Plan Nine - de Boerderij Zoetermeer, 7 June 2024

My last show before holidays was the first ever by Plan Nine in de Boerderij. This is the long lost band build by Arjen Lucassen and Robert Soeterboek. They released their debut album written in the early nineties this year. Arjen Lucassen involved means a few things nowadays. Even if he did not play half the hall was filled with people in Ayreon shirts. Second when Arjen is near a stage Lida gets involved in the hair and make-up of bands. Now that Lida part-time lives with us filling our empty nest syndrome I had to check out Plan Nine too. Well not as in being forced since I saw Robert Soeterbeek sing before and what I checked online Plan Nine would sound way more up my alley than Ayreon itself.

The evening was off with a wrong start for me. First a guy announced the support band in English. A bit pointless as later on the inbetween song banter would be in pure Rotterdams. Second he announced Nouked a band who would play a Led Zep set. What I don't like about current Boerderij is that every second band playing is a cover band. Nouked was one and maybe I like Led Zep less than I thought, but after a few songs to me a La Trappe dubbel sounded much more interesting than the band itself, so off to the bar I went.

During the break I met Lida who was done painting faces and way more excited than you would guess at our age. The stage was nice with huge screen shots switching by songs, but a bar and saloon entrance made it look a proper production. The band started and it did not take long before it would be a return to my roots musically. Robert came on in a fancy light three piece suit and when opening his voice I thought I heard traces of David Coverdale. The music was also bluesy hardrock, so I did go back to 1980 when I listened to Whitesnake a lot as one of my first loves in hardrock music. Most of the songs sounded damn fine and the band was good. Talking about the band, some known names in Dutch rock scene were part of Plan Nine. In my case mainly Ed Warby, Marcel Singor and Irene Jansen.  The first loud applaus was for the second guitarist at the end of the second song when he finally managed to join the band after lots of walking around with guitars and amps cables. The show was good and to some the highlight was when Arjen came upon the stage. I could not help wondering why all these people walking in Ayreon shirts were in. This was something very different indeed. Anyway good for the band this almost sold out Boerderij. After the set they would move to the cafe stage to sign merch. Well that queue this resulted in was for me a sign to move home. Let's face it there is a sort of religious cult sauce hanging around Ayreon and I am atheist. Still one fine evening it was and next option to see Plan Nine is at Baroeg Open Air 14 September. Those loving metal shall be in Little Devil that day, or like me at Pyrenean Warriors Open Air, with the best line-up of that date.