Northern Prog Festival

Momentum, Leap Day,
For Absent Friends & Overhead

November 2, 2024 - De Uthof, Siegerswoude (NL)


Every first Saturday of November many lovers of progressive rock make their way to the northern parts of the Netherlands. Their destination is the Northern Prog Festival held at De Uthof in Siegerswoude. This amazing festival is organised by Leap Day. Without any doubt one of the best progressive rock bands our country has to offer. The band themselves are always the second act on the bill. Around this fact they put up a line up which might attract many people from the Netherlands and from across the border. This year was already the eleventh time the festival was held. As usual many Dutch acts climb the stage at this venue. No exception this time around. Next to the earlier mentioned band they also booked Momentum and For Absent Friends to warm up the crowd for the final headliner. In the past several big names in the progressive rock scene closed the festival. Bands such as Comedy Of Errors, IO Earth and Galahad. At first Antony Kalugin was booked to perform the music of Karfagen, Sunchild and Hoggwash. However, he was not able to put up a band because of the war in Ukraine and the musicians living too far from each other. Therefore, a suitable replacement had to be found. And yeah they did find indeed a suitable replacement. Because with the name of Overhead they made many people happy. Including myself. I just had seen them a couple of months ago at't Blok in Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel doing an outstanding performance (see review).
 

Momentum

According to The West Frisian band Momentum they stand for idiosyncratic Dutch-language rock with influences from prog, metal and (synth)pop. This band from the area of Hoorn already released the albums Uit Het Leven Gegrepen (2021) and De Slag Op De Suyderzee (2023). They were recorded with several musicians in the band. However just after they were booked for the festival only two members remained in the band. Namely Marc Schouten
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L to R: Fons Flotman & Marc Schouten (►more photos)
(vocals, bass, drums, guitar) and Fons Flotman (keys, vocals). They assured the organisation that no matter what they would be continuing the preparations to play on the festival. To do this they were forced to work with backing tracks, because as a duo they can't do everything live. They had filmed almost all parts that come from the backing track while playing, which they showed that on a screen behind them. So everything that you did hear during their performance you could see happening. It is a bit unconventional but they tried it any way. Did it work? Yes and no! Marc was playing on his bass guitar and did most of the vocal parts. However I think it would have been better if he had played on the electric guitar instead. This way the solos would have come more alive and the crowd had something to look at. Fons was standing behind his keyboards and occasionally did some of the vocals. Because a lot of parts came from the screen behind them, on which they were playing a long with, it sounded too many times too chaotic. It also didn't help that the audio sound that could be heard was far from good. As for the songs played. They choose to perform a large collection of songs taken from their debut Uit Het Leven Gegrepen. Leaving out the pieces of music taken from De Slag Op De Suyderzee. Instead, they treated the audience of a lot of brand new songs which will later on be on their third album Aardewerk. Hopefully for the band they will find new fellow band members to climb with them the stage to perform their music in front of a live audience. Because I personally think this experiment failed even how hard they tried to entertain the people present!
 

Leap Day

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Caption (►more photos)
As for the second band that climbed the stage I can be more positive. I even can say that this is by far their best performance I have seen in the current line up. The 6 musicians were without any doubt playing on top of their game.
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Caption (►more photos)
They were willing to give the audience something they later on would speak about. Right from the start with the instrumental piece Viral Cage the band kicked ass. Followed by Falling Star with lead singer Hans Kuypers joining his fellow band members on stage. Both new pieces of music showed that the band can still write excellent progressive rock tunes which are performed in an excellent way. Just like they managed to perform top notch live versions of the songs taken from their large back catalogue. There was so much to enjoy. The only two songs (title track and Autumn) from their latest effort Treehouse (2021, see review) made me dream away while they played them. But also, the rest of the even older material, which they hadn't played for many years, were loved by the audience in front of them and many times rewarded with a well-deserved round of applause. As for the songs such as Home At Last, March Under The Symbol, Deucalion and the oldie Little Green Man I can listen to every time of the day. And when they do great live versions of them my day couldn't be better. So, both thumbs up for this incredibly beautiful concert. Without a doubt the first musical highlight of the festival.
 

For Absent Friends

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Hans van Lint (►more photos)
This band comes from the Rotterdam area and was rather famous in the progressive rock scene when they released their first albums in the 90s. After several line up changes the band still released albums in 2001 and 2006. During that period I saw them several times. However after that period it became rather quiet around this band. Then suddenly out of the blue the band released their sixth studio album Disappear in 2022. Also the band went on the road to play their music in front of a live audience again. Therefore, I was rather glad to see them on the bill of this festival. And they didn't disappoint me. Their performance was rather strong and of course it contained several compositions from the earlier mentioned album. Songs such as Magic, Disappear,
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Edwin Roes (►more photos)
the strong instrumental Keytar and The Poet which featured the solos taken from the Cinema Show. I guess it wasn't so strange they did this classic Genesis tune because many of the band members also play in the Genesis tribute band Squonk. But the band did also not forget their musical legacy and some old fan favourites could be heard. From their first period (with singer Alex Toonen) Snow (encore), Into Love and the well known emotional duo song Boy/ Father. From their second period (with singer Hans van Lint which is still in the band) they did not forget to do fan favourites as well by doing songs such as Berlin Wall and The Big Room. The the band is still sounding fresh and alive and kicking. They did show this by playing a strong brand new song titled Nerd Illusion. So all in all a very strong performance from a band which I hadn't seen for a very long time. Well done guys.
 

