"i met this girl when i was three years old. and what i loved most, she had so much soul. she said "excuse me little homie, i know you don't know me, but my name is wendy and i like to blow trees". and from that point i never blow her off."

"i'm coming home again. baby, do you remember when fireworks at lake michigan?"

two nights ago i had a dream about coldplay.

i dream about famous people all the time, it's awesome. for example, i've had a few bloc party dreams and a lot of jennifer lopez dreams. recently i had a nada surf dream where the singer was wearing the same shoes as me, which was funny because i was wearing the pink vintage keds i bought on ebay months ago. dreams about celebs are usually my funnest dreams and i always wake up smiling.

i've also dreamt of coldplay before.
this one dream, i was at a little venue where they were playing. i told chris martin that "your music changed my life!" and then i quickly added "in a good way, as in my life is better now", as to make sure he wouldn't think that i meant that his music changed my life in a bad way, lol. then i got up on chris martin's back and we flew away, haha. it was great.
another coldplay dream was even cooler. it was a while back, and i don't remember all of it. i do remember that i was in a room with the band, and at some point i was kind of sad that they were sitting way at the other side of the room as though they didn't like me. but turned out, they were writing a song for me. i told them how much the band meant to me, and one of the guys told me "you mean just as much to us".

anyway, this coldplay dream a few nights ago started with me walking out of a concert venue or something. chris martin was just  getting out his limo, just right there on the street. no one else was there, so i talked to him and tried to express how much i love his music. he asked "what is your favourite coldplay song?" and i answered "sparks" quickly. then my dream-self thought "hm, actually my favourite coldplay song is 'don't panic', but in fact i might love 'sparks' better and i should maybe change my favourite song to 'sparks'...". then chris martin went: "'sparks?', i don't know that song". and i thought "WHAT!? he doesn't remember all of his songs from his first album!?", but i didn't say that out loud. instead i tried to get him to remember "sparks", so i sang the part of the song that goes "oohhh, sing one we know" (which is in the heading of this journal, by the way). he started writing some things down for me, and i saw him try to write down "sing one we know" but he wrote down something competely different (it seemed gibberish). then he handed me the papers he'd written, they were sort of "letters" to me as a thank you from him, and by then there was a huge "line" of fans behind me. i left and saw that one of the papers was printed (which is sort of weird, given he didn't exactly type anything). even though it was kind of a strange "meet" with chris martin, and it sucked that he didn't remember "sparks", i was still so happy and so honoured that he wrote those letters to me, and i wanted to tell everyone about it.

yesterday it was raining/snowing, so a good day to go shopping, right? right, so i went to american apparel, because we have that in antwerp now which it's AWESOME. i like to go there to take a break from h&m clothes. i still love h&m, but everyone shops there and you're hardly ever original when you buy something there: every girl in antwerp wears the same h&m skinny jeans. i've known the american apparal brand for a few years, over the internet and such, so it's great to finally have a store in belgium.

the american apparel style is more "classic" and low key than h&m, more "grown up" and less "in your face". they don't do prints, which is fine with me, because i don't really do printed t-shirts except for band shirts. in the antwerp store they'll usually have only about three different types of t-shirts, three types of skirts, three types of sweaters, three types of sweat pants, etc, usually costing about 35 euro each. they have a large collection of underwear and swimwear, all at 10-12 euro. so compared to h&m, there's way less to choose from and it's more expensive. BUT almost everything they sell is buy-able, unlike h&m where about 30-40% of the clothes make you go "WHO WEARS THIS SHIT?!". the great thing about the brand is that each of type of clothing comes in about 5 colours, which makes american apparel THE store to buy basics and mix&match-pieces. it's perfect for people who like the layered look, like me, because every shirt/sweater/dress comes in different lenghts or colours, without each piece being too "loud" (often the case with h&m).

american apparel has a huge collection of leggings though (shiny, disco-ball-y, long, 3/4, ...), and leggings are a trend that i never understood. i remember seeing lindsay lohan wear them like two/three years ago and i just thought "i hope girls in the streets aren't going to get into this" (ok, so i didn't actually think "in the streets", but whatever). the girls "in the streets" did get into it, though, and the past two summers all you saw were skirts and dresses with 3/4-leggings under it. after a while i started getting so used to the look of it, that i felt compelled to start wearing leggings under my skirts/dresses as well, but i didn't give in! so far my legs have seen no leggings! i mean, if you have the legs to wear a short skirt/dress, then don't wear leggings to (half) cover those legs! and if you're a little fat, just DON'T wear short skirts/dresses and most definitely DON'T wear leggings because they will make you fatter. and DON'T wear high boots AND 3/4-leggings, so that there's about 2 cm of leg showing, that just looks weird. 3/4-leggings and ankle boots or ballerina's are the way to go. long leggings and boots are ok too, but then you should just wear panty's. by the way, lindsay lohan is STILL wearing leggings (she also hasn't gotten the memo yet that leggings are SO two years ago), but now she's wearing them as pants. a picture demonstrating that you should not wear leggings as pants AND demonstrating that even "thinner" girls can look fat in leggings? well, sure: http://img11.imagevenue.com/view.php?image=82225_lilo012sandino_122_671lo.jpg.

 god, i hope girls in the streets aren't going to get into this!

anyway, not considering the leggings, the antwerp american apparel store has a decent (but rather small) collection of h&m-alternatives that are more "adult" and more expensive.

