After a good night's sleep I figure it's time to give you the lowdown on the Lille trip. Came home late last night realizing that in the previous 3 days I slept all but 9 hours, and that's tuff goin' at this advanced age... but hey, it was well worth the bother.
Arrived early on Friday morning and went straight to the excellent Musee d'Art Moderne in Villeneuve d'Ascq. I won't bore you with too many details but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of cubist stuff on display and a large number of works by the great Fernand Leger. Spend most of the afternoon strollin' thru' the city of Lille, the place had gone seriously upmarket since it collapsed as one of the last bastions of the industrial revolution several decades ago. The old city and it's numerous small shopping streets were busy to the point of being overcrowded, but the nice weather and relaxed atmosphere made sure I didn't feel the need to wipe out the busloads of tourists gettin' in my way.
When it was time to head for the hotel I took off in the completely opposite direction, thank god I ran into Steve and French Superrock fan extra ordinaire Jean Marc Rimette at that point who probably saved me from walkin' all the way to Antwerp. After shootin' the shit with these guys over a few beers and some microwaved "food" it was time to head for the main reason of our stay: The Fleshtones show at the Aeronef.
We walked in halfway opening band Toxic Waste's set and I amost started whishin' for another one of those nuked to death pizzas. Next up were French punk legends Metal Urbain, who are in the midst of some highly touted reunion tour, and I'm glad to report they did not disappoint. The two guitar/beatbox line-up was still intact and they played fiathfull versions of old classics like 'Paris Maquis' and 'Panik'. Good as it was tho', nothin' could have preparad me for the total onslaught that was the Fleshtones set, from the git go they seemed intend to tear the place up at max velocity. Hey, this Superrock stuff sure ain't for the weak of heart; jumpin', runnin', standin' still (Powerstance!) while constantly poundin' out song after great song ('Destination Greenpoint', 'Burnin' Hell', 'Hitburg USA', 'Ten Dollars More', you name it), these guys are still a force to be reckoned with. Even after close to three decades there's still no sign of 'm headin' for the rightlane, whatever fuels their engine is still in large supply.
The crowd loved it and seemed to have come from all over; including a bunch of German soccer holligans from Gelsenkirchen and a car full of Dutch kids, one of 'm apparently livin' just around the corner from HQ (!), well whadda you know?. If the Fleshtones never made it in the "real world", to a dedicated number of loonies these guys will forever be one of the finest rockin' units to grace this planet's stages. Please be sure to count me in among the latter.
(Check out Steve's tales on the Fleshtones' Hall Of Fame)
