Festival weekend

The square was really busy most nights, although the afternoon and early evening shows were usually surrounded by confused tourists wondering what was going on. This is unfortunate, because some of these acts were actually really good and undeserving of such unresponsive crowds.

Naturally, events like this need security, and for the past five days my neighbourhood has been surrounded by security guards, topped off during the shows with the best of the local police force, who naturally kept a keen eye on the pesky Churros.

Friday

18:00–19:00 — Xamán Ek (Reggae/Latino fusion)

This very Christian orientated band knock out some pretty good beats, and if you can see past all the religious fluff the music is really good, despite its bizarre fusion. This was listed as world music, whatever that means, and I never would have been motivated to see them.

19:30–20:30 — Riké (French Rock with a slight Reggae vibe)

In the typical French style that I've seen, Riké combines a good mixture of pace and form. I'd describe the music as nice. This was listed as being a Reggae fusion, but I could barely pick up on it in the music. Riké himself is a bit overexcited, and while I can see he really loves his job, he does tend to think he's conducting his band, James Brown style, when he really isn't.

21:00–22:00 — Marka & La Sonora Cubana (Funky Latino)

This almost non-stop funky mob are joined at the hip with Marka, as in Marcassou, apparently like the sausage. Whatever name he thinks people will call him, he really is Serge Van Laeken, who grew up in the god-awful Molenbeek. Rumour has it he loves La Mamma Roma like the rest of us (well, except for you Dragan). Big deal.

As it turns out, he's not a bad club singer, and the band is great if only they'd take a break sometime. I'm a little impatient with Latino-style music, I'm afraid.

22:30–00:00 — Orishas (Latino/Hip-Hop fusion)

Oddly enough, this mob are a fusion between hip-hop and the Latino style. How that works, I'm not entirely sure, mostly because it really did blur together. It has its moments, but hip-hop sucks the life out of me when I'm not in the mood, and I really wasn't in the mood. This performance dragged on a little too long for my liking, but for the most part it wasn't too bad.

Saturday

18:00–19:00 — Da Hush (Club rock/jazz fusion)

Wow, this lot hate each the lead singer. Wait, sorry, let me start from the beginning.

Wow, these guys are good. Da Hush is something of a clubby-rocky-jazzy thing, although their discography also includes some electro-crap that unfortunately ruins it all completely. Don't listen to their music anywhere except for live! They have a great sound that they destroy in the studio for some ridiculous reason.

The sound was so good, I had to go listen to it in the sweet-spot on street level. The short video below doesn't do it much justice.

Before the last song, the band left the stage without saying goodbye, leaving the lead singer on her own with Dada, the bass guitarist. She sang a pretty pathetic sounding song, while intermittently pausing to beg the others to come back on the stage, and finally prematurely gave up and walked off herself, looking pretty pissed off.

Dada had other plans. He continued with his own little improvisation and was eventually joined by his brothers Maximin (on Lead) and Pata (on Drums). These three continues on for at least another 15 minutes with a really funky jam session that enthused the audience for more and washed away the bitter taste of the singer's vague attempt at finishing the set.

I didn't see anything else this evening.

Sunday

19:00–19:00 — Camping Sauvach (Belgian gypsy music‽)

I never really figured Belgium would have gypsies, but apparently they do. Coming from Namur, this group have a particular sound that lingers like most bands from Wallonia that I've heard. Curiously, they're a bit of a misfit bunch.

Initially, I'm led to understand, they started life as a sort of instrumental group that would wander around festivals doing their thing. Eventually Didier, their over-enthusiastic bald singer, started matching lyrics to their zany little songs and eventually was absorbed into the group. Didier himself is a quirky guy, who bops around the stage awkwardly but loves what he's doing, without a doubt.

I'm not sure I like their sound, but I think deep down I do. These are seven very talented musicians and worth a look at, if only out of curiosity (or the spectacle of a crazy bald Belgian guy bopping around a stage).

19:30–20:30 — Izabo (Psychedelic punk rock with an Arab twist and a hint of Eurodisco)

Izabo have reminded me: Where the hell have you gone, Jonathan Mantel?

This lot have an amazingly cool sound, with an odd mix of styles that somehow gels together. The band has a keen sense of pacing that kept the crowd together and glued the songs into one succinct show. This is something that was characteristic of Mr. Mantel's work, and I'm wondering if it has something to do with the Israeli blood.

I'm going to keep an eye out for this bunch, because it's like a new foreign food for the ears that's both weird and wonderful.

21:00–22:00 — Fatals Picards (French pop-rock/Ska/Punk/Comedy)

Eh. Something The Wiggles did when performing live was play short engaging songs with vaguely humorous lyrics, separated by several minutes of blah-de-blah. Unfortunately, Fatals Picards do the same thing. I believe they're a version of The Wiggles, but targeting the French adult market.

Yes, their lyrics are amusing, or at least the ones I understand, but for the most part they're just a bunch of French tits. My point was proven by the fact that the audience was full of motionless people, with the exception of around fifteen teeny-boppers flinging themselves around to the right of the stage.

22:30–00:00 — Les Wampas (French punk rock)

Where do I begin?

Firstly, this band is a great punk rock band, despite the other crap coming out of France. That has to be said, before I go on to talk about their reputation of being insane. Didier Wampas in fact is the crazy man, and is well known for integrating himself and subsequently the show into the audience in a variety of ways.

The result was Didier constantly crowd surfing, while somehow managing to sing. At one point, he managed to crowd surf into the middle of the square, and up on top of the bio-box. Didier pried the Brussels Flag from the roof, and crowd surfed back to the stage with it, still singing I might add.

Towards the end of the evening, he managed to surf all the way to the fountain in the centre of the square. With several members of the stage crew and audience assisting him with the microphone cable, he repaid them by climbing into the top section of the fountain and kicking water into the audience. Drenched, he finally returned to the stage and disappeared in the wings, only to return nude, wearing the Brussels Flag as a make-shift sarong!