Photo: Amber Zwartbol
On Saturday October 22th, 2011, a big crowd visited the fourth Labtones Live event in Merz, Dordrecht (The Netherlands). It turned out to be a very special evening, with a good atmosphere and amazing artists on stage.
Bedroom Monkees (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
Bedroom Monkees (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
The evening started out calmly with the singer-songwriter music of Bert Smeets from Bedroom Monkees. Normally he performs together with a band, but tonight he is alone with a guitar and ukulele. In this minimalistic setting, the songs of Smeets really stand out. The audience is grabbed by his voice, which has a nice raw edge to it. The people sit down in front of the stage and listen in silence to his beautiful music.
http://www.labtones.com/artist/bedroommonkees
Blue Fish Brothers (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
Blue Fish Brothers (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
Blue Fish Brothers (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
Blue Fish Brothers (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
The Blue Fish Brothers consist of three brothers on vocals, keys and drums, together with a bass player and guitarist. The five-piece band recently switched from a punk-rock sound to a more acoustic sound. Due to the suburb vocal harmonies, the music gets a kind of country-feel to it, although rockabilly and rock 'n roll influences can also be heard. Their music is full of creativity and variety. Without a doubt, this band has gained more fans tonight.
http://www.labtones.com/artist/bluefish
Loop the Balloon (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
Loop the Balloon (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
The most original act in this series of Labtones Live! events is Loop the Balloon (known on Labtones under the name of Happy Elf). Using loop stations, balloons and other unconventional instruments, he makes looped dance music. And he is quite successful with his music; he has already performed on the big Lowlands festival, for example. The audience is clearly surprised by his act and a lot of smiles appear during his performance. “I could go on for hours”, he says, when the end of his set is near. That'll be a very good idea for next time!
http://www.labtones.com/artist/happyelf
Earthman Doublewood (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
Earthman Doublewood (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
Earthman Doublewood (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
Earthman Doublewood (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
Earthman Doublewood (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
Earthman Doublewood (Photo: Amber Zwartbol)
The last band to perform is Earthman Doublewood. The band is formed around Gered Stowe (Belgium). The other members originate from Schotland, USA, England and also Belgium. The songs on their Labtones profile are very minimalistic, but tonight they are played with a full band. The addition of bass, drums and other instruments like banjo and steel guitar gives the music much more layers and a kind of Americana sound. Earthman Doublewood is clearly influenced by singer-songwriters from the past, like Bob Dylan and Neil Young. But what's more important: they do not simply copy these artists but the songs have very good qualities of their own. They close their set with the Labtones hit Blue As Skies and leave the audience with a feeling that they just experienced something very special.
http://www.labtones.com/artist/earthmandoublewood
This fourth Labtones Live! evening was the last of the series, but we will return in early 2012 with new editions. Hope to see you then!

Oct 25, 2011 at 12:43 AM Is it ok if we use the photos for our website? If so what link can we provide for the photographer? Thanks
Oct 25, 2011 at 10:27 AM It definitely was an amazing night! Looking forward to next year!
Mar 1, 2012 at 8:12 AM This is a real cetuomsr review retrieved from Amazon.co.uk.Review by J. Roberts for Rating: I received this box set of DVDs for Christmas, and I cannot emphasise enough the hours of enjoyment, wonder, and information they have given me. The team involved in making this epic work of beauty are deserving of anyone's very highest praise, and if they were not awarded for their efforts, then something very wrong occurred.It covers a whopping ten hours and five discs of some of the most beautiful footage of nature I have ever had the privilege to see. Each disc covers various different natural environments, exploring the habitats and behaviour of the various animals who live in them. We are taken from the dazzling crystals of subterranean environments to the dancing rituals of birds of paradise, each camera shot dazzling even more than the last. Just about every kind of natural environment on earth is included within the five discs, from Deserts to Plains, to Deep Oceans, and everything in between. To top all of that, there is also a ten minute mini-programme at the end of each individual programme explaining how the Planet Earth team went about getting their footage.At which point it becomes even more mind-boggling. One cameraman camped out in the Himalayas for about three months just to get a few minutes footage of a beautiful snow leopard, another cameraman spends days waiting for the courting of two birds of paradise. These people either have incredible reverence for nature, or they must love their jobs a great deal. The camerawork is perfection, and the things they are filming are stunning. I envy the wonderment and excitement of their jobs, and the pleasure they must feel at seeing the end product.The musical score is also fantastic, suitably beautiful for a work of such magnitude, and David Attenborough's narration is always a pleasure to listen to. He is one of Britain's most inspiring individuals, a man whose respect for nature has never diminished once in decades, who has devoted an entire lifetime to informing people about nature and encouraging people everywhere to respect the natural world. His commentary is in turns insightful, informative and amusing.Some of the locations are incredibly dangerous, some are very inaccessible, some are just plain beautiful, but all are given the same painstaking attention to detail and complete reverence. These are landscapes and wildernesses which the majority of us could only dream of seeing, and now, thanks to the Planet Earth team, we can explore them from the comfort of our own living rooms. I fervently wished that these DVDs never had to end. Who cares for a social life when you can switch on your television and see some of the most spectacular sights in the world, night after night?The animals themselves are the true stars of the box set, however, each and every last one of them piquing my interest and impressing me with their individuality. Each and every one of them has their own struggle and difficulties to overcome, usually put in their paths by human interference. The predators of this series must be respected for their strength and agility, the prey must be admired for their fight for survival. Each and every other species has something admirable about them and every living organism included in these documentaries has their own purpose, their own reason for existence, and their own relevance within the fragile ecosystem of our planet. These DVDs have increased my respect for nature a thousand fold. They should be compulsory viewing for children, so that they too have a reverence for nature.Nevertheless, reality must always hit home at some point, and the final disc of this set concentrates on the urgent need for conservation and ecology. These last three programmes are vital, concentrating on interviews with people who have very definite ideas about how the human threat to nature must be addressed. These range from the insightful, from an African Professor who criticises Western materialism, to the not-so-insightful, from a rather silly American suit who attempts to downplay the threat of climate change. The naysayers will have to learn the hard way unfortunately, they might just ruin things for the compassionate people in the process. These money-worshipping idiots could never have the intelligence or sensitivity to appreciate the enormous beauty of Planet Earth'.My final assessment of these DVDs is that the BBC deserve huge praise for their documentary-making abilities, David Attenborough is still one of the very greatest figures in broadcasting, and I shall now be seeking out all of his other work, since the beauty of nature is far more profound and dazzling than anything humans could EVER create.
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