"that is a dream, it is what it seems": nada surf, 25 february 2008, botanique (orangerie)

ever since i saw nada surf live in gent (vooruit) in 2007 (http://lavake.livejournal.com/9321.html#cutid1), they've been one of my favourite bands. that concert was the best concert i saw in 2006 and it was only topped in 2007 by interpol in vorst. i'm just trying to say: i LOVE nada surf and they do long and KICK ASS live shows.

their new album "lucky" is poppy, melodic and pure, like "the weight is a gift". it doesn't have as many AMAZING songs on it as the last one, there's only two songs that i love love love: "weightless" and "whose authority", but there are no awful songs on it either, they are all very good.

anyway, i was looking forward to this show so much, so i got there about an hour early because i know they're "big in wallonië", lol. there was a line already. i stood front row a little to the left of singer/guitarist matthew caws who is CUTE in a geeky way. he came out to take a picture with a fangirly fan before the show, by the way, and was just walking around the building. i managed to restrain myself and didn't scream out anything like "oh my GOD YOU ARE MY THIRD FAVOURITE BAND AND "PAPER BOATS" IS ONE OF THE PRETTIEST SONGS EVER!!!!". it still puzzles me as to how i managed not to scream like that, actually.

the support show was roque wave, which was ok.

nada surf played a great show, and very long just like the last time i saw them. it's so refreshing to see a band that obviously enjoys playing and actually knows the strenghts and weaknesses of their own work. they also connect well with the audience, the last time i saw them they played like three requests, and this time they came back two times (7 encores, and then another 2) and i think they didn't plan on playing "popular" but gave in to the crowd's demand.

they played almost all of my favourite nada surf songs. i only wish they would have played "concrete bed" and "amateur". favourite songs of the show: whose authority, what is your secret, weightless, killian's red, paper boats, 30 windows, blizzard of '77, always love, blankest year, imaginary friends, popular. i was in tears like 5 times.

the crowd was really into it, but the bitch standing next to me bugged the hell out of me. she was like 10 years old, she was squeezed her way to the front row next to me and then was like "my friend wants to come stand next to me", i was like "uhm", and she was like "well THANKS A LOT! very FRIENDLY!".... and i was just like "mmmmkay!?". during rogue wave she kept trying to sort of "slide" her foot closer to me to make room for her friend, but luckily i'm not as dumb as she is and i just stood my ground and stepped on her toes a lot. during nada surf she actually answered her cell phone several times and then was like "WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!! I'M AT A CONCERT!!"... it was soooo annoying! her and her friend were "totally huge fans of nada surf" but didn't know half of their songs, and kept talking during the show. also they kept screaming "i love you" to nada surf and the roque wave guys, but then we heard them ask what the name of the support act was... oh yeah HUGE fans they were! and they kept screaming for drum sticks and shit, and when the roadie gave them the setlist of rogue wave, they didn't know what it was and went like "what's this? i don't want this! i want the drum stick!!"... lol. hilarious but SO annoying and disrespectful to people LIKE ME who actually go to concerts for the music and actually really love the band.

anyway: awesome show. definitely one of my favourite shows of all time

youtube video's of the show. they aren't mine, i was standing wayyyy to the right, in front of matthew.
"weightless": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wur3zgnn8I
"popular", the crowd was pretty wild in this, and so is bassist daniel:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCRNEB9aC50
"always love": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGu5bGFAqHA

pictures of the show (not mine): www.wannabes.be

review for goddeau (mine): http://www.goddeau.com/content/view/4429

"pro-bono pro-bongo?"

exam went very well. "tsjecho-hongarije"-girl was there and we agreed that h&m jeans seem to be made for girls without an ass (god knows why, it's not like there are that many girls who have a straight line from the back of their legs to their lower back! plus, guys don't even find ass-less girls attractive).

i will go shopping now.

i am so glad exams are over. this leaves me with even more time to figure out how the hell i'm going to continue posting about john mayer here every day. i mean, he's interesting and omni-present and all, but there's only so much hilarious appearences one singer-songwriter can do on vh1. right? right. plus, i can't stop NOW: with exams over, i won't know what to do with myself if i have to give up my john mayer fascination.

pro-bono pro-bongo!

since my john mayer obsession is the most exciting thing this journal has seen in years, here's part three.

yesterday i decided to check some of his music out, because, well, turns out that's his main acticity. who knew, right? i sure didn't. seemed to me like he had made a career out of being hilarious on youtube. who would have thought that besides making video's about shaving and meat, doing interviews on all sorts of american shows and show up in random vh1 features, he actually had time to make music!?

well, he does. he's made a few albums with great success in the united states, and no success whatsoever in europe. also he formed a trio called - ... guess! no really! guess! - "the john mayer trio", a blues trio. so far i've heard about five songs, and they're ok. it's "adult alternative", a genre i try to avoid as much as possible,  which seems to be a euphimism for "pop music made by people older than 25 that sounds like folk sometimes". however, the fact that john mayer is immensely awesome makes his music a whole lot cooler, even if it is "adult alternative". so far, i love "daughters" which is your basic acoustic ballad à la coldplay but less good. the lyrics to "daughters" are beautiful though. it's been stuck in my head all day. today, i kept breaking into song at the most random moments whilst trying to memorise the different ways to go into appeal, bursting out "faaathers be good to your daaaaaaaaughters" ("tears!", lol). so that was distracting.

also distracing were the john mayer hallucinations i had last night. i am not kidding, it was fairly disturbing. i kept waking up, and i had those "flashing thoughts" you get when you have a fever, except this time they were john mayer themed. could have been worse, i guess. i would have liked the sleep though.

i'll keep you updated. i myself am very interested to see where this is going. i don't know if there are any new heights to reach - nightly hallucinations are pretty much the highest height - but we'll see!

things i've found out about john mayer.

as youtube keeps feeding my john mayer obession, here's a list of things i've found out about him, while i should be studying.

