You've got to destroy!

Friday 29 January....I don't think I'll ever forget this day. Now, the morning after, it all seems a bit funnier than last night. It was the first time that I was going to see Kula Shaker. I had to wait nearly 3 years to see them because they had cancelled their previous gig here. I heard they were coming here from dr Winston who kindly let me know. However, due to some strange things, I wasn't able to obtain any tickets because they were taken back or something like that. So, I assumed that it was cancelled. Then last week (23.1), there was a contest on the radio to win tickets for an exculsive showcase by Kula Shaker. And I won. Amazing. I was over the moon, as you can imagine. Finally, I was going to see them!!!

Fabienne and I arrived at the Botanique fairly early. I wanted to have a chance to meet the band before they came on stage and I thought it wouldn't be quite easy since it was before a very small audience. Well, I got that wrong. They seemed to have had a very good way of getting in the building without anyone noticing it. Damn! The Botanique is a very nice building with two venues in it. The one where Kula Shaker was going to play, was the Rotonde. A very very small place. Anyway, whilst we stood there we had a look at the t-shirts they were hanging there to sell, but there was only one design, either with long sleeves or with short sleeves. It was the cover of the new single on the front and the band's logo on the back. And very cheap too! Well, I wasn't very impressed by the design, or rather by the colours, but I bought a long sleeved one anyway. Ah, the power of marketing! :-)

Then things started to get a bit more exciting and people were starting to push towards the entrance. And all of a sudden, Pauli passed by and I was really wondering where the hell he came from! He seemed to have come from nowhere. Especially since we checked out the cafetaria first and he came from that direction. Very weird! Something else that struck me was the amount of 'access all areas' badges. I mean, the place was flooded by it! I think that there were more people with such a badge than people without it!

And then we were finally let into the venue....or should I say soupbowl? The 'venue' was a tiny sort of amphitheatre, but then really tiny. The stage came barely to my hips and I stood in the second row and I could still touch Crispian's pants (if I wanted to!). And the audience was the strangest mix of all layers of society. There were very sophisticated businessmen (and their wives!), hippies, young girls, slightly older girls, stoned men, goths and the likes.

Then the band came on stage and the first thing that I noticed was how gorgeous Crispian really is! My god! I always liked him (OK, loved him) but he's just amazing. Very very short, yes. And very very skinny (we're talking about size XXS here!) but boy, that face! Those cheekbones!! That hair!!! Lonz isn't too bad either! OK, what were they wearing...erm....Crispian was wearing this adorable oriental top with lovely colours and a brilliant black pair of trousers. very wide trousers. And trainers. very small feet too! Lonz was wearing a smashing pair of trousers that actually looked like expensive curtains! :-)) They were bronze/gold with red and I think a black shirt. Jay...I couldn't really see Jay very well (except his hair then) because he was tucked away behind his organ. (uhm, no pun intended!) Pauli was wearing a lovely jumper with a nice red shirt under it. well, and pants of course....and he was smiling all the way through the gig.

Crispian started by saying that we were welcome 'in this very strange room' and that they hadn't made it to Belgium before during the tour for the first album because they couldn't find it. bah humbug. He also warned us that the room would be filled with water in 15 minutes and we would all drown.:-) And then....they started. And I was hypnotised. First up was Sound of Drums, then I think Hurry on Sundown, Hey Dude, Grateful when you're dead/Jerry was there, Into the Deep, Mystical Machine Guns, Smart Dogs, Spawn of Satan (wow!), Tattva (almost unrecognizable in the beginning), 303, Last Farewell and Govinda. I think that's all but I'm not sure about the order though.... anyway....before they started playing Mystical Machine Guns, Crispian asked if the roof came off the building and some of us started shouting 'Yes!' and Lonz yelled 'It's a fucking spaceship!' He wasn't far off...It did look like a spaceship. The thought crossed my mind that it would be great if we would all take off now with the band. I really should stop watching the X-files. Tattva sounded amazing. But when they started playing it, I didn't recognize it because they have seriously changed the intro. Sounds very good, though. (with the Hallelujah bit in the middle) The new songs are great. Spawn of Satan is very very good. Very explosive. Into the Deep featured the Narayana bit in it, which makes it even better than the original version. They also put this bit in Jerry was there from another song, not by them, but I couldn't quite place it.

I always thought that Bernard Butler was the best guitarist but I know better now. Crispian is amazing, is the best. Watching him play was just brilliant. There is probably nothing he couldn't do with that guitar. He played the guitar he uses lately (blue with yellow) and then another one with a nice picture of Krisna on it. Sadly, the St George's cross guitar seems to have disappeared. I was really stunned by the whole thing. I expected them to be good, but not this good! Nay, this brilliant!

(picture @ Botanique, Q magazine)

But then my friend and I made a horrible mistake. Right before they started playing Govinda, we decided to take some pictures. We had made two and before we knew it, this guy stood behind us and told us to leave. Eh? There was no escape possible. Unless...this really was a spaceship and he was Darth Vader. Sadly, that wasn't the case, although I still have my suspicions about him not being Darth Vader. LOL. So, we went outside. I was totally stunned and angry and then this stupid guy with more muscle than brain came up to us. He was definitely the spawn of Satan! He told us that the band's tourproduction asked them to take the films out of the cameras and give it to them but two seconds later he changed his story to 'we never allow people to take pictures'. And this whilst my friend has taken pictures in that venue two or three times before! I was too stunned to say anything (also, I was listening to Govinda inside!) and Fabienne tried to convince them to let us be. All this for 2 (!) measely pictures! We had no other option that to open up our cameras and give them the film rolls. Fabienne's camera was a bit rebellious because he couldn't get it all out so he just tore the film in two! Charming. Needless to say, this all spoilt the fun quite a lot. But we may be glad that we didn't take any pictures before or we would have missed the whole concert. Looking back at it, it must have been very funny to see us going out like that. I mean, we were on the second row and we had to go all to the back, up the stairs. :-)) We stood outside afterwards and this guy who stood in front of me told me that they had done the same thing to him two years ago. And that they were pigs. hmm, something for Pauli then! ;-) And then I found out that the girl who also stood in front of me, got Pauli's drumstick. Bugger!!! Never thought that the first Kula gig was going to be the first gig I was gonna be thrown out! (I still can't get over the other girls who also took pics and weren't thrown out!)

We hung around to see them afterwards but they had escaped again. We did get two plectrums each from this extremely nice roadie who told us the band had left but that they would be back in April....Can't wait. But then...without a camera. Kula Shaker are one of the best bands in the world...and they are here to stay...for sure!

Watch the skies, my friends!

I've got my plecs, now all I need is a guitar!