Ralphy's Concert Reviews

Bospop 2003 Rockfestival at Boshoven in Weert Saturday 12-07-2003

featuring

LA Doors, Slow Poke Rodrigo, BR5-49, Ilse DeLange, Spanner, 16 Down, Daniel Lohues & The Louisiana Blues Club, Bløf, The Gathering, Anouk, The Alarm, INXS, H.I.M. and Simple Minds.

80's Music still rules at a crowded Bospop-festival

My 6th visit to the Bospop-festival started at 12.30PM, when the others came as appointed to my house, which would be the starting point for our visit to the festival in Weert. Our group had increased since last year. Maurizio and myself are the veteran visitors, my girlfriend Monja has also become a regular with 4 visits, Astrid and my cousin Alex came along for the first time last year and new in our group for Bospop were Monja's cousin Bert (who has joined us at several Pinkpop-visits), Frank and Manuel, who did go last year, but at that time he was there with his former girlfriend. After they had arrived I first handed out the tickets and the timetables I had downloaded of the net and than we had to put the finances in order (I had purchased the tickets for us all). We drove by Monja's house to pick up a photo-camera, so we can add some pictures to this review. At the time I'm typing this they still have to be developped. On the highway we had to take a short emergency stop when my motorhood popped open. luckily without any damage or casualties. It was half past 1, when we parked the car and moved towards the festival-grounds. The first band Slow Poke Rodrigo had been scheduled for 11 o'clock, but because Monja had an exam in the morning and Frank had to work till 12.00PM we could not leave home earlier. Therefore we also missed the performances of BR5-49 and LA Doors . We didn't mind missing those bands, because we actually never heard of them before and the last mentioned band, I think a Doors-coverband, was a last minute substitution (due to illness) for Intwine, a band that I did know a couple of songs of. We had to stand in line for the usual stripsearch at the entrance of a festival. It was the first time at Bospop in all the years I visited that I couldn't just walk through, but really had to wait in a line. I had heard that this Saturday was almost sold out, and it would be apparent that the festival had drawn a lot more visitors than usual (13,000 on this (second) day of the festival, still a lot less than other megafestivals). Because we couldn't walk through immediately we also missed almost the entire performance of Ilse DeLange. We did hear the music a little from outside the grounds and the set she played seemed very much similar to the one I heard at the Pinkpop 2003 festival that we attended a little over a month ago. Her last song and biggest hit "I'm not so tough" was the only one we heard from in front of the stage and I have to say it was a nice version with a long guitar solo finish. By the way, in case you were wondering about the first day of Bospop, after long deliberation I decided not to attend that. On Friday the program contained a couple of performers I had been interested in like ZZ Top, Bonnie Raitt and Gary Moore, but when the latter cancelled due to an injury and the fact that I didn't have a sober person to drive me back that pushed the envelope to remain at home that day. That Friday had also some particular metal-artists scheduled, but metal with a nostalgia-feeling if you hear names like Saxon, Ronnie James Dio and Motörhead. This wasn't really my music for the most part. The last mentioned band Motörhead as well as the Canadian threesome Danko Jones got the best reviews of that Friday. The latter band seems to be a real talent, because the critics were also full of praise about their performance at Pinkpop 2003, but I cannot give an opinion on that, since I missed them at both occassions.

