Poppodium Boerderij, Zoetermeer [NL]
Sunday, 22nd February 2026
After a three-year absence, British prog rock quartet Lifesigns returned to a Dutch stage and once again, the venue chosen was Zoetermeer’s prog temple Boerderij, the same venue where they recorded their 2023 live album Live in the Netherlands. This latest show was part of a mini-tour which took them through Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands (Uden and Enschede), and organised by former Boerderij director Arie Verstegen. The band seemed genuinely pleased with the performance, however with more than five years having passed since their last studio release, Altitude, they had been touring with essentially the same repertoire for several years. This time, things would be a bit different, but more on that later. I’m saying ‘British’, however alongside founder/vocalist/keyboardist John Young we have veterans Jon Poole on bass/vocals, Dave Bainbridge on guitar/keyboards/vocals, there was a familiar Dutch presence drummer as Frank van Essen (Iona) had taken over from Zoltán Csörsz.
Just after 8:30, the band unobtrusively took the stage, the house music still playing, and, following a brief welcome they kicked off with N from Cardington, followed by Gregarious. Young introduces the fourteen-year-old song, with its denunciation of fake news, ‘prophetic’. Then came the first real surprise of the night. Childhood’s End emerged as a new/old hybrid, a resurrected piece from the band’s early days, now fleshed out with inventive bass work, elegant piano lines, a soaring Bainbridge guitar solo, and the kind of fluid tempo shifts that define the Lifesigns sound. Young prefaced it with a warm anecdote about the band’s beginnings, giving the song an added layer of charm and history. After All is also an old song in a new guise. The ballad deals with those we’ve lost, such as Young’s brother Tom and former comrade and prog icon John Wetton, for whom he originally wrote the song.
At the End of the World proved to be one of the evening’s musical highlights. This melodic track, commenting on global chaos, drew the audience in, enthusiastically clapping along. John Young then lightened the mood with his hilarious anecdote about the overcrowded ladies’ restrooms during a particular performance which drew a lot of laughs. Impossible followed, heralded as a minor hit, especially in the eastern part of Holland. Then, and after almost an hour and twenty minutes of music, it’s intermission time.
After the intermission, Altitude is introduced as originally a ‘short song about light and space’, which ultimately ends up being a bit longer, almost fifteen minutes. Frank van Essen’s violin and Dave Bainbridge’s slide guitar are highlights during this superb track with its majestic ending. A long and fervent applause is the band’s well-deserved reward. With its melancholic opening and transition into swinging prog rock, Ivory Tower, themed around love, had proved to be a rather unpopular favourite with the predominantly male Swiss audience just a few days earlier. At least, according to John Young 😉
Shoreline is prefaced by a short story about ‘unknown and unloved’ music, an indictment of the music industry in general and the BBC in particular. Then came the evening’s only real ‘hiccup’ as a small technical issue at the start of Fortitude was followed by a noticeable dip in sound quality that lingered longer than expected. The official set closed with the magnificent Last One Home, an emotional tale of sailors braving the storm. Bainbridge’s lyrical guitar solo is among his best work of the evening, and when the title line arrived, almost the entire room was singing along… loudly.
The atypical instrumental Kings served as the obligatory encore. This noisy punk-prog wasn’t really my cup of tea and, for me, detracted from the melodic symphonic rock from before. But then again, who am I? The audience rewarded the band with a well-deserved curtain call, which was gratefully received.
As at previous concerts, Dave Bainbridge (Iona, Strawbs, Celestial Fire) stole the show with his inspired and expressive guitar playing, even if the mix didn’t do him many favours, with his guitar often sat oddly flat in the soundscape, compressed, almost condensed. However, on the occasions when he stepped forward from behind his pedalboard to stand beside Young, the front‑of‑house engineer seemed to get it right.
The overall sound suffered too and compared with previous Lifesigns shows, the overall mix felt strangely off. Apparently, the band brought their own sound engineer, which didn’t play to the acoustic strengths of the room. It’s a recurring issue with touring acts, trusting a travelling engineer, over the venue’s own specialist. A combination perhaps? Spock’s Beard provided a textbook example only a few weeks earlier, where the mismatch between band and room was even more glaring.
But, let’s not paint a too bleak picture, as there was a great deal to enjoy: the three-part vocal harmonies, the powerful blows of master drummer Frank van Essen, the irrepressible bouncy stage presence of Jon Poole, and John Young’s wonderfully “old‑skool” keyboard work paired with those warm, unmistakable lead vocals. Whilst Young’s gentle, affable presence and dry British humour makes him one of the band’s true assets.
After roughly two hours, the night drew to a close and the audience left looking satisfied. Still, the numbers told a slightly different story. With only around 150 diehards making the trip to Zoetermeer, the limitations of relying on material that’s now more than a decade old became hard to ignore? We can only hope that when that long‑awaited new studio album finally arrives, the ‘renegades’ who stayed away this time will find their way back. The band deserves a full house, and the music deserves to be heard.
[Live photos courtesy of Arie van Hemert (Poppodium Boerderij)]
SETLIST
N
Gregarious
Childhood’s End
After All
At The End Of The World
Impossible
Altitude
Shoreline
Fortitude
Last One Home
Kings
MUSICIANS
Dave Bainbridge – Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
Frank van Essen – Drums, Violin
Jon Poole – Bass, Vocals
John Young – Keyboards, Lead Vocals
LINKS
Lifesigns – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | X | Instagram
