Date: November 16th, 2019
Venue: Effenaar, Eindhoven
Support: None
Rating: 10/10
There's a tangible excitement even while I'm queuing up outside the Effenaar to see one of my favourite female vocalists of all time. There's a multitude of European languages being spoken, which suggests that the fans here tonight have flocked to Eindhoven from all over Europe to see her, which is not only believable, but testament to how wide Anneke van Giersbergen's audience is.
At around 8:30pm, Anneke takes to the stage herself, alone, and right from the start, she has the audience captivated and eating out of the palms of her hands. In her only spot playing an instrument over the whole night, she opens proceedings with a glorious rendition of a track she put her name to with the Gathering on If_Then_Else, "Saturnine". The track is greeted with huge applause and cheers from the crowd, subsequently setting the tone for the night. Anneke then introduces us to the would be compere for the evening, singer songwriter and former PSV Eindhoven midfielder (yes, really) Bjorn van der Doelen, who introduces us to the string section of the Kamerata Zuid Chamber Orchestra. We get some of Anneke's solo material, coupled with an Ayreon cover ("Valley of the Queens"), then to close out the symphonic segment of the set, Within Temptation vocalist and friend Sharon den Adel joins proceedings for an excellent Within Temptation cover.
Part three of the set commences with Agua de Annique joining Anneke on stage. We get another sumptuous blend of Anneke's solo material, a sublime cover of John Wetton and Geoff Downes's "To Catch a Thief", as well as another Gathering cover ("Even the Spirits are Afraid" from Souvenirs) and an Agua de Annique cover ("Sunken Soldiers Ball"). When Agua de Annique leave the stage, Anathema guitarist Danny Cavanagh takes to it, with just him and his guitar providing a neat backdrop for Anneke's fabulous soothing tones. From this we get a scorching cover of Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter", and two "kippenvel momentjes" in the form of two Anathema covers (a glorious version of "A Natural Disaster" and "Untouchable Part 2").
Finally, Vuur take to the stage and we get the metal part of Anneke's set. In this section, Anneke really pulls out all the stops, and we get a superb version of Devin Townsend's "Hyperdrive" and a mouthwateringly sublime solo (ish) version of Amorphis's "Amongst Stars" (the track Anneke did guest vocals on Queen of Time for), and fittingly, closing with the opus about time travel that introduced the world to her on Mandylion way back in 1995, "Strange Machines".
Anneke van Giersbergen was treated like the heroine she truly is by the Eindhoven crowd, and it speaks volumes that the tickets for this show sold at such a rate that a second date was added due to popular demand (which also sold out at a rate of knots!). The crowd were eating out of the palms of her hands, every song got deserved applause, cheers and whistles, and it was a nice touch to hear her top and tail her set with songs by the band she initially made her name with all those years ago. A sublime night made all the more sweeter by a musician and performer that knows exactly how to treat her fans.
Setlist
Saturnine
She
Valley of the Queens
Stay
Circles
Somewhere
Feel Alive
Even the Spirits are Afraid
Sunken Soldiers Ball
Hey Okay!
To Catch A Thief
Mental Jungle
The Blower's Daughter
A Natural Disaster
Untouchable Part 2
The Storm
On Most Surfaces (Inuït)
Your Glorious Light Will Shine - Helsinki
Hyperdrive
Amongst Stars
Strange Machines