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After we had listened to Ilse DeLange's last song, we searched for a place in the grass, threw some money together and purchased some drinking tickets and the drinks that go with that. I attended Astrid on the fact that Spanner had started performing in the tent. They are a Dutch band built around singer Syb van de Ploeg. Who?, you might ask, well this guy is a bit of a celebrity in Holland, as he used to be leadsinger for a band called De Kast (Dutch for The Closet), who had some success with soapy songs in Dutch and in a local Dutch dialect. He quit that band to 'go more rock' with Spanner. Well I always loathed the music of his former band and I had heard one song with this new band on the radio and I didn't like it much better, therefore I decided not to go into the tent (which is the second, smaller stage of Bospop btw). Some of the others, lead by Astrid, did go and listen to them and they thought it was OK. Another review I read was less flattering and described Spanner as bombastic, uninspired rock that made the dinosaur-metalbands of the Friday sound modern. I can only say that of the 5 people of our group that went to see them, only 2 watched till the end. After that we gathered again at a spot behind the big sound- and lighttower in front of the mainstage. We stayed there and drank some beers (and soda's for the girls, who were the designated drivers) and did remain there while the next band 16 Down started performing on the main stage. This (also) Dutch band had been the latest addition to the line-up. They are not very well-known yet, they had one small radio-hit a couple of years ago with "Subtle movements" and I know that they've performed once before at Bospop, but this is the full extent of my knowledge about this band. I think they owed their spot on the mainstage at this Bospop to Anouk, because I read on their website that they are currently opening for her on her tour. Their show started with an electronic voice, like you sometimes get when you're put on hold on the telephone, announcing them. Their music is very guitar-oriented, unlike that one hit which is more smooth, and loud, at times even noisy. As stated we weren't paying any special attention to their performance, once I went to look at the stage, but we could hear their entire set. Especially Alex thought that they were quite good, I myself thought they were OK, but not real exciting. Their music wasn't bad, but it could not grab our full attention. I rate them with a 6.0. When one band finishes on the main stage, the next has already started in the tent. This time the stage in the tent was prepared for Daniel Lohues & The Louisiana Blues Club. Lohues is/was also a small celebrity in Holland as the singer of Skik. This is also a (better) Dutch band, who I already saw perform at Bospop 1999. I don't think that he stopped with that band, but as a blues-fan he did this solo-thing and cooperated with this blues band on an album and some shows to promote it. I myself did not go into the tent, but some of the other guys caught some of the songs, while roving around looking for women and they stated that when they heard the music they had to go and listen to it. Also the critics described them as cool and funny, but I had decided to remain outside basking in the sun (the weather was perfect, sunny, but partly cloudy and therefore not too hot).

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The Dutch Choice All Time Hot 100 (year 2003; version 32) with MP3-links

Another reason I didn't go into the tent was that I wanted to be on time for the next act on the main stage, Bløf. Five of us moved to the front to see them. We had seen them perform live last year at a separate occassion (read the review of that), but since that time they released a new album, called "Omarm" (translation: 'Embrace'). They started with the opening song of that album "De mooiste verliezers" (= 'The most beautiful losers'), which has a tranquil start, but a fine firm ending. Next up was the song after which their previous album was named, "Blauwe ruis", very melodious. Following that came their latest single, which is the titlesong of the last album, "Omarm". A funny story surrounding that song happened to me. An English-speaking guy in Berlin heard that song on the Dutch international radiostation (how he came to listen to that, I don't know) and although he couldn't understand a word of it, he liked the melody so much, that he started looking for it on the internet. That search brought him to the main page of Ralphy's Cool Music Site, where the song was listed in Ralphy's Dutch Top Ten and he downloaded the song through the mp3-link there. He was so thrilled with the song, that it led him to sent me an e-mail thanking me for the download that give him so much pleasure and he asked if I could translate the refrain of the song for him. I did translate it and also referred him to the review of their concert. He mailed me back that he had ordered everything by Bløf on the internet (after not finding their stuff in the shops in Berlin, logically). It is always nice to find out that a website that you built (and in this case the by-record-companies-cursed illegal mp3) can lead to musical pleasure (and the selling of CD's) for those who visit the website. But back to this concert. The next (new) song "Hart tegen hart" (= 'Heart against heart') was announced as a song to jump to and it was followed by "Mooie dag". During that song singer Pascal Jacobsen fell down, he was walking backwards, when he seemed to trip over a cable or something. The audience reacted with a slightly shocked 'oooh', but Pascal got up and he finished the song although he was humping. It didn't seem that bad, but after the song he humped of stage. A stage-hand put a stool in front of the microphone and he humped back and sat down on that. The crowd encouraged him with an applause, but he said that it really hurt. Nonetheless they played the next song "Ze is er niet", but he was clearly not a happy camper and he left the stage again after the song. The other bandmembers didn't know what to do, so they tried to fill the time while he was being treated/ bandaged or whatever with an instrumental break, but alas Pascal would not return to the stage anymore. First someone announced that they would do one more song, but they revoked that and said that he would be rushed to the hospital immediately. They suspected that the heavily swollen ankle was broken (later I found out that it was 'only' twisted) and that was the end of the show by Bløf. Clearly this was a disappointment for the crowd, but it couldn't be helped, he seemed to be in real pain and I'm sure he would have continued if he could have. This makes the task of rating their performance a bit harder. I felt that their show was working up to a certain climax, but was now cut off before they could reach it. The songs they did perform were done adequatly and very solid, but had not 'rocked my being' yet, so to speak, therefore I will rate their unfinished performance also with a 6.0.

