Laura Veirs in Concert

Photo: copyright David Belisle

Last night I went to a Laura Veirs' concert in the Ancienne Belgique (AB) in Brussels. We got 3 concerts for the price of one. That is the great thing about Brussels, concert prices are still reasonable. For 12 euro you can see an upcoming band, and the big groups will only set you about 30 to 40 euro back. I remember seeing Crowded House for 20 euro, Randy Newman will be appearing in the AB for 'only' 34€ and I managed to get tickets to the U2 concert for 35 euro.

Last night we first had a concert by The Old Believers. Normally this is a duo, but today only Nelson Kempf found the way to the AB Club. He started with an a capella song, followed by a wonderfully pretty song about his granny (called appropiately "Granny's Song". It was nice to see this kid with his guitar, a bit shy in this intimate club. He's not the most talkative performer we have seen, and his songs sometimes seem to be unfinished little stories, but his careless attitude won the hearts of the audience and he even made them sing a song with him (the highlight of his performace IMHO)

The second 'group' was called Cataldo, and again only one member turned up: Eric Anderson. He looks a bit like that other famous singer/songwriter whose name starts with an E. The same beard, similar voice and the same simple honest songs. I loved "Wedding Cake" and especially "My heart is calling/following". Cataldo is a group to keep an eye out for.




And then it was time for Laura Veirs and band...a band that consisted of the previous two guitar players (Eric and Nelson) and Alex Guy (who did not look at all like a guy) on the violin/viola. Laura Veirs was wearing a polkadot pregnancy dress (she's due in April) but that didn't stop her from rocking on a great Danelectro guitar (model '59 if i'm not mistaken). She played some songs from her new album July Flame, including the radio hit (in Belgium) "Wide-eyed, Legless". Both in appearance and style she reminded me of Suzanne Vega, with a twist of Tori Amos for good measure. A very pleasant concert (although too short). I also missed my favourite song "Galaxies"...but maybe that was because I was mesmerized by the wonderful poetic atmosphere?