EVAN DANDO and his band, for almost 4 decades, THE LEMONHEADS,
released their newest album, Love Chant, last year. The first one with
original, new Lemonheads music since 2006. One of his best in a long
time.
Following the release, the band went on a promo
tour to Australia, the UK/EU, and North America.
Just now, new dates for the UK and Europe in the fall were announced.
LOVE CHANT
16 April 2026
Since Gordon started to record/release solo LPs (3 so far) she never
looked back to her unique career with Sonic Youth (1981-2011).
Not on record, not on stage.
Last month she launched her 3rd one, PLAY ME, to my ears her best yet.
And last night she landed in Brussels (3rd time in 4 years) to promote the new record. When she came on, before playing one note, she was welcomed with a big aplause and loud cheers, as a familiar shero.
From there on she focused (except for a thank you here and there, no in between talks, who needs them anyway?) on her intoxicating perfomance playing the new album Play Me in full followed by half of the previous one The Collective, a couple ones of her debut No Home Record and encoring with the unrecorded, but the well-known Cigarette musing.
Photo by Turn Up The Volume
Gordon produces, backed by a pretty young, efficient band, an industrial-injected
trip-hop buzz that gets you slowly but surely into an amplified Massive Attack-like
trance. It all sounds raw, unpolished, but oh so fascinating.
With her expressive and articulated, partly spoken/partly sung vocality, she infiltrates
your psyche, while telling her stories, absurd ones and politically-charged reality ones
(fuck Trump, fuck Musk).
At almost 73, she still looks gorgeous, she still is a pivotal performance artist,
holding an audience’s attention with a firm sonic grip. To be honest, there were
a couple of monotone percussion moments, but that’s actually a detail that
had no impact whatsoever on the final, puzzling result. Hats off to imperishable
shero Kim Gordon.
PLAY ME
24 March 2026
Hip-rap-hop icons WU-TANG CLAN started their badass career back in 1992.
They were not exactly a productive team with only 7 LPs in 34 years, but their
impact was huge.
As fans know, they started their last stand last June with The Final Chamber
tour, which brought them to the US, Europe, UK, Australia, and will hit Japan.
soon.
We already knew that they planned to return to the US during June/July, but
now the rap gang have added more dates, from August to October (see below)
20 March 2026
Britpop rocker MILES KANE released his 6th full-length Sunlight In The Shadows,Â
last October. Another feel-good record jammed with a series of rapturous rippers
and a couple of romantic ballads. No-nonsense, top-quality entertainment.
Last Tuesday, he landed, as part of a UK/Europe/US tour, with his band
in Antwerp, Belgium, only 2 years after his previous passage in our country.
Kane is a riveting rocker at heart and demonstrated that once again with a non-stop
salvo of jagged jackhammers, new and old, with a slower one here and there to refill the tank. No less than 8 tracks out of the new album’s 12 were integrated into the 18-song set. And they all fitted perfectly next to the golden oldies.
The 1500-cap venue loved (me included) every single second of his whirlwind performance. Live favourites Troubled Son, One-Man Band Rearrange, Inhaler,
Coup De Grace, Don’t Forget Who You Are, and ebullient climax Come Closer
went down a storm and were the expected standouts.
The euphoric spectators were clearly longtime fans. They sang, clapped, and cheered without interruption, propelled by the man’s highly charismatic magnetism and his overwhelming guitar riffage.
No much talk in between songs, except for the moment after finishing an enwrapping rendition of power ballad My Love, when his manager came on stage with a birthday cake for Miles, who turned 40. The whole venue chanted “Happy Birthday,” of course, and he was clearly touched by the loud, clear ovation.
Only smiling faces after the show. Again, music showed its
formidable force and immense impact on people’s state of mind.
TRACKLIST
Sing a Song to Love
Electric Flower
Rearrange
Troubled Son
Cry on My Guitar
Without You
Love Is Cruel
Inhaler
Sunlight in the Shadows
Blue Skies
Colour of the Trap
My Love
Heal
Walk on the Ocean
Coup de grace
Never Taking Me Alive
Don’t Forget Who You Are
Come Closer
NEW ALBUM
.
Photos by Turn Up The Volume
18 March 2026
Band: DOWN THE LEES
Who: A passionate powerhouse trio, rooted in Vancouver and Belgium, and now based
in the Okanagan Valley, by guitarist/vocalist Laura Lee Schultz, with Andy Ashley on drums
and Chris Carlson on bass.
So far, DTL have released 4 albums. 360 1/4 Degrees (2008), The Guest Room (2008),
Bury The Sun (2019), and Dirt (2024). You can and should, if you haven’t already, check them all out via Bandcamp or Spotify.
