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.)
More Botanique fun last week, when I went to see Blood Red Shoes.
I was supposed to do an interview with the band, but Laura-Mary (singer, guitarist) lost her passport the day before which caused some troubles. She only turned up around 9.30pm, so I could forget about my interview. (instead, I went to Elke and Karolien, who were going to the gig as well. Elke had her parents' car that week, so I could stay with her after the gig, she said)
Fortunately, Blood Red Shoes made up for it with a really good gig. It was all about good music, moshpits and yeh, even dancing on stage. Gerlin and Phara (from Neon Enlightenment) got the permission from Steven (singer, drummer) to climb on stage during It's Getting Boring By The Sea. They were sweet enough to help me on stage as well, and by the end of the song we were joined by heaps of people. It was hypnotizing. And it was all filmed and posted on YouTube - I'm the girl in the front who is hugging the girl in the red dress (that's Gerlin).
After buying half the merchandising away (Karolien got her some buttons, Elke picked out a beautiful poster and I went for the LP) and letting the band sign every single piece of it, we went back to the car (which we had left in a garage). That was our intention, at least.
Although Elke had carefully ensured we picked a parking that stayed open long enough, we didn't seem to be able to get in anymore. We even tried another entrance than the one we had used to get out, but same story there.
Midnight subways in Brussels aren't much of a great idea for three girls all by themselves, we all agreed on that one. I suggested taking a bus and we were glad to find out there was a night bus 30 minutes later. It was freezing, so we decided to have a drink in the meantime. Unfortunately, every bar in the neighbourhood seemed to be closed. Alternatively, we spent half an hour sitting on the floor of a KBC bank office. When we got back to the bus stop we found out there were only night busses during the weekend, so we had been waiting for nothing.
And so we decided to stop being greedy and just took a taxi. Ah well. The next morning we found out there was a third entrance to the parking. Sigh.
Gerlin and Hermine, flyering like they've never done anything else. The Excerts, the not-so-very-good support act (the guys seemed nice enough, though). In the first picture of them, they're joined on drums by Steven from Blood Red Shoes.
Blood Red Shoes!
Karolien and a new boyfriend :)
Laura-Mary (BRS), Elke, Karolien, me, Steven (BRS)
our famous 30 minutes in the KBC bank, from moderate contenment to complete dispair
Last Wednesday I headed once again to the Jette campus for their opening party.
After a small pizza drama (don't ask) at Elke's place and a pre-party at Jan's, we (Karo, Elke and I) went off to get the party started. The music kind of sucked so it wasn't exactly the best party ever, but we enjoyed ourselves well enough.
And there's tons of picture proof, of course.
To end with, a little video I made of Karolien and Eva. Warning: inside jokes about pizza. Sorry for mocking, Elke. ;)
After the Futureheads gig, Elke and I headed to her new student room in Jette where our good friend and Elke's brand new roomie Karolien was waiting to treat us on a nice welcome.
Karo and Elke
Elke and I cosying things up
Morning has broken in Jette and I made a little vid of the kitchen and my two darlings. Sorry for the non-Dutch speakers!
Last week I went to see The Faint in the Botanique in Brussels. They were awesome! I've seldomly seen bands that are as energetic as those five guys from Nebraska, they're really great to watch (especially the singer who is looking like a crossbread between a pilot and a pharmacist the way he is dressed). The setlist was excellent, including all of their best songs from the old albums, but also from the new one called 'Fasciinatiion'.
The Botanique
Cafeneon, the support act (a band from Brussels bringing the shoegaze era back to life, pretty good)
The Faint
a little film of The Faint I made (crappy quality, but ah well)
