Major Tom's Oddity: 2008

this was ... 2008

1 sigur ros - heineken music hall (& at rw and pp)
2 neil young / radiohead - rock werchter (+ the national, zita swoon, beck, mark ronson, grinderman, band of horses, justice)
3 gutter twins - pukkelpop (+ bloc party, editors, two gallants, blood red shoes, mgmt, elbow, the whip, mercury rev)
4 elbow - paradiso (& virgin megastore, new york)
5 tellers - girls in hawaii - bibelot (& girls in hawaii at gentse feesten and de nachten)
6 raconteurs - melkweg
7 zita swoon - paard / maanrock
8 last shadow puppets - paradiso (+ those dancing days afterwards)
9 swell season - crossing border (+ stef does bob dylan)
10 gotan project - hallen van schaarbeek

should have been on this list: deus in paradiso, stuck with the flu at home then, and leonard cohen, stuck at a conference abroad then, and massive attack, stuck with chimai vant schaap then ... and portishead, stuck somewhere sometime then

music for life - gent - 231208

connecting colours / yves klein homage - 181208

gotan project - hallen van schaarbeek - 131208

nice building, a covered marketplace, currently without subsidies for own programs, but luckily well suited for concerts ... today gotan project, surprising with an early start (20:00 doors open and about half an hour later already playing), and with fast food quite slow tonight just in time ... they started, dressed in black, behind a video screen showing nice visuals and sometimes a couple dancing tango in front, but this did not work entirely, as with a live show you want to see some live action, which was hard now ... after some songs they changed to white, with the screen behind, a better configuration ... what followed was the same superb music, now supported by the visuals, sometimes including guest musicians (calexico for amor porteno and two rappers for mi confesion), otherwise images of argentinean landscapes or people dancing or windmills turning ... the mixture of lounge-beats (once even didgeridoo-like) and bandoneon (and grand piano, strings and guitar) works great, with the melancholic voice of the singer on top of that ... the belgian audience was (surprise there) not really shaking that much, but apparently they liked it and applaud long (this one couldn't stand still and always cheers loud), so after the first encores, we got some more songs: 'c'est vote, on jout des autres' ... isn't that great, music is/as democracy ...

london - 281108

mercury rev - paradiso - 221108

after "this is a test of the mercury rev audiovisual system" -we were expecting the worse- the same opening sequence as at pukkelpop, and then off for a weird, but always enjoyable, trip, with the end of you're my queen going everywhere and tonight it shows a welcome moment to breath ... five new songs on fifteen, not too much, not too little, and goddess on a highway on the set list but not played ... didn't miss it though, good beer in the paradiso however, we did ...

snowflake / sunshine / holes / black forest / funny bird / queen / people / tonite / tides / dream / diamonds / opus // spiders / (goddess) / dark / senses

crossing border - 20.211108

first ra ra riot, vampire weekend-like poppy songs, without the exotic rythms but with female strings instead (violin and cello), raging trough the set, with a highly energetic singer and bass player ... nice debut album, the rhumb line

next stef kamil carlens and the gates (and girls) of eden with a bob dylan tribute ... every thing he does is magic, this was not little but a grand performance (and i only knew one song) ... an hour too short, favorites were do right to me baby and caribbean wind, with them distant ships of liberty on them iron waves so bold and free, bringing everything that's near to me nearer to the fire

last one the first day death cab for cutie, unfortunately not starting with i will posses your heart, which came later in the set, with an untamed bass and hunting lyrics ... best were the songs of narrow stairs, their latest and great album, like posses, grapevines fire (about the californian fires) and long division (to be a remain remain remainder) ... and funny was the expression on the guitarist face when doing the second voice ...

second day, this time in the big schouwburg room, first the swell season, with glen hansard acoustic shouting say it to me now, followed by his fellow frames mates and marketa irglova on piano, often smiling with glen's fuzzy song explanations ... falling slowly to a standing ovation, so already a highlight

next isobel campbell and mark lanegan, and as i'm a mark fan, could not miss this (fleet foxes played at the same time) ... here they did play do you wanna come walk with me, the essence of their cooperation, with their voices melting together ...

