drum kit. Followed by
Philipp Dauenhauer
who picked up his electric guitar before
Felix Jäger strapped on his bass guitar. Finally Oliver Rüsing
came on and started to sing the first song of the almost 45 minutes long first set, whilst playing electric guitar.
Bodhisattva (the first track from the latest album
Age Of Amber) came out rather strong, even if
it was obvious that the musicians had to find the right sound first before they could blow away the audience in
front of them. Oliver felt rather comfortable on stage and had no problems whistling as well. Next up a piece
of music which was enjoyed three years ago.
The Raining Silence had again a mind blowing guitar solo
by Dauenhauer. Next up three songs in a row from
Age Of Amber again. Namely
Secret Birth Of Something
New,
The Impermanence Of Sound and
Renaissance. Unfortunately they were all unfamiliar to me
as I hadn't heard the latest album at all. However it didn't mean they were less enjoyable to hear. But it always
helps if you hear the studio versions earlier! Finally the first set ended with a well know track that was also
done three years earlier.
The North Wall Tale sure is a great tune to end a set with because it features
everything which KariBoW stands for. Melodic progressive rock with sing-a-long parts and instrumental breaks.
After the break it was time for Oliver on his own. Doing an acoustic mini set. This time around he was not accompanied
by Philipp Dauenhauer on acoustic guitar nor drummer Gerald Nahrgang on the acoustic bass. With a blue cowboy
hat on his head and an acoustic six string guitar in his hands, he was introduced by someone in the audience as
the lonesome cowboy. He again opened the acoustic set with
Home Of Cain just as three years earlier. During
the song Oliver asked the audience to participate. He needed a rhythm so they had to clap a long and they also
did sing the chorus. Next was
When The Air Stands Still, a quiet song from
Age Of Amber. Finally
a medley on which Oliver challenged the listeners to recognise the parts he played on his guitar. For those who
didn't know the answers I can tell you that the acoustic medley included parts of
Change,
Primeval,
The Big Y,
Inside You and
Helios (Ambrosia Part IV). After that the other musicians came
back to continue with another electric set.
From that moment on the fun started. While Oliver put on a white jacket and two different gloves and two different gloves (one white
and one black) bass player Felix Jäger (also known as Xkajsdfoajsfvuehrfö Kjaqckdasi on Facebook) took over the
show. I expected he would do a bass solo but instead he kept talking about the music of the band he is playing
in and other stuff. After Rüsing was dressed up again he took over the microphone and introduced the next song.
A song which actually was never played before. However soon it turned out that
The Impossible wasn't supposed
to be played because
Wrecked B.I.L. (another track from the latest album) was next on the setlist. They
couldn't be switch on the setlist, because all backing tracks were of course programmed according to the list
on the piece of paper on the floor. So again Oliver had to change his outfit.
Wrecked B.I.L. otherwise
known as Wrecked But in Love! During the performance of this song for the first time ever, he wore a jacket on
stage. The tie he wore is the only one he owns and found it three years ago at Craufurd Arms in Milton Keynes.
It was an unwanted remnant of a ska/punk party they had a night before. After that he got back into white jacket
and two different gloves to finally do
The Impossible. A song which has on the studio version the vocal
contributions of
Mark Trueack (
United Progressive Fraternity,
Unitopia). According to Oliver
it was impossible to have him on stage because he had to come all the way from Australia. Therefore he did all
the vocal parts by himself.
The Impossible was for me personally one of the musical highlights of the entire
show. The final song of the regular set was
Remember. A great song on which Rüsing and Dauenhauer could
do some heaving rocking on their electric guitars.
Finally the encore, which was for me probably the ultimate highlight of the entire concert.
E.G.O.is taken from the sold out album
Holophinium (2016, see
review) and is a real epic piece of
music with different time signatures. It has strong instrumental parts that you want to hear over and over again.
Oliver even went on his knees to sing this great song. It was for me the perfect ending of a excellent concert.
Thanks again to the members of KariBoW for giving another great concert just like three years ago. Hopefully back
next year if another pandemic does not disturb it and we don't have to wait another three years. Also thanks
again to the amazing ProgFrog team who booked them once again for a one off concert which attracted people from
England, Belgium and Germany as well. Thanks guys!
Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen)