Backstage with the band!
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Stadsschouwburg,
Leuven, Belgium 12/03/02
 by MARIE MAN
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TV Song Dare to Love Good Times And A Twinkle In Your Eye |
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Stadsschouwburg,
Leuven, Belgium 12/03/02
by KOEN BURGGRAEVE
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It has been a memorable night, with, as far as i'm concerned, one of the bests concerts I've ever heard. I, for one, have never been all too enthousiastic about their disco approach: let's say that I can live with it, as long as it's only a passing thing, a phase they needed to go through for whatever reason. I was at 'Hallen van Schaarbeek' last year (the concert the RTBf is broadcasting tonight), and (sorry) I found that a rather disappointing evening; to their defense though, I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed their concert at werchter, (identical though it was in format). Yesterday however, they tried to undo themselves completely from that disco bond , and to great effect! Top of the bill in this respect: "my bond with you and your planet: foxtrot !" 'a guerrilla attack on their own song' , as Stef said it nicely, almost a symbolical patricide, i'd add, on the most disco of their songs ... It all started with a quarter of an hour of really accoustic music, frontstage without any amplification, then back to their normal places, in all kinds of formats with all their songs a new dress: one time warm & tender, another time dark, bluesy & dirty; this is what I call cutting edge music, constantly touching me - right there. Stef was in a rather talkative mood (he had picked up a critic in Brugge that he had been too silent and that there hadn't been any comminication with the audience ... ; he now feared that there might have been too much ... , not that it bothered me). During the introductions of the songs he always focussed on the dark side of the song quite contrasting to the very funny tone (laughing throughout) in which he tried to pass the message, several times tearing all the bandmembers in a maelstrom of laughter and leading to several false starts (he was exercising for an interview with 'FLAIR' he had to do after the show, he joked). Most memorable moment, for me, was 'josiewitchgirl', touching me to the very depths of my soul, if ever I have one We were treated to one new song, still under construction I think, Stef solo on guitar delivering the skeleton of the song: can't remember the title either, but courageous it was (some line went ... 'you have to be there, to care ...' I think) Most surprisingly, several songs of their last album, that I thought could actually only exist disco-wise, were so well treated that they wouldn't have been out of place on their Moondog Jr album; amazing. Not a cheap evening, but worth every single cent of it (Show would end at 22.30 some signs read upon entering the venue, Stef & Co made that 23.15 !) Contrary to what I feared I really enjoyed that Patrick Duff man who did the support act: nice songs, clever lyrics ... anyone knows if he released some album or other ? |
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Stadsschouwburg,
Leuven, Belgium 12/03/02
by LEFTERIS MOUMDJIS
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A mini interview with Stef Kamil Carlens
I traveled from Cyprus to Belgium to catch one of these semi- acoustic shows, as crazy as it sound it's true. I was staying in Gent, with some friends I madeint Werchter last year, for 10 days. On the day of the show I arrived at Leuven around 5. I went straight and bought 'Live at the Jet Studio, Brussels' from this little record store I knew near the square and then I walked back to the theatre where Zita Swoon were playing. I had decided from before that I was gonna try and get an interview from the band, so I tried to get in the theatre from the back which turned out to be very easy. Everyone was so helpful and when I went inside and asked where was the band one of the crew members led me to the stage where they were sound-checking. And there they were! Ok, I'm gonna stop here cos this can really turn out to be a very soppy story. Well, the point is that Zita Swoon are a bunch of really nice guys that are more down to earth than anyone would imagine. They offered me wine (with Fanta), Stef answered my few silly questions, they all signed my copy of their album and they let me hang out backstage. Lefteris: Describe
Zita Swoon in a sentence. L: What is Zita
Swoon's objective as a band? L: Do you consider
yourself a pop star or an artist? L: Memorable moment
throughout your career. L: Every time? L: What would you
change if you were running the world? After this we talked about other stuff, like Stef asked me where I studied and I said Boston, so we started talking about that. He said he really liked some bands that came from Boston like Morphine, The Presidents of the United States of America and G Love and Special Sauce. I think he said he was friends with Morphine or he was visiting some friends there when he saw Morphine. I'm not sure. While we were talking about where I was from and stuff he told me that his favorite restaurant was called 'Cyprus' in Antwerp, but it's owned by a Turk, a fact that I thought was very weird!
Some other interesting
facts people might wanna know: Lefteris Moumdjis |
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This page contains a comprehensive list of concerts by Zita Swoon and related events. Where the entry is 'clickable' there is more information or reviews to be read on a separate page. If you have any additions (dates, reviews, setlists, corrections etc) to this list, please mail me at zitareviews@mandarinmedia.com and it will included. |
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