Those are my next stops. Bit of a silly trip actually, as I’ll hardly get to see those cities. But I’m excited as a puppy cause I’m going to Mogwai’s hometown. Bit silly, as I said. More about this on Sunday then!
(And I still haven’t posted about Lille. Mmmh…. That’ll be one for the dog.)
Erh, it’s 4.45, got back from the afterparty at Athanor Studio, that was really, really cool, VIP’s included Arno, Craig Ward (both pretty wasted), Tim Vanhamel, the girl with the black eye from AWTWB, Daan (who sports erh…. some Fidel Castro sort of beard), Stijn, and probably some others as well. Great music from the start, I have no idea who the DJ was but he sure put some groove on. In dEUS gossip news, I chatted a bit with Christian Pierre, who became a father last Monday, that’s another dEUS baby (okay, he’s not in dEUS, but he’s a supacool manager) and he told me that dEUS would play at least one more concert in Belgium next year, mmmmmh…. A bit of chatting with Alan, I was concerned about Arno (with whom he used to bass some years ago) because I’d seen him wander out of the party with some trouble, but Alan just told me that music is a transcendental way of communicating, or something, so that Arno being drunk all the time doesn’t matter. That’s how we love him anyway.
While ordering beers with Arthur, again, I got some Mauro interaction. He asked us to get him one beer, which he then generously spilled over my open wallet when giving me one big fat kiss on the cheek. Alcohol, ladies and gentlemen…
At this point, I should probably point out that I’m rather wasted myself. I never drove this stupidly fast in Brussels. Someone blame me.
So together with my good friend Anne-Sophie, we danced all night long, the place was very crowded, way muych more than yesterday, where it was a bit too quiet. But tonight was like a sauna at Athanor. There was this old man who was dancing like a mad man next to a column, I was concerned about him getting a heartstroke but he managed alright. I wonder who he is. Father of one of the guys? Whatever.
Tom was less relaxed than yesterday, I didn’t see him dancing. But I did see him having fun with some girls, and then he went to spin the plates himself, he started DJ’ing somewhere around 3 and that was pretty cool.
Oh - again, I saw some pretend male-on-male action from the boys - Mauro, Stéphane AND Klaas this time on some demonic dancing threesome. But the only guy who gets a kick from that is me of course. Can’t say that party was very interesting in terms of gay flesh. Rock’s for heteros they say. Bah.
Jesus, I shouldn’t be writing all this shit.
Ooooh, there was Maarten Vandenabeele as well, a photographer who’s worked with dEUS for a pretty long time, he was also waaaay over the top, kept photographing dancing girls like mad. I say, those dEUS parties are cool.
Apart from that erh….. I dunno, my mind’s a blur. I’m gonna try go get 3 hours sleep before work.
Oh yeah - remind me to talk about the goddamn CONCERT tomorrow. I recorded the first 3 songs, then just danced and screamed and shouted and pissed the people around me.
I love this band.
… can be ordered on the Sherpa website. Rush.
….. and not even 4 hours after presale started, dEUS have sold out Forest National. Over 7.000 tickets. Or so it seems - says “temporarily unavailable” on the Fnac website, Goformusic has “sold out” on its home page, but apparently you can still click on the link and order tickets. The situation is not desperate yet.
… and now (13.30) it looks very sold out. eBay for the unlucky ones then… yes, tickets are offered there already. Disgusting? Sure.
Brussels 1040 - Brussels 1000 - Brussels 1050: 3km and a taxi home.
You’re getting ripped off, dear visitors - no media tonight either. I’m on a selfish «I just wanna dance to those fat tunes» ride.
Call me stupid, but when I get home and my ears are riiiingiiiing I always think that’s the sign of a great gig. It means: a) it was loud; b) it was good enough to make me wanna stay where it was TOO loud; c) I’m half deaf, I’ll never work as a professional interpreter and that degree from 2003 is lost on me.
So then, what can I say I didn’t say yesterday? First, obvious: the crowd. This time, there was an audience, and this time, it wasn’t merely listening. People reacted a lot, and not only during Suds & Soda - Instant Street (song #4) got people jumping already, Turnpike From Hell got people screaming and shouting and being really, really happy at Man-Turned-God (or Archdevil) Pawlowski. I should stop mentioning him or that’s gonna rub Tom’s ego in the wrong direction. Not that he reads this, mind you.
The sound was waaaay clearer than yesterday, it was amazing how you could make out every single nuance, especially from Klaas’s stupendous and always underestimated work. His violin strokes, his violin pizzicatos, his keyboards, finally on this tour he’s being given the sonic space he’s always deserved. And not a single moment where you thought «hey, I can’t hear this or that instrument properly» - that was the AB’s soundsystem at its finest.
