{"id":35238,"date":"2021-09-08T19:25:50","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T17:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/?p=35238"},"modified":"2021-09-08T21:08:08","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T19:08:08","slug":"sinners-day-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/sinners-day-special\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinner’s Day Special"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Our five days in Sinner\u2019s Day Special\/W-Fest were not only a return to the happy eighties but also to a time when there was no Covid. After showing our vaccination cards, we entered a new old world without face masks and social distancing, that, for a time, we thought it would never come back. The beach at Ostend looked black for a day thanks to the public who came to the Sinner\u2019s Day Special, preview of the festival that is going to take place on the last weekend of October.<\/span><\/p>

Due to a delay in our trip, we missed The Names<\/strong> and Pesch<\/strong>. We were not expecting so much traffic (specially at the exit of Gent) and we arrived at our hotel around one hour and a half later of what we planned. I think that we will have another chance to see such an interesting new project as Pesch, <\/strong>but we were really sorry for not seeing The Names <\/strong>as we don\u2019t know if we will have another opportunity. Well, at least we arrived safe and had five days full of music before us. We had enough time to have a look at the merch and records shops and find where the toilets were placed. <\/span><\/p>

the obsCURE<\/strong>, a The Cure\u2019<\/strong>s tribute band, whose leader is Dirk Vreys, also singer of the very interesting post-punk act A Slice of Life<\/strong> played what was our first concert in the sands of Ostend. Dirk, a healthy Robert Smith, has his young son as his Simon Gallup. They started with \u201cShake Dog Shake,\u201d followed by classics such as \u201cPrimary,\u201d \u201cCharlotte Sometimes\u201d and the intense \u201cThe Hanging Garden.\u201d The concert, which was mainly based on the album Concert (The Cure live)<\/em> from 1984, continued with \u201cThe Walk,\u201d \u201cOne Hundred Years\u201d (one of my favorite songs), and the final \u201cKilling an Arab\u201d (with the same young energy of the original) and \u201cThe Forest.\u201d During the instrumental part of this song, Dirk kissed the full band. The question I had during the concert was: should a The Cure<\/strong> tribute band play also three hours? I can\u2019t answer but I must confess that I really enjoyed the 50 minutes of the obsCURE<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Ramkot, <\/strong>a hard rock Belgian band that has been compared to Royal Blood <\/strong>(just saying so you get an idea of their sound, although I found them harder), were, honestly a strange choice for the day, as their style and even look was quite different from the rest of bands. They have won a new band contest called Nieuwe Lichting and are a three-piece where the singing is done mainly by the bassist but a couple of songs were sung by the guitar player (with a less commercial voice that I enjoyed more). I haven\u2019t listened to metal\/hard rock for a really long time and it\u2019s difficult for me to really evaluate what I saw. They played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and part of the public seemed to enjoy it. Among the tracks they played, let\u2019s point out \u201cKing of the Harmless\u201d from their debut EP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Stijn Meuris, was doing the introductions of every band, but we will talk more about him in our chronicle of W-Fest. With the next concert, an incredible streak of good gigs was starting. The first of them was by Suicide Commando<\/strong> that started with \u201cGates of Oblivion\u201d with a powerful entrance and amazing energy. From there, they chained classic after classic such as \u201cGod is in the Rain,\u201d \u201cEuthanasia\u201d and”Cause of death: suicide\u201d in which Johan Van Roy played a small drum. In \u201cLove Breeds Suicide\u201d we were amazed by the power of the drummer and the impacting visuals. The spectacle continued with the awesome”Hellraiser,\u201d and the final \u201cDie Motherfucker Die.\u201d Johan Van Roy is still a spectacular front-man, the band plays with a lot of energy\u00a0and the setlist was just perfect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Belgian band Whispering Sons<\/strong> has grown a lot in the last years, both commercially but also in terms of quality. It\u2019s difficult to believe that only three years ago, in 2018, they were playing in a very small venue in Madrid. And now they are one of the headliners of DarkMad, one of the two main dark festivals in Spain. Fenne is quite impressing, both for her way of singing and the magnetism she has. And the rest of the band is really good, especially the guitar player that played some great riffs. They started with \u201cDead End\u201d and they already captivated us. It\u2019s quite remarkable that they already have a very solid setlist with only two albums released. \u201cGot a light\u201d gave us the goosebumps, but also the guitars of \u201cAlone,\u201d the powerful \u201cVision,\u201d \u201cSurface\u201d and the final \u201cWaste.\u201d Breathtaking.<\/span><\/p>

