Because of the smaller venue, I was also able to get a closer look at the laptops on the stage -- as I mentioned in my previous post, I was curious as to why they needed three of them. I know now that the two that have the screens facing the audience are one Mac and one Windows PC, but that both of them are running Propellerheads Reason. This means that Auto-Tune must be running on the one not facing the crowd, which I guess was actually to be expected. Make sure to tune in again next week, when we'll reveal the well-kept secret behind Stoffel's seemingly impeccable sense of rhythm and explain the real reason why Sjoerd uses Helder's guitar during "Julia"!

One of the poopier moments of the gig was the carefully orchestrated rendition of "Revolution 9". This prompted a few of the more conservative members of the audience to walk out, unimpressed by how faithfully the band managed to reproduce this epic song and probably thinking to themselves that the real Beatles would never have made such a ghastly racket. These people missed the finale of the show, an excellent a capella rendition of "Good Night", and it serves them right. There's a very real chance that I'll never get to see the real Beatles perform these songs, but this was a worthy substitute.

The show was almost flawless from start to finish, with the exception of a long awkward silence before "Help" and the inclusion of their new song, "Black Flowers", which is nowhere near as awesome as the old stuff. Mikey is going to have to crank out with some better riffs (or take lessons from the Marcel) if the band wants to continue on their current level of brownness. Let's hope they're up to the challenge!

Om's set took place in a very relaxed atmosphere -- so much so, in fact, that it could be mistaken for complete disinterest from both the band and the audience. The band called it quits after no more than 40 minutes or so, and were given only a very brief applause. Then followed a few minutes of silence, which I guess was the time it took for the Dutch potheads to realize that the show was over, and only then came a proper round of applause prompting the band to come back for an encore. Despite the peculiar atmosphere and the fact that the hairy beast was the only member of the band that had any stage presence at all, however, I found the show to be well-played and perfectly enjoyable. A good thing, hence, that the encore was almost as long as the main part of the show!

But we digress. Metten designed a backdrop for the stage as well as a costume for Tim, which was in fact the main attraction. It consisted of a sort of poncho adorned with reflective strips, a big robot head mask thing and a big claw. An iPod touch was embedded in the claw's arm, and Tim used it to trigger and manipulate various sounds. The noises were pretty abstract and random at first, but gradually developed into somewhat of a menacing drone. Meanwhile, Tim danced, crawled and slithered around on and off the stage. The room was lit by a single strobe light (not counting the faint colored glows from Metten's contraptions), whose frequency increased as the tension in the soundscape built up. Cool stuff!

Finally, Sukilove played at Bar Mondial on the 30th. They had to compete for spectators with the Rudy Trouvé Septet, who played Wintervuur that same night, but thankfully the bar was reasonably filled. There were quite a few issues with the sound (dropouts, feedback and the likes), but the guys made the best of it and put on an enjoyable show. The setlist was good but unsurprising: lots of stuff off "Static Moves" sprinkled with a handful of older tunes. The latter included "Sun Sun Sun", which Pascal had to play on electric guitar because his acoustic was at Strings & Things for repairs, and those fuckers take weeks. Pascal's words, not mine! I hope the Strings & Things staff don't read this website, or Pascal might get in trouble. Sorry Pascal, but the people have a a right to know! But I digress. Near the end of the set, Pascal suggested that perhaps they could play "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" or "Bohemian Rhapsody", because someone in the crowd thought they should keep playing for at least another half hour. Unfortunately, Pascal's suggestion was not followed up on. I take comfort in the knowledge that the Rudy Trouvé Septet didn't play "Bohemian Rhapsody" either.

Of course, all this is just my opinion, and as you know, opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one, and I love it when people rub theirs in my face -- so knock yourselves out!