Acts: Joel Hoekstra & Brandon Gibbs (support acts: Marco Pastorino / The Spider Accomplice)
Date: Saturday, 7 October 2023
Location: Zagreb / Hard Place / Croatia
Joel Hoekstra and Brandon Gibbs, two top-tier and highly respected guitar maestros, joined forces in the duo Hoekstra/Gibbs. This autumn they also found the nerve, among other things, to head out on their first joint European tour — strictly acoustic, two guitars, running through material from the acts their careers are fatefully tied to, while of course using the tour to showcase their own original work as well.
Given the reputation of both musicians (everything they’ve accomplished up to this point is collected HERE), the tour was definitely stirring up a lot of interest. In every sense. Especially when you look at the career of the better-known of the two — that being Joel Hoekstra — though Gibbs is no slouch either, given his ties to Poison. So a proper acoustic marathon was in the cards, with two support acts warming up the crowd before Gibbs and Hoekstra. First to the stage, just after eight that evening, was Marco Pastorino — known as part of the lineup of Italian symphonic power metal fortress Temperance, who we caught this very year at none other than Kino Šiška on 3 March 2023 before the great Tarja Turunen’s show. But the story of this musician’s activities doesn’t end there — he also works with Serenity and Fallen Sanctuary. Having him on the tour came as quite a surprise. Armed with guitar and vocals, he made good use of his short slot to deliver eight acoustic takes on originals — seven of them Temperance tracks. He’s a fine guitarist, so there was never any doubt the acoustic guitar would suit him. What we were more curious about was his voice. And he pulled it off. Really well, actually, as he worked through the Temperance setlist in stripped-down acoustic mode: I the Loneliness, Diamanti, the brand-new Daruma, Catch The Dream, Scent of Dye, Strong, and closing with Broken Dreams, which in its original form belongs to Fallen Sanctuary. Very bare-bones arrangements — stripped right down, not even a solo in sight — which put even more weight on the vocals. Sadly, only about 10 people were watching Marco Pastorino’s set, but it didn’t bother him one bit. He radiated a cheerful energy and made a point of encouraging the modest handful who were paying attention.
Now, The Spider Accomplice were a whole different story. The Los Angeles duo fronted by vocalist/guitarist VK Lynne and guitarist Arno Nurmisto. Again, 100% acoustic! But with a whole lot more punch. The duo started their career with a few EPs and standalone singles, and last year they finally dropped their full-length studio debut, “The Venomous Montage”, which got a generous showcase at Hard Place. The album is loaded wall-to-wall with serious, gnarly distorted riffage, but this time the duo completely stripped their material down to acoustic — and in that form, the songs came across in a completely different way. They opened with the bright, uptempo standalone single Oil Meets Rain. From the new album, Rebels And Riders and Boots rang out in this reworked acoustic mode. VK Lynne’s excellent, endlessly chameleonic vocals commanded the room with their suppleness and emotional depth, while the great Arno contributed an equally strong layer with his acoustic work — never skimping on thrilling virtuosic touches and ingeniously woven-in transitional ornaments. If you’re into punchy, razor-edged modern hard rock, you absolutely need to check out at least their studio debut “The Venomous Montage”. The duo also puts a lot of thought into their stage look, which added to the overall impression of extreme focus on the live performance. They also played older tracks, like Red And Green from the EP “The Trap”, and returned to that same EP with the breathtaking ballad Butterflies in Beheeve, where VK Lynne’s delicate vocal sensitivity was especially captivating. They didn’t forget their first digital single Atmosfere, released in 2015. And they got the crowd on its feet mid-show when they launched into a cover of the Skid Row original I Remember You. The Spider Accomplice are a crew well worth keeping an eye on as their career unfolds.
And finally, Joel and Brandon. Excellent sound. A genuine balm for the ears. Tailor-made for the club setting of Hard Place. Right from the very first moment. The two musicians delivered a hefty haul of covers — Devil City Angels (the opening No Angels, immediately followed by Boneyard), Poison (the expected Every Rose Has It Torn in the first half, and Something To Believe In near the end of the show), and the obligatory Whitesnake classics Is this Love and, to close, Here I Go Again. Lead vocal duties were largely handled by Gibbs, who is considered an excellent singer — especially when you compare him to Joel, who found the nerve to tackle his two Joel Hoekstra’s 13 numbers, Hard To Say Goodbye and Until I Left You. Vocally, Joel sits in the mid-to-lower range. He navigated it all with perfectly decent results. Both musicians also got their dedicated guitar solo spots. Gibbs’s came early in the set with the clear aim of giving the crowd a serious lift, while Hoekstra took on a considerably meatier acoustic solo spot in the second half — the kind that had guitar connoisseurs leaning in. Mid-show, the pair also broke into a cover of The Doors’ Love Me Two Times, stoking the crowd even further. Their whole show was built around one basic objective — throwing a perfect party. And they nailed it completely.
There was a lot of talking between songs, courtesy of the fired-up Gibbs. Words pour out of him like they’re on rails. Anyone who couldn’t get into his stories, or didn’t fully buy his anecdotes (and there were mountains of them), could easily lose the thread of the show and even cool off a bit. There was absolutely way too much of it. Maybe it entertains Americans. Good for them. But we Europeans are a different audience. Considerably less naive. South Slavs especially. I was certainly not the only ‘gem’ in the crowd that evening who would have much rather heard another cover or two instead of all those long rambles, which really only land as a kind of Steel Panther-style parody.
The evening was also special because Hard Place was celebrating 13 years in operation, so naturally one of the breaks featured the theatrical cutting of a big cake brought out onto the stage by the legendary Pišta. In the final stretch of the show, another guitarist joined them on stage — Yogi Lonich. A California-based guitarist of Croatian descent. An exceptional musician — no debate about that. He’s been living with his family in Zagreb for many years now. So he got the invite to join the party at Hard Place that evening. Yogi Lonich is known, among other things, for his work with Buckcherry, The Wallflowers, and Fuel, and throughout his career he has also collaborated with the likes of Chris Cornell, Shakira, Anastacia, Filter, The Doors, and Cat Stevens. Interestingly, Lonich didn’t contribute the kind of input and energy that would have added real value to the show. He never quite got to shine. Maybe that wasn’t really the main point of him showing up at Hard Place.
All in all — a really great event. Fun. In every way. Gibbs and Hoekstra, despite the effortless routine that comes from experience and serious road mileage, delivered a brilliant foundation for a Saturday night of unwinding and letting loose. With excellent sound and excellent execution. And that’s exactly what we came to Hard Place for that evening.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik & Edita Klemen
