03/04/2014
013, Tilburg (NL)
By Michael
On a quite sunny, yet still a bit chilly Thursday afternoon, I made my way to Tilburg. There I would meet up with A Capella Metal band Van Canto, for their Tour of the Brave show. Recently they brought out their studio album “Dawn of the Brave” and when they announced that they would come to Tilburg, the show was sold out in an instant. Before the show, I got to sit down with Stef and Ross, to ask them a couple of questions.
Stef and Ross talked about how the band has to experiment with different techniques. They have to keep coming up with new ways to imitate the sound of a guitar. As a four guys, one girl band, they have found a great balance, because otherwise they would feel like the sound would be too operatic.
For Van Canto, the new album is about super heroes. Thats why it is faster and includes “The Final Countdown”. To humm the key parts would sound silly, the guys said, so thats why they chose for this more mystic approach. In the end, the press appeared to be more positive about the album, but the band tries to focus on the positive anyway. To my question wether they would ever play on the 70.000 Tons of Metal cruise, they said that they would love to and were hoping for an invitation.
After the short press conference, I went out for a bite to eat with some friends and when we returned, there were quite some people outside already. The doors opened a bit later than they were supposed to, and everyone tried to rush in. First band of the evening was Winterstorm from Germany. Their songs sound like a mixture of a band like Alestorm, mixed with some power metal and folk. This makes the songs diverse and easy to listen to. During their performance, they played songs like Winterheart, Into the Light and Kings will Fall. The audience was semi enthusiastic, maybe part of that was because the band did not really give a great stage performance. They just stood there on the podium and did their work. A bit more activity and interaction would make their show much better.
Next up was Van Canto, main act of the evening. Right from the start the mood was set when the guys and gal arrived on stage. Since the band uses their voices (next to the drum) as the only instrument, they need to drink a lot. Because of that, this is the only band where the crowd is cheering so much during their breaks. That was amazing to see.
The band got the crowd really excited and participating during the show. Letting the girls sing “Rakataka” and the guys sing “Badaboom” got everybody smiling and this continued during the whole performance, also bringing smiles to the band itself. During songs like “Wishmaster”, “Rebellion”, “Unholy”, “The Other Ones”, “Paranoid” and “Primo Victoria”, everybody was jumping up and down and really feeling the vibe of the show. The band created a setlist with covers and own songs to everybody’s liking. So much, that during the encore, instead of playing “If I Die in Battle”, they listened to the crowd and played the favourite “Bard Song”.
After the show, both bands took a lot of time to talk to the fans, something that I really appreciate, because it shows how much they value their supporters. Be sure to check out their set at Wacken 2014, with the special guest this will prove to be one hell of a show. Rakataka BADABOOM!
Setlist Winterstorm
1. Cathyron
2. The Stormsons
(Played instead of ‘Burning Gates’.)
3. Winterheart
4. Windkeepers
5. Into the Light
6. Metalavial
7. Kings Will Fall
Encore:
8. Dragonriders
Setlist Van Canto:
Dawn of the Brave
1. Fight for Your Life
2. Badaboom
3. Wishmaster
(Nightwish cover)
4. Steel Breaker
5. Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching)
(Grave Digger cover)
6. To Sing a Metal Song
7. The Other Ones
8. Drum Solo
9. To the Mountains
10. Unholy
11. Paranoid
(Black Sabbath cover)
12. Primo Victoria
(Sabaton cover)
13. The Mission / Master of Puppets
Encore:
14. The Bard’s Song – In the Forest
(Blind Guardian cover) (Audience request. Played instead of ‘If I Die In Battle’.)
15. Fear of the Dark
(Iron Maiden cover)