REVIEW BY JORG SCHELLEKENS

For this concert the big Nighttown hall and a really small intimate hall in Popular, the cafe next door, were used. I was really happy to see that Barman & Ward were scheduled to play in the small hall 'cos that's just the perfect enviroment to see such a concert. This also meant i had to leave Sjako! early to get a good spot. But that was okay because Sjako! wasn't very good and the reward was a very good spot in the front.
To my suprise Barman & Ward were already on stage about 15 minutes early and they even practised one complete song they would play later too. But there was an even greater suprise: there were three people on the stage, the third being dEUS violin player Klaas Janszoons!!! On the stage there was also a very small electronic toy-like piano hanging from Tom's microphone stand.

The hall was really small: less than half the size of the basement ore about 1/3 of the smallest tent at Lowlands (sorry but i can't compare with any Belgian clubs 'cos i haven't seen too many ;-)). This was a little fuck-up by Nighttown because there were far more people than there was room. So some people had to stand in the hallway. But if you want to see the complete Sjako! concert well, yes that's the price you pay ;-)

Before they started Tom warned the audience the songs were going to be very soft. And he kept his word because the first song was Wake Me Up Before You Sleep. Tom performed this alone but Craig and Klaas listened to it on stage. The next song was one i hadn't heard before, but it was very beautiful. It was played by Tom with Craig playing a few chords every now and then. Tom introduced Craig as dEUS' new guitarist. The next song was a new one called Little Arythmics. This had Tom & Craig playing guitar and Klaas playing the mini piano.

Tom introduced the next song as an ode to the Palace Brothers. But he told it was one of their songs and not actually by the Palace brothers. This was a really beautiful song. One thing was quite remarkable: Craig's voice sounded exactly like Stef's. During the songs i also know with Stef singing along i could just close my eyes and swear it was Stef who was singing along. After this very touching and warm song Tom said "and now something more light (it was "lichtvoetigers" in Dutch but i can't really translate that). And they played a very good version of Divebomb Djingle.

Now it was time to really introduce Craig 'cos they played one of his songs called Seven Threads. During this Tom played the small piano which now made a pan flute sound. He liked this so much he even added a small improvisation which got everyone to laugh. It was a good bluesy song but it lacked that little extra touch most dEUS songs have. Now they played a cover by Alex Chilton. This was the song they had already practised earlier. The last song was Hotellounge. When they came to the first verse they suddenly stopped and Tom said they were playing to slow. So they started over again. The intro was very nice with Klaas playing the violin loop from his My Sister song How To Row A Cat. At the end they didn't play the few seconds of guitar bashing noise like they often do.

This was definetly a great concert, and one of the best ones i've ever seen (and certainly the best not-dEUS one). It was just very special to hear all this really soft warm songs with the musicians sitting about 50cm away. I haven't heard the radio broadcast but i hope they broadcasted all of this stunning show. The rest of the evening was good too: Ezio (not original, but very nice), Metal Molly (not acoustic, but they were absolutly fantastic!!! Look out for these guys, they make great music & have a nice sense of humour, please do youself a favour and check them out!) Duke (nice, good vocals), Sjako! (not very good) & Bettie Serveert (Good, nothing new but very nice anyway).

Wow, this review is getting a bit too long. Sorry people, i'm just totally blown away by Barman, Ward & Janszoons and Metal Molly. Btw i saw Klaas near Nighttown Basement afterwards but i left him (&girlfriend) alone 'cos he played great and didn't deserve to be bothered.