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Because of this premature ending we were able to be in time in the tent to see the start of the show by The Gathering. This band is also from The Netherlands, but they have 'gathered' a bit of a cult following all over the world, even in the USA. They started out as a metalband, that was especially noticed for both their use of keyboards in metal and the classically educated female vocals of singer Anneke. Although as I already stated they have a loyal yet small fan-basis all over the world, they are not a huge act in their/our homecountry either. They had one single "Strange machines" of their first (I think) album "Mandylion" that became a bit of a hit (beautiful song, btw), but they are still mainly an underground feature (both in- and outside of Holland). I myself also did not know their music outside of that one hit. I had heard that they had sort of moved away from the metalsound and had become more of a progressive band. This only made them more interesting for me, since I am a big fan of progressive rock, be it more the classical bands of that genre. So I was looking forward to hearing them perform for the first time. Well maybe my expectations were too high, but I was disappointed by the performance. I had expected some sort of cross between Evanescence and Within Temptation, bands with powerfull female vocalists that I was more familiar with and that I thought were kinda similar. What I got was a very instrumental and even more experimental band with music that I found very inaccessible and sorta floaty. The others had left the tent only after a couple of songs, Bert and I stayed longer and hoped it would get better. Well frontwoman Anneke was having fun, she seems to sing with a chizzled smile on her face and there were some hardcore fans in front who were also enjoying themselves, but for the most part they could not grip the attention of the audience and although there was a song in there that I liked a bit better (probably called something like "All you need"), we decided to leave as well after something like 7 or 8 songs, because basically the music wasn't interesting enough. And than you read a review later that states that The Gathering was 'as enjoyable as ever' on the same website that almost crucified the magnificent performance of Evanescence at Pinkpop 2003. Another review also praised this set of The Gathering and especially the vocals. Well it must be me (and my friends), but I could hardly understand a word of what she was singing and to me this performance was simply unsatisfactory and I'm just now writing this at the side of my girlfriend Monja, who will think I'm being too generous, when I rate their performance with a 4.5.

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The Dutch Heavenly 100 All Time Album List (year 2002; version 06)

When we all met up again, it was time to eat. The usual junkfood prepared us for the next concert on the main stage. A very (obviously) pregnant Anouk started very impressively. The lady with the naked big belly made it apparent that she still rocks. If you scroll down, you can view the complete setlist she played at this Bospop-festival and clearly the emphasis was on the songs of her 3rd and latest studio album, "Graduated fool". My personal favourite is still her 2nd album, "Urban solitude" (read my review of that CD), but I must admit that the songs of the latest album, do very well live. It is because they have even more of an edge and just rock harder. There were also some more relaxed highlights in the set, like " Sacrifice", that started almost acoustically and in which Anouk could show off her still great, rock voice. This song was followed by another ballad, "Hail", which is the current single and in my opinion the best song of her latest album. Another highlight of the performance was "Don't" and especially during that song it was very evident that the band rocked as much as the headbanging frontwoman. All in all Anouk and her band gave a great show and they could fascinate the audience from beginning to end, although I have to say that Maurizio was distracted by a blond girl, with green eyes and mighty boobies. I took a picture of him sneaking up to her side, but I don't know yet if it was good, if it is I'll place it here. Back to the music, Anouk was great, but I wonder if performing between these volumes and jumping all over the stage is really so good for an expected mother (and the child growing inside of her), but that's basically non of my business and I have to rate the performance with a 7.5.