- i already knew him back in my ohnotheydidnt addiction days, but didn't remember, as "the guy who dated  jessica simpson". i had no idea who he was though back then, so i didn't pay any attention to him in the millions of paparazzi shots i saw those nine months. i just laughed at jessica's fashion sense.
- he's very famous and popular in the united states, where he's won grammy's and stuff.
- he does stand up comedy which explains a lot. and he wants to design sneakers.
- according to some magazines, he used to be a geek and is now a "guitar god". both have been disputed.
- make-up-sex, is not his thing ("fuck you!").
- he has dated jennifer love hewitt, who is fat now according to people magazine, but still pretty.
- he's still hilarious. and hot.
- he's addicted to watches.
- oh yeah, he also makes music and stuff.

i'll keep you updated as i continue my journey in john mayer's wonderland. you americans out there should probably stop reading, though, because you all know everthing about him already since he's faaaamous.

have to go study now. but first there's this one video that --

i have a huge crush on john mayer.

his interpol-esque version of "i think she knows" is brilliant and addictive, he's extremely attractive, he has an unhealthy obession with shoarma and he jokes about dog fighting. i don't know anything about him and i can't form an opinion about his music to save my life, but i can tell you this much: he's a character.

and, seriously, youtube is a goldmine of hilarious john mayer video's. there's one of john making an ass of himself in front of kanye west: "first, the white guy and the black guy must meet and, to do that, a fumbling must occur". there's one of him doing an improv/"say it right" version of youtube classic "chocolate rain" ("that's keeper shit right there").


i've been spending way too much time on youtube. i blame it on the most boring exam EVER i have on tuesday. who gives a shit about the different ways to set a court date, when i can watch john mayer making girls cry.

THE BEST OF MY 2007

disclaimers:
- it says MY 2007 because the listed cd's, songs and books aren't limited to 2007 editions. it's a personal listing: the highlights of the previous year of my life. i discover old cd's and bands regularly, and i want to give them a spot in these end-of-year lists of mine.
- obviously, "best live" is limited to 2007.
- underlined are super-highlights. underlined AND bold are mega-super-uber-highlights.
- i listed the songs and live shows alphabetically.
- the song list is about a page shorter than last year's. but: it was a GOOD year for concerts, with interpol touring and getting free tickets from goddeau!

INTERPOL: "suprise sometimes will come around"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
(interpol, 23 nov 2007, vorst nationaal)


PRELUDE

i didn't go to my afternoon classes so i could be there about an hour or so before the doors opened. when joachim and i arrived, only about 6 other people were waiting. we waited outside (in the cold!) for about an hour and a half. when the doors opened, joachim and i ran like crazy, only two other people were faster than us, so we ended up standing front row only a little to the right of paul paul interpol (so in between paul and carlos). we played cards and i read cosmopolitan until the support act started: blonde redhead, a cool electro/trance-ish band with the cutest and very "jenny-lewis-from-rilo-kiley"-like japanese/chinese/whatever singer. the only thing that bugged me were the big bass-boxes right in front of me. it was so loud and annoying and i fear for my ears, because i already have ear damage from the time ebfore i used to wear ear protection. i was scared my ear protection wasn't good enough for this, and debated giving up my front row spots to go stand further away. whilst waiting for interpol, however, i decided to put in my other (wax) ear plugs, and they're supposed to be better, so i decided to give it another go.


INTERPOL: "i will surprise you sometime, i'll come around, when you're down."

(my wax ear plugs were fine, they protected my ears very well, and after a few songs i knew there was no way i'd give up my front row spot. so let's move on to more interesting things.)

interpol has been my favourite live band for over three years, ever since i saw them at werchter. they were ok this summer at werchter, but the crowd was awful, so i expected more out of this concert. and they didn't disapoint! during the first three songs i had to stop myself from crying because i was just like "wow. oh my god. this means so much to me!". they moved me to tears about 5 times, and i jumped/danced like crazy to almost all of the other songs. in my book they remain: best live band!

about the setlist. i've seen them twice now, so i'd hoped for a different setlist: perhaps some b-sides or rare songs ("specialist"!!) or rare live songs ("untitled", "the new", "roland", ...). they ended up playing the setlist they did at werchter, minus "leif erikson" and plus a lot of "turn on the bright lights" songs. basically, they played almost all of "turn on the bright lights", not a lot of "antics" and of course most of "our love to admire". overall, it was a very satisfying setlist because they played two of my all time favourite songs that i hadn't heard them play live yet: "nyc" and "untitled". i liked that they played "hands away" and "stella was a diver and she was always down" even though those aren't my most favourite songs. i did some research and they played "specialist" on some shows during this tour, and it sucks so much ass that they didn't play it when i saw them... i love "specialist". but: apparentely we were the only show (besides the one in madison square garden) where they did two rounds of encores! yay! they totally loved us!

( complete setlist )

paul, usually so quiet, seemed very impressed and constantly said "thank you!", and he often looked totally surprised when the whole crowd started clapping along. daniel's moves were hot and totaly off-beat as usual, but he looked awesome and even stood on top of the boxes in front of him at one point. carlos was being the weirdo he is and looked scary but awesome, he threw lots of things into the crowd and almost hit me in the head twice with is plectrums. they fell right where i was, but i didn't look for them (the girls behind me did), i figured i'd rather watch the show and take the memories with me, than sit on my knees looking for something and miss two songs. sam was drinking beer (belgian, i suppose), and at the end of the concert he pointed at a black boy on the front row (who had been singing along perfectly to all the songs, i'd noticed) and sam said: "you're great, man, you made my evening!". sam was also the only one wearing a white t-shirt, the others were in their usual black "interpol-uniforms". paul even had on a black scarf in the beginning which looked totally ridiculous, but he's still brilliant even if he looks silly. the piano-guy-who's-not-a-real-band-member-anyway was wearing a weird white hat.

the highlights: "pioneer to the falls" (the part where it goes "i know you try, you fly straight into my heart"), "slow hands" when the crowd behind me completely blew up, "evil" ("rosemary!"), the last part of "the heinrich maneuver" ("i've got a plan, look forward in my eyes!") and all of the magical encores (see next paragraph).

the encores. the three "turn on the bright lights" encores were magical: "nyc" made me bawl my eyes out, so moving ("new york cares! (got to be some more change in my life...)"), "stella was a diver and she was always down" was great ("she broke away, broke away!") and the last part of "PDA" was brilliant as always (where daniel goes "nothing to saaaaaaay when there's nothing to do! aaaaa-aaah, aaa-aaaaaah"). for the second encore they did "untitled" (i had expected/hoped as much since that's what they did at the madison sqaure garden show) which is one of my favourite interpol songs and one of first i loved on "turn on the bright lights", so it's very special to me.

