Today is a very special ‘throwback Thursday’ because it is exactly 25 years since I first met David & Stephen.
On May 23, 1999 Soulwax played at Festival Aan De Werf on the Neude square in Utrecht. I moved to this Dutch city in the fall of 1998 to study journalism.
I must admit I wasn’t their biggest fan yet. Their debut album ‘Leave The Story Untold’ didn’t really resonate back in 1996. I was more into fellow Belgians dEUS who released their second album ‘In A Bar Under The Sea’ that same year.
Fast forward to 1998 and I vividly remember David talking to Belgian radio Studio Brussel before they premiered ‘My Cruel Joke’ – the first single of the upcoming album ‘Much Against Everyone’s Advice’ – whilst driving in my car back home from my internship in Brussels. And I must say I was pleasantly surprised, this band made a huge leap forward (and no longer could be called ‘the Belgian Black Crows’ 😀).
Soulwax live at Eskimo NY party 1999
Soulwax played on NYE 1999 at one of the legendary Eskimo parties in Ghent. It was in an abandoned warehouse next to the Eskimo factory (where they made quality underwear). But they played before midnight and if memory is correct, I only saw the last song.
I did see the Flying Dewaele Brothers dj later that night, and really liked it a lot.
After a couple of months living in Utrecht, I met my girlfriend Joyce who was a fan of the Dewaeles because she loved their weekly tv show ‘@lter8’. She taped the shows on VHS, as one still did in 1999!
The first Soulwax gig of the Much Against EA era that we saw was on May 5th, 1999 at ‘Bevrijdingspop’. That was on ‘Bevrijdingsdag’ in The Netherlands, the day where the country remembers their day of liberation in World War II. And Soulwax played a free gig in Haarlem, close to Amsterdam.
So a couple of weeks later, on May 23, we went to see Soulwax play another free gig at Festival Aan De Werf in Utrecht. It was the day before their show at the Pinkpop festival, probably their biggest gig of their career.
I remember hearing their ‘Billie Jeans Meets Saturday’ mashup on the PA before they started, and they came on stage with Joe Dassin’s ‘L’Eté Indien’.
We got the full MAEA experience: the band wearing their vintage suits, the backdrop made out of CDs, the microphones with the lights in them, the CASIO guitar.. all the musical ingredients that made these shows simply amazing! (And LOTS OF FUN!)
Since this was a small festival, I managed to get backstage to introduce myself to Dave and Steph. Probably told them I was a Belgian living in Utrecht, who loved their live shows and @lter8 etc.
It was almost midnight and they opened a couple of bottles of champagne (or maybe cheap cava) because Dave turned 24! I didn’t take a picture with them (and haven’t done so in these 25 years 😀) but I took this picture with Tamara (who would play with her act The No at Radio Soulwax in Amsterdam in 2008).
I didn’t go to Pinkpop the day after, but watched a bit of the show that was broadcasted live on national TV. I remember I was very happy they showed ‘Cut Some Slack’ and ‘Poplife’.
Hard to believe 25 years have passed! (And I am still here talking about my favorite band from Ghent)
So happy birthday Dave!! 🎂
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