Meanwhile in the tent The Alarm had begun their performance. I did not go to see them, but this 80's band on their comeback got good reviews. Apparently their music is/was very similar to the U2 of that era, new wave guitar music, but I did not know them and have seen't them, so I will refrain from further comments. The next act on the main stage was INXS. I had seen that band once before on 4 July 1991 in the MECC in Maastricht. At that time they were at the hight of their popularity and ofcourse still performing with the incomparable Michael Hutchence as lead singer. So basically I was very curious how they would do with their new singer. We were standing in front of the stage, when a tape started to play music, on which I heard Michael Hutchence singing if I'm not mistaken. Next Andrew Farris entered the stage and began playing the intro to "By your side" on his keyboard, the rest of the band followed that lead and last came the 'new' singer, Jon Stevens. He was wearing sunglasses and had kinda the same hairstyle as his predecessor and the voice is also quite similar, I myself found the overall likeness a bit creepy. Musically they immediately swept the audience of their feet and when Stevens removed his sunglasses the creepy feeling was gone quickly and a musical feast of recognition began. INXS played all of their old hits and by that obviously pleased the present fans enormously. Their breakthough hit "Original sin" featured a great sax-solo by multi-instrumentalist Kirk Pengilly. The 6th song (complete setlist below)was announced as "a brand new song" and "New INXS" and I have to say that this song, "I get up" fit in perfectly with all the older hits and if this an example of the new work of this band, I think we'll see them back on top in the music charts. In fact this whole set was one big advertisement for this group. Jon Stevens is a very able and energetic replacement as frontman and the band was even better as I remembered them. The crowd was in ecstasy from the first until the last moment. "Never tear us apart", a very moving song on its own merits, got an even more emotional charge when Jon Stevens dedicated it to his predecessor: "It's my first time here and it's everything I expected: windmills, trees and lots of beautiful people. It's a bit hard, but I wanna pay my respect to the man who stood in front of this band for 20 years (applause), but the music lives on, it's all good." This band, this old hit machine kept on rockin' the scene and I especially want to mention my all-time favourite INXS-song "The devil inside" and the subsequently played "What you need" as climaxes of this all-around great show. After these both songs the band said farewell with the words "it's been a beautiful experience, we'll be back", but ofcourse they had to come back for a double encore. Well I don't think I have to add more superlatives to praise this performance and I rate it with a 8.5.

