Thursday 14 October 2010

Big Applause For Balthazar




Balthazar are a Belgian band from Kortrijk/Ghent that won Humo's Rock Rally a few years ago. Since then they worked on their debut album that finally was released earlier this year. Slowly they are conquering the low lands with good performances on several festivals. I got to see them on Rock Werchter and Lowlands and was impressed by their quality songs and performance. Time to check them out in a club show.

Balthazar at the Melkweg Amsterdam, October 6 2010 (Ronald Says 8 out of 10)

The band Tommigun kicks it off with a good and varied set. Their indie rock songs are interesting and sound good. They could work on a more lively stage performance though since it's hard to keep your attention with their somewhat static stage act.

This is no problem for the main act Balthazar. They kick off right away and show they are one of the most interesting bands from Belgium at the moment. Their songs are well thought, sound great, nicely arranged and skillfully played. This band is seriously putting lots of effort in it. They sound tight and focused. Maarten Devoldere and Jinte Deprez are taking turns on vocals and especially Devoldere does it with lots of energy.



Patricia Vanneste is the multi-instrumentalist playing violin, keyboards and percussion. Her part is essential for the band's sound as it provides the songs with more colour. With only one record out you're bound to run out of material so they play a few new songs as well that according to Devoldere "they have never played live before and didn't rehearse". It doesn't matter since they blend in perfectly with the rest of the set.



It will only be a matter of time before they will move on to bigger stages and play headline slots of festivals. In a few years they will be up there with other great Belgian bands like dEUS and Zita Swoon. It will be well deserved.

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