CONCERT RECENSIES

Alle concert recensies van nederlands artiesten & bands zijn nu op deze pagina...

All gig reviews by Dutch artists & bands can now be found on this page...

PLEASE NOTE THAT REVIEWS CAN BE IN THE ENGLISH OR DUTCH LANGUAGE

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2007

Gezien & gehoord:

TECH 9

De Kattendans, Bergeijk (near Eindhoven) - Sunday 23rd December 2007

What is it with bands from Eindhoven? (see also below for a live review of The Sugarettes, a post-grunge band from Eindhoven) - And what is it with old blokes in bands who clog up the live gig circuit? - One of the bands we get to see tonight are a punk band from Eindhoven who go by the name of TECH 9 - It appears that they have been doing the rounds since the early 80`s when they decided the time was right to form a punk band?!?! It is now 2007 and these blokes actually believe that anyone who knows music gives a shit! To make matters worse they are about to release a new album (their 5th I hear!) which also includes covers of original punk hits by the likes of The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. One word: POINTLESS - The band on stage tonight can play their instruments, but then who couldn`t if you have been practising for almost three decades?, although the bass player seems to think he is much better than he actually is which therefore is very comical to watch! Tonight they are calling this event MOSHPIT (there are plans for future events) and in all honesty it is a waste of time, your money, and therefore a waste of an evening. - 1 out of 10 - TerryA





Gezien & gehoord:

THE SUGARETTES

Rotown, Rotterdam - Thursday 1st November 2007

Tonight's support band are The Sugarettes, a post-grunge band from Eindhoven, who are competent enough and have clearly been inspired by the likes of Sonic Youth, Belly and The Breeders. Sadly, apart from their female bass player who stood at the rear of the stage, it is a bit like watching an aging band who have been practising for over a decade with the same tunes, but in today's music scene they add nothing new to this very much outdated genre and along the way they have also clearly forgotten the entire punk aspect that should have been added to their presentation. If they'd come up with these songs in the mid 90`s then they may have had a stab at a bit of popularity outside their home town. On tonight's showing they end up becoming a waste of a support slot - Another band who may not have been as competent, would have at least been a lot more interesting! - For this The Sugarettes deserve no more than a - 5 out of 10 - TerryA

The full review (including main act) of this gig can be found HERE under November 2007





Gezien & gehoord:

The May Bees & Merry Pierce

Effenaar (small hall), Eindhoven - Friday 6th April 2007

For a (free) gig on a Friday evening in the Effenaar I expected a big turn out for this gig by The May Bees, who are a Dutch band who have been getting a fair amount of press and who recently secured a deal with an American record label to re-release their earlier EPs. Described by the national press (and on their own website) as being a fast upcoming alternative guitar band that provides raw and powerful indie rock and is influenced by the likes of The Pixies, Dinosaur jnr and Sonic Youth. Support on the night is to be by a Pixies/Pavement inspired Dutch band called Merry Pierce (who are signed to the Dutch Excelsior label) so the level of expectations are understandably high. When I turned up Merry Pierce, who consisted of 4 lads, had just kicked into their set and as they go through their set a lot of negative things quickly become apparent; They have no stage presence, musically they have tried to piece together the interesting bits from songs by US indie rock bands from the 90`s - badly!, the lead vocalists (we cant call him a singer!) pronunciation of the English language is dreadful (I will also never understand why some Dutch bands insist on speaking English at their gigs in Holland?!), they love their extended outdated guitar solos, and the end result is that they are a classic example of how a young band has remained stuck in the 90`s! Merry Pierce serve no purpose in today's music scene and therefore deserve no more than a 2 out of 10. It is now left to The May Bees to save the night, but the gathered audience is actually beginning to dwindle rather than to increase which is a worrying omen? By the time they take to the stage there are around 70 people in attendance. The May Bees are a 3-piece tonight and things start promising enough, and they initially keep the gathered audiences attention with some swift changes between songs while their drummer (Marzj) is actually really good and provides a solid backbone to their set (even if more than 1 of her drum intros did sound like Queen`s "We Will Rock You"?), but their guest bass player is all over the place and is having trouble staying in touch and also quickly asserts himself to be the prime candidate for an award as the most boring person on a stage during 2007!, and as the set unfolds so does the limitations of their male vocalist (Gregory Orange?) who provides terrible harmonies and has no range. Halfway through their set the crowd had been reduced to no more than 50 (I counted 38 including bar staff by the time they finished) of which plenty were constantly engaged in non-music related conversations. It gradually dawns on me that The May Bees may be considered competent musicians, and on this showing they have been hyped up by the Dutch press, but in truth they have very little originality. It is almost as if someone has trawled through musicmeter.nl`s Top 50 indie rock albums and then tried to mix all the sounds in an attempt to con people that they are original or groundbreaking? - Also, it is 2007 and not 1993 anymore, so may be time to move on to the new millennium? - 4/10 - TerryA




