Two and a half years ago, they played in the same room. But this Tuesday, February 28, the public is even more numerous, and the musicians on stage too! The Dutch trio DeWolff, normally composed of a guitarist-singer, a drummer and a keyboardist, is indeed supplemented by a bass player and two backing vocalists. And we are lucky because, as the boss of the formation, Pablo van de Poel, tells us, the recent dates given in Spain have been proposed with the “traditional” group.
It’s clear that the newcomers bring additional interest, as we can see from the first tracks of the evening, the hectic “Night Train” and the soulful “Heart Stopping Kinda Show”, both from the latest opus. up-to-date, highly recommended, “Love, Death & In Between”.
Particularly in good shape this evening, de Poel delivers a magnificent crystalline solo on the bluesy “Live Like You”, before inviting the public, who are not asked, to sing on the quasi-gospel “Sugar Moon”. After half an hour, DeWolff returns to the trio formula, which allows the drummer, Luka van de Poel, brother of Pablo, to seize the microphone on occasion, while remaining behind his kit. Or it’s up to Pablo to rock a well-saturated guitar sound for the jerky “Yes You Do”, an epic title on which the third thief, Robin Piso, gets angry behind his keyboards.
Funk and psychedelic pop
The three additional musicians now go back and forth, present only half the time, but the atmosphere does not fall. Even when the band tackles the long blues ballad “Tired Of Loving You”, or moves on to the funky “Nothing’s Changing”. For the fans, this concert is like the first part of the Black Crowes proposed in October 2022 at the Olympia, but better: this evening we find almost all the songs played at the time, plus an hour of additional repertoire. !
Only one encore, but with only one song, “Rosita”. Makes it a brilliant exercise in gluing together all kinds of sixties-seventies vibes, the band moving from rock to soul, from progressive to funky, from gospel to hard rock, from blues to psychedelic pop, in what feels like a long improvisation, but in reality turns out to be very controlled. This does not prevent sweat and excitement from both sides of the stage, Pablo coming back for a walk in the middle of the audience before greeting us “thank you ladies, thank you gentlemen”. And besides, these people are polite!
« Love, Death & In Between », album by DeWolff (Mascot). The group will participate in the “God Save The Kouign” festival, in Penmarch (Finistère), on June 23.
