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While waiting for someone to turn up inside the venue before unloading the gear, Sam tinkled on the piano onstage, while Paul did his best Noel Coward impression, singing 'Fish For A Quid'. But funniest sight of the night was Jon giving Paul a running piggyback around the venue. After Jon mentioned that Paul was so light he didn't know he was there, Mark nonchalantly added "bullshit doesn't weigh much". The venue was specially made up for the millennium celebrations, will be converted back to offices at the end of the year, and was totally funded by the Flemish Government. This was also the case in many other European cities, except dear old London of course. The place was pretty vast (not far off the size of the Astoria) with lots of space taken by large comfy long padded seats, a long bar down the side with an information desk where you could surf the net. skippy This was Monkey Boy's first trip outside the UK, and the main thing on my mind when I heard they were coming over was "is Belgium ready". The answer was a resounding "YES". One thing for sure, is that these guys are currently one of the hardest rocking acts to come out of the UK in years, equal if not better to some of the best acts in the USA, who set the benchmark of quality for all us bands to aspire to, and hell, Monkey Boy deliver the goods. Following a dismally depressing outfit from Belgium who played for half an hour but somehow made it feel like 24, Monkey Boy took to the stage and proceeded to demolish the place. The first thing to hit you was the quite awesome quality of the sound system, which put most UK venues to shame. The first track, 'Kick The Bishop' hit the crowd like a meteorite and as it finished the stunned crowd burst into applause. From behind his drum kit, Paul's banter with audiences has taken on legendary status, and even though he doesn't speak Belgian, he somehow had the whole crowd in the palm of his hand, responding immediately to his request to all move nearer the stage (the venue was a cavernous place that could hold a thousand people), and he even managed to engage them in some heckling. The man is a god! Jon Meade joined them on guitar for a cracklingly aggressive 'Crocodile' and Crawford resumed his bass duties with them for an unfeasibly heavy three bass assault on the last number 'Planet Paul Pope'. The crowd loved it, and considering I doubt that anyone here knew of them before this gig, you can be sure the word will spread at just how good Monkey Boy are, as people were walking around in a daze afterwards as if they couldn't quite believe what they'd just seen and heard. I've seen the band many times, but this was amongst the very best they'd been. They just played like demons, and considering Sam from DBH was standing in on bass, it was like he'd been playing with them for years, his sound was as heavy and raw as a block of reinforced concrete and Mark was just amazing, contorting his features into unimaginable, terrifying positions and teetering around the stage as if he'd consumed two bottles of absinthe, while still managing to send out shards of angular, hard 'n' fucked up distorted bass. Absolutely awesome. On this form, not many can live with Monkey Boy, for me, they are one of the best live acts around. This is one band that can't be put in a box alongside others. Best gig of the year so far. By a mile. Giles By the time Rothko took to the stage at 00:10 many people were drifting off. This was their 2nd time in Belgium and after the 1st part of their set had people pretty non-plussed, the second half had a largish crowd gathering to see what it was all about. When Crawford did the first hit during 'Time Out', he very nearly managed to break the PA in half with the power and volume produced. The soundman looked up in surprise, to see Crawford clench his fist in victory before tuning himself down a touch. Mark managed to dislodge all the screws in his bass after banging it too hard at the end of 'Us To become Sound'. Both bands went down really well with the small amount of people who were there, considering both were unknowns. It was just a shame that more people didn't come along. Their loss! skippy Rothko set list: Intro / Time Out / Shock Of Self / Herbivore / Seventyseven A / Open / Us To Become Sound Monkey Boy setlist: Kick The Bishop / 50' Drop / Fish For A Quid / Plughole / Wise Guy / Crocodile / Planet Paul Pope |
