On the 21st of December, Tim Akkerman made the start of the dark Dutch winter a bit brighter. The Diligentia theater, in his home town The Hague, was the stage for his premiere show. It’s called The Journey, named after his recently released second album. He performed in the Diligentia, in stead of a more regular music venue, because the show is more than a concert. It has many features of a theatre play. Of course the audience got treated with lovely live music, but the show also included projected video clips with, each with a particular story behind it. Within this concept the show seemed to be planned to the last detail and got performed likewise. Rockstone Sessions gratefully attended it.
“In a way it was a journey for the audience too, in which Tim Akkerman and his band took us back to the silent film of the ’20’s”
Probably most people immediately think about DI-RECT when they hear the name Tim Akkerman. Because even though he isn’t the lead singer of this band anymore for quite some time already, his image of a teen idol is still pretty existing. However, without saying that his current music is better than the music he played in his DI-RECT period, The Journey is the prove that Tim has grown up. Some of his songs still have a raw rock ’n’ roll sound, while others seem more like gentle Americana music. All of it in a more mature setting than during his wild years in the aforementioned Rock band. Furthermore, this show wasn’t one with screaming and fainting teenage girls. It was a true theatre experience on a matching stage. In a way it was a journey for the audience too, in which Tim Akkerman and his band took us back to the silent film of the ’20’s. The black-and-white footage and the live music supporting it were all inspired by Buddy Holly, Piet Mondriaan and other artists that play an important role in Tim’s life.
This Journey started at the the very first beginning, because an old-timer 1920’s car had been parked before the entrance. Other details, like free popcorn during the break and the possibility to take part in a small spirits tasting session by Van Kleef contributed to this experience. They even provide some after care in the foyer with a brief Western Swing show by the band RAGMOB all within the theme. Tim mentioned that he actually doesn’t really know why he’s so attracted to this period: “Although it might be because of the particular fashion of that decade.” The band’s outfits wouldn’t indeed be exceptional in that age. But even though it were these details that made the experience complete, the music was main ingredient of the night.
” It stood out that the former Di-RECT singer has an exceptional talent of changing his voice to the appropriate genre and sentiment of a particular song”
During the first part, most of the songs played were from Tim Akkerman’s first album Anno (2011). Some of it was acoustic, while others were more rough. It stood out that the former Di-RECT singer has an exceptional talent of changing his voice to the appropriate genre and sentiment of a particular song. At times it makes you think of Paul Simon or The Jayhawks ,whereas Tim sounds kind of like Bruce Springsteen and Nickelback in the next song. Seriously impressive.
One particular song, called ‘Brave of Our Hearts‘ (The Journey 2014), left a very big impression on the crowd. It’s a so-called peace march he wrote for wrote for peace-movement PAX (the musician is also an ambassador for this movement). The music got accompanied by the black-and-white images of people protesting and breaking down the Berlin Wall. You could almost hear the goose bumps appearing on the arms on of the audience. Another sentimental song was the one about his daughter, called ‘Between The Sun And The Moon’.
“It was quite a thrilling clip and the live music supporting it made the tension rise”
After the break, Tim and his band played mainly Rock music. This part started with a considerably long movie (in colour this time) in which Tim Akkerman played a man who did not help another person who got beaten to death in a park. It was quite a thrilling clip and the live music supporting it made the tension rise. During that intro, as well as during ‘Brave of Our Hearts’, the music and the footage connected the best; it just melted together. Another moment that stood out after the break was a guitar solo by a band member. It took around two minutes and got the crowd going wild. That same audience stood up for an enthusiastic applause at the end of the show, which made the band come back for another couple of songs.
There is much more to say about the performance, but it we don’t want to give away too much. When we asked Tim afterwards whether he was satisfied with the premiere he smiled agreeing. “Everything worked and everything was in time with projected movies.” However, he seemed to be way more interested about what we, as well as the rest of the crowd, thought about it. As you can probably guess by this text, Rockstone loved it. Tim himself didn’t say too much about it. Neither did he on the stage. As he repeated a couple times: “I won’t bother you by talking too much during the show, all I can say is thank you and spread the word.” And that’s exactly what we are doing: go and see it, you won’t regret it!
For more information about Tim AKkerman and the tour dates check out timakkerman.nl
Foto’s: 3voor12.