best concert in a long, long time. actually: my best live experience. (my last "best live experience" had been interpol at werchter the first time, so basically they beat themselves.)

went to the lotto arena (antwerp) to see bloc party yesterday. it was great! best setlist out of all the times i've seen them!


thoughts on: LOTTO ARENA
---------------------------------

lotto arena kicks ass because:
- it's only 10 minutes from where i live.
- i arrived after the support act, and was just in time for bloc party, but could just walk all the way to the front.
- the crowd wasn't squeezed together, there was plenty of room (probably because it wasn't sold out).
- i liked the sound and lights.
- they don't check your bag for bottles of water or camera's or anything really.

bad points for the lotto arena because:
- they don't check your bags for weapons either.
- it's vorst nationaal sized (lotto arena holds 7500 people i believe, i don't know about vorst).
- the vestiaire: i stood in line for 20 minutes and it's expensive and i almost lost my number-ticket.


thoughts on: BLOC PARTY
---------------------------------

- kele put on a red bear costume he'd found backstage (i think) for the encores.
- kele then crowdsurfed during "she's hearing voices" and danced amongst the crowd.
- then kele climbed on the tribune and got group-hugged by about 100 people. it was awesome.
- they played (almost) ALL my favourite songs!
- they played songs that they hardly ever play live (not the other few times i saw them anyways): "blue light" and "luno" ("come back to me the way we were, the way we were when we were young!") to which kele said "we haven't played this song in a long time, but we decided to take this bad boy out", lol.
- they played almost all of "silent alarm" and not too much of "weekend in the city", probably to cover up the fact that "weekend in the city" is less good.
- i think they didn't play "i still remember", thank god, because that song annoys me.
- they played the best songs off of their second album.
- some girl in the front row flashed her breasts, and always-topless-drummer matt tong said "i can't believe there's someone in the room who's more naked than me!!". kele praised the girl for showing her tits and handed her the microphone. the girl was like "i love you guys!! i saw you at werchter and it was AMAZING!! and i especially love you russell! russell, russell, RUSSELL!!!". and then kele said "but the rest of the band is awesome too!".
- the crowd was great! and not pushy/agressive at all like in the ab last time, i had plenty of room to dance!

music/writing update.
-----------------------

recently saw live:
- air traffic, marconi studio
- air traffic, ab
- patrick watson & cold war kids, depot
- arcade fire, vorst

concerts to come:
- the national, ab (maybe)
- bloc party, lotto arena
- kaiser chiefs, lotto arena --> for goddeau
- pinback, trix
- INTERPOL, vorst
- kate nash, botanique --> for goddeau
- maroon 5 + dashboard confessional, lotto arena
- athlete, depot --> for goddeau

recent goddeau.com reviews:
- air traffic, ab
- athlete, "beyond the neighbourhood"
- kate nash, "made of bricks"

goddeau.com reviews to come:
- kaiser chiefs, lotto arena
- kate nash, botanique
- athlete, depot


school update.
---------------

school sucks ass. al lot of the time, i don't go to class. or i get ready to go to class, get on my bike, realise it's raining, go upstairs to change my coat, stay there and never leave. or when i'm actually in class, realise i can't keep my eyes open it's so boring, remember i never take notes anyway, and leave during the break. i feel guilty about it sometimes, but then i just tell myself that, last semester (before summer vacation), i skipped one class most of the time too, and i didn't "study" during that semester either (i did study during exam time of course), and i still got 17/20 on those classes. so maybe the less i do during the semesters, the better grades i get! right? right! anyway, like my brother said: i just have to enjoy all the free time i have now! my weekend can be three, four, even 7 days! ahhhhhhh! and THAT's why college beats high school's ass. in high school you had to pretend you had a cold or whatever to even get out of gym class!! hard times. another reason why college is funner than high school: you can eat and drink during classes! yay! it rocks because i'm always hungry and i need to eat every 20 minutes or i faint or something... actually, i really wouldn't know what would happen because i've never gone very long without eating. except maybe yesterday when we were going to pizza hut with everyone, so i tried not to eat too much during the day so i could actually eat my entire pizza for once... but i still couldn't finish it completely.

this post is going nowhere.

about five months late, but ah well. here's part three of the pukkelpop review!



PUKKELPOP 2007: everytime you close your eyes (lies, lies!)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

day 3: saturday 18/08.
- the rakes. was ok.
- voxtrot. don't really remember, so obviously not mindblowing.
- THE SHINS. i do love the shins, their lyrics, their melodies and their personalities, AND the band t-shirt i bought at the festival. but this show was not amazing :/. maybe the one in the botanique last year was too great to repeat, but i did feel like they could have easily played a better set... it's a little too radiohead for me to not play the hit everyone was yelling for - "new slang" - but i believe that was because they ran out of time. i don't exactly remember which songs they played, but i think they did "know your onion!", "so says i", "australia", "caring is creepy" and "a call to apathy tentative title" which are all great songs, but they should have left out the others basically. i still love them though! overall their show was better than 90% of what i saw at pukkelpop. i'd just expected something as brilliant as last time i saw them.
- the streets. "fit but you know it" and "dry your eyes" are great songs, but mike skinner + sunlight + main stage is a bad combination.
- i think we also saw spoon. if it's the show i'm thinking of it was ok-ish.
- a little bit of lcd soundsystem which i didn't like.
- hanne hukkelberg. bjork-like psychedelic pop music. i liked it a lot! the chateau stage was as full as the vooruit stage when sufjan stevens played there. the music was quirky, poppy and sunny.
- ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD. amaaaaazing! i have never seen a show that rocked as much as theirs, "rocked" in the actual rock-sense: it was wild, energetic, primitive, sort of scary and exciting. they didn't play one of my all time favourite songs "how near, how far" even though a lot of people in the crowd screamed for it. since i've only thoroughly listened to "source tags and codes", i think i only knew "relative ways" and "another morning stoner". however, the show was interesting enough even without knowing the songs: they went crazy and smashed several guitars, crashed one into a drumset while someone was still drumming, almost broke the keyboard and handed out the bits and pieces of the various instruments. one of tyhe singers was even bleeding at one point. and the roadies were so excited they couldn't stop themselves singing along into the mic while they were supposed to put the instruments back together. also: kudos to the little cute club that was hardly still standing after this show. there were maybe like 200 people (most were watching sonic youth in the marquee) and almost all of them got to be face to face with one of the band members at some point djuring their set. i was standing front row so i got squished a few times, but that only added to the rock-value of the evening.

