Boston‘s notorious rock titans AEROSMITH (active since 1970 – 15 albums)
return to the stage for two special shows at the Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
for 2 concerts, on October 29 and November 1.
In 2024, the band announced their live action retirement,
because of frontman Steve Tyler‘s (78 now) vocal injury.
But Steve‘s vocal cords are obviously working okay again.
The shows will feature an all-star cast with – take a deep breath – The Black Crowes,
RUN DMC, Heart, Andrew Watt, Billy Idol, Chad Smith (RHCP), Duff McKagan (GN’R), Eric
Church, Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Marcus King, Mike Inez (Alice In Chains), Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), Pat Monahan (Train), Sammy Hagar, Slash (GN’R), Steve Stevens,
Sully Erna (Godsmack), Tom Morello, Adam Wakeman, Audley Freed, Kenny Aronoff and
more (even more??), with Don Was serving as music director.
I wonder how many dressing rooms they need to get all those artists in.
Whatever it’ll be all about shutting up and dancing.
Cincinnati‘s rock bigshots THE AFGHAN WHIGS celebrate their 40th anniversary as
a band this year. To cement the monumental moment, they treated our ears to their splendid 10th album, named Soft Control (you can stream it below), which landed
last August and spread the festive message on their current tour.
Last night they stopped in Antwerp at the historic ballroom venue called Roma.
Two songs in and frontman Greg Dulli wanted more light in the room: “You can see me, and I wanna see you too.” From there on, it was all feet on the pedals. The Whigs went for
a best-of and 4 tracks (My Lover / Jungle Roux / The Deepest Part Of The Darkest Show / Duvateen) from the new full-length Soft Control.
After 4 decades, the Whigs still have the electrifying energy and blazing brio of
young punks. On stage (as I experienced several times before) they become a
mean riff machine. It’s amps and sirens up, exceeding the permitted volume in
decibels. Yes, the Cincinnati crew are burningly LOUD. Hells bells.
Guess what, despite the roaring racket, Dulli‘s immense voice manages to come on
top of it all. Oh my, oh my. His lung capacity is off the charts, and he obviously enjoys
it to the full extent. Even in the quieter intervals ( Algiers / My Lover / Duvateen / It Kills),
you could still hear Dulli & Co outside of the venue.
Only the greats can still make great records and draw full houses after such an
expansive career. And Dulli, at 61, and his squad are far from done. Hats off to
these always-delivering gentlemen.
SETLIST
Jungle Roux
I’m Her Slave
Light as a Feather
What Jail Is Like
House of I
Toy Automatic
Going to Town
Debonair
My Lover
Algiers Somethin’ Hot
The Slide Song
Catch a Colt
The Deepest Part of the Darkest Show
It Kills
Please, Baby, Please
Fountain and Fairfax
My Enemy
Son of the South
Duvateen Summer’s Kiss
Into The Floor
Miles Iz Ded
Brighton‘s swirling guitar pop (they call it themselves ‘wonk pop‘) sensation LIME GARDEN entered the scene in 2017 and took a long to come up with
their debut album named One More Thing,which was released in 2024.
Last April, the Brighton girls launched their sophomore CD/LP, titled Maybe Not Tonight, bursting with sing-along and dance-along pop
sparklers.
Last Tuesday, they came, saw, and conquered Brussels with an exhilarating 50-minute
set. Live, they pump up the jam and had the crowd in the sold-out club on their feet and clapping/singing in no time, with an incessant flood of excitatory tunes.
Frontwoman Chloe Howard was the magnetic entertainer in the middle. She’s blessed
with a self-assertive, strong, venue-filling voice; she plays the tambourine better than Liam Gallagher and her discofloor moves are pretty seductive.
Hard to pick highlights as the gem-packed party flow went on and on. But I’ll give you the standout cracker of all standout crackers, called 23. A funky/groovy pelvis-shaking booster, so far TUTV‘s single of 2026. As expected, it ended their glorious rave-up. An invigorating pop triumph. Not bad for a Tuesday, not bad at all.
MAYBE NOT TONIGHT
.
SETLIST
Body
Pop Star
Lifestyle
Moving Target
Bitter
Always Talking About You
I Want to Be You
Downtown Lover
Clockwork
Maybe Not Tonight
All Bad Parts
Cross My Heart
Love Song
23
On Sunday September 13th, a one-day indoor festival will take place in the small town
of Oostakker in Belgium. Nothing unusual so far. But wait, here it comes. Within about
12 hours, 37 Belgian bands/acts, I repeat, 37 Belgian bands/acts will perform.
Each one of them gets 15 minutes to show what their musical potential is all about and
try to earn themselves a minimum of 15 minutes of fame afterwards. There you go, this
is a musical event of a calibre I’ve never seen or heard of in Belgium. Impressive, just impressive.
The festival is named Kill Your Darlings, after a 30-year-old rock song by Belgian brothers Soulwax (from their debut full-length Leave The Story Untold), who turned their musical direction upside down over the years, from a post-punk force to an EBM techno turbine that made them internationally famous.
But it goes further than just that. Soulwax was, a long time ago, a laureate of a Belgian showcase for emerging musicians. It was organised by a guy named Vincent Welvaert.
