Eventually there were tears, with singer Eloi Youssef, with the three musicians of Kensington. And with a significant part of the 17,000 audience, male and female, in the hall: the ‘fansingtons’. It happened before the last song was called in, ‘Oh My’. This was not only the closing number of the concert but also of a career. After seventeen years, Youssef quits Kensington (it is unclear what the other members will do).
The rock group from Utrecht has had great success in their own country, with many stadium performances, and a concert for 50,000 people in the Johan Cruijff Arena in 2018. Their popularity was special, at a time when rock music became less prominent and few bands left. captured the attention of the general public. The show on Sunday had an extra meaning: as the last concert of the ‘last’ Dutch rock band.
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Tanned
Farewell concerts have been popular lately (the ones by De Dijk and Nick & Simon are already planned). At Kensington’s Sunday performance, the last of a run of six, the tone was rather tan. That has always been the case with their music, which features echoing vocals, strict rhythms and gloomy digressions. Now the atmosphere was all the more melancholy, because Kensington could only sing about his own past. Youssef did, the video screens showed, with a frown on his face.
There was an inventive ‘ceiling decor’, large blocks stretching far into the hall onto which rain showers and melting icebergs were projected, and two long planks between the audience, on which fire cones blazed regularly – which was rather warm for the front rows. In the meantime, a long set was played with mainly songs from the most recent album time (2019). The heavy mood was only briefly broken by the funky ‘Bats’ and an energetic revival with dancing musicians during ‘Do I Ever’. Then came the tears.