Gezien & gehoord:

LUSHUS

Koornbeurs, Delft - Thursday 1st March 2007

Lushus are a 3-piece from Utrecht, who consist of two charismatic female bass players and an energetic drummer (Sascha Hacska, Merel Koning & Jorg van der Plank), who released their debut album "Red Blushes" last year on Dying Giraffe Records (NL) and have since done an impressive amount of touring throughout various European countries. They describe their music as a mixture of jazz, punk and nu-wave, while their songs have a mixture of German and English lyrics. Tonight they are playing their first ever gig in Delft and expectations are high from our end because on listening to their album I for one was really impressed by the way that they are trying to do something different along with their addictive driving bass sound that at times resembled The Stranglers or on other occasions were similar to those really cool intros used by Japan in the 80`s. But this is Holland and too often in the past this has led to disappointment and frustration on finally witnessing the end product in a live set up! Upon arrival there is a decent crowd in attendance and Lushus kick into their set. It becomes quickly apparent that they are a well rehearsed unit, but equally important is that they are enjoying this gig as much as their audience and they end up feeding off each other. There were even moments during this gig when they managed to give out a B-52`s vibe (for those unfamiliar, The B-52's are a New Wave Rock Band from the early 80`s) - Lushus are still relatively unknown to the majority of gig goers yet are more than capable tonight of holding everyone's attention. This is not to be underestimated, as too many bands out there these days are just not able to hold their audience long enough and appear to rely on their hit single(s) at a gig for an occasional highlight. If I did have any critique it would be that maybe some of their songs would have had more impact if they were shorter. But by the time they play their last song of the night I can only conclude that even under these circumstances this was is in all honesty a superb little gig. - 7.5/10 - TerryA

Throughout 2006 it became virtually impossible for us to find any bands from Holland who could play a decent live set. (See below for previous gig reviews on Dutch bands) - In addition, the chances of finding any promising bands who could be deemed "original" or exciting were severely hampered by local promoters of certain live music venues who were opting for that safe approach where their priority was to find ways to secure their subsidy for the following year instead of giving new and exciting bands a chance to do any gigs. (See also our feature on the state of the music scene in Holland - > HERE ) - Hopefully with more bands like Lushus around, then 2007 will become a lot more promising? You can find out more about the band (including more live dates) by going to their website at: http://www.lushus.nl/

2006

Gezien & gehoord:

ANNATAR

Speakers, Delft - Thursday 7th September 2006

They describe their music as Melodic Dark Metal, somewhere between Gothic Metal, Doom Metal and Power Metal.
"The Quest For Reality" is the name that was given by Dutch Goth Metal band ANNATAR for their CD launch (more on the name later!) in which they had printed full colour postcards for the occasion, although there was some confusion later on during the live performance when 7 people were on stage (but only 6 on their promo cards) or when their singer kept telling people to "go and get the demo" after the gig? ANNATAR are a local band from Delft consisting of 6 (or 7?) blokes and a much younger girl on vocals and have been going for about 4 years now, having previously played Delft and this venue on about 10 occasions since May 2003. Admission to this concert was free so around 80 people had turned up for their CD launch. Tonight they spend most of their time on stage playing what can best be described as ageing Goth soft rock, where each of the three guitarists (yes 3) want to try and be centre stage all the time, where you can't tell if the poor girl on vocals can even sing because nobody can hear her properly, to an audience who for the most part spend the entire gig talking to each other, even when for comedy value 3 of the blokes in the band actually go into a Status Quo style synchronised guitar solo with nodding heads and swaying hair! Who the hell decided on their stage presence?, and what the fuck have they been listening to for the past 10 years?! "The Quest For Reality" is in reality a tale about yet another Dutch band trying to copy other Dutch Goth bands (The Gathering, After Forever, etc) who had previously had a bit of "national" success (but where no one was ever bothered in the English speaking countries) and where no one today (it is 2006 and not the early 90`s!) is ever going to be interested! - ANNATAR are a waste of time and energy to all concerned, but not a waste of talent because with copyists you don't get to see any talent on display! - 3/10 - TerryA




