Plackband

December 1, 2024 - 't Blok, Nieuwerkerk a/d IJssel (NL)


 

The moment that seemed so far away but came closer every week finally arrived. It was announced as ProgFrog The Final, meaning this would be the last time the amazing people of the ProgFrog team organised a progressive
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rock concert at 't Blok in Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel in the Netherlands. Since September 2010 they have organized a concert of 1 or 2 progressive rock bands in 't Blok (Non-Profit) every month on a Sunday afternoon. ProgFrog did not receive a subsidy (meaning the town or government did not provide them money to organise concerts), but they worked with sponsors (actually a group of friends and acquaintances who have a soft spot for progressive rock). You also have to know that the entrance fees went entirely to the bands as compensation for expenses. So this was now the last time at this cosy building on a cold Sunday afternoon on the first day of December. Again a group of volunteers managed to get everything organized, in the way it should always be at a concert, for the very last time. However never say never. Maybe one day a band will climb the same stage again which is on the wish list of the ProgFrog team. But for now the last band that climbed that stage are a legend in their own way. Plackband!

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Koos Sekreve (►more photos)
I have been following them since the seventies, when I was in my teens. From 1977 until 1985 when they broke up, I witnessed many of their concerts. Also, when they reunited in 2000 and played concerts until 2008, I was always there to support them. And now they got together again in almost the original line-up of the 70s. Only lead singer Kees Bik couldn't join the band in the end due to physical health issues. The man who replaced the band's lead singer earlier in the bands career was asked again and willing to step in. His name Koos Sekreve. For me personally the best lead singer the band has ever had. He was accompanied on stage by Ronald Brautigam (electric guitar and backing vocals), Michel van Wassem (keyboards and backing vocals), Tom van der Meulen (drums) and Albert de Keijzer (bass guitar and bass pedals). All excellent musicians who are in their sixties or seventies. With this dream team getting together again, it will probably be the last time to get the old gang back on stage. However, everybody who witnessed their excellent performance with eyes closed would have guessed that a rather young band was on stage. As young dogs they were back on stage to do the same musical tricks as back in the seventies.

It will not get into detail about each song they performed. But I do know that they sounded as back in the days when they just started or even better! It was pure nostalgia for the older fans to hear once again the classic Plackband songs such as After The Battle, The Hunchback and End Of The Line. Or the at the time released duo single Some Party/ Seventy Warriors. The Good Earth, the epic piece about the welfare of our planet, even had an extra musical part taken from Firth Of Fifth. The majestic piece of music of Genesis. The guitar solo done by Steve Hackett in the original version was very well copied by Brautigam.
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Albert de Keijzer & Ronald Brautigam (r)
(►more photos)
The band also dedicated one of their songs to their biggest fan ever. He recently died when the they just started to play on stage again. Therefore, whenever his favourite song Sign Of The knife is played it will never sound the same again. Never as it used to be! But special every time! A special song in the set is also the French chanson L'Enfant Du 92Eme (The child of the 92nd). A song originally recorded by the Belgium singer Pierre Rapsat in 1977. The band performed this song the first time when they did a double concert with Mangala Vallis at the Spirit of 66 in Verviers during their first reunion. Verviers, the place where Rapsat is buried. Francis Geron, the owner of the venue, was the former bassist and friend of Pierre Rapsat. As a tribute to his friend the band practised this song which sometimes is named the ping-pong song because the main character in the song plays in the corner of his living room with a ping-pong ball.

Of course, the band was not allowed to go home after doing two excellent sets. And therefore, an encore was demanded. The audience got a great farewell tune with a great version of See The Dwarf. At the end of this song Ronald played a short part of another Genesis tune. Namely Dance On A Volcano. But he stopped immediately after that saying that one tune of them was enough. After the show I asked him about this musical part and he explained it to me. Saying that there's a story behind it. The last notes of the chord are exactly the same as the intro of Dance On A Volcano. In the rehearsal room he sometimes played that as a joke and of course immediately said that it was a joke but that he wouldn't do that live. But in the end they studied it to perform it, but then in the form of Los Endos. The great Genesis instrumental piece taken from A Trick of the Tail. Including reprises of Dance On A Volcano and Squonk. Looking forward to that!

All in all this was an excellent concert, the perfect farewell party for ProgFrog. Afterwards lots of talking of course and a well deserved Chinese food table for the band and the many volunteers who made many of the Sunday afternoon shows such a success. Of course it will be missed driving on a Sunday afternoon to 't Blok since 2011. Seeing and filming all those amazing bands such as Anima Mundi, Martigan, Moonrise, Red Sand and Anubis. Too many to mention. Thanks ProgFrog for giving all those, mainly unknown bands, a chance to present themselves in front of a Dutch audience. But we still have the many reviews, pictures and videos to look back at what you have achieved in the progressive rock scene. The memory will always be alive...

Henri Strik (edited by Dave Smith)

Live video
recordings

Henri, Eden & Roel Strik

Clips will be published later


Setlist Plackband:

Set 1
Bloodmaster
Some Party
After The Battle
The Hunchback
End Of The Line
Set 2
L ‘Enfant Du 92Eme
The Good Earth/ Firth Of Fifth excerpt
Sign Of The knife
Seventy Warriors
Ghost Town/ Teesing The Boss
Encore:
See The Dwarf


Pictures Plackband by Arthur Haggenburg

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Click on the picture to enlarge.

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Line up Plackband:

(left to right)
Albert de Keijzer:
bass guitar and bass pedals
Koos Sekreve:
lead vocals, percussion and additional keyboard (Mellotron)
Tom van der Meulen:
drums
Ronald Brautigam:
guitar and backing vocals
Michel van Wassem:
keyboards and backing vocals
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