REVIEW BY FRANK VAN DER LINDEN

Long time since I wrote one of these :-) But here it is, another concert report.

dEUS played in Studio Amstel tonight, as part of the VPRO radio program "Het Lek". The room opened shortly after 9, well, not really, because we couldn't really get to the studio itself yet, that came later. So I'll take the opportunity to name all mailing list people present (well, ones that I can remember; I may forget some): Kevin, Marieke, Natascha, Dana, Roos, Leon, Wilfred, Stella, Tony, Annet, Mark, Jan Peter & me. The total number of people there must have been about 100.

Also present, right in Front of Tom's mike stand (and to the right from us), were 2 french speaking women, who must have been about 40 or over. They seemed to follow the band around everywhere; they had the pictures to prove it. The band self was apparently a bit freaked out by this. But that's backstage talk, I'll leave that to Kevin and Marieke, who talked to the guys.

First, dEUS played Instant Street, which got relayed to another radio broadcast. I'm happy to report that the bass was in tune, and all guitar amps were working, so it was quite a good version. I just cannot understand that someone actually said on this list that the end of the song should maybe have been left off. The end is the best part, without it, the song is incomplete.

After a while, they played a set of about 50 minutes, and just before that there was a short interview with Tom. I couldn't quite make out what was said, but when asked what kind of album TIC was intended to be, Tom said "We wanted to make a dance record but failed" ;-)

The approximate setlist for was (I may be wrong about the order in a few cases, but these were the songs played):

Sister Dew
Freaks
Fell Off The Floor, Man
Magic Hour
Ideal Crash
Magdalena
Let's See Who Goes Down First
Roses

On the setlist, Suds 'n Soda and Sam, Sam were also scribbled after this list, but they weren't played. There probably wasn't any time left for them, dispite a stubborn clapping-effort by the mailing list members ;-)

I thought it was good, I really enjoyed it. Some random notes:

* There were quite a few sound adjustments going on, but it didn't hamper the show much.
* Craig and Tim were having fun playing some synchronous guitar parts. It was the only time I saw Craig smile, but I guess that's just Craig: he tends to look bored.
* Tim is a silent guy, but talented: he did some nice guitar, synth, and vocal parts.
* I admire Craig's guitar playing, he has very smooth finger movement (it was the first time I got to see it from closeby).
* I thought Danny's bassplaying was fine, but his vocals weren't quite there. To be fair, I think his mic wasn't open that far.
* Tom was energetic during the louder songs, he kept asking for the guitars to be cranked up (both his and Tim's).
* Poor Tim wasn't visible very well, behind the stacked amps for Tom's guitar and Klaas' violin

To be short, I'm thrilled to have seen the guys in action in such a small place; such opportunities seem to be rare during the coming tour.

- Frank

REVIEW BY KEVIN MOENS

(...) a shocking lack of time to write reviews. But I'll try anyway:

it was -what I call- 'a nice evening'! First of all 'cause the exclusive mini-gig for Marieke and I (actually it was the soundcheck, but who cares ;) So, we heard a great version of Everybody's weird and intro-versions of TIC-songs.

Thank GOd, Instant Street sounded as it should sound: soft and beautiful at the beginning, hard and loud at the end. Sister Dew, Magdalena, TIC (heavy intro compared with the album version),...I simply adored it. The reaction of the crowd was pretty 'cold', guess everybody still has to get used to the new songs (I guess I was one of the few singing along with all the songs :) Unfortunately, Dutch people aren't very 'silent' compared to us, Belgians....and Tom was really pissed about the fact that people were talking very loud during the silent and beautiful 'Magdalena' (a girl that really exists, I believe she's on one of the cdrom-clips).

But I loved the gig, it still has to grow a bit but it will all be fine when you see them on a 'big stage' (so Tim doesn't have to hide behind Tom's amps).

Kevin.