Rockezine.com concert review for Spineshank on May 30, 2003 in the 013/Tilburg

May 30, 2003

First of all this. About 3 o’clock I am told that the show tonight will be cancelled. I was interviewing Spineshank and I heard the singer was stripped, and couldn’t sing. Chimaira had to leave by 10 o’clock, but they used the same back line, I believe. So it was all pretty hectic. Somewhere around 4 o’clock a manager from Roadrunner in the US said “well, play”. I don’t know how they arranged it, but what was most important: the show could go on

Chimaira started with a horrible sound. I could hear people talking next to me. This shouldn’t be possible at a concert. Especially at a Chimaira gig, a band that needs a big sound to blow everyone away. Not the case here, just a fucked up (way to low) sound. However, there’s nothing wrong with the band’s on-stage energy. Chimaira definitely were enjoying Holland and the show. Tonight is their first show on the tour and they really wanted to make something of it. With a cool mix of both albums they were giving loads of energy, with the best song: “Pure Hatred”. With 1000 kids shouting ‘I hate everyone’. Impressive. All in all, a good overall performance. The guitar players jumped at the same time, waving their guitars in perfect timing! They ended with “Severed”, which was probably the best song to end with.

Then Spineshank. The last time I saw them was at Dynamo 1999, and it was one of the best shows I saw on that festival. So I was curious if they would top that concert. As Johnny entered the stage he was fucking up the audience. That was pretty cool to see. ‘Come on Tilburg, here we fucking go, 1, 2, 3, 4!’ and kicked off with a new song (unfortunately I don’t know the title). It was energetic, really energetic, but it wasn’t excellent. I dunno, you could hear Johnny had problems with his voice, especially during the clean vocal parts. It seemed as if they wanted to finish the show as soon as possible. With the speed of light, they played about 10 songs (“Shinebox”, “Height Of Callousness”, “Detached” among others) but after 45 minutes they left the stage and didn’t come back for more.

Some people left the venue with mixed feelings, why this short? Well, I don’t know, but I do know that they had to go to the UK to play a very important gig the next day. And maybe Johnny couldn’t hold it longer than 45 minutes (because of his voice). But it was cool, not excellent, but cool and energetic!

(Review: Friso Veltkamp
Pics: Marcia Gransbergen)

more pictures