Concert review
Flanders Expo, Gent, Belgium - 21 April 2001
by Dirk
It's all about chemistry
After every previous Texas concert I thought .... it can't get any better then this. And every time after the next concert I have to say .... yes it can.
Gent, 14.00hrs. My son Robin who's 13 and myself arrived at Flanders Expo. I was surprised that, unlike in Amsterdam, there were already about 10 people there so we didn't have to wait there by ourselves for a few hours in the freezing cold. Nicky and Julia were already waving at us when they saw us arrive so we had a welcomingscommittee :^) Bea and Kathy arrived a couple of minutes later with the best pizza available in Gent which of course was always welcome.
Lots of other people arrived during the next couple of hours, all friendly, kind, great people, .... what a Texas fan should be like :^) Luckily, the weather we had here the past days was better now so we didn't have to ski or swim to the venue.
They let us in at 18.30, Bea had to pick up the VIP passes which Kathy won to receive the record award (yes, I'm still jealous) after the concert. One overactive security guard acted like a jerk and said to Bea she had to wait another hour before she could get her passes. That guy doesn't know Bea, that didn't work, way to go Beaaaaaaaaaa.
OK, so we got in, I runned the 100 meters (who seemed like a mile to me) in 10 secs, I can't keep up with Kathy but I beated several others for a photo finish. So the positions in front of the stage were on the first row, Kathy, Bea (for who we saved a place), Julia, Nicky, myself and Robin.
The supporting act was a Belgian band called Das Pop. In my opinion they were amazingly good, the singer and the sound was like David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust era, good voice, nice songs, disgusting T-shirts (but funny), very good. It's one of the very first times I didn't look at my watch constantly during a supporting act.
After a half an hour break, my legs started to shake, Zero Zero started, Shar's dad caught the curtain and yesssssss "In Demand". I'm not gonna go through the entire set list, I just wanna say that "So In Love With You" was played instead of "Put Your Arms Around Me". Magnificent song but they just let my favorite live song out :-( Ok, I forgive them. Sharleen told us she had a cold so was having some problems with her voice, but she did great, no doubt about it. Maybe that's the reason they chose "So In Love" above PYAAM, it may have been a bit easier on her voice.
Belgian audiences need some time to warm up, we sometimes have cold winters here, but once they were launched .... they were launched.
I hope (and I'm almost sure) that Johnny noticed that we didn't forget his birthday, so during the Inner Smile yeah yeah's we were all pointing at him, a cute Johnny smile appeared on his face so he saw. Congratulations Johnny.
The moment came when Shar should call a guy up on stage. I warned my companions that I wouldn't go up there because I would faint right in front of Sharleen but they tried anyway. Was I lucky (or not) that a guy called Erwin stuck his tongue out to Sharleen so he was the victim (or lucky one). For someone who doesn't speak Dutch it probably wasn't funny, but I crashed when Shar asked him if he was from Gent, he said, nooooo I come from "Zomer(g)hem in the funniest dialect. Anyway, he did good considering he was incredible nervous which I can imagine.
So the concert was over, in tears we had to see Bea and Kathy go backstage (still jealous) while Julia, Nicky, Robin and myself got pushed away by again overactive security guards who used the fences as wiper. We decided to get a drink, buy another tour book (they get cheaper near the end of the tour), buy some chips, spill some ketchup on my shirt and stroll towards the tour busses (this was about 45 minutes after the concert ended).
When we arrived there we saw those three great looking giant tour busses with next to that a 20 year old rusty Peugeot camionet with the guys from Das Pop in it who were just leaving. A bang and some smoke appeared when they tried to start the "thing" so I almost choked in my chips. It was actually the contrast which seamed funny to me.
We were almost to late to see Sharleen entering the tour bus, she seemed very tired and couldn't speak a word because of her cold. I truly hope she will feel better because they already have to play in Paris tomorrow (April 22). She patiently signed everyone's "things" and my tourbook. There was really a big crowd there waiting, I was surprised.
Now .... here it comes.
Seconds after Shar signed my tourbook, Bea came running to me and said, "we've been looking all over for you", and she turned to Gerry (Johnny's almost twin brother and manager) and said, "this is Dirk". It seems Bea told the band I was there so Bea, Ally, Gerry came looking for us inside the hall but couldn't find us.
Gerry grabbed my arm, said I had to follow him and brought me to Ally, Eddie, Tony, Charlotte, ..... and introduced me to them. They told me they knew about the website, how much they like it, ..... I was nervous, thrilled, incredible happy, ..... all at the same time. We talked a while, they autographed my tourbook. It was great to meet you, thanks guys.
Robin, who normally doesn't speak a word English started to talk to Ally, I hope he understood a word of it :^) He said to Ally, "you are the best" and Ally said to him "and you are the best young Texas fan". Oh my, now he's done it. On the way back home Robin borrowed almost my entire collection CD's, asked when he could start to learn how to play the guitar, wanted to watch a Texas video at 2.00am in the morning and woke up my wife to tell her all about it :^) Good thing she thought it was funny.
And to Kathy, Bea, Nicky & Julia, thanks for another great day with great Texas fans. See you in August.
back to the articles page
If you dont see a toolbar on the left then please click here