Darren Wharton's Renegade & SolarSister - Patronaat Haarlem, 2 February 2025

Darren Wharton's Renegade touring for the first time through The Netherlands. The last night of the tour would be in Haarlem, which is closest to home so Hans and I opted for Patronaat. Now I have a certain dislike of the overdose of tribute and cover bands that are programmed lately over bands playing original material. De Boerderij even puts on way more cover bands than original bands off late. I use to skip these evenings (funfact while I am writing this de Boerderij just announced Limehouse Lizzy for October). Now Darren Wharton's Renegade to me is different for several reasons. First Darren actually played in the band on their last two studio albums. Than after the death of Phil Lynott in 1986 Thin Lizzy ceased to exist. Unfortunately I never saw the original band live on stage. I did see some 23 years ago a version when John Sykes took care of vocals (and did so very well). So now this is I believe the only band with a foot in Lizzy legacy touring Thin Lizzy material (meanwhile someone pointed out to me that of course Brian Downey's Alive and Dangerous are also still touring) We all know that Thin Lizzy live always sounded even better than in the studio (Live an dDangerous anyone?). Finally I do like the band Dare as well and last October I played all Thin Lizzy albums and ranked them. So when fairly late this tour was announced through Social Media Hans and I knew we would love an evening of Lizzy live.

We started the evening with a bite in the city centre and a beer in the Irish pub, which seemed a logical choice. Arriving at Patronaat we were a bit afraid of a very quiet night in empty Patronaat. Luckily during the evening that got corrected. It was also nice to attend a show where we were bang on average age. So not feeling old we went into the small hall, where we met Ton (Woerden not The Hague) plus a lot of old rockers waiting for Lizzy.

Before we got to the main event we were supposedly warmed up by SolarSister. I had never heard of this band from Brabant before and soon found out why. The band could definitely play and had two good voices. Problem was that the music was poprock and had very little to do with what I put on at home. So quality enough, but not in my zone of interest.

Than after a break and Rock Bottom intro Renegade came on. The band started with Angel of Death of the Renegade album and co-written by Darren. He used a keytar at the start, but that instrument hardly returned later on. So Darren was frontman and the band was very solid. I don't remember their names all, but we had at the back drums and keyboards,  a bassplayer had to take care of Phil's parts while two guitarists shared the soloing and riffing duties. Very early on I realized how I liked watching a band that looked like early eighties and played like early eihties as well. So no laptops dictating the set, but just honest live performances. And yes it was one of those nights with technical issues, so the bass drum broke down several times, or it's pedal did. The microphone also refused twice which made us waiting a bit longer for an alibi. What made this a highlight of gig year 2025 was the nostalgia factor. This show and setlist brought us back to the very early eighties when Hans and I played cards with Magchiel and listened to music during school holidays. We played Thin Lizzy next to Whitesnake, UFO, Rainbow, Scorpions, MSG and Sabbath the bands that put us on the right track musically. Pity Magchiel could not join as he would love this set as much as we did. We fell the need to get a T-shirt after the show just to show our appreciation for one fine evening. Finally do I need to mention highlights? The setlist had a large overlap with the Life Live album and went from one high to the next. Ok Emerald was very fine and I loved the Cowboy song going into Boys Are Back in Town. That last song sounded even better than my karaoke performance at the Progpower afterparty a few years back. If picking one absolute favorite Lizzy song we both probably pick Black Rose title track of the Gary Moore album. So after some final loud shoutings along with Whiskey in the Jarro it was all over. Very highly recommended to go see this band when they come to town, or close enough. If they return to Holland I shall be there again, thank you Renegade for this very fine evening of classic Lizzy in Haarlem. 

Schirenc Plays Pungent Stench & Mancuerda - Musicon The Hague, 31 January 2025

Friday night is metal night in Musicon and mostly we get Death Metal over the last years. This evening Schirenc Plays Pungent Stench attracted many people to Musicon as it seemed almost a full house while half of Holland is sick at home with fever. Good to see that metal is still alive and well when Death.

Openers tonight were local combo Mancuerda. They are playing frequently lately and if you have  a mild interest in Death Metal and live in greater The Hague you must have bumped into them a few times over the past year. Mancuerda play heavy and slow and doomy while spitting out their gory lyrics. I could see that they play a lot lately, as they seemed tight. They came to open and warm us up and that is what they did again.

Pungent Stench are from Austria and formed in the late eighties. Now I only started appreciating death metal and grunts in the late nineties, so I missed them all together. I only recognized the famous cover of their second album with the two old men kissing intense. That picture was also available on T-shirt like more Pungent Stench album covers. Interesting as the band are no longer allowed to play under the name Pungent Stench resulting in the weird name Schirenc Plays. The trio gave us a long set going through their whole discography I assume. Their death metal was a bit more varied and I quite liked it. Halfway the set we were told that this was the first show of the new drummer with the band. They hit jackpot it seems as everyone was impressed most with the drumming tonight. A good band touring this weekend through The Netherlands still, so go see them if they come near you.