gentse feesten - 14.210707

saturday - this is the end ... tsunami at pole pole, there should be a shuttle service connecting the two sides of the water ... trying to find the hotsy totsy (jazz-bar, now i know), karate with isomo-boxes (fish!) ... and a last tea ...

friday - a night of good agreements ... mintzkov at boomtown, see cactus review, paper cuts at both sides now (ruby red) ... duvels in the tent ... and an everlasting bus-ride to get home ...

thursday - absynthe minded at st-jacobs, good gig, a happy b-day for one of the band-members, the crowd around me knew lots of their songs, so they already have some kind of fan-base, a highly particular element were the moving light-poles, seemed to have run out of a transformer movie, and sometimes a bit too blinding ... at a certain point the drummer was surrounded by smoke, must be horrible at times, sitting there in the back with a smoke machine pointed and blowing at you ... afterwards relaxing in the baudelo park, what a difference with the huge crowd two days later ... i prefer the weekdays when it's easy to get a coffee ...

wednesday - first de keuze van vos, 10 bands playing 1 song one after the other, amusing concept, see full review here (http://www.cuttingedge.be/music/ gigs/18158-boomtown-2007-dag-5), after that gorki ... den beestenmarkt is sold out ... first older material (amongst others wie zal er voor de kinderen zorgen, ooit was ik een soldaat), later some newer (the great wees eens stil jongens), and at the end the obligatory soms vraagt, anja, piranha and mia ... in between a shower of cookies (luc didn't trust a box of chocolate cookies and threw them back in the audience) and luc playing 'do it again' on guitar ... next a bit of buscemi, and then ... i'm on fire (banquet, bloc party - great dancing tune) ... swinging into the night ...

tuesday - fixkes @ boomtown, saw them already better in action at stubru.uit in the theaterzaal (see history), which is a better place to enjoy their music ... still, the freesyle fabrik cover of vrijdagavond stays super: "mag ik eens op u lief zitten alstublief z'is echt zo schoon en ik heb goesting in iet nief, k heb heel goe gerief en k zijn nooit nie agressief, mag ik eens op u lief zitten alstublief" (this int antwaarps) ... after that, eddy, the voice of europe, "is nog altijd wreed goe bezig" (quoting t, around twelve)

monday - rain pouring down from a great height delayed my arrival at the frames gig at boomtown, the singer called us fucking brave for coping with the rain, let the umbrellas dance, and played good songs ... if you find yourself going to a frames gig, learn the line "we have all the time in the world to get it right, to get it right ... we have all the love in the world to satellite, to satellite" (from people get ready), so you're not looking like what are these people singing here ..... then daan at the big square, little to add to that, first bis was solo on guitar de lichtjes van de schelde, second housewife ... wonder how desperate one has to be to come up with such a song ... and thanks for the beers !

sunday - frank boeien at the same square, although i was waiting for paradijs (came last), i enjoyed the whole gig ... in the middle a fine base-solo ... i wanna learn to play that instrument (already at werchter when hearing paul simonon of the good bad queen playing it boiled in my mind) ... it's the base (no, kidding) of most songs and can sound so warm, dark, full, rhythmic, funky, mysterious ...

saturday - billie king at boomtown (new setting, more cosy), second time i see them in gent, first was in the handelsbeurs (if i'd live in gent, i would go there every week), from that gig i remember specially the moments they sing together ... now the songs had more power, a girl with a guitar indeed looks sexy, and they make nice music, favorites are slow down and big girls ... check out their cd ... then the scene on the stbaafs square, the lau refers to amy whinehouse at werchter, "i learned 2 tings, first she is great, and second, people should drink more on stage" ... cheerz! ... i remember drink op de liefde, a good thing to drink on ... at the end a long iedereen is van de wereld ... and there underneath the big yellow lighted cathedral (what a scene) the wereld is inderdaad van iedereen ...

