03-09-2016 Cityrock

[schema type=”event” evtype=”Festival” name=”03-09-2016 Cityrock” description=”By: Sabine van Gameren” sdate=”2016-09-03″ street=”De Bult” city=”Leeuwarden” country=”NL” ]The second day of Cityrock was rather different. A filled area makes a good start and a lovely sunny day ahead is showing us good promises.

Blackbone was the band that starts this day. Their music is giving us enough power for waking up and start it all smoothly. The Hard Rock they make falls well with the audience, who although is still mildly, they seem to appreciate it. The band has done over 200 shows so for some of the people they will be no strangers either. On the show self it could have been a bit more energetic, but the guys at least put some effort into reaching out to the audience.

The Danish guys from Helhorse make it no easy for those we were up for a gentle start. With the power and passion they put in they are awaking many of those who came with a sleepy head or hangover from yesterday’s party. Besides that, the stage is quite full, the band is having vocalists, two of them and a backing vocalist that is stuck behind a keyboard, you would think, which appears to be running back and forth as well. All of them are coming quite upfront to the stage and the guys are playing some songs of their self-titled album that came out a couple months ago. The band has more in for us though and although their set was short they managed to make it feel like a complete show, they use their time effectively. Well done!

De Hûnekop is a local band here and the huge blow-up dog on the stage may have indicated already that you should not take them too seriously, but when a song called “Tiewraps, Ductape and WD40” is coming along you must know for sure. They are just there having a great time and making sure you have too. It seems like they succeeded.

Dewolff is a bit of an odd project to see. The psychedelic guys overdone everything and yet it falls so into the right place. Cliché and predictable for the thing they want to put out there which simply works. The instant connection is not there, their frontman even notices himself after asking who saw The Hives the day before that they certainly attract a different kind of audience. They do indeed, but they also have something in common and that has a lot to do with their embracing the past and live like time never went on. Dewolff entertains people, but it seems that they create a great divide today. Those who get bored after a while and find themselves queuing for food or drinks and those who intensively look at them. Not the big winners here today, but interesting enough for some to see.

The Swedish trio called Kadavar is a rather static act to watch. Musically they lay a little darkness onto the festival. A thick layer of doom a bit 70’s feel to it somehow and making it yet powerful to feel the vehemence into it clearly. As the tensions were rising during the set we felt a bit sad for not being able to see the complete due to interview duties, but as we returned from that we were right in time to see the guys get a great applause as they left the stage, must have left an impression anyway.

Time for Moonkings. Vandenberg’s Moonkings played Cityrock before with great success so many were looking forward to a show of these guys again. Still only one album from them and a bunch of old hits that are absolutely the crowdpleasers of the day. “Burning Heart” and “Here I Go Again” are songs that everyone appreciates… the silence before “Burning Heart”started followed by a big cheer and applause when it ended says it all, this is what peoplelove, this is what people want to hear. Their 2014 album does not reach that status yet and we can safely say that people are hoping for a new release in which the Moonkings grew together more and are able to give us songs as strong as these older hits. Whether that will come we’ll have to see but the performance tonight was loved anyway.

Queensryche is a Progressive Metal band that has been going strong for about 35 years already, a long discography to draw from for tonight and it must be said that this band is really one of the drawers of the evening. What is interesting to watch is that their newest songs are as much appreciated as their older material, which is not always the case. They gave a varied set with songs from most of their albums. The band speaks quite a bit in between the songs, telling about how they enjoy being there, about their music and all. But they did not even have to put in that much effort. At the frontrow we spot people coming from countries far away to see this show and also the Dutch are enjoying this pleasant show. Definitely in the top3 of the majority of the visitors as it seems.

A bit odd was Mother’s Finest. A big gap with Queensryche but they have a fanbase of their own. Musically they have a bit more funk in it, and with each band member being a character of their own they manage to set down a mix of people in one band that at first look odd together, but bring a great performance together. Such personalities, and then we are not only speaking of the lady upfront but seriously each of them could grab the spotlight and have a go with it. And from time to time they actually do that.
Fans had been waiting for new material for a long time, but last year they released one after twelve years of silence so they had some good reasons to be here tonight and make a spectacular show. Good some sound issues here and there, but since other bands were having these too it wasn’t just them. Just perhaps a bit more in their disadvantage than it did for others, but in the end they were an act that surprised

Last band of the night… Uriah Heep. These British rockers have been around since 1969, over 45 years of existence and seeing an entire field filled it becomes clear that they are still very relevant. The lovely weather has left us and rain showers moved in. A whole lot of water came down but hardly anyone seem to care, they all wanted to stick around for Uriah Heep. The band self seems to appreciate this attitude a lot, making it clear that they were going to give their all. When the band plays their classics the audience goes a little wild with it. “Lady in Black” is played and a lot of singing along, loads of cheering is going on.
As a true king of the evening the played their songs full of energy, a band of age but not ready to take it down yet, they are showing the youngsters out there how it is done. A wet ending, but a night to remember.

Cityrock at this new location turned out to be successful. A bit slow start, but when the mood was in it, the atmosphere never ceased to be amazing!