07-08-2015 Cityrock

[schema type=”event” evtype=”Event” description=”By: Sabine van Gameren” city=”Leeuwarden” country=”NL” ]

Early August, the sun is shining so what is better than spending your day in a vibrant city enjoying a festival?! Well yes, Cityrock is bringing you that and Leeuwarden was the place to be this weekend.

The first band we get to see is Red Vultures. The band released their debut album earlier this year and with these tunes in the pocket their made their way up north to open the festival. Their sound is based on solid rock, not too experimental but quite catchy. Think maybe a bit Queens of The Stone Age. Feel-good rock it is and that is exactly what we need to start the day. The guys are engaging the people that came out early easily and although they are a bit more mellow than the other bands today they manage to open the festival with flair.

Stream of Passion brought a lot of people to the festival, a bunch of dedicated fans had gathered early at the front rows for them. It is about ten years ago they released their debut album under the wings of Arjen Lucassen, but now a band that has many releases on their name. Under the charm of vocaliste Marcela, which often speaks some warm words through the audience in between the songs, they bring their songs come alive.

Some calm songs at the beginning of their set are only a slight introduction to the more powerful ones that come after that. With their guitarists being quite playful on stage, pulling faces and poses to the fans, they have an interesting interaction going on. A summer experience of Stream of Passion we got today, a contrast with the now famous ‘Winter evening with Stream of Passion’ that the this year is on the schedule once again. It brought the festival in motion.

Stoner/Blues rock formation Kamchatka is from a different calibre than we have seen before. They seem to have a great joy in playing here today and these Swedes built up a set full of energetic songs that built up the tension to drop it at you right at their highlights.

Earlier this year the band released their album called “Long Road Made of Gold” which is their sixth full length album, so the band had plenty to play and promote. With the sun starting to fall behind the stage the band has the music to bring its impact and most impressed we were with the guitars taking over the spotlights. Some true highlights are found in these moments where they let themselves go into their sound and play it at its fullest. A favourable act.

Peter Pan Speedrock is quite a name in Netherlands and also across the borders they are some well-known name. No surprise, the band is a very welcome guest at every festival for their rock and roll is always an instant success.

Raw and edgy but not going out of control, the bandmembers are always on top of it. And what is also a big element in their success is the way the audience responds. Only a few words of encouragements will make them people go crazy and so the audience is jumping around, banging their heads when the guys play their set as usual. Spotless, and without anything to complain about the band sets down another interesting show.

The Answers might be a bit of an underdog today and we mean it in the way that with names like Stream of Passion and Epica on the bill there is a certain audience there that may attract the most attention while listening to their favourites, which could be a tough cookie for them Irish men.

But the guys are surely up for bringing us to surprise with their set. Fully enthusiastic the guys come on stage and there they start to conquer the festival. “Demon Eyes”, “Gone Too Long” and “Last Days of Summer” are winners today and in no time The Answers creates a party with a success rate that we did not see coming. We love to be surprised and especially in the way them Irish did so, good job!

Epica is headlining and they have their own audience here today. Not too many shows were planned in Netherlands this year so it was an interesting one to see for the fans. Their last album dates back to 2014 but the band choose a wide variance of their discography to be covered in today’s setlist. Starting off with songs like “The Second Stone” and “The Essence of Silence” to promote their latest, but then some older material passed by. Some pyro’s to give the show some extra drama, bandmembers being quite mobile, even with keys being dragged along. A highlight for many of the fans today.

Epica closes the day, but the festival had a variety of acts that made the day special. Not sticking with one genre they have created a line up that could interest many. It was maybe not as crowded as the sold out Into The Grave (the next day) but nevertheless an interesting day.