Mercenary
Sometimes I feel a little stupid when I’m at a concert. There are a lot of bands I’ve never heard of. Mercenary is such a band. Sure, I probably heard the name somewhere, but that’s it. So again, I didn’t know what to expect from this band. Due to some problems I missed Mercenary in Weert, but the day after I saw them in Arnhem. Mercenary couldn’t really grab my attention. Their mix of progressive and Swedish metal was pretty good, but in my opinion their singer doesn’t fit in. He is too much of a Tim Owens-look-alike in appearance and voice. The crowd on the other hand, was enjoying the show. They reacted very well to the band and screamed when they were supposed to. And it was noticeable that the band members were enjoying themselves too. All in all I should stop my whining. The crowd enjoyed the band, the band enjoyed the crowd. What else do you want?

Evergrey
I had the privilege to see Evergrey twice and I can tell you, the band didn’t bore me for one single second. I think the contrast between both nights had to do with that. The show in Weert was good, but the sound was too loud. And that’s a shame for a band like Evergrey; they need a good sound for their subtle guitar parts. I have to say that the sound in Arnhem wasn’t much better. But in spite of the bad sound, the show was pretty great and fun to watch. Especially the show in Weert was sometimes hilarious. I had the idea that singer/guitarist Tom S. Englund was a bit drunk, which lead to some funny moments. He tried to interact with the crowd, but somehow the crowd was pretty tame. Englund wondered if he was playing in a living room and said that the crowd had to make more noise. After his attempt to involve the crowd in the show and getting no response, I had the idea he was a bit pissed off. Luckily the following evening in Arnhem, the crowd was much better. There was a lot more interaction between the band and the crowd and the band was more concentrated than in Weert, by which I mean that they weren’t as drunk as the night before. Therefore the guitar fills and the backing vocals were better. At the beginning of the show Englund excused himself for his vocal performance, because he had too much Dutch beer in Weert. Evergrey played too songs less in Arnhem, due to the fact that they had two supporting bands while just one in Weert. But because the band played better in Arnhem, it wasn’t a disappointment for me. The highlight of both evenings was the instrumental song “When The Walls Go Down” from The Inner Circle during which drummer Jonas Ekdahl and keyboard player Rikard Zander are both on stage, the rest of the band comes on stage halfway through the song. That song gave me some real goose bumps; the song is great on cd but live it’s even better!

(Review: Lars van Bergen
Pics: Marcia Gransbergen)