0810 tris

Slight correction:

They've been stopped in Antwerp and Flemish Block are no longer the biggest party in Antwerp. Euphoria!

0810 bis

Yet another pitch-black sunday.

0810

Vote well!

0110

As you might have noticed (or not, if you are abroad) elections are coming up in .be. Local elections, and though I am not very much into micro-level politics the upcoming polls are of major importance for Belgium once again – and even more so for Flanders.

Flemish Block has been growing for ages now, every time we encounter another Black Sunday (Belgian polls are always on Sundays) and to be honest it is not looking like we are going to get another kind of result this time. For some reason the ideas of this one fascist party appeals to the people. A while ago they were sentenced for being racist but still they managed to shake this conviction off, rename themselves to ‘Flemish Concern’ but just said they were the exact same party as before.

Not a big surprise to the lot of us, but I do find it rather shocking. Luckily, I am not the only one around here to think so and even better, it were not only regular people but also artists from all styles and genres. Thus the artists – and most notably Tom Barman of dEUS – to stick their heads together and give a festival in favour of tolerance.

It turned out to be one enormous party, about 105,000 turned up (of which 40,000 in Antwerp, some 25,000 in Ghent, 22,000 in Brussels and another 5,000 in Charleroi) with artists ranging from Helmut Lotti to dEUS giving the best they had. For me, in Antwerp, the two main performances were Roland and dEUS, the first one being Belgium’s main and virtually only true Blues man, the second one being one of the best Belgian rock bands. The best part of it all was Tom Barman of dEUS being so overjoyed it had all turned out to be so big, peaceful and overall successful. He knows how to bring a smile to your face for sure. Impressive guest lists all around as well, with Tim Vanhamel of Millionaire playing along with dEUS and to finish it all of The Kids came on stage bringing their main hit There Will Be No Next Time.

I sure hope there will be a next time though! Good message, great initiative, ace performances!