An evening of proper old style progmetal in de Boerderij headed by the mighty Threshold was a no-brainer to me. Last time they toured through The Netherlands was 2017 after releasing Legends of the Shires. That marked the return of Glynn Morgan on vocals and he was in Weert a bit uncomfortable at the time. Curious how he would be now, as Dividing Lines to me also was an improvement from the already good Legend of the Shires. But first there were two supports.
Oddland
I saw these Fins before, but do not really follow them in a sense of buying albums. Upon arrival first thing standing out was the fairly empty hall. Had Threshold been away too long? Well luckily that changed over the evening to a pretty good packed hall. Oddland meanwhile started treating us on their progmetal with a set promoting their 2022 album Vermillion. As I don't know any of their music I started blank and was not overly impressed by the first song. This improved however, throughout the set. An added altsax and lots of double guitar fingerpicking riffs made it an enjoyable set. Even if at times I had the impression that some guitars came from tape. Nice opener they were.
Virtual Symmetry
This Swiss/Italian band opened late last year for Evergrey and were a few months later back already. I remembered a decent show, with a bit too many requests for clapping or shouting along. So when they came up and the drummer asked us to clap I thought counting the times they asked for this (see pic), but I stopped at five. Overall their presentation was sympathetic and their music good. They know how to play, but the songs did not really stuck in my head. When the singer stated that Bambi Galore in Hamburg was loud the day before asking us to shout loud, he should realize that where I see Bambi hosting many metal events, de Boerderij is more a classic rock venue, in the sense that half the audience is not into metal. So the hey hey shouting was limited. Finally asking us to support our local venues was not my case tonight as I would love to see Xeno in Musicon, but Threshold is of the Champions League category.
Threshold
Let me put my personal ballpark as Threshold fan first. It was 1993 and Manus CD store had moved from the border of town to the centre of The Hague. One day entering Kees told me that since I loved bands like Queensryche, Fates Warning, Dream Theater I should listen to this British progmetal band Threshold who just released Wounded Land. Well that was a blow and I recognized Damian Wilson's voice, whom I had seen wit Landmarq before in de old Boerderij. The rest they say is history. A year later Psychedelicatessen was released with Glynn Morgan on vocals and in 1995 they came touring Europe and I visited a few shows, with the Twilight Zone in Wassenaar 7 April being my first. This means 28 years and two weeks ago I saw them for the first time, which proves both band and I are getting old. Later that tour I attended shows in Vienna and Scum Katwijk. Unfortunately both times Glynn had voice problems and only Psychotic Waltz performed. The show in Vienna Pieter and I attended as Ajax had to pick up a Champions League trophey later that week. We talked football with Threshold both in Vienna and Katwijk and they supported Ajax in that final. Fast forward 28 years and Johanne James thinks it is wise to enter stage wearing a black Feyenoord training jacket. Conclusion mixing music and football not necessary But this is all about the music and how were Threshold this evening? Well here the surprise starts as last night on my way home I saw how friends on the right sde of the hall complained about the sound. This while I saw the best Threshold show I can remember in years and those around me agreed. Glynn was more comfortable than at the Legends tour and the band were in peak form. Bad clothing or not Johanne showed again he is among the best drummers and performers behind his modest kit and Karl Groom is one of them unsung guitar heroes. The sound issues I read about were Steve Anderson's bass being too loud and Richard West'keyboards unheard. Well to me the bass was not dominant and keyboards might have been low, but I focus more on guitars anyway. Best example of the latter was in the encore when King of Nothing was presented in a heavier and thus even better version to us. An absolute highlight next to probably Defense Condition and Lost in Translation. The whole set was build mainly around the last two albums. At times i did not recognize which song it was, but just wait for the last line of teh chorus and 9 out of 10 times they mention teh title for you. With a band like Threshold and so much to choose from no problem for me. Next tour a trip through history again please and Slipstream remained in and is an eternal favorite. So when it was all over, Peter, Pieter and Ton agreed we just saw a very good Threshold show indeed and we will be back when they come to Holland again, well not tomorrow that is. People living not far from de Bosuil, head to Weert tomorrow as the band are in fine form and than it is hard to beat Threshold. Or as they sing: You know that something's going on, but it's so complex.
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