PUKKELPOP 2007: everytime you close your eyes (lies, lies!)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

day 2: thursday 17/08.
- art brut. always fun to see.cool singer, sometimes hilarious lyrics ("my little brother just discovered rock&roll!").
- THE VIEW. very cool band, i really like their album. the more rocky songs really got the crowd going - crowdsurfing, moshpitts - but i like the quieter kooks-like songs more. highlights were: "street lights" ("it's a big crowd tonight"), "face for the radio", "same jeans" ("everybody's dressing up, i'm dressing down!") and "the don". a girl from the netherlands behind me had the cutest little boots, she said she'd got them from HEMA, but i didn't find them in antwerp :/.
- BADLY DRAWN BOY. i feel bad for him sometimes: he's very underrated, and he knows it. last time i saw him (botanique) he was pissed too, and this time he stopped halfway through a song because it wasn't working out. poor guy. he played a good show though, even if he left out a few of his best songs ("above you below me", "something to say"). i liked that he played "a minor incident", that's really a beautiful song, and "silent sigh" made me tear up again...
- little part of dj jazzy jeff simply because he's a childhood hero of mine (all together now: "iiiiiiiiiin west-philadelphia born and raised...").
- ARCADE FIRE. my first time and i was very impressed! very very moved, excited, touched... and i wasn't even a fan before! highlights were: "laika" ("it's for your own good! it's for the neighborhood!"), "haiti", "keep the car running", "no cars go". super highlight (maybe even THE best song of the entire festival this year) was "rebellion/lies" which is a song i love love loveeeeeeee and it reminds me so much of high school. "sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is". i was disapointed they didn't play "in the backseat", "neon bible" and "my body is a cage", but i really can't complain. near the end of the concert two lesbiennes came to stand next to me, which bugged me immensely because i needed that room to dance around. one of them was crting hysterically, i blame the weed. a lot of people complain ed that the sound was horrible, but honestly i didn't notice. i did notice that it was very quiet (but that's usually the case for the pukkelpop main stage, compared to the werchter stage) and i took out my earplugs for "rebellion/lies" because it deserved it.

day 3: thursday 18/08. --> some other time!


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on another note: i started working in a supermarket today, in the dairy (and freezer) department. i have to put stuff on shelves, arrange the shelves so they look fuller and more interesting or check dates. it's a very boring job and my supervisor is kind of a nag: she's already blamed me for a bunch of stuff that weren't my fault, and she thinks she's told me stuff when really she hasn't. it's very furstrating. also i feel totally un-qualified for this job because i'm extremely clumsy and a total scatterbrain. i kept putting strawberry yoghurt where the peach yoghurt should be and apparantely the world will end if you do that, because, my supervisor told me, she could have lost 10 euro or whatever if she hadn't stopped me!! luckily she did!!! damn, she needs to chill the fuck out. also she made me touch gross stuff like sausages (in packages, but still) and diet stuff!! ewwwwwww diet stuff! i kept thinking: man, i don't even know what half of this shit IS, and the other half i wouldn't even put NEAR food i'd actually eat. yuck. but ah well it pays and it's only five mornings a week.

PUKKELPOP 2007: everytime you close your eyes (lies, lies!)
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day 1: thursday 16/08.
- apse. kind of ok, but got boring after a while. plus, the chateau always makes me sleepy.
- 1990's. fun.
- liars. i don't remember seeing them at all, but someone spotted us in the crowd, so apparentely we were there. can't say it was memorable. (my god, this report is sucking major ass. sorry about that, can't make up exciting things where they didn't happen though.)
-RILO KILEY. jenny lewis looked very fashion statement-y in her glitter bathingsuit type of thing. the new album sounds great, but i was so very sad they didn't play "better son/daughter" which is only like my life's anthem.
-EDITORS. i still like their music, but the singer really grew himself an attitude. ok, it's cool to get "into" your music (chris martin). and yeah, sometimes looking like a druggie in rehab works (thom yorke). butttttt you can't fake it, my dearest lead singer of editors (whatever his name is), it needs to be sincere. also, CUT YOUR HAIR. the tight pants, however, were appreciated. i also really loved the version of "munich" they did. in the other shows i saw of them, "munich" was already over before it started, which sucks because it's their best song. this time i felt they managed to stretch it just long enough.
-fall out boy. yeah yeah yeaaaaaaaaah, i knooooow. seeing fall out boy is very wrong, bad bad sanne. oh seriously who cares. it was cool to see pete wentz in real life, he looked very much like he does on those candid pics of him going to starbucks or whatever on ohnotheydidnt. it's obvious they picked him as the front man, simply because the singer it buttugly. i still think "sugar we're going down swinging" is a good song, it reminds me so much of last summer and high school. good times. also, "this ain't a scene it's an arms race" was funny, because i'm addicted to the youtube misheard lyrics version of it ("also into cats": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LucfKdukf10&mode=related&search=).
- M.I.A.. great! i loved her outrageous outfit, her energy, the screen animations (jungle book!). i think this was the only time i was in the dance hall, and proud of it!
- KAISER CHIEFS. i loooooooooooooooved it. i never really realise how much i like their songs until i see them live. i was so happy the audience was funner than when i saw them at werchter and had to escape :/. also, let me just add, that i really like bands with a lead singer who doesn't play an instrument, like the kaiser chiefs. i mean, that really has a lot of advantages: better singing because they don't have to focus on their instrument (hard fi is a non-example of this theory), better pronounciation, more time to entertain the crowd (climbing, running, jumping, yay!). song highlights: "heat dies down" ("cause i've got a wider knowledge of the worls, i just can't face another argument about the rent, it all seems unimportant in the grander scheme of things"), "i predict a riot", "modern way". i was disapointed they didn't play "caroline, yes" (i'm pretty sure they didn't play it) and "boxing champ".


i'll do the rest later, because i'm bored. highlight-teaser: badly drawn boy, arcade fire, the shins, ...and you will know us by the trail of dead. keywords-teaser: "if respect was paid", boots from HEMA, crying lesbiennes, small t-shirt sizes, two broken guitars, two broken drums, one broken banana (sam, you'll know which band was responsible for the last three).