Gezien & gehoord:

WESTERPOP Festival

Delft - 25th & 26th August 2006

Having just returned from the annual Edinburgh Festival (6th to 28th August in 2006) stumbling across this festival was not too dissimilar to someone having just enjoyed a meal in a 5 star restaurant and then walking into a really crap fast food joint. Yes it was that bad! ... Made even worse with the thought that the local council had paid for this sub standard event which meant that it was indirectly paid for by the people of Delft! (See also our forthcoming article "What is wrong with the music scene in Holland? ..." - > HERE ) - 3.5/10 - TerryA

For additional info go to our "Monkey" section (under August 2006) - > HERE





Gezien & gehoord:

LILIAN HAK

Parade Festival, Den Haag (The Hague) - Tuesday 11th July 2006

It has now been almost 2 years since the release of her very promising debut album "Silence Feels Safe" (see album reviews section), and apart from her appearance at the beginning of the year at an indoor festival in Nijmegen, these gigs on the main stage of the annual Parade Festival (in 4 different Dutch cities) were her first live outings with a band in 2006 and part of the promotional campaign for her new album which has now been rescheduled for a September release. The only problem is that nobody appeared to know about them playing here tonight and this then results in only about 10 people turning up at the start of her set and never any more than 40 people in attendance throughout the entire gig, while at the same time only a minutes walk away around 150 people were crammed into a tent where a blues rock band were just going through the motions! So what went wrong? Well plenty actually, and sadly a lot was of their own making. You see, from what I've heard the recorded versions of Lilian Hak`s music are actually really good, she has a great voice, is very much at the forefront of the current alternative music scene in Holland, and someone who we thought would finally be capable of breaking the mould of uninspiring bland Dutch acts. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about her live set-up. It's here that you have to ask yourself who will Lilian Hak`s music eventually appeal to? - I ask this because one major problem with this gig is that her band are just far too old to even try and pull this off. It's fine being loyal to the musicians who supported you from the beginning but when they resemble 30+`rs out on a jamming session who can't even be arsed to dress up for the occasion then they are never going to appeal to the youth who simply don't want to see or listen to unknown people resembling their dads on stage?! As for the 30+`rs who could be into the music, well lets face it; 90% of them will probably be sat at home watching Big Brother or some other reality TV show and won't be stood in a field at a gig on a Tuesday night! Add to this the fact that if you didn't know who was actually playing on stage you never would because apart from 1 brief announcement midway through their set there was no flyers, banners or any kind of promo to be seen? So what should have been an "in your face" musical experience with Lilian leading a hungry young band out to blow people away turned into a lacklustre at times embarrassing affair, with a passing audience moving on after only a couple of songs that more often than not were all way too long for use in a gig when unfamiliar, and where to make matters even worse their out-house sound engineer couldn't even get his act together until the 7th song of an 8 song set!
As I walked off towards the exit that blues rock band were midway through the title theme from "Grease" while their audience were still lapping it up, oblivious to the total PR disaster that had just unfolded at the main stage. And so it looks like under these circumstances its back to the drawing board in trying to find home-grown talent in Holland. - 5/10 - TerryA




Gezien & gehoord:

Miss Antarctica & 40 Stone

Speakers, Delft - Thursday 8th June 2006

This was being billed as the last ever gig by Dutch/British band Miss Antarctica who had recently decided to call it a day after poor record sales of their debut album Lost Electricity (Island Records) which had been released last year, along with an apparent inability to play anywhere other than Holland or Germany. But unlike other bands who end up in their position Miss Antarctica were claiming in the Dutch press that they wanted to split up and therefore hadn't been dropped by their record label?! Tonight they were being supported by a local band called 40 Stone, who had just won some kind of band contest so that they could play at some obscure festival in Scheveningen in August.
Not the kind of pre-gig press that would normally get me interested to go along but seeing as Speakers in Delft was only just down the road I decided to give it a go and then make up my own mind.

