PP22: Chef’Special is a sliding scale to disappointment

Small warning in advance: the intention was to write a really positive review. There is a good reason that Chef’Special can be on Pinkpop for the fourth time in twelve years and is a serious challenger to get Anouk’s Pinkpop record off the books. The Haarlem band knows better than any other Dutch act how to successfully bring together the crossover between so many different angles of pop, dance and hip-hop. Add ultra charmer Joshua Nolet as singer and you have the perfect festival act for anyone between the ages of 16 and 20.

But, people of 16 and 20 change. They don’t want more thirty-somethings in Mr. Marvis trousers on trumpet, they want Antoon, Froukje. Time has caught up with Chef’Special for this Pinkpop. And where fellow birds of paradise Son Mieux have only hits and hooks on their latest album, Chef’Special has forgotten that on their latest album Unfold. With recent hit ‘Afraid of the Dark’ as the proverbial exception that proves the rule.

At Pinkpop, Chef’ Special goes in the blazing sun with outstretched legs and that works. Old hits ‘Airplaying’ and ‘In Your Arms’ go down like ice cold water and for a moment it feels like 2014. Who knows? The Mrs. backstage? And who knows, corona never happened? But unfortunately. Backstage are big trucks full of unnecessary flags and fireworks, while the band clearly didn’t become a new version of themselves during the pandemic.

The show is therefore an allegory for Chef’Special’s career. The longer it takes, the more disappointing it is to be there as an audience. Maybe it’s getting older? Maybe it’s the sun? In any case, it becomes increasingly disappointing to conclude that this was once the festival act of the Netherlands. And while Chef’Special is still an entertaining festival act on a sliding scale to disappointment, even today, you still feel that the main stage on the other side of the field is further away than ever.

THE MOMENT
The longer the show lasts, the bigger the Chef’s Special disappointment. With every new song they manage to choose from the most nerve-racking songs from their old records (Biggest Monkey, Peculiar, Money). The most difficult moment? Those are of course the dubstep breaks in ‘Carnivor’ and ‘Jungle Bookie’. Because as beautiful as 2014 could be, in 2022 no one really wants dubstep anymore.

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