Review: Gabor Kleinbloesem
It was a warm weekday evening when I went to the city of Tilburg to attend a concert by one of the greatest American singer-songwriters of the moment. His name is Kip Moore; he’s from Georgia, and although he is labeled as a country musician, his music is very diverse and is actually closely related to 80s Arena Rock during the rockier songs, but still keeps things modern here and there. During the intimate moments, it has a beautiful authentic warmness that shows his Americana/Singer-Songwriter skills.
Anyway, before Kip would do his 2+ hour show, it was up to Gareth to serve as opening act. Besides Gareth (acoustic guitar and vocals) on stage, there was also his electric guitar player to assist, and he gave Gareth’s calmer melodic acoustic country/singer-songwriter Americana a slight rocky touch. Gareth has a great voice, and he belts out some really beautiful memorable melodies, so it was a nice set from beginning to end.
Then we had to wait for roughly 30 minutes before Kip would start his show, and meanwhile through the speakers we could hear a mixture of classic rock songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Kip has recently released a great new album titled Solitary Tracks, which was quite a personal album that featured 23 new tracks. Especially the first part of that album contains some of his most authentic calmer singer-songwriter oriented material so far, and surprisingly Kip started the set at 9 o’clock sharp with the first song from that new record.
It’s the song High Hopes, which was followed by the final song of the new album, the lovely mid-tempo AOR-style Only Me, and the intimate title track Solitary Tracks was up next. After this sort of introduction to the new album, Kip and his fantastic band The Slowhearts began to rock hard in a way that reminded me of the 80s Arena Rock bands, yet then done in his own Kip Moore style. The following bunch of songs were a mix of songs from all of his previous records. Kip released his debut album back in 2012, and has ever since released 5 more records, so he is quite a busy musician/singer-songwriter.
For a full hour Kip was rocking, and he had no time to do any interaction with his audience or the band, because he was delivering all these high-class American rock pieces with all of his energy during the first part of the set. Kip’s voice is a mixture of the late Steve Lee (of Gotthard), the late Jimi Jamison (of Survivor) and Benny Mardones, so basically a man with a golden raspy voice. His music is, as already mentioned, this mixture of 70s/80s classic American Rock with a pop/rock touch and also authentic singer-songwriter Americana influences. Basically, if you like to hear someone in the style of Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Tom Petty, Rick Springfield, John Cougar and Huey Lewis, and someone who actually writes his own catchy songs in the style of these legendary singer-songwriter musicians, then Kip Moore is the artist for you to discover immediately.
Anyway, halfway through the set Kip started to talk between the songs, do some improvising here and there, introduce the band, and it was like a complete facelift, because the rest of the show was a wonderful mixture of sensational songs performed in perfection, while still entertaining the audience via sing-along sessions, jumping up and down by Kip and his band members, walking to the crowd and doing a speed-date signing session, and much more. It’s also very enjoyable to watch Kip finish a few rockier tunes with just him on acoustic guitar singing the same tunes, but then stripped down. Perhaps the absolute highlight was the song Sweet Virginia, when we could hear each band member sing the chorus, and especially the 2nd lead guitarist (Hank Born) showed he has an amazing voice as well! Anyway, it was Kip’s show, so perhaps in the future we might enjoy Hank’s solo adventures, who knows…
I have to say that this was an outstanding rock and roll show the way it needs to sound and look. Kip and his band are amazing performers, and they made it look so easy, but delivering more than 2 hours of high-class music is definitely champions league! My favorite songs of the show were Only Me, Damn Love, Crazy One More Time, Plead The Fifth, Beer Money, Red White Blue Jean American Dream, She’s Mine, Love And War, Heart On Fire, Come and Get It and Tough Enough, and most of these are reflecting the aforementioned description of classic true American 80s Arena Rock/Pop rock/AOR with both a modern pop and country touch.
Throw John Cougar, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams and Benny Mardones in a blender, then you will have Kip Moore, one of the greatest new upcoming stars in the arena rock world. If he continues touring like this in Europe and delivers more great new material, we might be looking at the future of real authentic melodic rock music. Check out Kip’s music, both his albums and his shows, because it is worth it 100%!
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