Live

DAVID BYRNE Plays Fabulous Tiny Desk Concert With A Big Funky Band

Posted on by JL

2 December 2025

The by now legendary Tiny Desk Concerts are organized by NPR Music,
the project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded
non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007
to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for
music discovery, since 2008.

Small and big musical artists/bands have performed in the
room filled with books and a tiny little desk, ever since.

Last night, DAVID BYRNE was the (famous) guest. He brought a whole group of musicians, with a diverse set of instruments, backing vocalists, and dancers along for the occasion.

4 songs were played. Two tracks (Everybody’s Laughs / Don’t Be Like That) from Byrne’s new album Who Is The Sky? and 2 Talking Heads crackers, (Nothing) But Flowers from 1998 and Life During Wartime from 1979.

It’s mega-enjoyable to watch the fabulous 20-minute gig.
It feels and resonates like an early Xmas holidays party.
Everybody’s dancing, singing, laughing. Pretty contagious
and no psycho killers in sight.

NPR Website

DITZ – 5 Reasons Why Brighton’s Armageddon Misfits Are One Of The Best Live Bands Of The Past Decade

Posted on by JL

25 November 2025

Last Sunday Brighton‘s noizz sensation DITZ landed in my hometown of
Ghent, Belgium. The tenth time I witnessed their Dante Inferno exploits.

I’ll give you 5 reasons why DITZ are one of
the best live bands of the past decade.

1. Their live wall-of-trash-and-crash sound breaks every decibels-level law.
It’s beyond aural belief, but also scary, earth-shattering, and balls-and-brain
breaking. Don’t you love it when you can feel music really physically as if your
body gets electrocuted? I do. It makes me feel much livelier than just being
alive.

2. The demonic guitar duo of Anton Mocock and Jack Looker produce
an amount of kick-ass electricity that make roofs/walls of venues tremble.
Their non-stop chainsaw riff are fucking ace.

3. The rhythm section of Sam Evans and Caleb Remnant batters with
a Herculean vehemence. Ideal for an Armageddon battle of bands.
Hallelujah.

4. They’re big fans of Fugazi, At The Drive-In, Metz, Flipper, Black Flag
and other mean noise motherfuckers. All bands I dig too.

5. Last but not least there’s the psychotic vox and venue-filling presence of
Cal Francis (they/them). They rant, they stare, they’re charismatic off and on
stage, they are a bugaboo in Kate Moss disguise; and they are the perfect
she-devil to front this devilish band of maniacal misfits.

Mind you, without their mindfucking hullabaloo
it would be probably a whole different story.

At the start of this year they launched their 2nd LP,
titled Never Exhale one of the most baffling records I heard in a long time.


.
And their newest single is a nightmarish anti-AI jam.

Picture This

Setlist

Welsh Swirling Punkettes PANIC SHACK Shook ANTWERP, BELGIUM

Posted on by JL

23 November 2025

Band: PANIC SHACK
Who: 4 pop punkettes from Wales. In 2022 they released their 6-track
debut EP Baby Shack, and last July they launched their self-titled debut LP

An irresistible album because of its fitting simplicity and charming because
of its fervent familiarity. Swerving the expected topics of sex and romance,
the entire album revolves around the ionic bond between the four girls.

New record, new tour.

Last Wednesday, they stopped in Antwerp, Belgium for a blistering punk party.
These Welsh punkettes entertained the mad for it crowd with an hour of robust razzmatazz. And it’s clear that the four Amazons on stage had as much fun as
we did.

Full steam ahead. No brakes, no breaks. Uppercut after uppercut. And with their
comic moves, now and then, they put a big smile on our faces. They came to shake
‘n’ roll. They succeeded with perky panache and explosive dash.

Single ‘Girl Band Started Pack’.
One of the best tracks of 2025,
according to our aching ears.

ALBUM


.

PICTURE THIS


One down


Two down

SETLIST

Instagram – Linktree

Scottish Synth-Punk Tornado VLURE Hit BRUSSELS With Big Booming Bangs

Posted on by JL

7 November 2025


Press pic

VLURE are an electro-rock hit team from Scotland who
released their smashing debut LP Escalate last
September.

Imagine this. The techno punk pyrotechnics of The Prodigy and the bombastic disco sledgehammers of woofers Fat Dog. Sounds like an Apocalypse Now rave, right? You
bloody betcha. It earned them a blitzkrieg reputation in their home country of
Scotland and by extension the UK.