The setlist worked much better than yesterday - as usual, I can’t remember the proper order, started pretty standard, ie Pocket, Magdalena, Cold Sun, Stop/Start, Instant Street, and then apparently that’s where I lose track. But I can’t really keep a clear mind when they shoot Fell Off The Floor, Turnpike, WCS , If You Don’t and Assault On Magnus into my ears. They ended the main set with Roses then Nothing Really Ends (found it a bit messy, but I just need to find something to criticize) then Sun Ra then Serpentine then Little Arithmetics (great song for a final), and came back for a first encore which included Bad Timing, 7 Days, What We Talk About, which worked much better today at that slot than yesterday as last song of the night, and a rawer but shorter Suds & Soda, before coming back for Magic Hour as a «goodnight, sleep well» sort of second encore. So, all songs they played yesterday, plus one.
All in all, they might have played a little less perfectly than yesterday, but the show was so much better thanks to the crowd’s response - a feeling that’s shared by the band, as Mauro told me later tonight. The aftershow was a mainly female band called Chacda, I saw them supporting Feist earlier this year and wasn’t convinced, and that hasn’t changed. The singer is an Avril Lavigne kind of alternative/skater girl and that’s totally okay, but she sings uninspired sad rock/pop that left me yearning for another beer.
Then I got down to recover my jacket and mobile and found that Arthur (of dEUS.be fame, for those of you who found this blog by accident) had tried to call me right before the show - the man badly needed directions in Brussels, he comes from Eindhoven and it’s true that the Belgian capital is one hell of a wrong place when it comes to traffic signs. Safely got into AB, though. I couldn’t meet him, but I’m sure he loved the gig as much as I did.
Caught Tom as he headed from the backstage into the bar, asked me if I wanted to go to *secret place* where the after party was being held, I wasn’t even aware of it but my friend Anne-Sophie and I headed to the club and played it cool (like hey you know, we’re not those groupies who’d do anything for a bit of attention [erh erh….]). The whole band was there, that’s where I got to chat with Mauro for two minutes while we were trying to attract the barman’s attention, and as usual, I couldn’t think of anything remotely interesting to say. Damn that «fandom disconnects brain» thing. The DJ was playing some cool retro electro tunes, to which Tom was dancing like a mix between erh…. Joe Cocker and a duck, I’d say, Klaas was dancing as well, and that’s funny, hadn’t seen him dancing before, and he does the exact same moves he does on stage. There’s a funky robot inside that man. Alan was with his girlfriend, kissing cutely now and then, but the last I saw of him was Stéphane and him dancing very hotly together (but only the gay man in me saw that as hot stuff and not as the obvious joking fun it was). And then erh… had to go home, back to bed and my 9-to-5 routine (I’m not complaining).
Good night!
Setlis (thx to zero79)t:
01 Pocket Revolution
02 Magdalena
03 Cold Sun of Circumstance
04 Instant Street
05 Fell Off The Floor, Man
06 Stop-Start Nature
07 The Real Sugar
08 WCS
09 If You Don’t Get What You Want
10 Theme From Turnpike
11 Roses
12 Assault On Magnus
13 Nothing Really Ends
14 Sun Ra
15 Little Arithmetics
—
16 Bad Timing
17 7 days, 7 weeks
18 Serpentine
19 What We Talk About
20 Suds & Soda
—
21 The Magic Hour
Brussels 1050 - Brussels 1000: 2×2km 
Pretty cool to have your favourite band coming to your town. You leave the office, go home to change clothes, go out to dine at a friend’s and then walk 3 minutes to get to the venue. I should have come live here earlier.
I thought the band played very well, but I’m MAD at the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd. Okay, you guys applauded between songs, some of you cheered during them, but pleeeaaaaase, MOVE YOUR LAZY ASSES AND DANCE/SHAKE YOUR HEAD/MOVE YOUR FEET/DO SOMETHING. What a dead-looking bunch of horribly still people. That’s out. God.
So then - today was a no-minidisc, no-camera night (as will be tomorrow and Thursday), as I just wanted to enjoy the show without having to care about self-inflicted blog stuff. Which means I’ll have to recall the setlist from my very broken machine of a memory. Pretty standard set actually, with the obligatory Pocket Revolution for starters (it’s been on that spot ever sicne November 2004), then onto Magdalena (weird position if you ask me), then Cold Sun, Stop/Start, and from that point I can’t tell the order. Got to say though, Cold Sun is one nasty little beast with its live clothes on, one of their best rock songs on the current set. And Stop/Start gets more and more convincing (I thought it was pretty empty/boring/lacking in momentum the first few times I heard them play it).