Overhead

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Alex Keskitalo (►more photos)
For those who know this wonderful band from Finland an introduction is not needed. I already mentioned their outstanding performance in the Netherlands earlier this year. And also this time around the five musician on stage showed why they were chosen as a headliner and to replace Antony Kalugin and his band. Of course the setlist contained many of the same songs done at 't Blok. And therefore no surprised could be expected. Even though the band already started to work on new material they did not choose to show some of the new musical tunes. I guess it is also not necessary to play new work when you can draw from an extensive back catalogue. Especially their last album Telepathic Minds (2023, see review) contained some really beautiful musical gems. And is considered by
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Jaakko Kettunen (►more photos)
many, including myself, as a true masterpiece. Therefore I was glad I could hear once again the strong opener War To End All Wars. But also my album favourite Ghosts From The Future was done again in a perfect way. Planet Of Disorder, Tuesday That Never Came and the title track were done from the bands best album release. Of course, the weird stage act from singer Alex Keskitalo could be enjoyed once again during Metaepitome. During the band's encore, which was the King Crimson classic 21st Century Schizoid Man, he left temporary the stage to give his fellow band mates all the space to freak out on their instruments. For me it was great fun to see bassist Janne Katalkin, keyboardist Mikko Patama and guitarist Jaakko Kettunen doing all those amazing solos on their instruments. It was a perfect way to end a perfect performance. I guess I couldn't ask for more...

Just like last year I can almost end my review with the same words again. I can once again only say that the eleventh edition of the Northern Prog Festival was another festival with almost only musical highlights on stage. Only the first act was a bit disappointing. And also once again thanks to the people who booked all the bands! And once again a thank you goes out for the people of De Uthof who made it possible that everybody had enough food and drinks while watching the four acts. Also, once again thanks to the people for the sound. The Northern Prog Festival was for me personally once again the best festival in the Netherlands!

Henri Strik (edited by Dave Smith)

Live video
recordings

Henri, Eden & Roel Strik

Clips will be published later


Setlist Momentum:

De Graaier
Als Ik Nu
Red Mij
Welkom Op aarde
De Erfenis
Moederaarde II
Eenzaam Bestaan
Simulatietheorie
Eén Leven
Bij De Keel
Smet Op Het Heelal
Morgen Komt Het Licht
Het Wisselkind
Stop De Haat


Pictures Momentum by Arthur Haggenburg

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Click on the picture to enlarge.

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Line up Momentum:

(left to right)
Fons Flotman:
keys, vocals
Marc Schouten:
vocals, bass, drums, guitar
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Live video
recordings

Henri, Eden & Roel Strik

Clips will be published later


Setlist Leap Day:

Viral Cage
Falling Star
Treehouse
Home At Last
March Under The Symbol
Deucalion
Autumn
Little Green Man



Pictures Leap Day by Arthur Haggenburg

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Line up Leap Day:

(left to right)
Gert van Engelenburg:
keyboards, backing vocals
Eddie Mulder:
guitar, backing vocals
Koen Roozen:
drums, percussion
Hans Kuypers:
lead vocals
Harry Scholing:
bass
Derk Evert Waalkens:
keyboards, backing vocals
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Live video
recordings

Henri, Eden & Roel Strik

Clips will be published later


Setlist For Absent Friends:


Nerd Illusion
The Poet/ Cinema Show
Stick Around
Wonder
Into Love
Keytar
Disappear
Boy
Father
Berlin Wall
Magic
The Big Room
Encore:
Snow




Pictures For Absent Friends by Arthur Haggenburg

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Line up For Absent Friends:

(left to right)
Ed Wernke:
Drums
Edwin Roes:
guitar
Hans van Lint:
Vocals, acoustic guitar
Clemens Steenweg:
keyboards
Jan Nieuwenhuis:
bass
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Live video
recordings

Henri, Eden & Roel Strik

Clips will be published later


Setlist Overhead:


War To End All Wars
Haydenspark
Planet Of Disorder
Ghosts From The Future
Metaepitome
Butterfly's Cry
To the Madness
Tuesday That Never Came
Telepathic Minds
Encore:
21st Century Schizoid Man




Pictures Overhead by Arthur Haggenburg

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Click on the picture to enlarge.

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Line up Overhead:

(left to right)
Ville Sjöblom:
drums
Mikko Patama:
keyboards
Janne Katalkin:
bass
Alex Keskitalo:
vocals, flute
Jaakko Kettunen:
guitar
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