NME said about their firstborn in a 5-star review : “Because VLURE have spent years honing their sound, the sonic underbelly of ‘Escalate’ feels effortless – and almost subconscious. The togetherness with which dense guitars, electronic mayhem and shifts in pace intertwine enables the messages of ‘Escalate’ to take centre stage. The result is an inspiring, brutally honest album that matches the lofty standards to which VLURE hold themselves. They want it euphoric, and nothing can stand in their way.”

Last night, the mad for it 5-piece landed in Brussels as part of a
short Euro tour playing clubs to introduce that staggering album.

They played in front of about 50/60 curious music junkies (like me) whose appetite
for new exciting stuff is insatiable. I’m quite sure that every one of them (like me)
checked the album beforehand and then decided to go nuts to it in that small historic basement of Le Botanique building in Belgium‘s capital.

Vlure put us all in an ecstatic trance. They didn’t mind how many people were present. They left all they got (a lot!!) on the floor while turning the night into a sauna-like rave explosion of big booming electro bangs, extra fuelled with fierce drumming and fat
bass lines.

In the middle, front-giant-man Hamish Hutcheson rapped his butt off non-stop, vocally
assisted in the end by one of his bandmates, until the last Faithless beat, thanking us
all with a thunderous encore. Ace!!

By the end of the year, approximately 500 Belgians will claim to have been there.

Here’s an idea of their titanic live sound.

Their most recent singles and that boiling debut full-length below.

SINGLES

ALBUM


.
Instagram – Website

Live photos by Turn Up The Volume

Legend TODD RUNDGREN’s Voice Starred In BRUSSELS

Posted on by JL

27 October 2025

Pennsylvania‘s musical big shot TODD RUNGREN , aged 77 now,
had a remarkable career, with the mid-60s/70s and the 80s as his
most productive, creative and successful decades.

He excelled in blending prog-rock, jazz, electronica
and psychedelic pop into a rich multi-layered sound.

He was a member of experimental band Nazz between 1967
and 1969, and his own band Utopia from 1973 until 1976.

He had his greatest output as a solo artist, with a total of
27 LPs (so far) with Space Force as the most recent one,
released in 2022.

Last week, he landed in Europe for a handful of gigs. I caught him in Brussels.
It felt both weird and special to see this musical icon (for my first time) in a
small 450-capacity club called Le Botanique.

Nostalgia ruled. Rundgren‘s set was a greatest hits one, mostly solo ones,
but also a couple of Nazz and Utopia rockers. It was quickly clear that the legend
only came to perform and entertain us all with his music, not with interactions
with the public in between or during songs. He didn’t want to lose his firm grip
on his 2 hour+ extravaganza show.

Also he needed his supreme voice all the way through to sing. Yes, his all-around
impressive voice was the indisputable star of the galvanizing night. Prodigious, really
prodigious vocal cords. He rarely took up his guitar, and when he did he didn’t lost
himself in endless solos (which I expected a bit). His 5-man strong seasoned backing
band took care of the songs’ insatiable pop and rock puissance. Wholly solid.

Then again, the most gripping highlight was the a capella rendition of the sailor
shanty-like pearl Home Of Work (from his 1985 LP A Capella, yes, all voice, stupendous record). Along with the bassist and guitarist, Rundgren silenced the audience completely venue, you could hear a needle drop. Astounding tour de force. Astounding concert overall.

SETLIST

I Think You Know
Secret Society
Weakness
Stood Up
Lost Horizon
Buffalo Grass
Beloved Infidel
Hit Me Like a Train
Wouldn’t You Like to Know
Sweet
Kindness
Woman’s World
Afterlife
Down With the Ship
Flesh and Blood
Honest Work
Rock Love

God Said
Fascist Christ
Hawking
Worldwide Epiphany

Encore:

I Saw the Light / Can We Still Be Friends / Hello It’s Me The Last Ride
Fade Away / A Dream Goes on Forever
All photos by Turn Up The Volume.

Instagram – Tour – All Albums

BLACK SABBATH Is Dead! Long Live WIJF!

Posted on by JL

6 October 2025


Press photo

Band: WIJF.(Wife in English)
Who: Fast-rising Belgian
indie outfit.

With their raw energy, heavy riffs, and powerful vocals, Wijf guarantees expert stage destruction. Singer Marie De Graeve‘s voice is sometimes ethereal, sometimes groovy,
but always with a twist.

Debut EP: ALTER EGO

Press info: “Both the title and the bold leopard print in the design symbolize cunning, slyness, and the courage to adopt an alternative personality. Therefore, it should never
be entirely clear who is guilty or who is accusing.

