Fool's Gold

Not much going on during the exam period, so I'm glad I finally have a good story to tell!

Two nights ago I went to see Ian Brown in Brussels and saying I had an amazing night, might be a major understatement. Ian played 'Fool's Gold' and my friend Elise and I decided to go on stage. Before us, some guys who tried to do the same thing, were thrown off immediately. When Elise got up first, they tried to push her back as well, but Ian said we could stay. So we ended up dancing the entire song next to and with Ian. :) After the show he invited us to his backstage, where we had a beer, a chat and a short photo session with Ian and his entourage. Still can't believe it!! Ian is a long-time hero of mine so you can imagine my joy! To end the night on a high note, I sang 'Strawberry Fields Forever' with a busker outside of the AB.

Someone filmed us! (I think we're on starting from 1:15 aprox.)

I don't see myself when I look into your eyes - thank god for that

The gig season is back on. It took me a while to get out of the festival atmosphere, but now indoor gigs feel right again. I went to see Explosions In The Sky earlier this month, but last week felt like the real start of the new gig season. First up were Reverend And The Makers (Botanique) and Starsailor (AB), and neither of them dissapointed.

Reverend And The Makers were catchy, energetic and bold in a way a rock band should be. Singer Jon McClure seemed to quite impressed by the Belgian audience (something that doesn't happen too often) and took us outside ("You, me, outside!") to play some more acoustic tunes (including The Beatles' 'Revolution') in the beautiful Botanique gardens. Was an awesome night, good music and a lot of friends around.

Starsailor was pretty amazing as well. They sound a lot live like they do on their albums, which is usually a thing I don't like that much, because you go to gigs to get something slightly different from what you already have on a compact disc. I didn't mind it with Starsailor though, because James Walsh seemed so passionated whilst singing. It's hard to believe that a band with so much love for what they do is going to split (at least for a while).

So come on dance with me Michael!

I've been to three gigs during the last few weeks.

1. Franz Ferdinand at the Ancienne Belgique

I'd seen Franz play once before, at the Rock Werchter festival a couple of years ago. Back then, they were good, but if I am completely honest, by far not as great as I had expected them to be. That fact makes it extra weird that I was prepared to pay 50 euros for this gig at the AB. I guess it must've been some unconscious faith in their ability to do better than what I saw at that festival. If that's the case, I was right, because this gig was exactly what I had already wanted the previous one to be. It was energetic, exiting, sexy and wild. I think I might've seen every corner of the venue and it is quite likely that I have lost some hair in the middle of the enthuastic crowd, but it was all worth it.

Highlights: all the hits, and they've played loads of them, but I guess This Fire and Michael were my favourite moments. Also, the ending of the gig when Alex jumped into the audience and everybody wanted to touch him.
Support Act: Kissogram, German electro-pop act with a singer that resembled Alex Kapranos a fucking lot. Pretty good, though!




2. White Lies at the Botanique

I'm pretty much into the White Lies debut album so I was really looking forward to see them live. They left me behind with mixed feelings. One part of me thinks it was an amazing gig. I mean, Harry McVeigh's voice is genious and sounds at least as good on stage as it does on an album. Plus, songs like 'A Place To Hide' (very Joy Division, that is) and 'Death' were performed brilliantly. On the other hand, I was kind of disappointed. Except for a couple of songs (including the two named above), White Lies didn't manage to give their music the intensity it needs. To use a comparison they're probably already tired of hearing: they can't make me feel the way a band like Editors can (each time over again, and I've already seen them five times). So, good gig, but not brilliant.

Highlights: Death, A Place To Hide, the pale lighting.
Support act: Haunts. They knicked half of their bass lines from Michael Jackson, but apart from that they kind of blew everyone away.

3. Electric Six at the VK

I went to this gig with my sister, mainly because we both love the über kitsch hit 'Danger! High Voltage'. The gig was exactly what we'd expected it to be: one big (and kitschy) party! :)

Highlights: Danger! High Voltage, Gay Bar, Future is in the future, Dick Valentine's capes, moves and expressions.

Support act: Romano Nervoso. Pretty funny band.

I hope I love you enough to let you go

On Wednesday I did another interview, this time with Luka Bloom. I was so very nervous because I adore his music, but turned out I really did not have to be.

Luka and his band (normally he does solo gigs, but this was a pretty exclusive gig with three musicians who have played on his most recent album) arrived an hour and a half later than predicted because their gear didn't come through at the airport. Me and the woman from the record label went for breakfast at a café in the neighbourhood as a pleasant way to kill the time.

