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De Kade, Zaandam, The Netherlands
October 14th 2005
Haggard, Remember Twilight

As seasons are changing and summers warmth is being replaced by autumns wind, a variety of people gathered in ‘De Kade’ in Zaandam. While we waited in the café for the guest list to arrive we could watch the audience come in. there was a mixture of metal clothes, gothic clothes and even some medieval outfits.


Remember Twilight

Kammermusik from Germany… They have released their album ‘Kammermusik – Core’ but unfortunately not yet in the Netherlands. When we arrived the band was already on stage and the venue was filled. They were dressed in what reminded me of school uniforms, black pants and white shirts for the men and short black skirts with white blouses for the girls and red ties. One of the men wore a skirt as well, he wore a long straight skirt, making him look as thin and long as his clarinet. The main vocalist started out with a hat and jacket on too but after two songs that got too warm.

Music
The show started with a quiet classical intro which reminded me of music which was used for the movie ‘Prospero’s books’ of Peter Greenaway (which is a brilliant movie by the way).  After numbing us with these soft tunes we were shook awake by the start of the first song. Their main vocalist has a rawness in his voice which fits the music, unfortunately he does not reach that far with his voice. When he sings together with their bass player however their voices come to life. The songs sounded well but I missed some diversion. There were some more quiet vocal intermezzo’s but after these the same energetic music set back in. The music is a mixture of rawness and sweet sounds, which are mostly heard in the clarinet and the violins. The sound was well balanced although it seemed a bit matted at times.

Performance
It was fun to see how much the band members were enjoying themselves on stage. This night they were performing with their two violinists for the first time. Both were different, one was constantly wiggling her hips to the sound of the music while the other seemed to disappear into her violin with a serene smile on her face. This was the same with the guitarist and the bass player. The bass player was moving around and making jokes for as the guitarist was more focussed on his guitar. They perform with great enthusiasm and conviction and have good contact with the audience and that will be what keeps them going. The lights were great, especially for an opening act, it was well tuned in to the music and created a great atmosphere. At times it almost seemed as if the people on stage were in a different dimension than us ‘normal folks’ in the venue.

Rating
Music 6
Performance 7
Light 8
Sound 7
Total 7 (6,9)





Haggard

Haggard plays a mixture of Classical, Medieval and Metal and it is the biggest band I know. What a line up and then just remember that not even all band members were here this evening. Twelve people were here tonight:
Asis – Guitar, vocals
Luz – Drums
Agnes – Hobo
Claudio – Guitar
Doro – Violino
Ingrid – Keys
Michi – Violino
Susanne – Soprano
Fiffi – Tenor, tambourine, rainpipe
Michael – Timpani, percussion
Steffi – Viola
Ivca - Violone

Music
On stage an entire orchestra had gathered and such sounds were coming of the stage. While the music in the venue was playing each band member was final checking his or her instrument. Asis even treated us to some Nirvana tunes. During the performance songs from both their former album ‘Awakening the Centuries’ and their latest album ‘Eppur Si Muove’. Together this was a great set list of heavy and easy tunes. Some had already heard both albums and could sing along loudly, others had only heard ‘Awakening the Centuries’ and for those who knew neither of these albums there might have been a familiar tune as well for ‘Herr Mannelig’ is performed by In Extremo as well. It is great to hear how the same song gets a different emphasis by these two bands.  Their soprano Susanne is not the one who sings on their albums, and she will have to practice to get to that same level. She tends to sound a bit insecure, especially in during the high notes but all in all she is a great singer as well, as are Fiffi and Asis. Asis can also grunt some nice tunes, he is a well trained singer (at least that is what he sounds like).



Performance
Asis was almost a conductor, conducting his orchestra. He made sure everybody was ready before each song started. During the performance I have seen many smiles on stage and I’ve seen heads bang to the music they were playing, they are fully concentrated to give us their best. Asis had most of the contact with the audience, and thus picked up the undies which were thrown on stage. He told us that unfortunately they would not fit but they will fit Claudio, who was heavily shaking NO at that time. The audience was asked to clap along many times, those on stage with their hands free clapped along and the violinists were waving their bows around to indicate the rhythm. Asis was happy with us for he asked us where we had been hiding when they were recording their life album.
The show was lit up by Fiffi who did some fire breathing (almost setting him self on fire while doing so), the fire also came in handy to lit Claudio’s cigarette. During the performance I changed sides in the venue so I could see the rest of the band, for music standards were blocking my view, and even though they were wonderfully lit with dripping candles, I wanted to see the band as well. The lights gave a great show, although I did not like the constant red front light.

Rating
Music 9
Performance 8
Light 8
Sound 7
Total 8 (8,2)


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