ROCK WERCHTER 2007: (today my heart swings)
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day 1: thursday 28/06.
- AIR TRAFFIC. a pop/rock band i had just discovered. i'd fallen in love with their music, i reviewed their album for goddeau.com (here). i enjoyed the show a lot (highlights were "charlotte" and the guitar solo on "shooting star").
- two songs of the air show. i didn't like it and there were two huge fans behind us, so i felt bad for standing second row when i didn't even like air. so we left.
- rufus wainwright from afar. i liked it.
- BEASTIE BOYS. exciting, energetic, clever, fun. i got burned by some guy's cigarette though. less fun.

day 2: friday 29/06.
- JASON MRAZ. we were only in the marquee because it was raining. but wow! this guy was amazing! the crowd LOVED him! he rapped, he sang, he joked, he played parts of "wonderwall" by oasis and "all is full of love" by bjork. biggest surprise of the festival!
- oi va voi. jewish party music. i enjoyed it, but we left pretty quickly.
- kings of leon. ewwwwwwwwwww. people had hinted kings of lean as "the revelation", but all i have to say is yikes. ugly guy, bad fashion sense, needs a haircut, and deafening bass drums. ran away as quickly as i could.
- kaiser chiefs. huge disapointment, simply because the crowd was AWFUL. the pushing wasn't fun bloc party like pushing, but irritating i-want-to-hit-the-fucking-girl-in-the-face pushing. and believe me, i can take some pushing and stuff, but there's a limit. when kaiser chiefs played pukkelpop the crowd was great, but not this time. energy is great, but it has to be fun and polite energy... i mean, i stood almost front row for fucking franz ferdinand at some festival (i think pukkelpop), i was there in the marquee two years ago for one of the hottest live shows ever (interpol)... but usually you'll be able to breathe after three songs (in interpol's case: after "slow hands"), if you're not in the mosh pitt that is. conclusion: the kaiser chiefs crowd exists out of horrible teenagers/people-from-the-netherlands who haven't experienced a civilised show. we left after about five songs. sad, because i really like the new album.
- vaguely heard sioen. yawn.
- LILY ALLEN. a lot of fun, i love her. i didn't like the way she kept saying how much our part of the crowd sucked though. the audience was into it, though i liked her concert in the AB a few months ago better. the setlist was exactly the same except shorter.

day 3: saturday 30/06.
- RAZORLIGHT. i don't think a lot of people really knew the band. i mean, yeah, they sang along to "in the morning" and america", but my highlights were "dalston", "golden touch" and "america".
- blonde redhead. seemed great on the screen.
- SNOW PATROL. only watched it from afar, but i reaaaaaaally liked it. it definitely moved me (i teared up a few times). i realise that snow patrol is very cliché and dramatic, but the singer really means it. and it reaches out to me.
- little bit of chemical brothers but got bored and left for the tent again.

