To this date I'd only seen two gigs of The Ideal Tour, and let's say I'd been quite disappointed (in Luxembourg & Lille). So I wasn't very excited about this gig, especially because I'd had to go thru the extremely boring set of the Cardigans (complete disappointment) and Shirley Manson's trashcan show before dEUS climbed onstage. But let's face it : it was a blast ! Really good from start to finish !

I wasn't really paying attention during Sister Dew because I was trying to get much closer, and the people in the crowd were not exactly kind because they hit back if I inadvertently crushed their toes. The end of Little Arithmetics was total guitar chaos and it was very obvious that the band were having a great time, all the better for me ! Tom introduced Suds & Soda by saying "Il y a quelque chose en l'air" (yes, he talked in French to a Flemish audience ! and let me tell you that I heard quite a lot of frustrated vlaminge whispering angrily around us). Of course, lots looked up to see that something in the air :) Lots of jumping and people hitting me in the back, great time ;)

They went for guitar chaos again at the end of Instant Street, somehow a little too long but I'm not complaining, not yet. People of course didn't react much to Sam Sam Sam, it's a shame they don't know that song, I think it's one of dEUS' best. Then Magdalena introduced as a song for "a person I like a lot on this beach". I have to say that during Sister Dew there was Tom's girlfriend standing next to me, and she's really called Magdalena. Dancer Sam Loewyck (the one in the Turnpike video) was there, too. Almost started a fight when someone asked him rather rudely to let Tom's girlfriend down his shoulders ...

I've got bored of The Magic Hour so I didn't pay much attention there either, but then ... aaah ... taa-taa-TAA taa-taa-TAA taa-taa-TAA they played the best version of Hotellounge I've ever heard in my (still short) concert life. During it, Tom sat down with his guitar next to him and started singing lines from a Serge Gainsbourg song, Craig sang lines from some song unknown to me, they put a very noisy end to it and it was far too short, not even 10 minutes ... kidding. One of the best music moments of this year along with Blur's Battle at the Werchter festival (feel free to disagree).

Must also be said that Danny was wearing a skirt again and there was an extension of the stage going right in the middle of the audience, really like fashion exhibitions - so Danny played the fashion model :) It's also where Craig came to show us how good a guitar player he is (he always looks sooo quiet, even during the loudest bits). And where Tom sat down during Hotellounge.

Nothing much to be said about the end of the first part, then they came back for a good version of Theme From Turnpike during which people kept surprisingly quiet, no dancing, no singing along ... And I swear that they were playing very well and were enjoying the gig enormously, but the audience forgot how to react. Then, hey, I was in the middle of the left wing of the audience, perhaps they were moving madly on the right, I need a review from the right :) Tom sung lines from The Prodigy's first big hit single (the one with I don't need nobody on Music for a Jilted Generation).

At the end Tom apologized (in French again) that they were not allowed to play any longer, which made me wonder about the truth of the rumour according to which they received more than 7,000,000 BEF for playing at the Axion Beach festival. Probably the ones who coughed up such money lost their head.

PS : the whole concert was recorded by Studio Brussel and parts of it were broadcasted live. Massive Attack who played an hour later were amazing despite of the departure of their founding member DJ Mushroom.

I'm far from 100% sure of the following setlist

Sister Dew
Little Arithmetics
Suds & Soda
Instant Street
Sam Peckinpah's Daughter
Magdalena
The Magic Hour
Hotellounge
Put The Freaks Up Front
Roses
Fell Off The Floor, Man

Theme From Turnpike