On Stage: Hallo Venray 30th Anniversary @ Paradiso

It feels a bit weird typing posts like this about Dutch bands in English, since hardly anyone outside our country will know about them. I guess even within our country many people never heard of Hallo Venray, since in their 30 year existence they never really became big. But they are an important chapter in the Dutch musical history, one definitely worth celebrating.

30 years Hallo Venray at Paradiso Amsterdam, May 31 2017

The band thought it would be nice to celebrate it in Paradiso and more and more bands wanted to join and offered to play as a support act. In the end the support show is a cheerful parade of Dutch bands playing two songs, one Hallo Venray song and one of their own. Bands like Canshaker Pi, zZz, St. Tropez, Apneu and Floris Bates climb the stage. St. Tropez is joined by Common Linnets' guitarist and overall musical master mind JB Meijers. During change overs a screen keeps playing the song 'Hot Pants' of their Pinkpop performance 25 years ago, showing front man Henk Koorn on a pogo stick and stripping down his yellow suit to just net stockings and hot pants. A trip down memory lane for most of us in here tonight and hilarious to see of course.

For the occasion almost all musicians are wearing the special anniversary shirts that simply read "Hallo Venray since 1987". It is typical for this no-nonsense band that always went there own way and don't care about hypes, trends or an easy scored hit. Tonight the group plays the first half of their own show in the original four piece line-up. It's nice to hear the songs of the beginning back again. Of course they still play some of them during gigs now too, but tonight we can enjoy a complete set of their music from that early period. Dutch saxophone icon Hans Dulfer joins them on 'Las Vegas' like he did on the original recording and it's great to hear their big hit 'Slow Change' played by the original members.

When the current line-up takes over, it means drummer Henk Jonkers replaces Dim Veldhuizen, guitarist Toon Moerland leaves the stage and the band continues as a trio. This time we get treated to newer songs including some of their latest record Where Is The Funky Party?. It is clear how much this band has grown and changed in 30 years and still keeps getting better. The band is very tight, their songs are more to the point, have more dynamics and more impact.

It has always been a band that requires a long attention span of their audience. They don't make music that will make a venue explode but you have to allow it to get under your skin. This is why they never broke through to a large audience. But when you let their music get to you, you will notice how rich it is as they prove tonight. For their final song Henk Koorn takes off his t-shirt to relive his days in stockings and invites people onto the stage. It doesn't turn into a huge stage invasion but it does end the night cheerfully. Where is the funky party? Well, it's here of course.

I think every Dutch band that makes their 30th anniversary should be treated to a celebration like this, especially unique gems like Hallo Venray. Let's celebrate their hard work to keep going this long and their musical legacy. I hope we will be able to celebrate many Hallo Venray anniversaries in the future and look forward to all the new music they will be making.

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Into The Great Wide Open 2014 Day 2: Wonderful Dunes

We wake up to a grey sky, but even that can't break our mood. We wash away our hangover with fresh coffee and suddenly hear familiar music. It turns out Jungle By Night are recording a 3voor12 session on the camp ground (watch it over here). We go over to watch and are treated to a small sample of what will come later. All awake and in the right mood we make our way to the main stage for a gentle start of the day.

Into The Great Wide Open Day 2, September 7 2014



Kris Berry & Perquisite
Singer Kris Berry and composer, musician and producer started working together about a year ago and released an album Lovestruck Puzzles. Today they are opening the main stage while people are still slowly recovering from the previous day. Their gentle light music is helping with it. The poppy and soulful songs are easy on the ears, which is nice for this time of the day. But they are also nothing really special and Kris Berry's voice is missing the strength of a great soul voice. It is quite pleasant to wake up with though.

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The Kik
We decide to stay a bit longer at the main stage to watch The Kik. The Dutch beat and rock 'n roll band released a surprising second album earlier this year, that has quite nice songs on it. This band is not bad at all, but lead singer Dave von Raven's long chats, lame jokes and other monkeying around take too much time out of their set. It slows down the gig too much that never gains momentum this way. This is a shame since they are good musicians capable of writing good songs. Sometimes it's just better to let the music do most of the talking.