day 4: sunday 01/07.
- !!!. i didn't like it as much as the other two times i've seen them: it was wayyyyy too warm to do some silly dancing, which is basically the whole point of !!!. i almost fucking fainted, it was so warm. i even got some sort of a "tan", meaning my face now counts 7009789687878 freckles.
- COLD WAR KIDS. fantastic! again. i really predict (wish?) big things for them. i think they are one of the most talented and intelligent bands out there at the moment. their songs are original, moving, exciting. the lyrics are clever and funny, the music is brilliant (the tempo changes, the instruments, the drums!!). cold war kids are an absolute sensation live. i've seen them three times so far, and i liked the second time (botanique orangerie) best. they were great at werchter, but it was simply too short. next up: headlining the festival i say! highlights were "we used to vacation", "saint john" and "hang me up to dry". "hospital beds" was of course a super super highlight, it never fails to move me, it's one of the most heartbreaking and powerful songs i've ever heard.
- maximo park. only about three songs. for two reasons. one: it was incredibly warm in the marquee and i was about to faint (again). two: we had to start squeezing our way to the front of the main stage for interpol!
- THE KOOKS. fun and summery, as usual. "sofa song" and "seaside" still do it for me. a lot of people "no longer like the kooks", even though they were huge fans before. i think that's sooo silly. i make sure i REALLY like a band before i go out and buy official merchandise and shit. that way i can avoid making an ass of myself a few months later when the band has reached more than 200 people and i decide i "suddenly don't like them anymore". either you like a band, or you don't. don't start hating because other people start loving. it's a bit pathetic. anyways, the new songs didn't sound too good: they didn't have the same flirty charm. during this show we squeezed our way to the front, which was rather hard. while waiting for interpol i was incredibly nervous. i got those stomach pains that i always get before an oral exam. i was more nervous than i was this morning when i went to school to get my results!
- and then there was... freaking INTERPOL! let me just start by saying that the crowd was NOT into interpol. the front rows consisted mostly of metallica fans "camping" out for metallica later that evening. i, however, was very much into interpol! and i sure as hell wasn't going to let other people ruin it for me. the band was great: still very static, but less than we're used to. paul looked hottttt, carlos looked like a rapist with his pronstache, i saw daniel do his "ahhhh" move, and i didn't pay too much attention to sam. they played a great but expectable set, a lot like the one from two years ago minus the new songs and plus some more of "antics". i had hoped they'd play some rare live songs, like "the new", "untitled", "specialist", "next exit", "take you in a cruise", "a time to be so small", ... but sadly they didn't :(. still, almost ALL of their songs are very great, so it was still an amazing setlist. from "turn on the bright lights" they played: "obstacle 1", "PDA", "say hello to the angels", "leif erikson". from "antics" they played: "evil", "narc", "slow hands", "not even jail". from "our love to admire" they played: "pioneer to the falls", "mammoth", "rest my chemistry", "the heinrich maneuver". some comments."not even jail" (possibly their worst song EVER and i can't understand for the life of me why they have to play it live at every fucking show, the song freaking stinks): two years ago, at the marquee interpol show, i'd seen this boy and he'd seen me, and i loved loved loved him and the way he danced and knew all the lyrics - i stole some of his moves - and in my head he's been called "not even jail" boy, because i remember watching him during that song, so it was definitely great to be dancing to "not even jail" again and think of him and the fantastic concert two years ago. during "leif erikson" it started to rain, which i thought was very fitting for the mood of the song, i didn't remember the title to this song right away, but i enjoyed it so much, it's very brilliant, "she swears i'm a slave to the details, but if your life is such a big joke why should i care?", "that is supposing that you don't sleeeep tonight", "it's like learning a new language, you come here to me!". "pioneer to the falls": definitely a highlight, "i know you try, you fly straight into my heart. you fly straight into my heart!", beautiful. "rest my chemistry", one of my faves off of the new album, was very moving and energetic. "the heinrich maneuver" is an amazing song, it's very "antics" in its catchy-ness but it's as clever and exciting as a "turn on the bright lights" song ("how are things on the west-coast??"), and i love the end where it goes "i've got a plan, look forward in my eyes!". "obstacle 1" was great as always. i enjoyed "PDA" a lot even though it's not one of my favourite songs at all, i loved the end where daniel goes "aaaah-aaaah, aaah-aaah", that part is heartbreaking, amazingly emotive. "say hello to the angels" was swinging and fun!
- incubus: about five songs, none of which i knew, sadly. i would have loved to hear "stellar" or "agoraphobia" live.
- damien rice: kind of a disapointment. he played his "hits" mostly, and filled it up with harder jam-like songs. understandable: it's ot easy to play slow and quiet songs to a festival audience. he hardly played any of my favourite songs, like "amie" or "rootless tree (fuck you)". he did play a great version of "the blower's daugther", where it suddenly changed into "creep" (radiohead) and then back to "i can't take my eyes off of you!". that was beautiful.

overall: not at all the best werchter i've been to, although day 4 is possibly the best werchter day i've experienced.
- i loved loved loved: INTERPOL.
- i loved: cold war kids, air traffic, snow patrol, the kooks.
- i liked a lot: beastie boys, jason mraz, razorlight.

[IMPORTANT EDIT:] during cold war kids i noticed this guy standing on my left side. he had a backstage wristband and his girlfriend had one too. he was wearing sunglasses, which was weird because we were in the marquee. then i realised that it was an artist that played at the festival... and the guy looked A LOT like luke from the kooks. i wasn't sure though, because he had a lot of curls, and he was rather shiort. but when i saw the kooks perform on the tmf werchter festival report yesterday, i was sure. sooooooooooo: i stood next to luke from the kooks during the cold war kids show! he wasn't as crazy about cold war kids as me, but he liked them and clapped along. he also liked his girlfriend who wasn't veeeeery pretty, she had shortish straight brown hair.

ROCK WERCHTER 2007: (plan)
------------------------

day 1.
- milow
- AIR TRAFFIC
- air
- rufus wainwright
- BEASTIE BOYS

day 2.
- van jets
- joan as police woman
- kaiser chiefs
- LILY ALLEN / bloc party
- queens of the stone age
- arctic monkeys
- gabriel rios

day 3.
- the bravery
- RAZORLIGHT
- blonde redhead
- snow patrol / klaxons
- the killers / goose
- chemical brothers

day 4.
- !!! (chk chk chk)
- COLD WAR KIDS
- MAXIMO PARK
- THE KOOKS
- freaking INTERPOL!
- incubus
- DAMIEN RICE

day 4 is possibly the best rock werchter day EVER. INTERPOL!! the new album sounds veeeery promising. besides the most brilliant song titles, the music is way more "turn on the bright lights" than "antics" which is great. favourites right now are "pioneer to the falls", "scale", "the heinrich maneuver", "no i in threesome", "rest my chemistry".

also exams went amazingly well i must say. i didn't expect that at all because i didn't do anything during the year, i missed a lot of classes, didn't take any notes, ... let this be a lesson for next year: there's really no need to actually GO to the classes and work during the year! i like this lesson.

THE BEST OF MY 2006: what made my year what it was

- it says "my 2006" because the listed cd's, songs, movies and books aren't limited to 2006 editions. it's a SUBJECTIVE listing: the highlights of MY 2006. i discover old cd's and bands all the time, and i want to give them a spot in these end-of-year lists of mine.
- obviously, "best live" is limited to 2006. otherwise coldplay last year would be topping the list endlessly.
- it's long. very long.
- for the lazy: underlined are super-highlights. underlined and bold are mage-super-uber-highlights.
- i listed it alphabetically.
- yes. i listen to very awful things like ashlee simpson and the veronica's. at least i'm not ashamed to admit it, right? right.


