Journey to the end of the world... Harlingen, on the North-West coast of Holland. Off the train to a big tent just a few yards away (!)... there I was. Richard Sinclair was already busy preparing a special performance with local kids, singing a few Caravan songs together. The "festival" took place under a big tent, at the back of which food was prepared, a few stalls had been set up (Heather Kinnear of course had a selection of Sinclair/Hopper-related CDs, including the brand new Spaced by Soft Machine and Somewhere In France by Hugh Hopper and Richard Sinclair). Richard and the kids sang "Magic Man" (a Pye Hastings song), "Golf Girl" and "In The Land Of Grey And Pink". That was sweet and funny, especially when the kids tried to "play" the trombone intro of "Golf Girl" with kazoos. And hearing them sing "pick our fill of punk weed and smoke it till we bleed" was a good laugh too. After that early performance I visited the tent and discovered a couple of computers displaying the internet Calyx site !

The first "real" performance was by Richard Sinclair and local band Pleegzusters. They are a trio of Jacques van den Oever (guitar), Teatse Vogelaar (bass) and Kees van den Nieuwenhuizen (drums). They normally perform covers of Frank Zappa and other blues-based music, but for this occasion they played a set of Sinclair classics, with the man himself on vocals and guitar. A special treat was "The Stubbs Effect" and "Big Jobs" (the opening minute of the first Hatfield album) played as an introduction. The 40-minute set that followed included versions of "In The Land Of Grey And Pink", "Share It", "Back To Herne Bay Front", "A.A. Man" and a couple of instrumentals composed by van den Oever. Let's note that he and Vogelaar (especially the latter) were very involved in the organization of the whole event. Hats off to them !

The second concert was by Stips, the new trio formed by ex-Supersister keyboardist/leader Robert Jan Stips. Formed in 1969, Supersister was a very good band influenced by Soft Machine, Frank Zappa and classical music. Despite being involved in the music scene for more than 25 years (notably in Golden Earring and The Nits), Stips still looks very young and enthusiastic, and that's what made their set a success. It was a mixture of Supersister classics with a few more recent songs (some from the debut release by Stips - this was their first performance, paving the way for an extensive Dutch tour between October and January. Due to the absence of sax (our own Elton Dean once played this instrument in the band's ranks, in 1973-74, but no records were made during this period), the sound was not jazzy at all and closer to pop/progressive. The rhythm section of Martin (bass) and Roy (drums) Bakker was very tight, and Stips' playing was impressive. Overall a bit too "poppy" for my taste, but certainly not lacking in ambition.

For my money, the best set of the evening was that of the Hugh Hopper Band. I didn't have extraordinarily high expectations for this gig, not being a hardcore fan of the more "jazzy" Canterbury stuff. Yet I found the quartet's performance breathtaking and highly emotional, from beginning till end. Too bad the records don't necessarily convey the band's full impact. Dispensing with keyboards, the Franglodutch Band now consists of Frank van der Kooij (sax), Patrice Meyer (guitar), Hugh Hopper (bass) and (apparently not on a permanent basis) Maarten Kruiswijk (drums). Each of them was outstanding. Hopper's fuzz-bass solo nearly brought tears to my eyes. This man looks as if he's in another world when he's playing - at the back of the stage, eyes closed... A high point of the show was Patrice Meyer's "No Long Solos" (from Hooligan Romantics). Meyer's playing is also incredible, both very technical (in a similar way to Allan Holdsworth's) and emotional. And van der Kooij is exceptional too, very lyrical and rarely free-blowing. The set consisted of a mixture of classics (dating from as far back as Isotope) and more recent stuff.

Closing the evening, Richard Sinclair played a very special show, with no old stuff. With the exception of the encore "Only The Brave"/"Plan It Earth", the set only included "songs" from his latest album (from 1994), R.S.V.P.. We were graced with a full-band performance, featuring the talents of Tony Coe (clarinet), Patrice Meyer (guitar), David Rees-Williams (piano/synth), Richard (bass/vocals) and Hans Waterman (drums, formerly of the legendary Dutch band Solution). This was almost exactly the line-up I'd heard perform in Paris in June 1994 (Pip Pyle was on drums and Didier Malherbe added sax and flute to an already varied line-up), except this time they were much tighter. Highlights of the show were of course the epic "Out Of The Shadows", and "Barefoot", with great clarinet solos by Tony Coe. The set also included "What's Rattlin' ?" (yeah !), "Over From Dover" and "What In The World". Probably the best Sinclair gig I've attended so far. My only disappointment was the lack of new material - it seems we shouldn't hope for a new album before 1997 at the soonest.

I had to leave early on Sunday afternoon, so I missed what was presumably another unforgettable moment, the 'Church concert', with David Rees-Williams playing on a big church organ with Richard Sinclair singing and other musicians contributing. I heard mentions of "Calyx" and "Fol De Rol" as possible candidates for the setlist. Too bad I couldn't make it. I had to be content with eating a nice typical English breakfast with fellow Frenchman Patrice Meyer... Fortunately, I understand a CD of the event may be released sometime in the future. Everything was recorded, and there was certainly enough great music played during that week-end to make a great full-length CD.

If all goes well, there will be yet another 'Canterbury Music In Harlingen' festival next year. Pye Hastings sent a very nice encouraging letter to the organizers, saying Caravan would love to be there next year. It was certainly a very enjoyable and friendly event, and a well-attended one (quite a shock to see my favourite musicians perform in front a such a "big" audience !). Looking forward to Harlingen'97 !!!

Aymeric Leroy