Rock4 - A Night at the Opera
October 8th 2005 - Hoftheater, Raalte
Finally I am going to see Rock4! After seeing them during the Vocal Group Festival a couple of times, it was about time. Why didn't we visit one of their concerts earlier? I already missed the 'Pure' Show... Maybe it's just the fact Rock4 doesn't perform all through the Netherlands. Only this year, it seems they are performing a bit more north. Right after I found out they were going to perform in Raalte, which is just about 45 minutes driving from home, I decided this would be our party. I ordered tickets, and a few days later we found out Martin had to sing with 'his' choir himself, so I had to find another person to join me. This wasn't so hard, my mother loved to come along, and while I would be celebrating my birthday on Sunday, she just came over one day earlier. Martin was a bit sad, although his own concert would be fun as well, but to make it up we've already ordered tickets for the same show in Februar '06. (I don't mind :P) 'Preparing' for today also included writing an email to Rock4, to ask permission to make some pictures. In Dutch theaters it's normally forbidden to make pictures, so I thought I'd better ask them personally. I don't want to end up with a confiscated camera. I was really curious if it would be ok, but happily the answer came quite quickly and it was no problem at all, as long as I didn't disturb the other visitors and the singers themselves. Well of course I wouldn't do that, I'm a really well-behaving girl. Most of the time.
Ok, today's the day. I'm printing a map of Raalte, but it's actually really easy to drive there. I'm surprised the theater is not in the center of the village. On the map, it looks a bit odd, like it's in the middle of nowhere. I'm wondering if my allways-trustable-map24 is going to play a game with me just today, but no... that can't be true, right? I'm quite in a hurry to leave home in time. This weekend is too busy, actually. My brother and his wife couldn't come over on Sunday to celebrate my birthday, so they are visiting today on Saturday and joining for dinner as well. I don't want to be late, because the tickets are not numbered, so who comes first sits best. We leave the dishes in the kitchen, I quickly get dressed a little bit more properly and we jump into our Ferrari ;) first to bring my brother and his wife to the trainstation, then *YEAH* on the road to Raalte!! Here we go!!
Finding the theater is -as I expected- really simple. It's a small theater, it looks really cozy. We are early enough to drink tea/coffee and visit the toilets before queueing up in front of the doors. At half past 7 the doors are being opened and we enter. Wow! What a small theater! Only 285 chairs, everybody is close to the stage. But none as close as we are, we quietly walk to the first row in front of the stage and sit down in the middle. There are some rows with wooden chairs there, and behind those chairs the theater goes up and round in circles with more comfortable chairs. All people are sitting down at the comfortable chairs, on the sides, in the back.
We are the only ones sitting on the wooden chairs close to the stage! What's wrong here? Do they know something we don't know?
Will the sound be too loud so closely? Are people afraid to sit so closely? Are they scared the singers might look at
them? Or do we smell?? We discuss all options but can't find the right anwser. We really are terribly close to the stage.
But I just love it, I'll be able to make pictures from so nearby!
On the other hand, sitting there all alone is a bit odd, but we wait and see.
After the comfortable chairs in the back and on the sides are filled with people, there are some people joining us
on the wooden chairs. But not in the first row! It stays empty untill just before 8. We could have done the dishes first
and still be on time to sit in the first row. Really funny. Strange people in Raalte... ;)
I leave my pen and paper in my bag, for I hate to take notes, especially when I'm so close to the
stage. I decide to print it all in my mind. I'll remember most parts (I hope) and writing a report doesn't definitely
needs to be 100% complete, although I'm a perfectionist...
One thing I always love about artists is the fact they put a tracklist of the show on
the stage, specially for me. Thanks guys ;)
At 8 o'clock the curtains are opening and there they are. Oh man... they are really close. Hahaha. I take a deep breath and start enjoying right away. They start of really calm and quietly with a long intro to It's a beautiful day.