( there's always a siren, singing you to shipwreck )

"for a minute there, i lost myself", PUKKELPOP 2006 REPORT.
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thursday.
- MY LATEST NOVEL. i really enjoyed the cd, so i was looking forward to this show. too bad it was at noon, though they did manage to avoke a sort of "evening atmosphere". i didn't completely agree with their playlist choices though (they didn't play "pretty in a panic" or "learning lego"). but they did play "wrongfully, i rested" which is my favourite song. i was almost to tears at one point. so yeah, pretty amazing for the first band at pukkelpop.
- guillemots. liked it a lot. fun and dance-able.
- jose gonzales. a little disapointing. he's charming and all, but just not charming enough to make up for the fact that it's all a little boring. and also, i feel sorry for him because his best (known) song (the beautiful "heartbeats") is a cover :/.
- WE ARE SCIENTISTS. definitely a highlight. great crowd! lots of crowdsurfers and jokes from the band! yay!
- snow patrol?. their luggage was stuck in london, so they performed a short acoustic set. i was really looking forward to snow patrol, but i wasn't disapointed at all. i mean, it's pretty brave to perform like this, most bands would have canceled. it was a unique experience and i liked it. but i do hope i'll get a chance to see a normal snow patrol show soon.
- my morning jacket. went to this because my boyfriend is a fan. the band looks (and sometimes acts) like a hardrock band of some kind, but instead they make great music. i really liked it even though i didn't know any of the songs.
- beck. i didn't have any expectations for beck (i'm not a fan), but even then it was disapointing. it was more "show" than music. they put these puppets of the band on the big screens and constant bass in the speakers. it was horrible. my ears hurt and my eyes were majorly bored. however, we'd been counting down for a day now ("23 hours till radiohead! 15 hours till radiohead! 12 hours till radiohead! 5 hours till radiohead! 1 hour till radiohead!") so we wanted to get good (great!) spots. by the time beck ended, however, i was very annoyed. it was extremely busy in the front rows (duhh, it's radiohead!), and my feet hurt. eventually the two of us sat down, and when we stood up after an hour, there was a lot of room (because we sat down and because people had left or fainted, haha).
- RADIOHEAD. amazing!! "for a minute there, i lost myself"! they played a perfect set: a lot of "ok computer" and just enough of the techno (yes, TECHNO, ok? it's freaking techno!) albums. most (almost all) of my faves were played: "there there", "karma police", "paranoid android", "no surprises", "lucky" and "fake plastic trees". not "climbing up the walls" though, sorry sam :(. they didn't play "creep". when someone screamed for it, thom yorke said: "yeah, that's it, we're going to play "creep" endlessly!". it was fantastic. i had plenty of room to dance/jump/shout (the guys from my latest novel were behind us!) and the crowd was great (they were quiet during calm songs! wow!). too bad they didn't play "2+2=5" ("penetraaaation! penetraaation!")

friday.
- archie bronson outfit. again a great starter for the day. a lot of fun.
- dirty pretty things. a little too hard for me. but enjoyable.
- confuse the cat. meh, no opinion.
- THE SPINTO BAND. fun! i didn't know who they were until they played "oh mandy", a very pretty summer song. in the middle of their gig the sound stopped. they entertained us for about 10 minutes while it was being fixed. they did funny danced on stage, ran backstage, came back on and walked past in slowmotion, went backstage again, came on and walked backwards, etc. it was great!
- the twilight singers. boyfriend band again. i liked it a lot, even though i only knew like one song (and they didn't even play that). it was a lot like my morning jacket to me, except darker.

saturday.
- 65 DAYS OF STATIC. i really loved this. i seem to really enjoy some live post-rock every now and then. i read on goformusic.be that this band seems to be having sex with their guitars on stage, and that couldn't be more correct.
- !!!. i didn't like it in the beginning (or at least not as much as most of the other people who were already dancing like crazy before the music even started), but the band impressed me with their enthusiasm. and after that, it was all amazing. one of the singers stagedived and then proceeded to walk through the marquee whilst finishing the song. the other singer stagedived a little later and crowdsurfed above us. i had a print of his foot on my shoulder at the end of the show. and now i understand all the people who were already shaking their asses before the first song. i'm one of them next time they're coming to belgium!
- YEAH YEAH YEAHS. i'd been counting down to this band as well. i've only recently (couple of weeks) started to like them, but by the time it was pukkelpop, i already loved them. the show was amazing! during the semi-silent part (my favourite song "maps" and, another great one, "warrior") i was very very moved (teary-eyed). for the not so silent parts i jumped and screamed a lot. too bad there were two mosh pitts sort of right next to us. but i just went and stood behind my boyfriend, and for the rest of the show i hardly noticed anoything besides the great music.
- broken sociel scene. ew. i was very bored. i had smoke in my face, yelling in my left ear, my back hurt and i was tired. not good.
- daft punk. we were sitting way at the back when my boyfriend suddenly pointed to someone in front of us and joked "is that lenny kravitz?" because he had an afro, a "tight" jeans and a "cool" jacket. we kept an eye on the guy for a while and laughed our asses off because the way he danced was hilarious and because he looked A LOT like lenny kravitz (and anyone who looks a lot like lenny kravitz is worth laughing at!). we filmed him dancing for a while and took pictures of his back. i even took a picture of him peeing, because he was so funny looking! we continued to keep our eye on the guy and after a while we were starting to think that it actually might be lenny kravitz and his girlfriend, because daft punk only plays like 5 gigs this year and lenny could be a fan, who knows, right? i sure don't know shit about lenny freaking kravtitz. anyway, i wanted to know for sure, so i suggested we'd go "dance" in front of him. my boyfriend thought i was kidding at first, but i wasn't, so we moved to the front a little whilst "dancing" to daft punk, and when we reached the lenny-look-a-like we realised that it was actually lenny kravitz!! i was totally embarassed, i mean, HELLO, i took a photo of lenny kravitz PEEING!! i would not have done that if i knew it was really him! and then the "dancing" in front of him! oooboy. for the rest of daft punk we stood next to him (not close next to him, since there was a lot of room), and the more we saw lenny we knew it was really him. he was acting like he was performing. he kept turning around and hyping up the crowd, going like "come on!". and he spoke english with his girlfriend and they werfe wearing sunglasses (at night). so yeah. my boyfriend and i danced next to (and in front of :/) lenny kravtitz! yay!

overall.
great pukkelpop this year. way better than last year. too bad the shins cancelled :(. the greatest shows were readiohead and yeah yeah yeahs. i also really enjoyed we are scientists, 65 days of static, the spinto band, !!!, my latest novel. but mostly i enjoyed spending time with my boyfriend!