With the songliness of a drunk sailor, the grace of a diva and the drama of a lost son, singer Maarten Devoldere was surrounded by his four swinging musicians across the stage, in one of the last songs of the evening. ‘Mad World’ is the swirling closure of a versatile performance by Warhaus that started in the light and ends in the dark, both literally and musical. The evening slowly fell into the sold -out forest theater in Amstelveen, where a small covered stage sheltered the band against some raindrops.
Warhaus is called the ‘Solo’ project of the Belgian Devoldere (1987), also known as Balthazar’s singer. He started Warhaus in 2016, then not solo because together with beloved Sylvie Kreusch. They are now separated, now Devoldere is playing with two members of Balthazar on stage, drummer Michiel Balcaen and Tijs Delbeke on Violin, Keyboard and Trombone. For example, more than half of Balthazar is here. The musicians of the group that are popular in both home country of Belgium and the Netherlands decided after the last album, in 2021, that they wanted to take a break to devote themselves to other projects.
Devolder manages to shape its role in both groups differently. At Balthazar he is a speaking master, here he is a crooner. He sings slower and lower. At Warhaus, singing and music style coincide: the nightclub style of the foreman is beautifully reflected in music, without the cliché of a long -house piano. Each song receives a detailed instrumentation in which the musicians can roam or hook up, which flows into grouse textures or a velvet tissue. In the meantime, the fleemt, fleemt, diligent about love, sex and broken hearts.
The concert was largely devoted to the album Karaoke Moon That appeared at the end of last year, and started with a calm ‘I want more’. Immediately the large share of Tijs Delbeke became clear, he not only plays all kinds of instruments, but sometimes also at the same time. With the right hand on the keyboard, the left hand is already ready on the neck of the violin. His trombone stresses that were electronically distorted until they sounded like a thunderous ship’s horn were the backbone of the dance explosion when they came to the songs ‘Beaches’ and ‘The Winning Numbers’ to a new whole: with Devolder’s breathing as rhythm, the trombone melodes. After that, ‘Let Me’ seemed like a personal statement from Devoldere from Ramses Shaffy than it fitted within the repertoire. The best thing here was how Warhaus continued to grow from the nightclub atmosphere from a last century, to Clubben in the present within one evening.