Gentle Storm, Hard Rock Cafe, 19.02.15

I’m so happy, I finally got to see Arjen last night. It’s the first time I actually feel a lump in my stomach when an artist comes out on stage, I’m always excited to see my favourite bands, but when Arjen got up on stage, it was an indescribable feeling and I realised how immense is my respect for this man. Anneke stole the show with her amazing, amazing voice and her sweetness, but I cannot forget that it’s Arjen that created the incredible music.

I was worried that I would miss the keyboards and synths that are such a strong part of Arjen’s music, but it’s incredible what two voices, two guitars and a truckload of talent can do, the songs sounded perfect. And Anneke is just amazing (yes, I’ve said that already, but you cannot say it enough times), the way she can play with her voice with so little effort… it was really a flawless performance from her. She sounded magically especially because it was an acoustic setting. She has a very special voice and it sounded crystal clear without being distorted by electric guitars and drums and other instruments. I could sit listening to her and not care about what she was singing at all, just be mesmerised by what she can do with her voice. A while ago I didn’t understand all the love for Anneke, but she’s truly special.

And they were goofing around and making jokes and being nice and down to earth and nervous. At one point they started a song and stopped in the middle because Arjen forgot to turn the page to his music sheets and couldn’t do it midsong and he seemed so embarrassed and the crowd started cheering to encourage him and he was like „no, what are you doing, that’s not something to cheer for”. And Anneke would announce all songs in her solo half and she was very enthusiastic about a Bruce Springsteen cover and the crowd was…. not (well not really), then immediately she announced a The Gathering song and everyone went crazy and she was so amused (“fuck Bruce Springsteen, The Gathering, YEAH!”). I’m glad she was receptive to the crowd and realised we weren’t very excited by the covers.

And the setlist… I really don’t know what to say about the setlist. Sure, Anneke can sing the meatball recipe as someone hilariously put it once, but we were there to see Anneke and Arjen because we love *their* music. And it’s not like she doesn’t have a ton of music of her own, I wasn’t very happy with the inclusion of so many covers. But again, it’s Anneke and she made everything so positive and lovely (she’s such an adorable person, she can light up the room with her presence). But the second half…. OH MY GOD THE SECOND HALF!! I couldn’t have possibly dreamed for a better setlist. It had a lot of Ayreon songs, which it’s basically why I was so excited about the concert in the first place, all excellent choices and all executed perfectly. And the three songs from the Gentle Storm project (Endless sea and two others I didn’t know) were all beautiful, made me very excited about the new album. They were a lot more Arjen-ish then I would’ve expected judging by Endless Sea alone.

And I’m really glad that they seemed to be very happy with the reception. I was a bit worried because of the location (which I don’t think was suited for a concert at all), it was a pub and most of us were seated at tables and there seemed to be a distance and a barrier between us and the artist because of that and there were a lot of dead angles from which you couldn’t see the stage and the atmosphere was a bit iffy at first, but two songs in and everyone was captivated by Anneke. And when Arjen came on stage, it became even better, so it turned out to be a very warm and lovely ambient and I think they liked it as well, considering they had a second encore. I always feel so happy when the artists that come to see us leave feeling loved and appreciated, it’s basically the strongest “gift” we can give them as fans, to thank them for all the beautiful music they created.