14-07-2007 Vierdaagse Feesten

Location Valkhoff Nijmegen
By: Wouter van de Kamp

After a little search we found the correct stage. Tonight there were to be
three bands and the first band hadn’t started yet. The weather was good so we
decided to settle in the grass. Bringing your own beer was allowed and since
the tapbeer was quite expensive as compared to Dutch standards we opened our
first beers. And after a few sips the first band entered the stage: Fear My
Thoughts. When looking for some background information I found out that the
band already exists for 10 years. They visibly are an experienced quintet, but
are obviously used to more respons from the crowd. But what can you expect from
an openings act on a festival that has so many other stages. The singer tried
to encourage the crowd and made jokes about WWII like: don’t worry, we left
our grandfathers at home. But the crowd just didn’t seem to really get all this.
Perhaps they are just a bit spoilt, or perhaps this band just lacks originality.
Their thrashy metalcore with some death influences didn’t do much more than
getting some metalkids on their feet to do some moves. A solid set, but nothing
special.

How different was Battlelore. Not that they got the crowd moving much more,
but at least they know how you present yourselves. Where FMF-guitarist wore
a Radiohead shirt (with all due respect for that band), this band rigged themselves
out with gothic and leather clothing. I still don’t get the hang of why bands
seem to feel the need to hold a weapon (in this case a sword) in their hand
on stage, but at least it draws attention. Musically they combine gothic/melodic
metal with folk metal. Nice to take pictures of since this really was an entertaining
performance. But the crowd didn’t get much further than a few small moshpits.
Then the sun began to dawn, which gave rise to a great scenery. And since the
organisation had decided that long breaks inbetween bands were necessary I had
the time to enjoy the sight of seeing sun sink behind the river De Waal.

And how different once again was Textures. For those who are not familiar with
Textures, they can be placed in the math metal genre, swinging you back and forth
with their odd rythm sections, garished with atmospheric trancelike synthesizer
breaks. How different also was this show from the last shows I have seen with
Textures. First of all, different because they have found a replacement for their
bass player Dennis who left the band a couple of weeks ago: Remko Tielemans (ex-Isle
of Man, 37 Stabwoundz) and this was about to be his first show. Second, Textures
really got the crowd moving. Remko did an enormously great job. Big compliment
for this guy. He was definately having fun. It looked like he had worn himself
out in the beginning of the show. Either he needs more practice or he has to work
out a bit. But he’s a good replacement for sure. A continual big pit, a wall of
death, circle pits and many headbangers. The crowd went nuts. The performance
was far too short for many of us. It was like this had been what we all were waiting
for. Brutal and rough, great stage performance and very well tuned sound. Although
far too short, we could look back on a brilliant performance of Dutch metalpride
Textures.

Links:
Fear my Thoughts official
Battlelore offical
Textures official
De affaire