Klein Strand, Oostende, Belgium 26th to 29th August 2021
W-Festival 2021 Day 3 with Goudi, Kosheen, Kissing The Pink, Meuris & Co, D:uel, Queen Symphonic, Rusty Egan presents: Visage 1980-2021, OMD
If you monitored the weather forecast on your phone you were sure that the third day of W-Festival would be a rather unpleasant one: lots of rain and strong wind was predicted. But the Belgium weather is full of surprises, and so we had a rather sunny day at the beach with only little rain.
Maybe this had something to do with the positive attitude of GOUDI, whose mastermind Pierre Goudeson brought nice New Wave tunes to the early attendees of the festival. Since 2009 he is touring with his own material, but he is most famous for his works with the legendary band FLESH & FELL. Ten minutes before the official starting time, you could hear the first tunes of KOSHEEN. Most people believed that this was a line-check, but in fact, it was the first song. People rushed to the stage, because they did not want to be late for one of UK’s finest live electronic artists. Sian Evans was in a good mood, flirted with the audience, danced and performed not only her most famous songs like Drum’n’Bass classic ‘Hide U’ and her smash-hit ‘Catch you’. It was a passionate performance, during which people got soaked up into the beautiful artistic universe of her lyrics and interesting beats, which are still up-to-date instead of outdated.
For Fans of the UK-band KISSING THE PINK this Saturday was for sure a very special one. For over 25 years the New Wave and Synth Pop phenomenon hasn’t performed a full live set. People, who waited patiently from May 2020 until now, were rewarded by the band with songs like ‘One Step’ from 1986 or the rather electronically ‘Frightened in France’ from 1983 - pure nostalgia. Next up was the Belgium project MEURIS & CO, which were formed around musician, journalist and regisseur Stijn Meuris. He brought a huge variety of songs from his bands MONZA and NOORDKAAP with him - celebrated not only by his fans. No matter, whom you asked beforehand - D:UEL was on every “must-see-list” among our friends and acquaintances. All waiting, but this is pure guesswork, to hear a perfect version of PROPAGANDA’s ‘Dr. Mabuse’. So, the crowd was quite huge, when Claudia Brücken und Susanne Freytag entered the stage. Rather unemotional they worked themselves through a setlists that contained for example their 1985 singles ‘P-Machinery’ and ‘Duel’ in a somehow slower version. Don’t get me wrong - it was a solid show, but some people were left behind rather disappointed because expectations were sky-high.
It was always FREDDIE MERCURYS wish, that “the show must go on”. And despite his former bandmates teaming up with different singers to perform the classic QUEEN songs, there are also projects that have nothing to do with the original band, despite their love for music. QUEEN SYMPHONIC gathered a huge crowd of people, not only inside the gates, but also outside in front of the entrance. Of course, it was quite nice to hear ‘Under pressure’, ‘Somebody to love’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ live - if you like kitschy musicals. Everything was alright - the orchestra was doing a good job, the singers were charismatic and had awesome voices, but you should not compare it to the real band, even not to QUEEN FEATURING ADAM LAMBERT. But they started a huge party - and I guess that was the intention of the booker.
Another technical issue stopped VISAGE from continuing their show after only a few seconds. Apparently, they had problems with the monitors. Maybe the technical issue can be blamed for the weak performance that followed and was called by many as the “Rusty Egan Ego Show”. Or, even more probably, it was because the band had only one rehearsal before this special night, during which they were supposed to play the first two VISAGE records in their entirety. It wasn’t a pleasure for the ears, but it had so many comic moments, that people couldn’t stop watching. For example, during ‘Fade to grey’ the poor singer had no idea when he should start singing. So RUSTY EGAN played not only the e-drums, but also the director and tried to push the poor guy somehow through the song. So bad, but entertaining.
The last band of the day, the mighty OMD, made up for the bad performances we saw that day and played an hour long their greatest hits like ‘Maid Of Orleans’, ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’ and ‘Souvenir’. But they saved the best for last - and played their “oldest and fastest song”: ‘Electricity’. “Come on people dance with us. It is only 3.42 minutes long!” And of course, people did what they were asked to do. Such a great end to a really good day at the beach.
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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