IQ — De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands, 17 November 2000

Gerrit-Jan Bloemink and Peter Bloemink

Last Friday, November 17, 2000 was a memorable day in The Netherlands. The place: De Boerderij in Zoetermeer. The first IQ-gig with the new album The Seventh House!

My brother and I arrived in Zoetermeer, but oh goodness: hundreds of fans were already waiting outside De Boerderij to get into the venue. We waited about 45 minutes, but after 30 minutes, it began also to rain (with hail). All the fans who were still outside got very wet! A good start of the evening... When we got in, there was a stand of GEP with all the (new) CDs, T-shirts, etc. Of course, we bought The Seventh House as soon as possible, and we were very interested in what the band would play this evening of this new album.

The arena itself wasn't a good one: it was actually too small for only one gig in the Netherlands, and there were too many people. We were at the first department, at the place where the computers were located for all the pictures. Not a very good place, but we were able to see the guys on stage for about 70%. It was not much enough, but it was more than at others places.

At 21:40h, IQ began with Outer Limits and from the beginning the fans were very enthusiastic. We enjoyed this "golden oldie". Then they played The Darkest Hour from the Ever album. It sounds good (Paul Cook had some problems with the timing there) and soon the band played a track from the new CD: Erosion. It was an unknown track at this time, but the first impression was a good one.

From this moment on, we forgot about the tracklist because we were in another world. We're sure Ed Sander can fill in the blanks. But we do remember IQ played another two tracks of The Seventh House and they were, again, very good! A typical IQ sound.

All the other tracks that evening contained, of course, with lots of changes in the rhythm. Martin's keyboard sounds were again very wonderful, Mike's guitar-riffs were heavier than at other gigs, John's bass guitar was unforgettable (including his enthusiasm for the fans), and last but not least Peter's voice and his act in The Enemy Smack was amazing...

The gig ended at midnight; we were very satisfied, but we were a little bit disappointed, because we thought IQ would play the whole new CD. Okay, this was the first gig of the European Tour; we hope the other European fans would enjoy their forthcoming gigs...

Our conclusion and the points from the jury (my brother and me): 9.5 out of 10!

Mariska

We were supposed to pick up our tickets between 20.00 and 20.30, but when we arrived at De Boerderij we already saw the queue outside. We had to wait in line for at least half an hour in the cold (at least we were lucky the massive rain we had earlier had stopped). Luckily, we got our tickets relatively quickly and could finally enter the venue. We had fun while waiting, though. We picked up the new album, The Seventh House, and went inside, where it was already quite full. Apparently the organisation didn't expect IQ to attract such a large number of people. When everyone was finally inside and the show was about to start, they apologised for the delay. At 21:45h the show started, we had a nice spot just behind the lighting guys.

The start of the show was a bit hesitating, but after two songs they kicked ass, like always!

They started with Outer Limits. After that The Darkest Hour, in which Mike Holmes made a few mistakes. After the song Peter said that they were a bit nervous, this being the first night of the tour and all, and that, should they make mistakes, which until now they hadn't, but should it happen, we should pretend not to hear them. ;-)

It was time for the first new song, titled Erosion. Sounds just great! I expected it to last a bit longer though. Next up was a song I personally have never seen performed live: Wurensh! One of my favourites. The crowd went nuts.

Then another new song, the title track of the new album, The Seventh House. This is such a great song, I've heard it twice now, but it immediately sounds familiar and yet new. IQ at their best. After that an instrumental bit from Subterranea.

At that time Mike broke a string, and while it had to be replaced, the band played a new song, and we wiggled and wiggled. Let's call it the wiggly song, or Egg wiggly wiggly if you want. Pete said they had a twenty-minute version of it at the new album. :-) When all was well, they played Failsafe.

Then another big surprise: a song they hadn't played live for fifteen years, as Pete said: The Magic Roundabout! This was followed by Human Nature. Could this get any better? Party!

Another new song, called The Guiding Light, also great! All the new songs were very well-received by the audience. Then it was time for some serious acting with masks: The Enemy Smacks. Impressive as always !!

After a tiny break it was time for the encores. Subterranea with the introduction of all bandmembers, Came Down (wiggly bit), Awake and Nervous, The Wake.