Three records that show the evolution in the trio’s towering noise-rock escapades,
marked by an inflaming emotionality, a torch-burning feverishness, and frontwoman Schultz sky-scraping vocals. Her poignant lyrics are embedded in a wall of astonishing thunderstorm-sound, creating a trance-like atmosphere that mesmerizes.
Following album No. 3 the band toured and filmed a high-concept concert at
the Mary Irwin Theatre in Kelowna, Canada. It features 5 tracks from Dirt, 3 from
Bury The Sun and the stupendous non-album track Midi-Doric.
One of the best live records I heard in a long while.
Get ready for a relentless roller coaster,
a gigantesque noiz tour de force,
a bone-chilling experience.
MOVIE
BUY/STREAM ALBUM
Ghent, Belgium, 2019 – Photo by Turn Up The Volume
14 March 2026
Belgian Gods dEUS – without a shadow of a doubt the best band in Belgium‘s
rock history – palyed one of their two try-outs for their upcoming European/UK
tour last Tuesday at a small venue in Leffinge, Belgium.
The gigs sold out in no time.
On this new tour, commander-in-chief Tom Barman and his accomplices will play
their first 2 albums, Worst Case Scenario (1994) and In A Bar, Under The Sea (1996).
Not in the LPs chronological order. No, they zigzag through all of the tracks, which
leads to an unpredictable, exciting setlist.
I saw the band about 25 times, and they never disappointed. On stage, they inject their songs with jacked-up energy and inflammable intensity. This was (another) special night, as they performed several of their classic gems from those 2 full-lengths, like Via, Hotel Lounge, Morticiachair, Fell Off The Floor Man, Little Arithmetics, Roses, Serpentine, and Theme From Turnpike for the first time in a long while. Nostalgia ruled.
After 35 years, with a couple of hiatuses for solo projects, and 8 LPs, dEUS still are
a fiery force, and still the most prominent Belgian group today (to my ears), but also praised all over Europe and the UK.
Their sterling catalogue isn’t dated at all, thanks to their sonic versality, intriguing waywardness, and Barman‘s extraordinary songwriting skills from day one. I never
get bored with them. Hail hail!
WORST CASE SCENARIO
IN A BAR, UNDER THE SEA
.
Instagram
All Albums
Short Bio
Photos by Turn Up The Volume
3 March 2026
British psych-rock vets, fronted by charismatic vocalist/songwriter Crispian Mills,
released their debut LP, titled K, back in 1996. It made them instant indie stars.
Last month they launched their 8th full-length, the magnificent WORMSLAYER.
The record, named after a 9th-century Indian poet king, is stuffed with top-flight
pop-edelia tunes, elevating it to a must-hear on repeat level. Mills lifts his troops
to ecstasizing heights of nostalgia. Retro delirium at its todays best.
New album means a new tour to promote it.
Last Friday, they landed in my hometown of Ghent, Belgium.
Oh my, oh my, KS still nails it on stage as they used to do so.
I saw them 4/5 times back then, and every gig was a smasheroo).
The band started with the LP’s key single Lucky Number. From there, with
almost the full tracklist of the new opus, the Brits stormed through a superlative
1 1/2 hour set.
Of course, Crips was the magnet in the middle. His marvelous guitar play mesmerized throughout. Backed by his spellbound assistants, the elated audience went through a trancy show. Not one dull moment.
Visually, our eyes were mostly fixated on the big screen behind the 4 humans. Non-stop full-spectrum, swirling, and high-contrast patterns of hallucinatory hues created a surreal spectacle. Phantasmagoric.
As expected, the encores featured old hits Hush (Joe Hush/Deep Purple cover),
Tattva, and Govinda, but also beatle George Harrison‘s 1970 humdinger
Isn’t It A Pity.
To be honest, I never thought I would listen to a formidable Kula Shaker again,
and I would witness a memorable live performance of them. Hail hail!.
ALBUM
.
SETLIST
Lucky Number
Good Money
Charge of the Light Brigade
Broke as Folk
Natural Magick
Infinite Sun
Shower Your Love
Grateful When You’re Dead / Jerry Was There
Be Merciful
The Winged Boy
Day For Night
Wormslayer
Encores:
303
Tattva
Hush
Isn’t It a Pity
(George Harrison cover)
Govinda
Instagram – All Albums – Short Bio
Live photos by Turn Up The Volume
The eccentric fairy-tale rockers THE FLAMING LIPS, led by their psychedelic
priest Wayne Coyne are around since 1983 (oh my, I had no clue it was that long).
They have fascinated their fans with 17 albums (so far).
As a longtime fan myself, I dare to say that their concerts are even better than their records, as I experienced once more last year in Antwerp, Belgium. A visual and sonic spectacle.
They just announced new tour dates for 2026.
.
Photos by Turn Up The Volume – Antwerp, Belgium – June 2025
