Marktrock, Leuven, Belgium, 13 August 2005
by Dirk

My wife Nadine, and myself arrived in Leuven around 12.30h. After finding a parking place and looking for the Oude Markt, we were there a little bit before 13.00h. The other fans from the board arrived shortly after that or were already there, Johan and Emma, Mailla, Alison, Leo, Muriel, Bea and Kathy, Virginie, Carmen and Fie, Roy, Mieke, Aeleorn and her girlfriend, BigBadBull and his friends, Miss T-Time, ... and I'm sure I forgot someone so sorry for that.



First we went to take a look on the Oude Markt where we decided to have a drink on a terrace. We sat there for a while, and to our surprise they started to close the market place without chasing us away.In other words, we could stay on the market without having to pay.
Around 15.30h we started heading towards the stage to take place on the front row, we actually took in practically the entire first row :^)



At 18.00h the first concert started but at that time there weren't a lot of people there yet. Wim Soutaer a Belgian artist, sang some of his hits, not really what we came for but ok. Then followed Estelle, an R&B artist. Not bad but not really my thing. The Human League then, OOOHHHH I got nostalgic :^) , yes again. I really loved their act. I knew every single song, and when they started "Don't You Want me" then also all the Texas fans went crazy. And as a bonus, they played my favorite League song "Being Boiled", great.
Then Vaya Con Dios followed. After a 9 year hiatus Dani Klein's voice is still great, so is their music but in my opinion it didn't really fit into the Marktrock concept. It's hard to get a public from mainly younger people warm for their kind of music.


Ok, 23.30 Texas time, finally.
From the first note, even before the first note, you could see that the crowd was ready to have a good time and they were in the mood for Texas. When I looked over my shoulder over the square it was fantastic to see the old houses with the lights, people hanging out their windows, all the people standing on the square itself and some soft rain falling down in the spotlights.
The band came onstage and started with "I Don't Want A Lover", followed by "Halo". Sharleen and all the guys looked really happy, and so did the crowd, so I guess it works both ways which is normal. Isn't it like that will all good things? :^) Then "Can't Resist", a great concert song, an all time classic "Black Eyed Boy", "In Our Lifetime", "When We Are Together" (great to hear that again) and then came "Sleep". Paul wasn't there so one of the guys had to do the second part and since Michael just gave Shar the scare of her life by showing up with a rose half naked next to her .... so it was only normal she chose Tony, although my wife would have thought different :^) But Tony did a really great job.

"Nevermind" is such a fantastic amazing song. It's one of those songs which I will always treasure close to my heart, for several reasons. "Inner Smile" has always been one of my favorite concert songs, it's fun. And I wasn't the only one to think that. Even if the song finished the crowd kept going "yeah, yeah, yeah, ..." Just amazing, and the band was also thrilled by that. "Getaway" will certainly become a big hit and "Summer Son" has already proven it's value.

After an hour and ten minutes, the band went off stage, but they just HAD to come back, the "yeah, yeah's" and "we want more" sounded pretty loud over the square. "What About Us? (Dallas)" was the first encore, I love it, followed by "Say What You Want" to which the crowd sang a great second voice. The end of a great concert and a fantastic experience.



What attracts me a lot at Texas concerts is the interaction which Shar has with the crowd, it's not just a boring performance from some songs like lots of bands do, it's the feeling towards the fans from "we are here for you and we like it also". I hope that makes sense. The fun they all have on stage reflects towards the audience and the fans reflect that to eachother. That's what makes it all so great. So once again, not only thanks to Texas, but also thanks to all you wonderful people who were there and also thanks to the ones who couldn't be there, you were with us in our hearts. You all became very dear friends of mine and that's something to value.
You know, or you don't know, that a while ago I said I had this dream about a Texas concert where all the fans could be together. Well, it came close :^)
A real sweet thing to do was that Sharleen proposed a toast to all the fans and to me also. I'll cherish that in my heart for ever.



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