A great set, over two hours, very well played, the band had great fun, as had the crowd. I remember some of the remarks Pete made between the songs. One of my favourites: "I know what you are thinking! You're thinking, how can John hide all that in those trousers? What you don't know is that part of his anatomy is actually removable. Can you guess where he's hiding it?"

We had a great time, go see the guys on tour if you're able to !!!

Ed Sander

Well well... IQ visits Holland again, for the first time since April 1999. Having seen them in Whitchurch twice since and having heard three new tunes in August, I already knew what to expect. Well, sort of.

The venue De Boerderij (meaning The Farm; the old building was an actual farm) in itself was a very nice place in principle. Three bars, quite some wide space in the hall and a balcony above, where Andy had set up his computers and projectors. The stage was a bit small and the lights were hanging rather low if you were watching from the balcony, but it seemed like a good alternative for the booking agents old home base, De Pul in Uden.

Later on we started to notice that not all was as well as it seemed in the farm. Going up to the cafe/restaurant people were told that there was only one cook and they weren't really able to prepare the menu of the day that was advertised everywhere. Even a cheese sandwich took ages to prepare. Toilets were 50 cents, which seems like extortion when you already charge 3 guilders for a small beer. I'm not a great fan of the "pay to piss policy" anyway.

In the meantime, a drama was taking place outside. It took the organisation ages to get the tickets for the people who had made reservations, resulting in an enormous queue of IQ fans getting soaking in the rain. Not what you would call a good way to get people enthusiastic for the gig. Fortunately, the band waited until all people were finally in, resulting in a delay of about an hour.

When people where flowing in, another problem with the venue became very obvious. It was too small for the number of people. Some people had a hard time catching a glimpse of the stage at all. It seemed like a sold out gig and there was hardly any space to move. This also resulted in a rather "calm" atmosphere. Later lighting engineer Lol asked me why people where so calm compared to other gigs.

I explained that with a packed crowd like this you wouldn't really start jumping up and down while bumping into your "neighbours" or loudly sing along and deafen the person in front of you. The balcony area turned out to be rather useless as well. When two rows of people had gathered by the railing, the space behind them would no longer allow you to see anything because you couldn't look down any more.

Can we please get a gig in Tilburg's 013 next time? It might not be as cosy as De Boerderij, but there's enough space and you can always see everything from every position. I'm not sure if a 2-hour drive is worth staring at somebody's neck and getting claustrophobic.

As always, it took the band and sound engineer Rob one or two songs to get everything right, but by the end of Darkest Hour the sound was perfect again. Rob really is amazing, I've not heard many sound engineers that get such a dynamic and non-distorted sound.

The band and crew obviously had to get warmed up again, and because of the recording of the album, there hadn't really been time to rehearse the set. It always amazes me how well they do without a proper rehearsal. Okay, there were quite some bumps and bits and at times the band looked like they'd be hanging Cookie or Widge by the end of the show, but all was taken with the right sense of humour ("If we make any mistakes please pretend not to hear them — fortunately they haven't happened yet!"). When Mike broke a string during Human Nature, the band went into an alternative version of Wiggle!

The setlist was very good, with some surprises like The Magic Roundabout, the amazing Wurensh and a spooky rendition of The Enemy Smacks, complete with theatrics by Pete. Three songs of the new album were played. That might not seem like a lot, but they add up to 30 minutes of music, and keep in mind that playing the whole new album live at once might be a bit too much for an audience that doesn't know any of the tracks. As far as I'm concerned, it was a wise decision!

It would have been an easy choice for the band to play a lot of Subterranea material, but they only played three songs, among which the version of the title track featuring the reggae section as at was played at Whitchurch. This version ended with Pete taking a flamengo pose and the whole band shouting "OLE!" Very funny!

Some new projections were used, among which a very cool one of an eye looking through a crack in a wall, as found in the booklet. Nevertheless, the crew still seems to be experimenting with some slides, footage and pictures. With a bit of luck yours truly is hoping to supply projection engineer Andy with some more cool stuff at the Bochum gig.

It was a fine first gig for the new tour, not counting the venue. Be sure to catch the band on the round in the coming two weeks.