When I entered the dark interior of the venue 40 Stone were already playing to about 40 people, and can best be described as a competent enough sounding rock band with a tight(ish) set who had a drummer with some good ideas but a lead guitarist who was very poor along with a singer sporting combat trousers and a pair of bloody sunglasses on top of his head! Here was yet another ageing college band in action and when their biggest applause of the night came from covering Killing Joke's "Love Like Blood" then it doesn't take a genius to realize that something is wrong! Also, their last number of the night "Sunday" was decent enough but unfortunately at least 10 years out of date in a pre-Bon Jovi soft rock kind of way. By the end of their set there wasn't much applause left from the 30 odd people who'd hung around and 40 Stone are deserving of no more than a 3 out of 10

So it was then left for Miss Antarctica to save the night when 5 lads finally came on stage to about 50 people while a cool looking b&w film was being played on to their backdrop as they then opened up and eventually closed off about an hour later with the same song - "Walls Come Tumbling Down". The band go through the majority of songs from their album but at times the singer really struggles with his range, one of the guitarists vanishes and then returns, the keyboard player appears to want to be the loudest member all the time at the expense of drowning out everyone else and their singer then not only feels the need to introduce every single song they played during their entire set which results in no tight changeovers or atmosphere, but as the gig develops his comments (towards their record company) become more and more hostile. At one stage he even tells us "go out and buy the album which is in the shops now, even if we won't get any money from it". By the 40 minute mark the audience has already been reduced to about 30 people. The end result was that despite trying to go out with some kind of a bang, Miss Antarctica simply fizzled out while still on stage. One day they will also realize that any chance of a new deal vanished the moment they initially ended up so bitter and twisted. - 4.5/10 - TerryA




Gezien & gehoord:

THE SHEER

Velvet - Delft: Saturday 3rd June 2006

The Sheer made a live in-store appearance at Velvet Record Shop in Delft to promote their new album "Feel The Need" (Universal Benelux). About 35 people turned up to attend this gig. This Dutch Britpop band are heavily influenced by OASIS in particular, only with extended guitar solos, while the singer attempts to copy Liam Gallagher's vocal delivery ... badly! To be honest, I am not really sure what The Sheer's purpose is in music today? Back in the beginning of 1994 I was witness to a venue in Eindhoven (The Independent) who were the very first place in Holland to play OASIS at a time when most people still wanted their grunge or other MTV approved sounds. Only now its the summer of 2006 so this young(ish) Dutch band attempting to play and sound like those Britpop bands from the 90`s is a bit like a new band trying to copy the ARCTIC MONKEYS sound in, err ... 2018!! And I can't even say that The Sheer were even competent at what they did - Towards the end of their set the drummer appeared all over the place, while their songs ended up having less and less words and even more guitar solos!! - As for the audience; they can best be described as polite and reserved, although bizarrely one lad was wearing a pink coloured PinkPop 2006 T-shirt? (The annual PinkPop festival had actually only just started today all the way down in the south?) All in all a painful experience. 3.5/10 - TerryA




Gezien & gehoord:

SEVEN & THE CROWD

Speakers, Delft - Thursday 25th May 2006

It was time to check out some of the home-grown bands and this gig had two bands from The Hague appearing on the same night. Both bands appeared to have played frequently since the end of last year, with headline act SEVEN claiming to have been hastily formed several years ago after their guitarist was asked by 70`s rockers Golden Earring to be the opening act at one of their shows. Since then they had appeared at most Dutch festivals and were due to release a new record, while THE CROWD had won the "most promising new band" award by the people behind the Haagse Popprijs 2005 (The Hague Pop Awards 2005) and had been gigging on a regular basis since the end of 2005, so I suppose this would therefore be a good a gig as any to find out where the Dutch music scene was currently at?