Rock4 can create an atmosphere which is so relaxing and calm. When the words finally start it's loud and pure. This voice of Luc (Devens) is so great. Good start. I'm going to love it tonight (oh what a surprise - NOT) haha. They continue with Killer Queen and after that Peter is telling us we are going to hear Queensongs only. But it's not a Queen tribute. They arranged the songs themselves and sometimes there is not much Queen left, it's more Rock4, he explains. The first part of the show will contain famous and less known Queensongs. The second part of the show will be the 'Night in the Opera'-part. Ok, I'm curious, now go on!
You take my breath away and Under pressure are next.
Almost at the end of Under pressure there is a pause; Luc Nelissen, Nico and Peter are
waiting for Luc Devens to continue his lead, but he's waiting, there is silence, he's watching the audience,
smiling and then.... continues. Really funny.
I love it when the audience is being teased. Peter starts talking again. He thinks the theater looks a lot like an
old English courthouse, with those chairs (he was looking at the comfortable ones in the back and on the sides) in a
circle. He feels like the accused one who has to anwser some questions.
First question is "Why Queen?" and the second question would for obvious reasons be "Why these proper outfits?". To answer the first question he turns to Nico and says: "Well, Nico?" Nico steps back, a bit nervously and is looking scared. "Luc?" (Nelissen) Luc looks around as if to say "me??" "Luc?" (Devens) Luc says "I don't want to..." "Ok, that anwsers the first question" Peter declars. For the second question, why these outfits, there is a very simple anwser. They tried another outfit first, one with tight pink shorts, and a lot of chest hair (for that's Queen, right?), but for some reason it didn't work out very well, the audience was laughing for two hours and well... nobody listened to the music anymore. So they hired an Italian tailor who made them these suits.
Next songs are Save me and Another one bites the dust. Luc Nelisson is the mouthpercussion specialist of Rock4, Nico is the bass singer. During Another one bites the dust Luc and Nico start 'dueling' who's best. The look on those faces! And Luc Devens in the background breaking into laughter as well. Brilliant! The four singers are having so much fun.
Following is Good old fashioned loverboy, where they start off close together with
and old-fashioned radio sound, which sounds quite funny but quickly transfers to their 'normal' sound. After
Play the game the last song before the break is about to come. It is a very well-known
song, but they turned it into a blues. Blues?? Well hey, it's Rock4, they like to change things :P
At the end of Somebody to love
the audience has to sing along (in the original version there is a choir that starts to sing, so they just need some help
from us). Three groups are made and we all sing "Find me somebody to love" in three different voices. While we are
singing the curtains are being closed and Rock4 disappears. There is a lot of laughter and clapping in the theater.
Time for a drink!
After the break, Rock4 is going to sing the Album 'A night at the opera'. They start with a block of three songs, Death on two legs, Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon and I'm in love with my car. Peter tells us we are hearing 'A night of the opera'. This album is a story which has to be told from A-Z. It's also an album where Queen shows the different sounds they have, it can be classical, epical, rocky, pop. Perfect for Rock4, they can do it all! All in all, this evening is very varied. On we go with a song we all would know, but which would be hardly recognisable for the arrangement makes it a completely different song. He doesn't tell us which song we are about to hear, but it is You're my best friend. I do recognise it, still. But the Rock4-style dominates clearly. Next comes '39 and after that song Peter and Nico leave the stage. Luc and Luc are going to sing Sweet Lady together. Just two men on stage, what will that sound like? Really cool actually. Luc Nelisson is mouthdrumming so brilliant, I really don't understand how somebody is able to make all those sounds, and so rapid! Luc Devens is singing the lead, which he mostly does. Together it is beautiful!
By they way, I think I do know why people don't want to sit this close to the stage. Sometimes the singers are standing on the edge of the stage which forces us to put our heads in our necks if we want to see their faces. But sometimes the spotlights are so bright from above, we are blinded by the light. Probably the singers are having a perfect view of the people sitting in the first row (us..) in such a moment, but I don't want to think of that too much... In the meantime, when I can't look up because of the bright spotlights, I am able to look straight ahead and notice strange things. For instance, I notice their shoes. Luc Nelissons shoes are a little less shiny than the other shoes, but Peters shoes are far most shiny. When there would be a "Who's got the best brushed shoes contest" Peter would definately be the winner. Congratulations! Sorry for the wandering, back to the show.
