Bombay Brussels Bicycle Club

Hi,

Here's my latest goings on from my time in the Belgian capital. This past week I entered into the second part of my two month stay in Brussels and began what looks set to be quite an exciting month ahead. 

On my weekly Thursday day-off I decided to venture out of Brussels for a change having seen pretty much most of what the city offers. I was up late the night before trying to work out the best place to go but to little avail so I decided to 'wing it' and go with whatever I felt like once I got to Brussels-Midi train station. When I got there at around midday I spontaneously chose Ghent, the start of a chain of travelers errors that made me feel, well, a bit stupid to say the least. 

First of all, I bought the wrong train ticket. I arrived at Gare du Midi with 10 minutes to spare before the next train to Ghent was due to leave and in my blind hurry to find a ticket machine, work out how to use it and then purchase a ticket I instead bought one to Genk PRESUMING it was the same place. I can tell you now guys, I've looked it up since and it turns out they are NOT. In fact, Ghent and Genk are about 92 miles apart from each other so you can imagine my surprise and sudden panic when I presented my ticket to the Dutch speaking Ticket conductor only to be told I'd booked a ticket to the wrong place! Luckily, he was nice to me and instead of making me buy another ticket he gave me a special note to change the destination of the ticket as the price was roughly the same. I doubt I would've got away with that in the UK!

Secondly, for this trip I really went in cold and by that I mean I did hardly any research on the place I was going to. My decision to come to Ghent was based on a few pictures on Google Images and on Marie-France describing it as 'nice' but for some reason that was good enough to persuade me. When I arrived I had no idea where anything was, what to see or even how to get to the city centre as the train station is a little out of the way. Cue 30 minutes of bewildered wandering before giving up and finding a tourist information point.

Thirdly, the ticket man probably should've given it away by now but I hadn't actually considered the language issue. Brussels may be a bilingual city however Ghent is further North and is a predominantly Dutch speaking city. I suddenly became even more awkward in the various social interactions I engaged in while in Ghent as I have never and probably never will learn Dutch so I got by speaking the little bit of German I learnt in Primary School as well as speaking French with a slightly Dutch/German accent to help the locals understand me. 

Anyway, moments of an idiot abroad aside, Ghent was quite a pleasant town with a traditional town centre containing many churches, Belgian styled buildings, a river and a castle. I mainly just had a walk around the city as I didn't fancy paying for some of the museums  or other attractions (10 Euros to enter a castle?!?) which meant that I got ridiculously soaked and had to spend an hour browsing for CDs in FNAC just to dry off. Was Ghent worth the 30 Euro return train ticket? Not too sure. Had I planned my day better then I probably would've enjoyed the day more plus I'm sure it's a much nicer place when it's not pissing down with rain!

Apart from watching the Six Nations on TV (great first win of the campaign for England vs Scotland. Wales getting battered by Ireland, lol), there was nothing too special about Friday or Saturday however Sunday was probably my favourite day so far in Brussels. After being away in Alsace the week before, it was back to the Hashing with BMPH3 for another Sunday run. The run started in Auderghem on the South East side of the city before leading us into a brutally fast paced run through the Foret de Soignes (the location of the Burns Day run) followed by the usual drinking, singing and chatting afterwards. I feel really comfortable with this group now and it will definitely be one aspect of Brussels that I will miss when I leave. I'll definitely have to go on one last hash before I leave at the end of the month.

Now for the main event.

The evening of Sunday 9th February was one I had been looking forward to pretty much since I had decided to come to Brussels. 9th February was the day that Bombay Bicylce Club, one of my favourite bands, came to play in Brussels. If you're not familiar with them already, well you should be. Bombay Bicycle Club are an indie rock band from Crouch End, London. As mentioned, BBC are one of my favourite bands as they are one of those bands who constantly manages to evolve their sound album after album. Their 2009 debut album 'I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose' is one that I often describe as an optimization of the Indie Rock genre (also one of my all time favourite albums), 2010's 'Flaws' is an excellent acoustic folk based album featuring female vocals from the incredible Lucy Rose and their 3rd album 'A Different Kind Of Fix' is more of a return to the sound of 'I had the Blues...' but also containing bits of electronic music influenced by frontman Jack Steadman's solo side project. Last week they released their fourth LP 'So Long, See You Tomorrow', a yet further venture into the realm of electro, which became their first UK number 1 album on the night of the show. It was also their first gig since the release so it was already a special one not to mention it was the second time I'd seen them live.

Gig poster

The venue-Le Botanique

The concert was at Le Botanique, a venue inside a converted Botanical Greenhouse overlooking plenty of leafy green gardens, making a nice change from the basements and bars in which I attend most gigs. After a 30 minute set from support band the Ramona Flowers, the band came on stage at 9PM and played an excellent hour and a half long set. The small venue allowed for close proximity to the stage which made for a more electric atmosphere amongst the crowd as they played through hits from 'A Different Kind Of Fix' and 'I had the Blues...' as well as about half the songs from their new album. New tunes such as ''Overdone' 'It's Alright Now', 'Luna' and 'Carry Me' were excellent to hear live and they brought really energy to every song played including old favourites such as 'Evening/Morning', 'What If' and 'Always Like This' which made me fall in love with their music in the first place. After the gig, I had to wait in a massive queue to retrieve my coat from the cloakroom however once I'd collecting it, I noticed the band were waiting at the door! Naturally I went over and congratulated them on another excellent live performance and on the success of their new album as well as bit of standard chat and a picture which you can see below. It was a really special moment for me to meet them in person as they have made such a big impression on my taste in music. Had Bombay Bicycle Club not existed as a band then perhaps I would enjoy a completely different genre of music, completely changing me as a person. Their music inspires me in a big way and if I could ever create anything that's even half as good as what they do then I'd be happy. Before I went away I pre-ordered their new album and I really can't wait till I get home so I can listen to it all the way through.

Set list

Me with Jack (lead vocals, Guitar, keys,percussion, main songwriter), Jamie (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Ed (Bass and backing vocals). Suren the drummer was in the shower...

Well that's enough talking for now. You've learnt about my haphazard trip to Ghent, my latest Hash run and you've learnt all about my love for Bombay Bicycle Club and their music. I've been busy with many different exciting plans and projects which I will be able to tell you about pretty soon so stay tuned.

Until then.

PS-I took a video of BBC playing 'What If' which you can see by following this link here
I have also done a review of the gig for Pyramid Online which you can view here- Bombay Bicycle Club @ Le Botanique

#FraserOnTour

FP