Today he’s the managing director of a Tourbus Agency, and operator of a multi-functional music centre calledGoed Leven (Dutch for Good Life), and he’s also co-organizer of this upcoming, unprecedented festival that shares much of the same DNA as back then with Soulwax: discovering young talent, giving them opportunities, and above all, a great love for music.
With so many Belgian bands around, picking the right ones becomes difficult. Kill Your Darlings, as they say. A nod to Soulwax, to a long-past Belgian showcase, and a lasting curiosity for what tomorrow holds.
Along Welvaert the driving force and instigator of the upcoming fest is Didier Becu,
co-founder of very popular Belgian music website Luminous Dash, which focuses
mainly on, I’m sure you guessed it… Belgian artists.
Becu is a 24/7 music junkie (like me, no wonder we’re buddies) who started to organise
gigs for up-and-coming acts in small venues/clubs/bars a few years ago. Now he goes for
a big Belgian bang.
“37 bands in one day is madness, but so was Woodstock”
Tell us about it Didier: “The idea for Kill Your Darlings originated when I crossed paths with Vincent Welvaer. Soulwax was one of the first bands he worked with. There is so much talent
in Belgium, but it is a matter of luck whether they can become your darlings or not.
My love for Belgian music began as a child by listening to the radio, to a Belgian sort
of John Peel DJ . After years of writing my own fanzines and contributing to all kinds of
websites, I bumped into Ann Cnockaert, with whom I founded Luminous Dash. After a few years, it became clear to me that my favorites had no stage, so I decided to organize concerts myself.
A circuit that resulted in this huge turning point when I found a soulmate in Vincent. We both realized that 37 bands in one day is madness, but so was Woodstock. A good fairy—whether
or not with long blonde hair—whispers to me that Kill Your Darlings will be the first of many adventures.”
Maybe this Belgian tour de force can inspire music junkies out
there, outside of our little country, to stage something similar.
San Francisco‘s Herculean rock oldtimers FAITH NO MORE (1979–1998,
2009–2021 / 7 LPs), fronted byt he explosive Mike Patton return in early
2027 for 4 concerts (I’m sure more dates will be announced in the near
future).
They will join metallic madmen System Of A Down
for 3 shows in Australia and 1 in New Zealand early
next year.
Band: EMPTY HEAD Who: Muscular noise-rock outfit, formed in 2020 in Liege. Club: Kinky Star, Ghent, Belgium
Last month, these manic motherrockers released their boiling debut LP Freak Show.
TUTV said: “Empty Head produce riff-roasting pandemonium, brutally melodic at its core,
with a merciless, tsunami of titanic tunes that challenge the flexibility of the Richter scale
when all Herculean choruses kick in.
All their banging belters are revved up by chainsaw riffs and explosive drum/bass fuel,
while the maniacal vocalist – 4 lungs and iron pipes – brings tons of kickass gusto and
sinewy ardency to the table. ”
Last Tuesday they came and conquered my hometown of Ghent. They turned a packed club into a sweaty sauna with their ear-popping roller coaster performance. Empty Head is the real punked-up deal. Their vociferous vitality ricocheted all around while all eyes were focused on fervent frontman Simon in the front.
His towering voice fuels his fast and furious troops who produce a blustery whirlwind of high-strung hurly-burly. They put up a freakin’ rock show, leaving everybody (mostly let’s-check-this-band-out attendees) stunned. The empty heads gained a lot of new fans. Trust me, they’re going places. They have cool swagger, a mean machine additude, and a series of frantic firecrackers. Don’t miss them.
Band: THE RATS Who: 5-piece hit team
from Ghent, Belgium.
Last March, these combativedogs released
their razorblade-sharp debut LP Boxing Days.
TUTV said: “The rat race is on. Time to get up, stand up, and fight for your right to start
a moshpit whenever and wherever you are, alone or with like-minded fanatics the moment Boxing Days torpedoes your ears.”
Then they played several blistering gigs to share their firstborn with their manic fans.
Last night as part of their hometown’s yearly massive festivities, they went back to their early days, playing in a small bar. Needless to say, the place was packed. We got trapped like sardines, but enjoyed every single whirlwind second.
The Rats‘ unbridled intensity and revved-up energy have an earsplitting impact.
As usual, furious frontman Emile is the maddening force upfront. He spits, sneers
and barks like a tireless pitbull, and he sweats like a punk pig. His shirt got soaking
wet in no time.
Off-stage he’s as sweet as Dr. Jekyll, on a podium he turns into a badass Mr. Hyde
bastard. His inexhaustible vitality combined with the bulldozing artillery behind
him went through the low roof while a sauna temperature got us all heated up.
When the thunderous turbo closed their steaming set with red-hot live favoriteOld Flames everybody on and off stage was out of breath. It was a triumphant hometown blast. Hands down. Many absentees will soon claim that they were there.
British synth pop champs OMD, abbreviation for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark,
have been entertaining people since 1978. In 2006 they took a deserved 10-year hiatus. Ten years later, in 2006, they returned and never looked back.
They recorded/released 14 LPs thus far, with Bauhaus Staircase from 2023 as their most
recent one.
