Pink Project, June 1st 1998
25th anniversary Concert (try-out)
Café Verderop, Delft, The Netherlands
By Ed Sander
On the 12th of June, Dutch Pink Floyd tribute band Pink Project - who already got very positive reviews on their series of The Wall shows a couple of years ago - will perform their Dark Side of the Moon 25th Anniversary Concert at the Market Square of Delft. This multimedia phenomenon is a free open-air concert and will probably be a night to remember. For more information about the concert on the 12th, click here.
Since I would not be able to go to the concert on the 12th I decided that the try-out performance might be the best alternative. And so I headed for Delft on the evening of the first of June.
When I entered the wide hall of Grand Cafe Verderop, the band had obviously already been soundchecking for a while. Instruments had been set up in the back of the hall, with a black backdrop behind it. The concert would not feature any of the special effects and film projections that would be used on the 12th; it would be a purely musical try-out.
When guitar legend and special guest musician Jan Akkerman (Focus) arrived, the band first rehearsed the songs on which Akkerman would play, the first one being Another Brick in the Wall (part 2). This was the first time Akkerman played with the band and although he used his own style rather than imitating Gilmour's solo, the result was one of the nicest versions of this overexposed track I've heard in a while. The first part of the guitar solo was followed by a short Hammond solo after which Akkerman continued with a groovy solo which had the whole band jammin' along.
The next one, Comfortably Numb, did not work that well because Akkerman's groaning guitar was too loud and therefore dominated the song. The rest of the band played very well though and the dual vocals by Peter and Hein worked very well. Something I couldn't really understand was the need to equip Hein with an acoustic guitar, since it wasn't audible at all and made him look rather silly. The end of the song featured a short solo by guitarist Menno, before Akkerman picked up and finished the job in his own style.
After a while the band tried the closing section of High Hopes, which featured a guitar solo by Akkerman, a sax solo, a second guitar solo by Akkerman, additional backing vocals and several reprises. It was great to see the enthusiasm of saxophone player/percussionist Job, who waved his arms to the band and give instructions like a real conductor. It looks like this is going to be a worthy concert closer on the 12th.
After a while (quite a while actually) the band finally got ready to rehearse the whole setlist, this time without Akkerman. The performance of course started with the full Dark Side of the Moon album. The band had re-recorded all the sound effects of the piece, except for the opening effects (Speak to Me), the crashing plane and clocks opening Time and the coins of Money. The sound engineer played all these of a tape.
After a fine version of Breathe in the Air, the first effort stranded at the beginning of On the Run when the volume control of the keyboards did not work as planned. After some adjustments the band started all over again and this time Danyo and Tom fiddled around with the keyboard to create some nice effects for On the Run. Unfortunately the sound engineer started the effects tape with the plane crash a bit too late.
After the clocks faded out Job played the 'tic-toc' sound on the congo's while Ronald started the drum solo on the pads. A great version of Time followed, with good vocals by Hein and Tom.
After Breathe Reprise opera singer Marieke Koster took the microphone and performed an absolutely splendid and spine-tingling version of Great Gig in the Sky, one of the highlights of the evening.
Despite the several improvised solos during Money the song sounded a bit 'messy' and might need some more rehearsals. Us and Them was wonderful though, even though Job could not quite get the Dick Parry sound out of his sax. Hein did wonderfully raw vocals on this one.
After good performances of Any Colour You Like (with extended guitar solo), Brain Damage (with Peter's infamous own interpretation of some of the lyrics) and Eclipse the centerpiece of the concert ended. Overall a very good performance as far as I was concerned.
Unfortunately the second part of the set spoiled the lingering joy of Dark Side a bit. The guitar parts of Shine on You Crazy Diamond were far from perfect, though the second half of the song was done very well.
Another Brick in the Wall started with the helicopter effect, followed by the end of part one, the closing of Happiest Days of Our Lives and a full extended version of part 2. After hearing the great version with Akkerman, this second one did not even come close.
Some band members left the stage while the rest launched into one of the song I'd really been looking forward too; Echoes. A was quite disappointed by this version, which missed most of the atmosphere of the original. Especially the lack of echo effects on the harsh guitar sound and the loud keyboard effects spoiled the middle part of the epic.
One of these Days, which followed, wasn't something to write home about either. It sounded rather 'messy' and the middle part once again had guitar parts which were too loud and lacked atmosphere.
Since it was getting quite late and I had a one and a half-hour drive ahead of me, I decided to leave. I had already seen most of the remaining setlist that evening (except Run Like Hell) and did not want to lose any more of the momentum created by the first half of the set.
The band was probably getting quite tired - after all, they had been working the whole evening - so I'll consider that to be a good explanation for the loss of quality in the second half. The last couple of songs really didn't do the band justice. I'm convinced that with a bit more practice (and why not just skip the middle part of Echoes when you cannot get it right) they'll be able to get these songs on the same level as the Dark Side part. The show on the 12th will probably be a smasher nevertheless.
So, if you're still not convinced, make sure you're present in Delft on the 12th. It will probably be a night you won't forget easily.
Peter Chattellin - Vocals, Bass
Hein van den Broek - Lead Vocals
Menno van der Mark - Lead Guitar
Tom Spaapen - Keyboards, Guitar, Hammond, Vocals
Danyo Romijn - Keyboards, Guitar, Hammond
Ronald Kokshoorn - Drums
Job Tarenskeen - Saxophone, Percussion
Evelien van der Kruit - Backing Vocals
Trudy van Starrenburg - Backing Vocals
Andre van Solinge - Backing Vocals
Rob Dijkshoorn - Sound Engineer
Marieke Koster - Vocals
Jan Akkerman - Lead Guitar
For more information about Pink Project, click here.
With Jan Akkerman:
High Hopes (closing section)
- technical problem -
Breathe Reprise
Shine on You Crazy Diamond (part 1-5)
Another Brick in the Wall (part 1-2)
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