Next up was the closing act in the tent, the Finnish gothic-rockers of H.I.M. Monja was eager to see them and raced into the tent with some of the others. I took another break and skipped their performance. The reviews of their performance weren't very good, Monja on the other hand loved the show of His Infernal Majesty. The others of our group weren't that impressed by them, but Monja immediately wanted me to find their music on the internet afterwards. She listens a lot to Eins Live. a German radiostation and Ville Valo and his band are huge in Germany, so she recognized almost all of their songs. I only went in there to gather them all to say that we were moving up front to the main stage were the headliners of this Bospop-festival, Simple Minds, where about to start and I did not pay any attention than neither. They all came with us, although Monja wasn't pleased to leave this performance. Simple Minds started with a mellow version of "Book of brilliant things", which they followed up with the only song of their latest album, "Cry". On our way to this festival I had uttered that I hoped that they wouldn't play a lot of music of that album, because basically that album was not to my liking. This wish fulfilled itself and the one song that they did play "Spaceface" is the one I like best from it. What followed were 2 songs from the very early years of Simple Minds. Back from the years before they got popular with a larger audience and I have to admit that I didn't know those 2 songs. I was surprised that they played songs from that era, but I later discovered on their website that they are about to release a collage of songs from that period on a new sampler-CD in the near future. For me their performance started to get interesting with the 5th song, the beautiful "East at easter". After that the very agile Jim Kerr wished a happy birthday to Nelson Mandela and with the words "Mandela goes on, Mr Bush, Mr Blair and Mr Berlusconi, just fuck off", he announced their song dedicated to Nelson Mandela, "Mandela day", which was written for the mega-concert at Wembley that helped to raise more awareness for the destiny of South Africa's most famous warrior against Apartheid at a time that he was still imprisoned on Robbeneiland. By the way the actual (85th) birthday of Mandela was a week later. Next up was "Ghostdancing", which contained interludes of the Them-classic "Gloria" with lots of crowd participation. Frontman Jim Kerr (with guitar player Charlie Burchill the only remaining official members of the Simple Minds) then thanked the beautiful audience and said something about the full moon that shone in the background, before they played their biggest hit, famous from the motion picture "The Breakfast Club", "Don't you forget about me". In this song the audience could once again prove their singing talent during the lalala and hey, hey, hey-parts. This song was strangely enough, their big breakthrough, especially in the States. Strange, because they did not write the song themselves, but got it offered. A self-made band like the Simple Minds obviously has always had mixed feelings about a 'another man's' song being their biggest commercial hit. But they proved once again that they are capable of making beautiful music, when the played "Belfast Child". During the intro of this song based on an old Irish lullabye the audience quieted down at once to really listen to this intricate masterpiece and got a "thank you" from Jim Kerr for that. What followed were a few more up-tempo golden oldies of which I have to mention "Alive and kicking" especially with great drumming by "the best drummer in the world" (Kerr's words) Mel Gaynor (who isn't an official member, but has been touring with them for over 17 years). They too had to return to the stage for a (3-song) encore, including the magnificent "Waterfront" and closing up with the spiritual "Sanctify yourself". On a scale of 1 to 10 I rate the performance of Simple Minds with an 8.0.

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Conclusions regarding the Saturday of Bospop 2003:

Well Monja told me that she liked Bospop 2003 much more than its big brother Pinkpop 2003, I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. I saw great performances of 2 bands, who had their prime in the 80's, hence the subtitle of this review. Simple Minds were great and INXS were in my humble opinion even better than before. Add to that a more than satisfactory performance of Anouk and basically you already have a good festival day. Last year I complained about the fact that it was impossible to see acts performing after eachother but on the different stages in their entirity. Well this year I had the simple solution, I just picked my choices of the program, which were mainly on the main stage and the problem was gone. I think the programmers had set up the timetable better this time, because I simply wasn't that interested in most acts in the tent and the same applies to the majority of the people who came to see the bands outdoors. Therefore I didn't see so many bands this time. which was also a bit due to the more crowded grounds this year. It was still workable (although the toilets seemed to few in numbers), but Bospop shouldn't grow any further in visitor numbers otherwise it may loose its special atmosphere, well the price of success ... The other guys in our group, especially Maurizio, Manuel and Alex did barely hear and see anything of the bands, I believe, their focus was mainly on the more beautiful gender visiting this festival, well that's another way to have an enjoyable day, which they had, hearing their comments. We drove back to our hometown listening (and reminiscing) to an INXS-tape in the car and we even went for another beer in D'r Aowe Kino, our local hang-out/bar, but I didn't stay long because it had been a long day and I was tired. All in all it was a nice day and we had some laughs, enjoyed good music and pleasant company and therefore I rate Bospop 2003 (Saturday only) with a 7.3.

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