During Instant Street (and also on another song before that), the crowd cheered madly when Mauro started singing Craig’s verses, which was nice. He had quite a big fan horde in AB, as his singing made people very happy. And I heard people were singing his guitar part during the outro, leading me to believe that those people were at the Lille gig one week ago (where Mauro’s guitar broke and he actually sang that part). Great reaction during Mauro’s Scary Turnpike Screams, too. Mmmmh… did Mauro stole the show? Perhaps.
Apart from that - on a general note, I was a bit disapp’d by the sound tonight. Nice during the quiet parts, very messy when the band rocks - which they do a lot in 2005. Hope things will be a little clearer tomorrow & on Thu.
Back on track then. Assault On Magnus has become my favourite live track on this tour, which isn’t to say the new songs aren’t good, but this wrongly-labelled dEUS song is among their best. I couldn’t grab a setlist tonight, but I believe they (once again) messed around with their plans (I’m not complaining, as this adds some surprise factor) - they played Sun Ra and Serpentine at the end of the main set, while those two songs are usually “first-encore” material. Serpentine - wow, the 2005 version must be one of the best. Klaas does a perfect job at recreating the haunty piano touches of the original, Alan and Mauro sing on it as well, and Mauro’s guitar part at the end is fantastic. Thumbs up.
Onto the first encore: Bad Timing probably got one of the loudest cheers of the night. This is one hell of classic already. And it was perfectly executed, which is very cool, as I was afraid it’d be dropped from the setlist after seeing not-so-convincing renditions one month ago. Then they played 7 Days 7 Weeks (again, superbly executed), followed by the ultimate crowd-pleasing pair, Little Arithmetics and Suds & Soda. I so wish I’d minidisced the show, cause Suds & Soda was one of the coolest versions I’ve heard, jazzy, hip-hoppy, a very vocal Tom who just wouldn’t stop singing whatever he pleased during the instrumental bits. More impro please
Then it was What We Talk About and then it was over. Weird choice for a second encore, and oddly short, but really, that Belgian crowd didn’t deserve more. People please - show your love.
The band in the ABClub after dEUS were called Giants of the Air or something like that - not bad Grandaddy/Cure sort of stuff, good voice, good music, they lack originality, but are decent.
Voilà. A very unordered review, but I just let it flow and I need my bed. I’m getting old.
And I’m lagging behind - there are photos and mp3’s from Lille last week waiting for an update here.
Setlist (thx to zero79):
01 Pocket Revolution
02 Magdalena
03 Cold Sun of Circumstance
04 Stop-Start Nature
05 Instant Street
06 Fell Off The Floor, Man
07 Assault On Magnus
08 The Real Sugar
09 WCS
10 If You Don’t Get What You Want
11 Theme From Turnpike
12 Roses
13 Nothing Really Ends
14 Sun Ra
15 Serpentine
—
16 Bad Timing
17 7 days, 7 weeks
18 Little Arithmetics
19 Suds & Soda
—
20 What We Talk About
Brussels-London: 2×370km on the Eurostar
This was 12 days ago already, memories aren’t as fresh as they should, but still… Two goodies first: the totally brilliant cover of Assault on Magnus, and the great, noisy Sun Ra.
dEUS - Assault on Magnus - ICA, London, 13.09.2005
dEUS - Sun Ra - ICA, London, 13.09.2005
Took the train in Brussels at 17.01, arrived in London just 1h30 later, got lost on the way to the Generator (cool industrial hostel), had to take a shower and change shirts because once there, I realised my stupid cat had pissed on my laptop backpack, so that the ugly smell I’d noticed before was, well, me. Which means I arrived at the ICA during Cold Sun, having missed Pocket Revolution. That felt a little weird, a bit like popping by to see old friends playing - a delusional impression, as I’m just a crazy fan 
ICA: cool venue. It’s located on the Mall, next to Trafalgar Square, in that big Victorian building that connects to the arch in front of the Nelson Column. Not the highly modern building I’d been expecting from an “institute of contemporary arts”. The concert room itself was small, I’d say it could hold 600 people, and despite being sold out, there was plenty of room to stand comfortably. The sound was rather rough, and I think that’s good for a band like dEUS, makes the rock songs even rockier
The concert…. errrrh… bit hard to recall precise memories after two weeks. So I’ll just quote myself from the forum:
«yup. great gig. great atmosphere. LOUD sound. sun ra was indeed the obvious high of the show, best rendition i’ve heard so far! wanted to upload the mp3, but stupid pc at the hostel is so old it doesn’t have usb. pfffft.
other highlights: little arithmetics, which got a wild cheer from the crowd, instant street (ditto - this is the country of pop), and bad timing, which was greatly noisy.
stephen olsdal from placebo was there, i took a stupid fan pic of him and klaas. with flash on. god. how pathetic :)»
The wild cheer stuff then:
And that celebrity pic:
Now, I have to say I was extremely tired from the 3 dEUS gigs I’d seen in Holland the week before, I’d been driving more than 1500km and working in the morning, and going out during the weekend, so I just snapped in London. Felt like going through a haze, and I was acting pretty much like I was drunk and disconnected. So, instead of playing it casually cool with the Placebo guy, or merely leaving him alone, I said hello when he was talking with Klaas and asked if I could take a picture - with the flash on, in a typical amateurish way. You can see that Klaas is saying something to Stephen - that was along the lines of “oh, he’s our webmaster, pretty harmless” or something like that. God.