The content constantly plays with these viewpoints. The five tracks contain the standard ingredients of a Wijf song: hard, strong, sharp, a little naughty, and always with an edge.”


Artwork EP

Last week Belgian 4-motor engine WIJF. premiered
their 5-track debut EP at a sold out club gig in their
hometown of Ghent (Belgium).

What a night it was.

They didn’t waste time. From the get-go they hit hard with big bangs, and never looked back. Their indestructible appetite for metallic knockout killers is massive. Think Black Sabbath fronted by Linkin Park‘s new, vociferous vox Emily Armstrong. Loud? You betcha. Very loud.

Stunning singer Marie De Graeve is the vocal and visual magnet in the middle. Her vocal potency is as monumental as Ghent‘s towering cathedral, and combined with her dazzling and tireless stage presence, she ignited the hungry crowd from start to finish.

I also want to mention here that Marie is a down-to-earth person. She expressed her gratitude between songs. Thanking her parents and grandparents, who were present in front, beside the podium, was truly touching. I never saw Courtney Love do that.

Backed by a scorching band, I feared at times that the roof would collapse.
Key moments were undoubtedly the imposing rendition of the EP’s two
blood-and-guts sledgehammers, Hysterical and Liar.

Mind you, the three other tracks, Love Machine, Freak and Circles, are three juggernauts that complete the EP’s shatterproof vitality. Btw, no fillers whatsoever in the full set. Mission accomplished with bursting brio. WIJF. are heading towards the top of the Belgian indie scene, unstoppably.

ALTER EGO


.
SETLIST

Instagram – Linktree

Live photos by Turn Up The Volume

HAPPY MONDAYS Live On A Sunday In A Dung Pool Of Noizz In BELGIUM

Posted on by JL

Monday 22 September 2025

The glorious heyday, between 1987-1992, of Madchester‘s legends and 24-hour party people HAPPY MONDAYS is long gone. But they keep on touring for years now (bills
need to be paid, I guess) mostly in the UK.

But last night they landed in my hometown of Ghent (Belgium)
for the first concert of their European tour.

And? The sound mixer messed up big time. He created a dung pool of noise, where
all instruments and voices seemed to try too hard to be the loudest, which turned the
whole resonance into a dissonant chaos. A real pity for big fans, like me.

That aside, we noted that Shaun Ryder‘s voice is still intact, well in the
moments it didn’t drown in the turbulence, and he’s still not moving.

The voiceless mover and groover, is the incomparable Bez of course, swinging from left to right and back, rattling his marakas non-stop, shaking hands with the front row now and then, inciting the crowd, of whom most weren’t really bothered by the disturbing racket and swayed their hips to the beat.

Without Bez (then and now) the energy and party vibes would drop to point zero. He is
the hardest worker in the band. Also notable is that longtime female singer Rowetta left the band at the start of this year and is now replaced by a similar great soul voice, named Firouzeh Razavi. She’s Bez wife.

1990

It was nice to see the former e-cstatic dopeheads back again after all these years. Nostalgia, you know. But as said the sound mixer turned the whole shebang into
an annoying havoc. Fire him.

Wait, I’ll stream their greatest hits (again) to make myself happy.

Instagram – Short Bio – Discography

Live photos by Turn Up The Volume

SYSTEM OF A DOWN – Huge Live Return In London And Europe For The Nu-Metal Champs In Summer Of 2026

Posted on by JL

18 September 2025

It’s been 10 years now since SYSTEM OF A DOWN released their double set
of albums, Mesmerize and Hypnotize, but their still a massive force with a
massive fanbase.

It’s also 5 years already since they had double A-side single Protect The Land
and Genocidal Humanoidz out to raise awareness and funds for Armenia and
the unrecognised Republic of Artsakh amid the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Next year, 13 & 15 July, herculean voice Serj Tankian (now 58) and his accomplices
will play at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Football Stadium. Tickets are for sale HERE.

Queens Of The Stone Age will be the main support act.

They also have a handful shows listed up in Europe. Tickets for
those are available from 19 September on. More info HERE.

JUNE

29 – Sweden, Stockholm – Strawberry Arena

JULY

2 – France, Paris – Stade De France
6 – Italy, Milan – Ippodromo Snai La Maura
8 – Germany, Berlin – Olympiastadion
10 – Germany, Düsseldorf – Open Air Park Düsseldorf
13 – UK, London – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
15 – UK, London – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
18 – Poland, Warsaw – PGE Narodowy