Thread: Senescence weekend, two shows in 15 hours

Senescence weekend, Grootebroek and Enkhuizen, November 12th and 13th

As my friend Raimon plays in several bands sometimes you get the oppurtunity to see him perform several times in short time. He’s in Shredded Cunt, but as they don’t have a drummer that can take a while. I have never seen him play in Onkt but Senescence is no unknown name on this site. A couple of weeks ago the Slayer Coverband was announced to play in Inventas in Grootebroek and Senescence would be support act. I knew Senescence had their first full length CD ready and guitar player Bert arranged they could play in De Steen in Enkhuizen (see Afternoon Matiné) on Sunday afternoon as a release party.

But who’ll join me? I was a bit disappointed Tom would not go with me, as he claimed ‘he no longer knew when was the last time he ever sat on his own couch’and I had heard Daan had headbutted a truck and needed to be operated, slim chance he’d be there too. No sign of Anne nor Maarten, Daniel did not come. I went to my cousin Marco’s birthday first, and came to Inventas around 9 PM. I didn’t really like the sight: no cars, hardly any bikes to be seen. Damned, is this going to be a too quiet night? I paid my entrance fee, took off my coat and got me some coins. Pffft, at least Kees, Axel and Tijmen were there, soon accompanied by Jelle: beer. Axel tried to stack so many cups under the table we were standing at, the pile fell and all his efforts were scattered Soon Senescence got to stage, I must say singer Marcel has evolved a lot over the last couple of years, he’s more powerful and more confident about his singing and grunting. The band played around 90 per cent of their album, but without set list and I think I heard at least one song twice. The band is tight, minor technical difficulties were hardly noticed. I thought this was a very, very good show. Check out Senescence | Free Music, Tour Dates, Photos, Videos (there is also a Minnesota based Senescence!)

Rumor spread the Slayer Coverband was paid € 700 to perform here, but how’s that possible with such minor advertising from Inventas? I think all and all there were less than 20 paying visitors (including two long time acquiantances)! Now I get the feeling this kind of shows only strengthens the idea ‘metal is dead in Holland’ so cultural centras don’t plan metal anymore? Wtf?Anyway, the Slayer Coverband was up next and I had fun with the boys, the blistering sound and the typical Slayer-arrogance on stage. Seeing the set list I got from a roadie makes me realize I still have a special place for Slayer in my heart and neck:
- Beauty Through Order (the set list said ‘Beauty Through Orchids’? Opeth joke?)
- Necrophiliac
- Altar of Sacrifice
- Jesus Saves
- Die By the Sword (without the bored intro)
- Postmortem
- World Painted Blood
- Kill Again
- Mandatory Suicide
- Dead Skin Mask (with the drummer doing the kid-part)
- Silent Scream
- Reborn
- Evil Has No Boundaries
- Hell Awaits (very, very short intro)
- South of Heaven
- Raining Blood (no intro )
- Black Magic
- Angel of Death
Why the hell has the set list the length of the songs mentioned? To show how quick the € 700 is earned? What a bunch of bollocks! Raimon later explained his band had gotten only € 50 for the entire band and 5 coins each, the Slayer Coverband even dined together on Inventas cost! The Slayer Coverband plays the songs right and tight, but it’s a bit strange to look at a short haired man with a voice nearly like Araya’s. Announcing the songs in Dutch (heavy Brabant accent) is a bit strange too. On the other hand I don’t blame the band there are only 25 people present, you can certainly hear the passion for Slayer in this band. At least the four of us bang our heads, shout the lyrics and have a pretty violent four-person-pit, but the others don’t ever join us. So… no reason to linger after the show. I got my CD signed and we’re off.
Kees and me decide to cycle home together. We meet two (Turkish?) men who offered beer, a place to stay and even some girls if we consider buying one of their bikes. I think they were healers and as we both have pretty good bikes we don’t need to end up in prison for buying stolen goods. At least we end up with a pint of Grafenwalder Pils (pretty good beer) and a bottle of Amstel each. We cycle Kees’ last part of the trip laughing. Quick goodbye, MP3-player in the ears, I don’t need a night cap anymore.

I awoke around mid day, shaved myself, took a shower and made a little breakfast, but I have no idea what time the CD release party will begin. I checked at 3 PM only to find out it started at 3! Fuckkkk!! In my hurry go get to the car I totally forgot to check my wallet and hardly without money and a train subscription in stead of my debit card I enter De Steen. Gladly I found the Vet boys, Anne and my yesterday companions. Maarten and Daan had a family feast they couldn’t get out of, Anne had a birthday party or something, but Maarten is polite enough to give me some of the money he owes me and I order drinks (coffee for me). Deathcore is soon to start, but after two songs I remembered I had not eaten that much and move out. Axel, Tijmen and Jelle follow me to a shish kebab / döner place only 50 meters away. The showarma is hot, greasy and certainly enough.

Senescence thanks all people involved today (Nico for the practise bin, Deathcore for supporting, Rolf for the stage and the free beer) and singer Marcel announced a free drink with every CD bought. I wanted my copy signed, but opening the booklet showed I went to the stage for nothing, as the band already had signed this one beforehand. Now.. the official release of the CD is imminent. The entire band is wearing a Senescence shirt, but it seems a bit low quality printing. Marcel’s print is already curling up during the show. I am (sort of) glad they handed out shirts to their families and NOT selling them, I would have used it as a Secret Satan gift. I would never ship anything that’s below my own quality standards. Now, the band. It’s great to see friends perform, but with so much smoke in the bar (against Dutch law you can still smoke in this bar) and with bashing lights I don’t make it to the end of the show, at least not with my head next to Raimon’s amp and with hardly any room to move. I retreat to the end of the bar after making some (analog ) pictures [wonder how long it takes to fill this camera roll]. Marcel announcement of ‘using set lists’ is a bit of a goof off, as the band has written numbers on paper in stead of the names of the songs. I don’t know their secret code, have no Enigma machine so I can do nothing with this list. Probably the band has great fun with this numbers… Best song was probably Prima Nocte (had to relisten to it from myspace) ; the band played little more than an hour. The band had quite some technical problems (amps, mix, strings) but the crowd is cheering happily. Both Bert and Raimon do their vocal duties, Marcel is in great shape today. Only thing I don’t like is one particular song when bass player Robert does some Primus-like slapping [can’t stand that sound], the rest is cool!

I thanked the band for the cool shows and I’m off home. I had double parked and thought it could have been towed away, but my VW Golf Mk II still stands next to Zuiderkerk, no paper litter on my windshield

Chaotic weekend! I had such a relaxing weekend.
Watched some movies Saturday, family came over today for my birthday (which is officially tomorrow).

But yeah, metal isn't filling up venues here :p

If you were to come to Olympia/Seattle, you'd have one of the most calculated, comfortable and thought out day and night of a show. It makes it stress-free and kind of boring. On the flip side, any sort of drama is a good read.

This wasn't a stressfull, nor an uncomfortable, nor a dramatic event

Compared to how I live, it is. lol