Recorded and filmed at January
28th 2006 in Weert, The Netherlands, at "De
Bosuil".
A Live Time
Journey is the much anticipated live DVD from Marcel
Coenen (Sun Caged). The DVD is a live documentation of the live
performance to launch Marcel’s second solo album ‘Colour Journey’ (2006
Lion Music) in his native Netherlands. The DVD sees a wealth of musical
talent travel from around the globe to perform the many musical styles
of ‘Colour Journey’ in the live arena.
Marcel's Comments
Initial Idea &
Preparation
My second album, called "Colour Journey" was
released in January 2006 and has been receiving great reviews. To
celebrate the release of Colour Journey, I planned a CD Release Party.
The party had to be something special, so the idea came about to make a
live DVD, playing the entire album live with almost all of the guest
musicians who appear on the “Colour Journey” album.
I had some overseas
musicians working with me, so I had to think of a plan to get them over
for the show. I was happy that Mike Andersson and Colleen Gray were
available and more then happy to come over for the show.
Then I started
planning the whole event. I made a set list containing all songs from
“Colour Journey”, some songs from my first solo CD “Guitartalk” and some
cool covers.
I needed a second
guitarist who was able to play twin lines with me and had good rhythm
guitar skills. Frank Schiphorst I knew very well, as I had filled in as
a guitarist for his own band, Symmetry, and I knew he was a good choice
for the job. Since I programmed most of the keyboards on “Colour
Journey” I also needed a keyboard player who was able to play with me.
At first I contacted Rene Kroon (Sun caged) who also plays on the song
“Patron Saint” on the Colour Journey CD, but Rene was dealing with some
health issues so a replacement had to be found. I contacted Rene Ubachs
(from the Dutch band, Arabesque) and was very happy that he could do the
job. On all other instruments I contacted all the players who also
worked with me on the “Colour Journey” album. The musicians also learned
some songs from my first solo CD, and also some covers we played at the
end of the show. The singers all helped each other with harmony lines
from their respective songs.
The first rehearsals
we did were just with the drummers and second guitarist, Frank.
The
first full rehearsal with everyone involved was in the venue where the
gig was taking place, the day before the show. I noticed during these
rehearsals that something special was happening. Call it magic, but it
seemed like all the musicians played with each other for years. The
chemistry was awesome during the rehearsals and I knew it was becoming
something really special.
The singers took a
different room and rehearsed their lines (and harmony lines, helping
each other learn the parts) in that room while we were rehearsing the
music on the stage. This was my first time hearing songs like “Moyra”
and “Inner Alchemy” being played by a real drummer and bass player. What
an awesome experience! I wish I had recorded “Guitartalk” that
way.
The Day Of
The Show
The day started with another rehearsal on the stage, and while we
were rehearsing the people of the venue were preparing everything for
the show. Martin Verberk came in and started to install his audio
recording tools. Also the crew from LowLifeMedia came in and started to
plan the DVD shooting.
The audio recording
was BIG. 32 tracks totally used! With two drum kits on stage, two
keyboards, a bass stack, two guitar stacks and four different singing
mikes we had a huge recording going on.
When the crowd came
in and Colleen started doing her show I was getting nervous. Was
everything set up right?? Is nothing going to break down? Will the
camera’s work properly? Will we play well? All sorts of things started
to go through my head, so I needed to take a time for myself. I locked
myself up in a small room for 15 minutes and meditated to clear my mind
and come to rest. When I was done meditating it was time to hit the
stage.
When Colleen Gray
announced me the adrenaline raised through my veins… When I walked on
stage and saw all the people who came to see the show I was very happy,
and I knew the show was going to become something special.
I never imagined so
many people would come to see me, people from Portugal, Sweden, Germany,
Belgium, and off course from the Netherlands. The crowd reacted very
well to the show and the show itself went pretty smooth (some technical
issues appeared though, and some little playing mistakes were made as
well).
I decided not to
edit out all the mistakes, so what you get is a pure registration of
this evening like it was. You will hear some mistakes, and you will
notice some things not going so smooth, but it is LIVE, with only two
full days of rehearsing.
Thoughts on
the extra's
In my opinion a DVD is worth buying if it has some extra stuff as
well. I decided to include some cool footage. The Thailand show was
recorded in March 2006 and was of good quality, so I decided to include
some footage from that show. The behind the scenes material was recorded
during the preparation for the show, and is a cool add-on. The covers
were too great to leave them out, even if they are not played too well,
but the chemistry is there. The Hidden guitarsolo is a nice feature
which people have to find (tip: scroll around on the first page). The
other extra's are cool add-ons.
