The Sunday afternoons in 't Blok in Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel where the ProgFrog team organizes a gig are always pleasant. Not only because of the snacks but certainly also because of the quality of the sound in the hall. Unfortunately, that was a different story at the double concert by Inhalo & Morgendust on Sunday afternoon, July 9th. At their request, the bands had brought their own sound people. In doing so, virtually all the equipment of both bands also had to be set up on stage. That meant a long sound check before everything was finally in place.

 

Peter Cats and Suzana Raya (r, click to enlarge)

Inhalo

The new Dutch band Inhalo who surprised us last year with their debut album Sever was the first to take the stage. The volume was way too high, well above the allowed dBs. The band, enthusiastically as always, played their full album in about 3 quarters of an hour. Since the recording of their debut album Suzana Raya has been added to the line-up. With her own style of playing and singing, she was a significant addition to the sound of the band. The voice of Fons Herder fits well with Inhalo's intense and heavy music.

 

Morgendust

Marco de Haan

After a break, Morgendust entered the stage (for the 2nd time at ProgFrog). This Dutch band started as a project of Marco de Haan and Iwan Blokzijl. After the EP in 2019, their 1st full-length album was released this year titled Morgendust. The played almost all songs of this eponymous album, intertwined with songs from their EP Storm Will Come and the single Easy Way Out.
Their music cannot be called progrock, they have a style of their own. They call it music with elements of alternative rock, pop, post-punk and 80s. It's a style that will be appreciated by the majority of the progrock diehards but also many others. The emotional singing of lead vocalist Marco de Haan has a strong contribution to the band's performance. All members of the band showed that they are experienced musicians.
This band definitely deserves the best sound because of their style, atmosphere and musical qualities. Especially the extraordinary voice of singer/guitarist Marco de Haan. Unfortunately, the sound engineer had his own ideas here as well. The whole sounded incoherent and also too loud, the keys were barely perceptible and some of the 50 music lovers unfortunately walked out of the venue. All in all, this is a great pity.

Both bands are welcome to show their qualities with ProgFrog's own sound people. Some things you should never change either....

Nico Schouw (edited by Arthur Haggenburg)