Rockezine.com concert review for Spock`s Beard on Oct 05, 2005 in the Groene Engel/Oss

Spock`s Beard

Groene Engel-Oss

Oct 05, 2005

After a small dip called “Feel Euphoria” Spock’s Beard second album after front man Neal Morse left the band proved to be one of the best albums the band has ever recorded. The gig the band was going to play in the nearby Oss was one I wasn’t going to miss out on. Because of the slightly disappointing experience I had in Tilburg almost two years earlier (a gig of the Feel Euphoria tour) I had trouble making expectations. I vividly remember being impressed by the drumming skills of newcomer Jimmy but also disappointed because his technical, hard hitting drums just didn’t seem to fit in with the frivolous music of Spock’s Beard.

Well, today was different, today was excellent. The band started out with the Octane epic “A Flash Before My Eyes” a thirty minute song with such an impact on the crowd that you could actually hear a needle drop during the soft parts of this masterpiece. This even resulted in some awkward faces of D’Vigillio and Co wondering why this crowd was so quiet. My guess is that most of the people there were simply overwhelmed by the power of the song, I had shivers all over. For a single moment I even considered leaving the venue because of the simple reason that it wasn’t going to get any better than this. Then Nick introduced the next track, one of my all-time favorite Spock’s Beard tracks: “Harm’s Way”.

I was very, very pleased to hear and to see that Jimmy’s drumming fitted in much better with the music than two years ago. This might be partly due to the fact that the sound in Oss was better than in Tilburg, but also because of the new songs which Jimmy is definitely into. This guy simply lives music. Looking at him, beating the hell out of his instrument, makes you wonder whether this guy is in need of psychological help. He simply defines ADHD and is great fun to watch. Especially during the drum duets with former drummer D’Vigillio, Jimmy proves to be the better skilled drummer. The clashing of drum styles resulted in some impressive pieces of drum mayhem.

Other highlights of this evening were “At The End Of The Day”, “The Light” and strangely “As Long As We Ride”, the weakest song on Octane, but an absolute live killer! Hilarious was the Ryo solo where the small keyboard master from Japan was carried through the venue on some lad’s shoulders. This man is an absolute phenomenon with his instrument, not only during the rock sections but also because of the atmosphere he can create with just a few notes of chords.

Despite the fact that fewer people showed up than in the Spock’s Beard high days, I think that the band sounds better than ever. This concert is going to be in my top 3 list of 2005, no doubt about that!

These pictures are made by Klaas Guchelaar at the Spock`s Beard gig played in Deventer on October 14th of 2005. The pictures are made available by Klaas and are taken from his excellent website at www.kjguch.com where more pictures of this gig are available.

(Review: Geert Oldenmenger)