Meanwhile I was very impressed by their show. It`s not often that I see the audience getting so enthusiastic over an opening-act. All hands got in the air on request by the singer. In front of the stage arised one big moshpit. And on stage you could see a lot of flying dreadlocks. A very energetic band to look at. The little guitarist especially was a lust for sight, throwing his leg up in the air every five seconds.

A friend of mine called him the "Louie van Gaal" of music if you know what I mean (Dutch football supporters will). This attitude on stage whipped up the audience. Now afterwards I still can`t decide which band was more powerful and energetic, Ill Niño or Machine Head. I wouldn`t be surprised if Ill Niño shows up at the summer festivals this year.

Machine Head
Machine Head put down a very enthusiastic show, which was a big difference with the show two years ago, when they played for only 45 minutes. But you know the singer was suffering from either food poisoning or stomach flu that time. In that case even 45 minutes seems a long time to me.

Tonight however, it was like they were having a party on stage. First they played for one hour. The crowd cheered when all the popular MH songs were played, like "Old" and "the Blood, the sweat, the tears" (or "…beers" as the live version is called).

Robb Flynn kept telling us how much he loved Holland and Dutch people. He was the frontman interacting with the audience. The other bandmembers hardly spoke. But as a band they were like a smoothly running engine (a V8 engine ofcourse with lots of power).

After the first part, the band came back for an extra 45 minutes! Robb started talking about how much he appreciated the support for the events of September the 11th by Dutch people he met. For the occasion they first played a ballad that was followed ofcourse by "Davidian" ("Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast").

After that the party continued with a surprise that the band had told us about before the show. It turned out to be a medley of their own favourite songs. When the audience heard the first sounds of "The number of the beast" by Iron Maiden they all cheered (is there anyone who doesn`t like Iron Maiden?).

Unfortunately Robb was hardly as impressive as Maidens own guitarist. He couldn`t get the solo right. But he didn`t mind that as he was laughing about it. Then came System of a Down, Sepultura and last but not least Black Sabbath. Finally with "Supercharger", the title song of their new album, they ended the show in a very dignified way.

(Review: Yvonne Boonaerts
Pics: Marcia Gransbergen)