cactusfestival - 06.080707

friday - mintzkov opens, and opens good ... the singer looks like he partied the whole night before, as did b, but the songs weren't tired or tiresome, best songs are those where the base-player sings along, which she should do more often ... after some good flemish stew the soulsavers feat mark lanegan, i doubt whether a soul can be saved by that voice, but the music was ok, and mark's voice, yeah, dark en deep ... a small gesture with his hand towards the audience and ... gone ... next cake, we had the company of some die-hard (space)cake fans who follow them around and took us to the third row, where we had a good time ... no setlist, very fun music, little hits (i didn't recognize more than two songs), but great atmosphere ... and, sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell! ... during the waterboys we visited the tea-tent, and only near the end we arrived back at the stage, too bad, because their music sounded really good, still some time to party on the final songs ... and to party after ...

saturday - only two bands today ... first some longer-than-planned terrace sitting, sightseeing of bruges, getting lost in the labyrinth of loppem, and the first mussels of the season (yummie!) ... after these mogwai, the start was rather melodic, near the end the heavier songs came out ... a good digestive ... then the gotan project, finally the opportunity to see them live, and here the setting was already ok, a stage with a rather small audience in a park (the concept of the festival, more space around the stage than in front) ... genial ... the band in white suits and dresses, nice visuals, and the bandoleon with a beat underneath ... it works out great ... fusion kitchen is in, fusion music as well ... now i saw them live, still have to find a party where their music fills the dancefloor ... i bet you look good on it ...

sunday - buffalo tom, as with the name, the gig was ok, i remember the line 'just a little haiku to say how much i love you' ... being a songwriter, you can come up with funny things, maybe i should consider a change of career ... next tom mcrae, with only acoustic guitar, cello and piano, 'i will depress the fuck out of you' he promised, but the music sounded too good to do that, he could even come back to play one more ... afterwards we looked for three men in black getting drunk, but no sign of them ... then gabriel rios, not really entertaining, some good songs, but when things get started it slows down again, the best thing were all the laser pointers which started appearing ... who the **** sold these today? nobody, it turned out ... they were part of the flaming lips show ... and what a show that was :-) , confetti, big blue balloons - i managed to catch three, and could have had more if my company let me - aliens on stage, a drummer who looked like straightly escaped from madhouse, a huge video screen, a singer appearing in a big balloon above the hands of the audience ... and great music ... before the yeah yeah yeah song, their own (little) protest song, he was talking about us politics and said 'imagine bush is the ruler of your country' ... somebody replied, bwa, we're stuck with yves leterme here ... you see, there's still hope ... the pointers were part of a laser game in the middle of a song, reflecting the red beams back to the audience ... balloons kept falling down, but all the crazy things happening on stage were never hampering the music ... at the end, everybody left with one big smile on the face ... so people, go, enjoy, and smile !!

rock werchter - 2806.010707

unintended - milow quicked off in the marquee, a crowd ready for 4 days of sex, drugs and rock&roll (quote of p) is like an open goal, you just have to kick the ball in, and they did ... good songs, one remark though, if you cover mia, keep it dutch, 'mia has seen the light' just does not sound, could be that it's just classical conditioning in this case, but (i like to believe that) a part of the strength of gorki (and de mens, noordkaap, ...) are the dutch lyrics ... they made it up with born in the eighties, a song for the most of us ... with air you could float a bit away, a good distraction, which we also had ... marilyn manson wouldn't be worth mentioning here if it weren't for the sound that went out a couple of times, as i was in spanish company we all yelled fuera to the sound guys, but hey, maybe they just didn't like the music, same here ... bjork started with earth intruders, but it was not the blast i expected it to be (the cd version is better), a highly enjoyable gig, even when she sang in icelandic with only clavichord-like support, she went out with declare independece, raise you flags ... which we did, as next, muse landed ... and what a landing ... again in front, grasping for air, the perfect gig, and unintended in the bis-round, they even bring gifts ...