Around noon, Luka and his friends arrived. After dropping off his lugage in his hotel room, Luka took me to a bar (he knows Brussels amazingly well) where we could do the interview. It was a very interesting talk about playing with a band, his recent album, the messages he wants to send out as a singer, and so on. Seldomly met someone so intelligent and friendly.

After the interview, Luka invited me for lunch in a restaurant he had wanted to visit for a while but that always seemed to be closed whenever he was around. It was a really good restaurant (I had chicken breast with mango and Chinese pasta, yummie!) and we had a nice chat.

In the evening, I went back to Brussels for the gig in the Ancienne Belgique. It was another amazing gig. Because the support act had cancelled earlier that day, Luka first did a solo set before getting back on stage with his band. Two lovely gigs instead of one, how lucky can one be?
People who have been reading my blog for a while now might remember how I only just missed out on Luka's flowers last time I went to see him play. Well, this time they were all mine! :) At first he pretended to be throwing the flowers into the audience, but then he made a turn and handed them over to me (I was standing right in front of the stage). So sweet!





Some Luka-songs you should definitely hear:

I got water and holes in my hands

(weekend catch-up part I)

There was - once again - plenty to do last weekend. This included working for uni, but fortunately some fun things as well. To start with, I went to see Wolf Parade at the Ancienne Belgique.

First up was the support act called Soon. Not too bad, not too great either.

After a long wait (it at least felt like a long wait, because I kind of was in a hurry) Wolf Parade finally started their gig.

They were only with the four of them instead of with five (keyboard player/sound manipulator missing), which did seem to affect the quality of their gig. Not all songs sounded as eccentric and creative on stage as they do on the albums. Especially Dan Broeckner's songs seemed to suffer under the circumstances.

But hey, there were some really good moments as well. My favourite performance was Dear Sons And Daughters Of Hungry Ghosts. I LOVE it when Spencer Krug does that thing with his voice, it even reminds me a bit of David Bowie.

Conclusion? Not a bad gig, but I think it could've been better.

Get your hands on some cheap wine

So I didn't make it to Dirty Pretty Things goodbye gig (cries a little), but I díd go to Late of the Pier last week.

It's been a while since I've seen an audience with the same amount of enthusiasm as the one that showed up for Late of the Pier. To be honest, I think the band could have done better if the crowd wasn't that convinced of having a good night before the gig even started. Their wasn't much of a challenge for the boys, if you know what I mean. But who am I to complain? It was quite some party, partly thanks to the never-stopping Neon Enlightenment-girls!

The great support act Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip!

Late of the Pier

Check out these pictures by Joachim Beckers from Wannabes (it's me in the last picture, ha!):

Put out the fire on us

On Sunday I have interviewed Nathan (singer) and Matt (bass player) from the American band Cold War Kids. We had an interesting talk, mostly because their ideas seem to be so different from and so much broader than those of a lot of other bands. Interviewing them was a great experience. I haven't done the full transcription and translation yet, but I'm very curious about how it will turn out.

I had some time left between the interview and the gig, so I made a little walk through Brussels. At the Place de la Monnaie I ran into a really good busker. He played and sang everything, going from Bob Marley to Oasis. At a certain point a British guy took over the microphone and - led by the busker - performed 'Hey Joe'. I've been sitting there for quite some time, until a couple of fucking idiots started to harass me and I was glad to be saved by two lovely girls.

The Cold War Kids gig was great. I'm not such a huge fan of their albums (they're - with the exception of some class songs like 'Hospital Beds - just okay, in my opinion), but it's always amazing to see them on stage. It was the third time to me, but I enjoyed it like it was the first time. Those guys seem to breath music.

the busker (I'll upload a video later, uni is waiting for me now)

Roadburg, the support act

Cold War Kids

Yes this is a kiss that I swear will blow your mind

On Monday, I went to another gig in Brussels. Emiliana Torrini was playing at the AB Club, the smaller and cosier venue of the Ancienne Belgique.

After an okay yet not very memorable support act called Island Line, Emiliana treated us on a 18-song set. Her singing was absolutely breath-taking and so were quite a lot of her songs, but the set was a little too long and not daring enough for me to be able to speak of a really great gig.

(my review: http://www.digg.be/gigs.php?id=449)

Island Line:




Emiliana Torrini: