Evergrey
A couple of months ago, in December to be exact, was the last time I saw Evergrey. Back then the band was on a headlining tour for their latest record ‘The Inner Circle’ and thus played a long set. This evening in 013 in Tilburg they were supporting James LaBrie and had to settle with ‘only’ 45 minutes.

In comparison with the last two shows I saw, Tom Englund’s voice was very clear this evening. The sound wasn’t very great though, but that had to do with the fact that their usual soundman was on tour with Kamelot.
The setlist didn’t differ very much from the one they used in Arnhem and Weert last December. Surprisingly, the band played “I’m Sorry”, which was a very successful track from their ‘Recreation Day’ album.

The band played a very energetic set and received a lot of response from the crowd. After the second song Tom Englund said that it was good to be back in Holland because he always likes the smell of weed. At least he wasn’t as irritated as he was in December, so the show was good; the interaction with the crowd was great and the personal performances were also good. Too bad they only had 45 minutes.

James LaBrie
After a short break, it was James LaBrie’s turn. He and his band got a warm welcome from the crowd and started immediately with “Crucify” of his new solo album ‘Elements Of Persuasion’. It was actually the first time for me to witness ‘the voice of Dream Theater’ and I was really surprised by it. Sure, it’s a fact that LaBrie is a great vocalist, but performing live is something different than recording in the studio. But his voice was really great.

Since ‘Elements Of Persuasion’ is LaBrie’s latest album, it’s needless to say that the emphasis was on that particular album, but some older songs of his previous solo project Mullmuzzler were played too.
Right after the first two songs LaBrie told the crowd not to scream and beg for Dream Theater songs, because that band will visit Europe this summer.

It was really cool to see LaBrie keep in touch with his band members, it almost was as if he wanted to comfort them. In comparison to ‘Elements Of Persuasion’ there were two different members on board. Drummer Mike Mangini, who is a teacher at Berklee College Of Music, was too busy with exams and was replaced by John Macaluso (TNT, ARK, Yngwie Malmsteen). Studio bassist Bryan Beller wasn’t there either and was replaced by Andy DeLuca.
The line-up changes didn’t matter though; the band played very tight and you could see they were enjoying every minute on stage.

(Review: Lars van Bergen
Pics: Geert Oldenmenger)