Short Reviews [Millenium - 2024 - "Souvenir From Holland"]

Easter 2023 saw the "Progdreams X" festival, held at De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands. One of the highlights on the second day, which was headlined by Solstice, were Millenium who have now made their set available in different formats. I only have the music, so cannot gauge how good or otherwise the visual aspects were, but have heard various complaints aimed at singer David Lewandowski (who was obviously having problems hearing himself from what I have read) and the statuesque pose of bassist Krzysztof Wyrwa, but if that is all people could find to complain about then it shows what a great set they were playing. The rest of the line-up of course was Piotr Plonka (guitar), Grzegorz Bauer (drums) and Ryszard Kramarski (keyboards). Any band who has been as active as Millenium will always find it difficult to please everyone in terms of song choice for the set, and out of the 12 songs five are from the latest release, but given that is the only one which features David one can certainly understand why. Personally I would have loved to have been in the audience as the rhythm section definitely shines – "Light A Cigar" particularly showing how they can groove and change things around, while Ryszard always keeps things nice and tight. Piotr fully understands his role in the band and there are sections where he sits right back in the pocket to allow everyone else to shine, and then he comes in with searing solo and crunching riffs to remind everyone that here is a rock band. David has a very pleasant voice, wonderfully melodic, and while it may not contain as much emotion and passion as some, this is not a band who have ever played a great deal of live shows and I am sure everything would be taken up a notch if there were more gigs in their future. According to a review, quite a few of the crowd left after their set, which demonstrates just how much they are revered in Holland and rightly so. Yet another wonderfully solid and totally enjoyable release from the Polish masters.