Brussels Summer Festival 2019 - Manic Street Preachers & Giorgio Moroder

This was our second venture to Brussels for the Brussels Summer Festival. The first one had been two years before for the Pet Shop Boys where we were also lucky enough to see Goldfrapp as well. This time it was for the Manic Street Preachers. I was supposed to have seen the Manics back in 2007, together with the Smashing Pumpkins (what a line up that would have been), but the date of that particular gig coincided with a week when there were a lot of devastating forest fires in Greece. Although there was no forest fire remotely near the particular forest that the venue of the gig was located (the infamous Terra Vibe), the authorities decided that the concert should be cancelled. The Manics returned, one month later at the same venue, but I was too disillusioned to go, especially since the Smashing Pumpkins were not going to tag along. Twelve years after that, I had another chance to see them. Moreover, they are one of my girlfriend's favourite bands, so a good time was guaranteed for all. However, as with 2017 and Goldfrapp, there was once again a surprise in store. I took a look at the line-up to see what else was on, on that particular day of the festival. The Manics were third on the bill so that meant they would only play for an hour. (That was not necessarily a bad thing as we would later see). Second on the bill were Hooverphonic, in essence a local (Belgian) band who I had already seen in Athens back in 2014. This time though they would be fronted by - yet - another singer. However the biggest surprise was the person who was topping the bill that day : Giorgio Moroder! Now, Giorgio Moroder had made a comeback in 2014 declaring that "74 Is The New 24". I wouldn't normally know what to expect from a Giorgio Moroder live gig, but I had been alerted by The Electricity Club that he had assembled a band featuring extremely talented singers performing quite a lot of the hits that he had written and produced. So I knew we were in for a delightful disco party! Meanwhile, it was also announced that Giorgio Moroder would appear at a festival in Athens. He did appear, but thankfully, I didn't rely on that because it was only a DJ set, not a live gig. In Brussels we were going to get the full Monty.

The festival itself has many venues around the city, (and one can move among the different venues at any time with their ticket or "Day Pass" as it's called), but once again, like 2017 the venue for our chosen line up was Place Des Palais. And once again we were able to get all the way to the front of the stage. 

Manic Street Preachers were on time and normally they would have played the "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" album because on that particular tour they were celebrating its 20th Anniversary as James Dean Bradfield announced when they came on stage. (A special deluxe version of it had been out earlier that year). However because they would only play for an hour they would not play the whole album. I wouldn't have minded if they had, after all it's my favourite album of theirs. This meant that we would get a more balanced setlist and we did, starting with "Motorcycle Emptiness" although they did play a lot of songs from the "This Is My Truth..." album, including my all-time favourite "You Stole The Sun From My Heart". The biggest surprise though was the cover of "Sweet Child O'Mine". We had a wonderful time up there at the front with several hardcore Manics fans who had come from abroad until James Dean Bradfield told us goodbye wishing that we would "enjoy Giorgio Moroder and Electric f***ing Dreams" as he launched into "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next".

But before Giorgio Moroder would come along it was the turn of Hooverphonic. I must admit their set arrived at the appropriate moment as night fell, providing us with a relaxing time before the party that was to follow. This was the band that most people had probably come to see as they were playing in front of their home crowd. This time there was no "Sometimes", but "Mad About You" (which seems to be their most popular song in Greece), was still there.

And now it was time (although we couldn't suspect as much at the time) for the greatest disco party we had ever been to. We were being properly prepared for it while waiting for Giorgio Moroder with songs like "Daddy Cool' playing from the speakers.

Meanwhile, it had started raining. Rainfalls are quite frequent in Brussels from what I hear, but we were lucky not to experience one when we were watching Goldfrapp and Pet Shop Boys in 2014. This time we were not so lucky, however the organizers had thought of that as well ans had provided us with free ponchos so we had nothing to worry about.

While waiting, by watching the giant screens on either side of the stage, we learnt that some familiar artists were going to perform in Brussels quite a while after the festival.