uniform - people come on, the van jets openend, and were ok, go and see them, then jason mraz, one man with a guitar on stage, and he did well, nice gig ... oi va voi apparently has a new violin player, and, i have to say, she can stay ... kings of leon played without passion, on call for example was not wat it could be ... next the kaisers, always highly energetic, but the thought that it all sounds a bit average nowadays crossed my mind ... then block party, waaaw, and still room to improve, the new songs, early in the set could be more punchy ... uniform goes 'i'm a believer, i just need a moment' ... this was a moment ... next, sun broke through the clouds, wat een heerlijk gevoel, al die zon zon op je smoel (imagine translating this), then the queens of the stoned age, which sums it up ... here is a song that you've not heared before, josh goes in the middle of the gig, and first thing you hear is the riff of no one nows, again, great, this is the rock in the festival's name ... after that, the monkeys, third time now, and better again, the setlist a mix of their two cds, and chapeau, it all sounds great and kicks ass, and alex more talkative (still not much though, but hey, remember the pixies, if the music speaks for itself and you have enough good songs, who cares) ... 'if i could chose the life i please then i would be a boatman', one of my (youth)favorite bands sing ... if i could chose the life i please then i would be a monkey, an arctic one ... headliner was pearl jam, but i didn't like it ... the soundmix was awful ... i hope this is not how grunge used to sound ...

oh la la la - third day already, first one to mention is amy winehouse, what a great couple of voices ... i read in a review 'blabla, and she had difficulties locating the music-company people', but hey, i stood in front and she was just waving to people shouting amy amy you're great ... arriving 20 minutes to late (which gave me 2 secs of screen time), adjusting the setlist on stage, and drinking 2 longdrink-somethings, i don't mind if you sing like that ... then klaxons, a magic marquee moment, the right atmopshere for the audience to make the performance better ... and goose, revelation last year between the trees of boomtown, now even better, extreme hard, powerful (sweat all around) and short, which allowed me to go and see the killers, which were just introing read my mind, a very nice song indeed ... then the topper of the festival, arno ... what a performer, most of the time you don't understand what he's singing, but you feel it, and what a sound the guitarist produces ... goose bumps with les yeux de ma mere, with piano only ... and then, oh la la la ... sounded better than the countless times i enjoyed this song at countless parties ... the marque on fire ... after that the good the bad and the queen were a welcome break, with just good music (that base !) and a cozy setting (a curtain with london of the 19th century, high hats, four big stage lights, a bottle of whiskey) ... the chemical brothers were (way) too silent and too psychedelic at the end (which i wouldn't mind at a different place - not open air - and at a different time - not end of third day -)

evil - cold war kids in the marquee, here a perfect time and place to get to know them, and they were very good, the festival discovery, and also the best line (in expensive tastes): 'i like to be there / in the morning / when you wake up' ... then a discussion on is this pop werchter ? (kooks and maximo park at the same time, luckily the beer stand was not far) ... then interpol, great music, also live, also the new numbers (super new cd!!) ... but this is music for the night, when criminals walk the streets ... the downside of these big festivals, the gaps in the timetable have to be filled in ... nevertheless i enjoyed, even though it's an evil world ... to the marquee for damien rice, again great (those two words are a pretty good summary of the festival), he starts with 9 crimes, rather quickly solo on the piano, after that's away time (for us) to focus on the other songs ... nice ... then metallica, first half lots of old songs, i stood too far to enjoy those properly but encountered an old classmate, nice chatting and some free analysis, thanks for that ;), and then master, fireworks, one, seek, destroy, sad, true, and eeeeeexit light, and exit tent ... for which also thanks :)

arno - enlève ta langue / from zero to hero heroes / mourir a plusieurs / no job no rock / meet the freaks / i'm not into hop / ratata / que pasa / les yeux de ma mère / with you / mon sissoyen / bathroom singer / miss amérique / oh lalala / putain putain / les filles du bord de mer
cold war kids - we used to vacation / passing the hat / st. john / new song / dirt in the ground - hospital beds / god make up your mind / expensive taste / rubidoux / dreams old men dream / hang me up to dry
interpol - pioneer to the falls / slow hands / narc / say hello to the angels / mammoth / rest my chemistry / obstacle 1 / leif erikson / the heinrich maneuver / evil / not even jail / pda