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Jungle By Night
After some chilling around and enjoying lovely food and beers, we hurry back to the dune stage where afro-beat collective Jungle By Night have already started to tear the place apart. We arrive halfway their set and are lucky to get into the packed place. Everybody is dancing to the young boys' irresistible afro-beat and funk tunes. They have shown a remarkable development and are growing up fast. From shy boys they have turned into showmen that know how to play and fire up a crowd. Their sound and music is deepening and slowly they are creating their own genre like Dutch jazz and dance band New Cool Collective have done. The songs off the new record aren't just afro-beat but sound more funky and groovy, sometimes like music from a soundtrack. Most import of all: it's impossible to stand still. So everyone is jumping around and all I can see are big smiles in the crowd and on stage.

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Neneh Cherry with RocketNumberNine
We decide to stay here for the rest of the day, which means we can see Neneh Cherry perform. Still associated with her big hit 'Buffalo Stance' she has come a long way of course. RocketNumberNine are playing r&b and hip hop beats, where Neneh is singing on top of. Sometimes it's jazzy, at other times it's rap or soulful. She excuses herself for her voice that is suffering from a chest infection. It does sound more hoarse than usual and high notes are beyond her reach today. It doesn't get her down, as Neneh looks like she has enjoyed a few drinks and is in a very cheerful mood. It results in a far from perfect but definitely enjoyable show. In the end she does play her big hit, which gets a warm and soulful performance.

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Hallo Venray
Dutch alternative veterans Hallo Venray disappeared off the radar for a while but returned this year with the impressive record Show. While the dark has set in, they are showing why it's good they are still around. Their dark and grungy songs are tight and couldn't sound better at this spot between the dunes. Singer Henk Krol comes across as a friendly man and is a skilled songwriter. Their music, that is somewhere in the middle between The Velvet Underground and Neil Young, sounds warm and deep. When they play their unrecognizable but slow and intense version of Prince's 'Controversy', some people around me look up in surprise. It's nice to see they are still able to surprise us after all these years.

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Sivert Høyem
The dark dunes of the Fortweg stage are also the perfect setting for Sivert Høyem. The ex-Madrugada singer's deep voice is thundering between the dunes. With a new album out he has added another selection of songs that fit right in his discography. His solo work isn't that much different from the Madrugada songs, but still you can see the fans eyes' of that band start to twinkle when he's playing one of those songs. Tonight he's looking a bit tormented and at one point is smashing his mic stand. Was he frustrated about some technical problems or was he just in the moment? It does give 'The Kids are on High Street' the right emotion and a fitting end to his show and the day.

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In the dark we head back for a few more drinks and a well deserved rest before it's time for the final day. It's something I don't want to think about right now. I just don't want it to end!

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Into The Great Wide Open 2014 Day 0 + 1
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Three Times Fun in Effenaar Eindhoven

In the nineties Claw Boys Claw rocked the Dutch live scene, Bettie Serveert was one of our favourite alternative bands and Hallo Venray was making its way up in the low lands. Now a few decades later in a new century they are still around and are playing a rare triple bill night in Eindhoven.

Hallo Venray, Bettie Serveert, Claw Boys Claw at Effenaar Eindhoven, January 10 2013



Hallo Venray
It's been a very long time since I have seen Hallo Venray for the last time. They were relatively successful in the beginning, but chose a different road afterwards. One that may commercially be less attractive, but was more interesting in a creative way. Tonight they are focusing on their upcoming album SHOW. It's a bold choice and especially in the beginning this pays off with nice songs. After that first part, the songs are going down in tempo and this also slows down the performance. Since they are unknown songs to most of us, it is hard for many people to stay focused. Hallo Venray prove however still to be an interesting band that doesn't like to take the easy road.

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Bettie Serveert
Up next are Bettie Serveert who released a new album Oh, Mayhem! last year. It's a solid rock album and they play a few songs of it tonight. Mixed in are some of their greatest hits of the past twenty something years. This band has also changed a lot in this time. The line up is different and their sound is now more heavy on the rock side. This is pleasing many of the people tonight who are mostly well into their forties. Bettie Serveert still is one of the favorites to this crowd.



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Claw Boys Claw
You can leave it to Claw Boys Claw to close the night with a bang. The band do what they can do best and have been doing from the beginning: give it all they've got until beer is flying around, everyone is eighteen again and has a big smile on their face. Like the other two bands they too have a new album which was almost a year ago. It's the last show in support of Hammer and it's clear they want it to end in style. Together with many of their big hits they do exactly that.



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These three bands prove that although their real glory days may be behind them, they still have plenty to offer and shouldn't be ignored. There's enough to see and hear that new and younger bands can learn from.

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