Crashdïet + Crazy D Nasty + The City

Muziekcentrum Trix – Antwerpen

10/12/2011

I’m a big fan of Crashdiët and I was totally bummed out I’ve missed them last time they came to Belgium. Needless to say I was totally looking forward to this concert. I arrived well in time and noticed that there weren’t too many people there yet, and the amount of visitors wouldn’t really increase anymore. Since I’m not good with big crowds, I didn’t really mind at all.

First band up is the local collective The City. These heavily tatted rockers released their debut-album/EP in the beginning of this year and I remember I gave it a raving review. Unfortunately, they are letting me down tonight. Although overall everything sounded right and well-timed, they couldn’t quite hold my attention. It might have something to do with the fact that the singer featured on the album wasn’t fronting the band. The guy taking over has a good, raspy voice, but with this band and this music, I missed the greaser-sound their previous front man provided.

After the boys from Antwerp cleared their gear from the stage, it’s time for Crazy D Nasty. The sleaze rockers from the southern part of our small country most definitely look the part, and I can’t help wondering whether they will sound equally as good as they look. Their fans are drunk and loud, waving a self-made banner and annoying the hell out of everyone, but they’re having a blast and isn’t that what it’s all supposed to be about? Being loud seems to be the recurrent theme, because if the fans are loud, the band is even more so. The voice of their lead singer is amazing and by moments I’m remembered of the stage performance of Freddy Mercury. This guy really takes in the whole stage with his personality! They manage to do what their predecessors failed to, and that’s warming up the crowd. Asking some girls on stage to dance with them to a song might have sounded like a good idea, but for me it didn’t really add to the performance, on the contrary, it was rather distracting. These guys don’t need cheap tricks like this, they should just do their thing and let their music speak for itself.

Setting up the stage for Crashdïet takes a little bit longer than I would’ve thought it could take, so I provide myself with a drink before looking for a good spot in the front row. It’s good to see that they bring the whole act, including the fuming barrels, to the stage, even though the turn-out is rather low. Lights dim, the band takes the stage and I swear I fell in love all over again with the raw power that oozes from those four Swedes. I must confess that my love had faded when Olliver Twisted was behind the microphone, but then they replaced him with Simon Cruz, and they couldn’t have found a better guy to do the job. Seriously, the dude’s insane. He’s like this small, tiny bundle of energy equipped with a voice that can shatter glass at any point. The guys really give their all and although I can hear some small mistakes here and there, I don’t really care because they really are giving me so much energy. I’m screaming my lungs out to songs like “Breakin’ the Chainz”, “Queen Obscene”, and “Chemical”. And then I hear the first notes of “Beautiful Pain” and I can barely hold back my tears, just because this song has so much emotional value to me. I know this might sound lame, but I can’t help it, I’m an emotional person. Then the band disappears from stage, and I guess they will come back for an encore, ‘cause they haven’t played “Generation Wild” yet, and this is after all the “Generation Wild Tour”. They keep us waiting for an awfully long time, however, and I wish they didn’t because it sort of ruins the mood set, at least for me it does. Finally drummer Eric Young steps to the stage to address the audience about how wonderful we have been, and well, you know, the usual stuff. The rest of the band members quickly join him to finish of the set with “Down in The Dust” and “Generation Wild”, and we show them our respect by singing along and dancing the night away. I can’t wait until next year to see them tearing it up again!