after a short hail storm, thanks for the umbrella's to rent, and, now we're busy, the mints and sweethearts at the entrance of the two venues ... last, one two three fouoo, tindersticks, with nice but around this time of night sleepy songs, and a mumbling singer ... so a lot of the same, but i do remember this one, boobar

gates of eden: i and i / heart of mine / blind willie mc tell / cold irons bound / everything is broken / do right to me baby / what was it you wanted / dead man, dead man / jokerman / someone's got a hold of my heart / caribbean wind / ring them bells

black & white - 251108

sigur ros - heineken music hall - 171108

in my next life, i want to be a ros, a sigur one, and also a photographer, and a (real) barman, a sailor, a last cigarette, and a tree, blowing in the wind ... a wonderous gig, from the start on, with the shadows of the drummer and singer on both hall walls, and jonsi lit by 4 spots singing in his guitar, sounding like a star in outer space ... next fljotavik followed by vid spilum endalaust, with a bass better than many pumping tunes, remix this one, techno boyz ... creating the same effect as festival, later in the set, but here with a faster pace ... in between hoppipolla, with the drummer going crazy at the end, and med blodnasir, with us singing, and some of the better post-rock available, overpowering those few who still wanted to talk ... icelandic tunes, cold with hot geysers bursting out ... they left after hafsol, the bass with drumstick song (and flute at the end) and gobledigook, with us clapping along, nananananana, and a confetti storm ... then the first encore, a piano, organ, jonsi just singing and a soft bass, the most quiet moment, you could hear a snowflake fall ... and m, this is how silent i, and we all, sometimes feel, with this song giving comfort, whispering that it is all alright ... last one the amazing popplagid, unleashing something from deep within, now complete with a snowstorm on the stage ... crazy, mad and beautiful ... when i go, take this song (the live version) and play it loud ... very loud ...

svefn-g-englar / ny batteri / fljotavik / vid spilum endalaust / hoppipolla / med blodnasir / inni mer syngur vitleysingur / e-bow / saeglopur / festival / hafsol / gobledigook // all alright / popplagid

i love techno - flanders expo - 151108

getting caught by the police (not me), a cow from hell (not me) and botellon (pleat guilty), so some amusement even before entering flander's techno fields, which went extremely slow, they should put some speakers outside for the queuing people ... inside just in time for underworld, who reached upperworld or even some place beyond, with born slippy an expected and great climax, shouting mega mega white thing ... then trying to enter the orange room for justice, which was packed, with a security line at the exit, instead of standing there being unfriendly they'd better counted the people constantly leaving the room, or, behind their back, slipping through the toilet fence, so 50 cent for some justice ... dj-set this time, so no big cross, same style of music, but during the time i was there, only one of the guys put on a headphone for about 30 seconds, leaving a cheap feeling, around 50 cent ... then minimal, indeed still alive, with magda (not the most fancy dj-name) behind the decks, including headphone, and good tunes

mgmt - vooruit -141108

last week tom b was talking about support acts, and mentioned that when millionaire toured with the queens of the stone age, they had to play -15dB and with a reduced light show ... this should be in the handbook of rock music ... mgmt's support, a place to bury strangers (and themselves, if it was up to us), played about +20dB, with a strobo outburst of 10 minutes, leaving us dazed and confused even before the hippie youngsters entered the stage ... afterwards the support's singer crossed our path two times, too bad he didn't understand 'slecht', slecht zeg ik u ... then mgmt, with unfortunately the same sound level, specially the guitar was stuck there, played without inspiration and a good sound engineer ... positive was the 15 min metanoia (a b-side of time to pretend), and some more quiet songs (and personal favorites) like weekend wars and 4th dimensional transition ... all in all, a missed chance ... in good 70s tradition, we'll give them another one ...