Ah well - setlist then.
dEUS - ICA, London, 13.09.2005
01 Pocket Revolution
02 Cold Sun of Circumstance
03 Magdalena
04 Little Arithmetics
05 What We Talk About
06 Fell Off The Floor, Man
07 Stop/Start Nature
08 Instant Street
09 If You Don’t Get What You Want
10 The Magic Hour
11 7 Days, 7 Weeks
12 W.C.S.
13 Nightshopping
14 Theme From Turnpike
15 Assault On Magnus (mp3)
—
16 Bad Timing
17 Serpentine
18 The Real Sugar
19 Sun Ra (mp3)
20 Suds & Soda
Brussels-Amsterdam: 2×210km
No MP3 today: the show was a session specially recorded for the TV and the radio, and anyway, my recording sounds very crappy.
Yesterday dEUS played a studio session for VPRO’s 3voor12 at the Desmet Studio’s in Amsterdam. The studio is actually like a small concert venue, with a very nice and cosy bar, and can accomodate 200 people. In order to get in, the lucky winners of the VPRO and dEUS.be competitions had to show a printout of the confirmation mail they’d received - reminded me a bit of check-in at the airport…
The band were supposed to play one hour, from 16:00 to 17:00, but in typical rock’n'roll fashion, they started 20 minutes late. They were introduced by erh… a guy from VPRO I suppose (sorry about my Dutch), who said he was very proud to have dEUS playing, as he’s been a loyal fan since WCS came out. As the venue is very small, we were standing really close to the band, nice to be able to see exactly how they play their instruments. I hadn’t yet paid attention to the fact that Alan plays the guitar at the end of Stop-Start Nature (but erh, you don’t need to be just two meters away to notice that - I got distracted by Klaas’s mad cowbell slamming I suppose.
The crowd’s response was pretty Dutch (sorry guys): interested but just a bit too quiet. I was expecting a bit more wildness from fans who entered a contest to get in… As for the concert itself: the band they played generally well, but it’s obvious that the cameras were making them a little nervous. Tom was very static compared to the second Haarlem gig, which also had to do with the fact that the part of the stage where he was standing wasn’t exactly stable: he compared it to standing on a trampoline… And they had trouble with some songs. Bad Timing still needs a little practice (Alan messed up at the start, and Tom was a bit out of tune at times), as does the new version of If You Don’t, where Mauro & Tom’s guitars sounded a bit out of sync. But apart from that, it was really great, Cold Sun is one hell of a great song played live (they do the quiet outro as well), and What We Talk About is very well received - funny detail: every time, Tom sings “we need a tambourine” and one of the (forgetful) roadies rushes behind the drumkit to play the tambourine.
My friend Alex (founder of the Nameless Webzine, a leading musiczine in Wallonia & Brussels) took a handful of great photos. You can see more on his blog.
After the show, Alan told Arthur and me that there’s a massive subwoofer under the stage, which completely fucked up the monitors’ sound. Especially his, as he plays the bass. Alan - super great guy. Very warm and open, no attitude whatsoever, and absolutely zero taste in shirts, but that can be forgiven.
Setlist:
01 Pocket Revolution
02 Cold Sun of Circumstance
03 What We Talk About
04 Instant Street
05 Fell Off The Floor, Man
06 Stop-Start Nature
07 If You Don’t Get What You Want
08 W.C.S.
09 Magdalena
10 Theme From Turnpike
11 Assault On Magnus
12 Bad Timing
Obviously they didn’t play everything on the setlist - it’s the setlist they’re going to use in London tomorrow. Spoilers!!!
Taina was nice enough to send me some really nice photos from the Thursday gig. This is her blog.
[edited 10.09] And Ruben too! Here’s his blog.
Grigio’s recording of the second Patronaat gig is on Dimeadozen as a torrent (you need to be a member to download it).
I’ve just found out that my server’s monthly bandwidth allowance of 60Gb means that it can’t be more than 2Gb daily. Which is why the diary was down this evening, as is the whole of hotellounge.com until tomorrow. Bummer. I’ll have to be less generous then. Bummer. Bummer. BUMMER.
[edited 10.9 @ 15:00] Upgraded to 300Gb a month, i.e. 10Gb a day, now if you get hotellounge.com down again I’ll be a very angry man