Zoetermeer - The Final

"De Boerderij" in the city of Zoetermeer is one of the best pop/rock venues in Holland. Many great bands and artists have performed here, and Kayak are regular guests. On 28 december, the band played their final gig of the Journey Through Time-tour to a big and enthusiastic crowd.

To make the last concert a memorable one, the band added some extra energy to the performance. All of them seemed to have a good time on stage, and that reflected on the audience. After the show, I heard many positive comments, also from people who saw the band for the first time.

The setlist had no real surprises; it was the usual combination of old and new work, humour (Rob!), hard work (Hans!!!) and sheer professionalism (the entire band). But towards the end, Edward asked the audience to do the band a favour: for their upcoming "Cleopatra"-project, the band needed the sound of a "Roman crowd cheering to Julius Caesar"... So there we stood with 700 people, all shouting "HAIL!" on Edward's command. Quite funny, and who knows our praise to the emperor will make it onto the album!

And so another tour is over. The new year promises only a couple of live shows. Most of the year will be spent on recording the Cleopatra-album, and preparing the performances. But by that time, it will be (almost?) 2015... For now, there are the memories of some great concerts. And of course my infamous amateur pictures. This time, Sylvia Vogel was kind enough to let me use some of her photos as well. The blurry ones are mine, the clearer ones are Sylvia's...

Kayak in their hometown again...

From the current line-up, Ton is the only member who lives in the city of Hilversum. Still, this city is important in Kayak history; here is where it all started! Only a few steps away from the (no longer existing) studio where Kayak recorded their first demos in 1972, 'De Vorstin' hosted the band for one of their last shows of 2013.

The venue was very nicely filled, almost to capacity. I arrived a bit late, so I was 'banned' to the balcony.The result was: a very good view on the stage (especially on Ton), and great sound. Hans Eijkenaar was commited to playing at the finals of 'The Voice of Holland', so once again Sjoerd took over. As the setlist didn't have any surprises, I'll just let my amateur pictures do the talking. It was yet another very good show, before a very appreciative crowd.