Finally, Giorgio Moroder was on stage and he kicked off with - what else - Donna Summer. We were expecting a lot of Donna Summer on that night, and that's exactly what we got. The opener was "Bad Girls" and the follow-up was "a sexy song" as Giorgio announced it. It couldn't have been any other than "Love To Love You Baby". Next up was "On The Radio" one of my favourite Donna Summer songs before it was time for us to go to the movies, first with "Midnight Express" ("Chase") and then with "Top Gun" ("Danger Zone" and the obligatory "Take My Breath Away"). Then we had a mixture some of some of his solo efforts ("From Here To Eternity", "Right Here Right Now"), more movie classics ("Flashdance... What A Feeling"), a Daft Punk tribute ("Giorgio By Moroder") before coming back to Donna Summer with the pioneering "I Feel Love" (the birth of synth-pop?), "Mac Arthur Park" and "Last Dance" as the final song of the main set. 19 years before, when I was in LA and inspired by the song I visited the actual "MacArthur Park" but I must admit I was rather disappointed as it seemed quite abandoned and smelled of piss.

There was more Donna Summer during the encore with "Hot Stuff" (which also became a movie favourite many years after its release when it was featured in "The Full Monty") and finally the party came to a close with Blondie's "Call Me" (another movie favourite featured in "American Gigolo").

In short, this was the best dance party I have ever been to!. And before leaving the venue to go back to the hotel, I found some time to stop in one of the stalls and have a portion of not French, but Belgian fries...

SETLISTS:
MANIC STREET PREACHERS

01. Motorcycle Emptiness

02. You Stole the Sun From My Heart

03. International Blue

04. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough

05. The Everlasting

06. You Love Us

07. A Design for Life

08. Everything Must Go

09. Sweet Child O' Mine

10. Tsunami

11. No Surface All Feeling

12. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

HOOVERPHONIC

01. 2Wicky

02. Eden

03. Heartbroken

04. Anger Never Dies

05. Romantic

06. Vinegar & Salt

07. Jackie Cane

08. The Night Before

09. Hiding in a Song

10. Mad About You

11. Uptight

12. One Two Three

13. Badaboum

14. Looking for Stars

15. Amalfi

    

GIORGIO MORODER

01. Bad Girls

02. Love To Love You Baby

03. On the Radio

04. Chase

05. Danger Zone

06. Take My Breath Away

07. From Here to Eternity

08. Giorgio by Moroder

09. Flashdance... What a Feeling

10. Right Here, Right Now

11. I Feel Love

13. Last Dance

Encore:

14. Hot Stuff

15. Call Me

Pet Shop Boys and Goldfrapp @ Brussels Summer Festival

For the whole of last winter, I was on guard for announcements of summer appearances by the Pet Shop Boys. I knew the Super tour was going to be underway and I definitely wanted to catch them somewhere in Europe during the summer. The reason was simple: I had met my girlfriend at their Athens gig in 2013 during their previous ("Electric") tour. But the fact is, I didn't actually meet her at the gig. We were both there, but we didn't know each other. However, on the following day I posted on a Pet Shop Boys fan page and quoted one of their lyrics. She contacted me because of that very post, me met, and the rest is, as they say, history. The only problem was that until this summer, we had never actually seen the Pet Shop Boys together! As luck had it, one of the first summer appearances that they announced was at Brussels Summer Festival and I immediately booked tickets.

The situation might have been a lot more different, if they had announced their appearance in Lucca first. Seeing as most of the gigs I attend are in Italy we might have gone there. But we loved the idea of going to a concert in a different country for a change. Plus, the festival was taking place right there in the capital, so no further travelling apart from our plane journeys would be required. As an added extra, a few days after the Pet Shop Boys appearance was announced, Goldfrapp, who I had also wanted to see live for several years,  were also added to the bill, on the very same day.

What was also great about this festival were the ticket prices. 30 Euros only for a one-day pass giving access to all stages of the festival on any given day. Moreover, if you double that amount and pay 60 Euros instead of 30, you don't get a 2-day pass, but a 10-day pass. Access to all stages for all days of the festival! And the various stages are located at squares and other locations in the city centre.

All we had to do one the day, was to exchange the passes we had bought and printed off the internet with wristbands that would give us immediate access to the stages. Now, one has to be careful with that because entrance is "subject to availability". This means that if a lot of people have one-day passes for a particular day, and they all go to a certain stage, they will not be allowed to enter if that stage is full.

Nevertheless, we arrived just in time for Goldfrapp and we realized we could get very near the front. And then, we realized we could get further to the front and so we did! The band entered the stage right on time and Alison looked fabulous dressed all in red. Wow! I mean, WOW! (I think I'd better continue with the review of the gig because my girlfriend is also reading this...:LOL:). She launched immediately into "Anymore" the lead single of her latest album "Silver Eye" (one of the best of the year so far) and continued with songs old and new.