When I entered the venue THE CROWD were just about to start their set to an audience of about 60, which was a little disappointing considering that this gig had been advertised since April and was actually free? - What then followed was bad with a lot worse to come! While THE CROWD claim to have been influenced by U2 and Foo Fighters (in itself a weird combination) they came across as a band who have obviously spent too much time watching outdated MTV videos instead of practicing with their instruments, with a front man who spent too much time talking absolute bollocks in between songs and what can only be described as someone playing like their grandmother on drums!
In addition, they actually selected a Billy Idol song which they then used to close off their set with!!

Next up was SEVEN, which are 5 blokes in their mid-30`s trying desperately to come across all rock & roll, while their singer thinks he is the new Bruce Springsteen (not that we even need or want one!) and tries way too hard to sound cool to the kids with his phoney American accent and daft red and white striped armband. What a wanker! - They attempt more MTV approved rock music which is heavily influenced by those long outdated 80`s guitar sounds and end up coming across like the sad bunch of losers (pun intended) that they really are ... and then to think that bands like this are currently at the forefront of the live music scene here is just too scary and bizarre for words! - Without doubt one of the worst gigs that I`ve ever been to in my life. - 1.5/10 (is probably giving them too high a score!) - TerryA

please note: It would appear that a member of THE CROWD was quick to let us know that she did not appear to like our review? - for more info go to our "Monkey" section (under May 2006) - > HERE




Gezien & gehoord:

SKIN

Paradiso - Amsterdam: 22nd April 2006 (SOLD OUT)

Het was al snel duidelijk, het concert dat Skin zou geven in de Paradiso zou snel uitverkocht zijn. Daar waren toch eigenlijk maar twee redenen voor. De eerste is omdat Skin toch nog steeds beter bekend staat als de vroegere zangeres van SKUNK ANANSIE. En ten tweede omdat haar laatste single plat gedraait werd op de radio de afgelopen weken. Ik was voornamelijk erg nieuwschierig. Nadat ik haar in het voorprogramma van Placebo had gezien op 7 oktober 2003, was ik nogal van haar onder de indruk geraakt. Een kleine vrouw met een enorme stem. Dus met niet al te veel verwachting (aangezien ik haar solo werk niet ken) ging ik naar de Paradiso.

In het voorprogramma stond ABSENT MINDED. Best goed moet ik zeggen, en erg leuk om ze dolblij op het podium te zien staan. Zanger Jeroen van Woezik kon dan ook niet vaak genoeg zeggen hoe gaaf hij het wel niet vond. Grappig om te zien dat hun trouwe fans aanwezig waren in de vorm van een paar gillende meisjes vooraan het podium. Al met al een leuk bandje. Niets meer en niets minder. Het zou best eens kunnen dat ze over een paar jaar iets meer zullen worden dan een tweede Di-rect. Voor degene die naar Werchter gaan: als er niets anders speelt best vermakelijk om even naar te gaan kijken. Dan was het tijd voor Skin. Al springend komt ze op, en stuiterd zo nog even een paar nummers door. Enthousiast is ze zeker, en duidelijk is het meteen dat ze het goed naar haar zin heeft. Gelukkig deed haar gitartist daar vrolijk aan mee, maar helaas stond de rest er de hele show als zoutzakken bij. Na een paar nummers kwamen ook een paar bekende Skunk Anansie nummers voorbij, zoals de tot langzame ballad omgetoverde "Weak". Die kende natuurlijk iedereen, en werd het feestje voor de liefhebbers nog groter. Helaas kon ik op een of andere manier niet mee gaan in deze feestvreugde. De nummers grepen me totaal niet, niets sprak mij aan. Halverwege het concert betrapte ik mezelf dat ik in mijn hoofd een boodschappenlijstje aan het maken was voor maandag. Het was saai. Iets anders kan ik er niet van maken. En hoewel ze haar best heeft gedaan, kan ik het concert niet meer dan een 5 geven. Voor de moeite. En voor vergane glorie. - 5/10 - ?ngel

What is wrong with the music scene in Holland? - > HERE

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