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El Garaje is what it is due to a series of circumstances that started with a concert of The Young Gods<\/strong> in a small Italian festival. There, we bought the tickets for our first W-Fest, and coming to this festival motivated us to dedicate all this magazine to the Goth culture. So seeing them in W-Fest was a kind of closing the circle. The set, in this occasion included some songs of their last album Data Mirage Tangram<\/em> so, they did not play all their classics. And that, at least for me, who has seen the band a few times, was OK, as I wanted something different. The first 35 minutes consisted of only four new songs: \u201cComme C\u2019Etait La Derni\u00e8re Fois\u201d<\/em> (with only Cesare Pizzi and Franz Treichler on stage), and there from their new album, \u201cFigure sans nom\u201d (where the drummer joined), the powerful \u201cTear the Red Sky\u201d (a track U2<\/strong> would kill for) and \u201cAll my Skin Standing\u201d (with an atmospheric beginning that got us ready for the electric storm that came later). They continued with \u201cAbout Time,\u201d their version of Kurt Weill\u2019<\/strong>s \u201cSeptember Song,\u201d another intense moment with \u201cEnvoy\u00e9,\u201d \u201cNight Dance\u201d and an amazing \u201cKissing the sun.\u201d Another concert to remember.<\/span><\/p>

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And now it was the turn of one of future pop most important bands: VNV Nation<\/strong> who gave another great concerts with the most emotive moments of the night. They have a lot of great tracks so when they have a one-hour slot, they never play fillers. From the solemn \u201cLegion\u201d to the powerful \u201cChrome,\u201d but also \u201cFurther Star,\u201d the classic \u201cIllusion,\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s the future?\u201d, a danceable \u201cImmersed,\u201d \u201cControl,\u201d \u201cNova\u201d and \u201cAll or sins.\u201d Ronan Harris sang as well as ever and with such a setlist it\u2019s difficult to give a bad concert. We had four really good concerts in a row and there were two more coming.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Finally, one of the most awaited concerts of the night arrived. Everybody was waiting for\u00a0Front 242<\/strong> as for most of us it was the first chance of listening to some of their new songs. The legendary EBM band managed to do something really difficult and gave us the best show of the night, in my opinion. From the very beginning, both Richard 23 and Jean-Luc De Meyer proved to have an incredible energy. The storm started with \u201cFirst in\/First out,\u201d \u201cTake One,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Crush,\u201d \u201cFunkahdafi\u201d (during this song we saw Ronan Harris, not very far from us, taking a vid). After this, we had one of their new tracks and more classics: \u201cQuite Unusual,\u201d \u201cSoul Manager,\u201d \u201cCommando Mix\u201d and \u201cU-Men.\u201d The band played a new track, sang by Richard with a sound that we could describe as 100% Front 242<\/strong>. People became crazy with \u201cHeadhunter\u201d at the same time that a few drops of rain started to fall, only to make the moment more special. After \u201cModalvia,\u201d the end of the concert came with \u201cWelcome to Paradise.\u201d Impressive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Things are never perfect, and The Neon Judgement\u2019<\/strong>s concert as good as we expected. The expectations were very high, it\u2019s true, as TNJ<\/strong> is a band that we love. And we enjoyed the concert, it\u2019s true, but it wasn\u2019t that special. They started with \u201cFactory Walk,\u201d with Dirk at the machines and TB with his guitar. The song kept all its classic industrial power. TB sang \u201cSue Sister\u201d and they continued with a nice \u201cToo Cold To Breathe.\u201d Some technical problems in \u201cFashion Party,\u201d prevented TB from singing it as his guitar was not working. The track continued only with the electronic part and a final declamation from TB. They continued with \u201cThe Man\u201d and \u201cAwful Day,\u201d a danceable \u201cTomorrow In the Papers,\u201d and \u201cMiss Brown\u201d in which the son of TB played with the duo. The rest of the concert oscillated between the edgy guitars of\u00a0\u201cVoodoo Nippefield\u201d and the electronic of \u201cConcrete.\u201d For the end, two of their classic: \u201cChinese Black\u201d y \u201cTV Treated\u201d that were quite well played. We hope to see then live again in the future because as Leonard Cohen<\/strong> used to sing: \u201cHey, that\u2019s no way of saying goodbye.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

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