The Big Belgian Weekender
- Veerle Van den Broeck
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Belgians are proud of three things: chocolate, beer and festivals. Well, maybe waffles too, but the waffles you find in tourist areas are about as foreign to me as they are to you. We’ve built stages for The Rolling Stones, Metallica, U2, Taylor Swift, Madonna, even Bon Jovi and Take That. And then we invite Suede to play two festivals on some of the worst stages imaginable.
My least favourite festival
Lokeren is probably my least favourite festival anyway, as I felt really unsafe there last time because there were simply too many people. This time, it was alright, but the stage was so high that from the barrier you could only see half the band.
Ronquières was a first for me. It’s idyllically situated on the Ronquières Inclined Plane, home to the biggest boat lift in the world when it opened in 1968. But the stage was, as the expert put it, ‘a podium for wankers’ (though for once I had an excellent view on Simon and I always enjoy his focus), and the line-up was not exactly to our taste.
A line-up matters, people
Pommelien Thijs is a big name for my five-year-old godchild and her friends, Rilès was hip-hop with a Eurovision dance act, and all of us refuse to talk about Fatal Bazooka any longer. Long story short: Suede were the only rock band, and no one—but a few crazy IOs—pays to see just one band at a festival.
Both shows were great. Lokeren felt like it lasted ten minutes—it was over that quickly. I had absolutely no expectations and ended up singing along from beginning to end. I didn’t even miss The Blue Hour, and that’s quite something coming from me. Ronquières moved me to tears at times. But it was hard work for us as fans, as we felt we had to make up for the lack of a crowd. Then again, it was hard work for Brett too. Working a dance and rap crowd like that isn’t easy.
Killer combo
How I love the adapted opening of Disintegrate. It’s so atmospheric and sets the mood so expertly. With the clever addition of the lyrics (I forgot to practise, oops - so thank god for Sued-e-oke!), the song goes down really well, especially in Lokeren. Then the killer combo of Trash and Animal Nitrate gets everybody dancing and singing. In Ronquières, the band unleashes another animal and treats us to We Are the Pigs.
Personality Disorder proves what wonderful live songs Autofiction has given us. We belt it out, and then it’s time for a breather with The 2 of Us. The Lokeren version is beautiful, with a Christina Rosetti poem, but the Ronquières version gives me goosebumps. Brett is lying on the floor, and we just love it. On top of that, we get a new poem: Scotland by Sir Alexander Grey
Dancing with the Europeans is added to the Ronquières set, but somehow it falls flat. Then it’s back to the party with Filmstar (I’ve always liked this one somehow, even in the nineties, when Suede were only a so-so band in my opinion—I’ve come a looong way) and the wonderful Can’t Get Enough. Lokerse Feesten even posted a photo of us screaming it out.
An Ode to June Rain
June Rain has quickly become a live staple. The song hits differently for me now, after spending so much time at hospital bedsides and in care homes over the past year. There’s something incredibly tender about it. Brett gets down for hugs, even if it’s preceded by a rant and a dramatic stomp about the catwalk stage in Ronquières.
And yet, in Ronquières, I find myself fighting back tears. Maybe it’s everything the song has come to mean, maybe it’s the way Brett sings it despite how he feels today, but most of all, it’s the realisation of just how incredibly good this band is. For a moment, it all gets to me.
Dancing with my Shadow Self
Everything Will Flow and the beautiful She Still Leads Me On get us to another favourite of mine, Shadow Self. It’s one of those songs that somehow gets under your skin before you’ve even figured out why. It feels like it’s about you, about a part of yourself you may not even have been aware of, until suddenly you recognise yourself in it. I shout:
"Shut up", she said, "I don’t want nobody", oh-oh
"I'll dance with my shadow self", oh-oh-oh
And that’s exactly what I do.
Time to shine for Richard
Another favourite live moment of mine is The Wild Ones with Richard on guitar. I have to laugh when he simply shuts down another Brett rant by starting to play while laughing. The fans behind me enjoy this one immensely, and it turns into a lovely singalong moment.
Off to the finale! So Young (I always enjoy watching Neil during this one), and I’m headbanging to Metal Mickey during both shows (I love how much Mat enjoys this one).
The end
The last one is Beautiful Ones. To be fair, it’s one of my least favourite Suede songs, and it’s the one that kept me away from Suede for 25 years, so we have a complicated relationship. Whether I join in depends on the gig. After the wonderful adrenaline shot of Lokeren, I find myself singing along. In Ronquières, though, I just can’t be arsed anymore. The mood, the rants, the whole atmosphere get to me. Sadly, they affect my perception of the performance more than I would like them to.
Nonetheless, I utterly enjoyed the Big Belgian Suede weekend, and I hope we see them back here soon!
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