Peter and Nico return and Peter tells us something about Nico. Nico is the bass singer of the group and untill now we had only heard some 'dumdum' and 'dumda' from him. This is about to change, for Nico is going to tell us something about the next song. Nico comes forward and makes a soft noise which sounds like the sea. Slowly he starts by telling us he is a romantic type of guy. He loves the beach and the prints of his toes in the sand, the salt water waves coming up and filling the holes where his feet have been standing. A lot of blabla nonsense, but the way he is talking + his collegues (especially Luc Devens) laughing in the back makes me laugh. Other people are also laughing and Nico is given a big applause. The song he was telling us about is Seaside Rendezvous.
Next in line is The Prophet's song. That is great! We are being told it will be sung live, even in the end of the song. I don't understand at first, of course it is live, hey! But, later I understand. In the end of the song Luc Devens steps forward and sings alone, but his voice is being repeated. He sings along in different tones so it sounds like a canon, more voices coming into it every time he starts the sentence again. Wow! Later, his collegues join him, their voices are repeated as well, if I'm not wrong. It sounds so rich! As if Rock4 is joined by another Rock4 and another one. Great!
Luc Nelisson thinks it is time for a little Rock4 history. He tells us some things about the band and introduces his collegues. First of all, captain of Rock4, Nico, the Malboro Man, Candlelight speaker (for SkyRadio listeners) and with a voice like Barry White. Second captain of Rock4, Peter, a popular heardresser model. Luc Nelisson is a bit confused while introducing the third captain, Luc Devens, for there are only two captains on a ship right? But well, third captain, Luc Devens, the sexiest man of Rock4, also gets a big applause. Then, Luc Nelisson steps forward, on the edge of the stage. Just between me and you, he says, of course there can be only one real captain and that's me.
They sing Love of my life and Good company. The show is about
to end. Luc Devens tells us Queen needed one more song for the album and they put three pieces of totally different art
together in this song, which eventually became the most famous Queensong. Bohemian Rhapsody is
about to start. The four singers stand at the right side of the stage, like we know it from the
Bohemian Rhapsody videoclip. The song is just beautiful. There is a big applause at the end, and
after bowing Rock4 leaves the stage. Of course they are coming back one more time to sing the final song of the evening,
which is The show must go on. Then it's over. I'm totally thrilled, wow, what a night!!!!!
My mom and I get a drink and I hope to have a little chat with the singers, but we don't see them. After the drink, we get our coats and ah, there they are, just around the corner. We can talk with Nico for a while and he asks me 'are you the girl with that website'? Yeah, that's me :P He tries to persuade me to come to one of the last 'Pure' shows, but I just don't know if that's possible... well, we'll see.. who know's. I really want to, actually... but it's just not so practical... mmm.... *doubting* I'm asking Nico why this evening is officially called the 'dutch try-out'. For I know they've been performing this show in Germany already, so there's not much to try out anymore, is it? But, he tells me, tonight is the first time they perform with their own light-set. In Germany they sang without the lights (they sang in the dark?? haha). I must say, except for blinding us in the first row, the lights in the show are really beautiful! There is not much choreographie during the songs, but the different lights and the different colours make up for it. It's never boring to watch.
After chatting with Nico we drive home and I go to bed at half past 12. Quite exhausted but with my head full of four rocking pure voices. I wake up just after 6 'o clock and can't fall asleep again. I decide to get up and start writing my report. OMG... I'm really crazy.... I almost finish writing it before my guests arrive to celebrate my birthday.
On Monday, when I tell my collegues at work about the show, one asks me: Isn't that boring, only a cappella? ---big sigh--- NO!!! OF COURSE NOT!!! Why do people always think a cappella music is boring? I guess it's because they've never heard Rock4 sing... A cappella, an undiscovered world for many people... They don't know what they're missing!