Erocktica - Eindhoven 2005

Written by Edwin van der Ende Thursday, 17 November 2005 11:58

Dynamo, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
November 13th 2005
Erocktica, SQY Rocking Team

It's the end of the Sunday afternoon when Dynamo slowly fills up with men and women, though the women are hugely outnumbered. Rough music up ahead? No not really. Tonight there will be a show of the erotic rock band Erocktica and it seems like all the curious people who knew about the concert wanted to come have a look. We had a look over their shoulder, this is what we saw.

SQY Rocking Team

The men of SQY are talented and their impressive gig history shows that they have been the support of many big names like Motörhead and Europe. A day before they were the support for good old Status Quo and now they are doing their final show with Erocktica close to their home town.

Music
Their latest CD has a well chosen name, the band and their shows are indeed 'Full Throttle'. The Dutch rockers manage to appeal to men and women of all sorts of backgrounds. This heavy rock isn't the most complicated of music, but it captures your attention. Good guitars of both singer Harald van Kruysdijk as well as guitarist Joost Deeben sound good and are rather dominant compared to the bass played by Joris le Clerq. On drums Wim Deeben provides some smooth but steady beats that drives the music.Then on to the vocals of Harald which are again very convincing and nice to listen to. Harald is keen on expressing his power yet his voice is always clear and controlled. Good songs, good musicians, powerful mix in the venue. They are playing full throttle, could the next step be an afterburner?

Performance
Nothing special on stage except the huge backdrop with the image of their latest album and these four motorheads. And there is no need for anything else as well. They have close contact with the audience, many of which seem to know the band. Of course most of the work is done by Harald who is not only a good singer but a good entertainer too. During the show he shows off in a way that fits the music; he's the macho man in the house. But Harald doesn't take his show too seriously and doesn't mind getting over the top. He has a nice array of guitars with various prints and his scaffolding pipe mic stand. He however seems unlucky throwing it in the air, just like at Bospop he doesn't manage to grab it after which it crashes in the drum kit. No harm done, this band has seen worse, full throttle dead ahead. Next Harald decides it's time to play around at the bar, standing on it while singing give the audience a short moment of intimacy. Something two visitors lost when they were asked on stage to take off their pants and skirt. After some public humiliation the reward is great however: a SQY skirt. The light on stage was plenty and colourful, something that suits the band well. After some drinking of beer and spitting it in the air and of course some more music the show ends, much to the regret of much of the audience.

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8

Erocktica

The following is mentioned in the advertisements for Erocktica: Like KISS in the 70's, Erocktica is a theatrical, Over the top, visual live act with anthemic pop metal, yet, differing from Kiss, Erocktica is the merging of sex and rock 'n roll in one band! You never know what will happen at an Erocktica show! One thing's for certain, Erocktica will titillate you with pure entertainment that's guaranteed to stimulate! Erocktica takes it to the limit with sizzling live performances that entice onlookers to cast free the society-imposed chains of sexual repression and join in the erotic circus!

Music
Three mediocre musicians play simple tunes and some covers to go with the erotic show. On vocals the main act of tonight, not only doing singing duties and playing the drums (even better than the normal drummer I'd say) but mainly an excuse for being on stage and do her act. The music is very thin, it has nor body nor soul, it actually has nothing at all. Compared to the great SQY this band is not even close to being their support act instead of the other way around. The only time the band produced something good in a musical sense was when they played a song called 'I'm a Porn Star'. At least they were convincing during that song although the vocals and music still didn't live up to any standards. Anthemic pop metal they said? Britney Spears sure sounds more metal. KISS? My ass!

Performance
A singer who is dressed in a blue/red/white PVC overall kicks of to brighten up the stage. The other band members don't really play party in this show and don't look too motivated either. Then there are these two women who are the props for all sorts of erotic games and porn. Within 3 songs it's impossible to make any photos that could be published on this site, except for those of the still bored looking band. The singer and her friends quickly loose clothes and start playing on the stage floor. This means only the first two rows can actually see something. Eager not to miss a bit of the action many crawl a much forward as possible, trying to reach the girls. This might as well been caused by the rather annoying lights during the show. A nude girl covered in whipped cream and something with a banana, seductively sucking on an inflatable phone's antenna. All of this looks very non-spontaneous as were the riding an inflatable lollipop and some dildo action with the back of the microphone. Behold the sizzling live performance that only managed to stimulate part of the audience to any state of arousal. Others just nodded their heads and prematurely ejaculated themselves from the venue. If there was ever a good contraceptive, this is it!