"Systemagic", "Ride On A White Horse" and "Strict Machine" were particularly enjoyable although she didn't play "Happiness" no matter how loudly someone in the audience kept asking for it!

In fact, "Strict Machine" was announced as "our last song for tonight. I bet you can't wait". I hope she didn't mean that we were bored and we couldn't wait for them to finish because we were waiting for the Pet Shop Boys. 

At least, as far as we're concerned, we went there early because we wanted to see them as well! ("We're going to see Goldfrapp! WOW!" was my reaction back in March when they were added to the bill). All in all, they played just a few minutes short of an hour. Having looked at the day's schedule, I thought they were going to play for much longer, but then the time needed to prepare the stage for the Pet Shop Boys must be taken into account.

Although we were at the front of the stage, it was easy for me to walk towards the back during the break to get a beer (which came with a souvenir plastic glass!) and then walk my way back to the front and find our place.

Now, the festival website strongly advised that drink tickets should be bought in advance from the internet, however, the queues, both for the tickets and the drinks themselves were negligible. (Totally unlike Terra Vibe! :LOL:)

At 22:30 the stage was set for the Pet Shop Boys. I had not looked at the internet for setlists or videos from the Super tour. And I did that on purpose. I wanted  to be surprised on the night.

But their set started just I imagined it would. While on the Electric tour the mostly instrumental "Axis" served as an opener, here on the Super tour the again mostly instrumental "Inner Sanctum" served the same purpose as Neil and Chris appeared on stage from behind  a couple of circular props.

"Inner Sanctum" segued into "Opportunities" and that was followed by "The Pop Kids" segued with "In The Night" and "Burn" our first big surprise of the night. I had noticed the song on the "Super" album, but I had ever imagined that it would work so well live.

And then came "Love Is A Bourgeois Construct". This was my favourite song from the "Electric" album, but they did not play it on the Electric tour. They are playing it however on the Super tour and of course they played it on the night with one of their accompanying musicians on electric violin. It's like they owed it to us.

They did not, once again, forget "Love Etc.", but I did not expect its follow up "The Dictator Decides" to be one of the highlights of the evening. This slow song from "Super" is more important for its lyrics rather than its melody, but it worked so well live (and with another costume change from Neil).

 

"West End Girls" was sung in its extended version form (with the extra verse) and the surprises continued with "Home And Dry" a song I had never expected to see live. Then they proved to us that they don't forget their immediately previous album like a lot of bands who usually play only tracks from their latest album combined with their "early stuff". So they played "Vocal" again on this tour. But the biggest surprise came after that with one of my favourite songs from the "Fundamental" album: "The Sodom And Gomorrah Show".

I was starting to wonder whether they wanted to promote their recent "Further Listening" reissues, but when I looked at the setlist again, I realized they played nothing from "Nightlife", nothing from "Elysium" (understandable, probably) and, here comes the big surprise, nothing from "Behaviour"!

After "It's A Sin", the version of "Left To My Own Devices" that followed was expected and already familiar from the 12 inch of "Undertow". 

For the end of their set they announced "an old song in a new version" and although Neil started singing "Heart" he immediately moved into "Go West"

They returned for an encore of course, treating us to "Domino Dancing", the obligatory "Always On My Mind" (the following day was, after all the 40th anniversary of Elvis leaving us) and they wrapped up the proceedings with an extra dose of "The Pop Kids"

And that was it! The balloons were deflated, the square was slowly emptied and we started walking back to our hotel. You see, that's the beauty of a festival like this which takes place in a city centre: No need to worry about public transport or taxis, your accommodation is probably within walking distance. All we had to do now was go to sleep and dream of our next Pet Shop Boys gig...

 

 

SETLISTS

GOLDFRAPP
01. Anymore
02. Train
03. Ocean
04. You Never Know
05. Slide In
06. Everything Is Never Enough
07. Become The One
08. Systemagic
09. Number 1
10. Ride A White Horse
11. Strict Machine

PET SHOP BOYS
01. Inner Sanctum
02. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
03. The Pop Kids
04. In The Night
05. Burn
06. Love Is A Bourgeois Construct
07. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is)
08. Love Etc.
09. The Dictator Decides
10. Inside A Dream
11. West End Girls
12. Home And Dry
13. Vocal
14. The Sodom And Gomorrah Show
15. It's A Sin
16. Left To My Own Devices
17. Heart / Go West
Encore:
18. Domino Dancing
19. Always On My Mind
20. The Pop Kids (Reprise)