““I may not be a barbie, I may not have a car. I might not have much money left to spend in the bar. But I’m sharing the stage with Vive la Fete and I don’t think that you could have done it better than that”. ”
““I may not be a barbie, I may not have a car. I might not have much money left to spend in the bar. But I’m sharing the stage with Vive la Fete and I don’t think that you could have done it better than that”. “
Vive la Fete/Sanne & Ik/Elle Bandita – Nighttown Rotterdam 9/6/06
To business then…
Sanne & Ik, the illustrious couple
At 21.30 the gig started with an unannounced and therefore unexpected explosion of music. I was surprised by this Dutch punk act which consisted out of a loudly screaming blond guy on guitar and a, on first sight, a shy girl on drums. They introduced themselves as ‘Sanne & Ik, het illustere tweetal’ (‘Sanne & Me, the illustrious couple’). I was impressed by the guy, Vincent or ‘Ik’ (‘me’) in this formation; whose energy was amazing. The girl on the other hand was really calm. As the drums were facing the back of the stage and all the audience could see of her was her back. The shirt she wore was open on the back and you could clearly see the subtle but controlled movements she made while playing the drums; a big difference from her partner who kept jumping around the stage. The only stops he had were forced on him by his guitarcord, which sometimes literally pulled him to a halt. They started with a song called ‘Zomaar zonder reden mensen in elkaar slaan’ (‘Beating up people without a reason’)
Their gig went on for hardly half an hour but did manage to leave a big impression on me. This had everything to do with their hilarious lyrics. Lyrics like ‘Ben jij wel eens naakt’ (‘Are you ever naked?’), ‘Het goddelijke lijf van je moeder’ (‘Your mothers divine body’), ‘Een grote bouvier beet mijn been er af’ (‘A big farm dog bit off my leg’), and ‘Een homofiel die mij bekijkt verteld het niet meer na’ (‘…’) were literally spat into the audience by Vincent and accompanied by occasional screams from the apparently not so shy Sanne.
Elle Bandita
“I may not be a barbie, I may not have a car. I might not have much money left to spend in the bar. But I’m sharing the stage with Vive la Fete and I don’t think that you could have done it better than that”. And she’s totally right!
Around ten o’clock a thin tall girl in a pair of zebra striped hotpants, a little red bra and a black baseball cap stepped on stage. ‘Elle Bandita’ had made her entrance and was ready for some action. She’s a real chick with balls and she gave away a pretty damn good show, moon-walking over the stage and fake masturbating during the intermezzo…
In between her songs this punk-rocker tried to give some explanations about her lyrics but most of the times just ended up saying “fuck, I don’t know” or drifting of to the subject ‘Hennie Huisman’ (some weird old Dutch tv showhost). Luckily these rants were followed by her spectacular music. It has to be said, I had a great time watching her and all through her show her attitude strangely reminded me of Peaches. Ironically (or maybe on purpose?) the first song played after her gig was Fuck the Pain Away by Peaches.
Vive la Fete
At last the main show started. Welcomed by very heartfelt applause, Vive la Fete entered the stage. The crowd went wild when they heard the beginning tune of Nuit Blanche. I actually love this song but every time hear it live it strikes me as too clamorous, too insistent. Why take the effort of recording it properly if you’re gonna rape it on stage?
Luckily primitive screaming urges were safely bottled for the rest of the gig, which was perfect, as always. They continued with songs like Mon Dieu, KL, La Verite, Assez and got the whole crowd dancing, as they should. They call their music ‘kitsch pop’, I call it hot! Their sexiness is just beaming towards you from the stage. Which is quite logical, when you find out that the music the lovebirds Danny Mommens and Els Pinoo wrote in first instance wasn’t even supposed to leave the bedroom. But it did, thankfully, and it has certainly struck a chord elsewhere.
A performance by Vive la Fete gives you more than just the music. They are also a pleasure to look at. Els was dressed in a Swan Lake sort of outfit with a little tutu and looked divine. And damn, what a sound she produces. During Noir Desir she was practically screaming her lungs out but managed to still stay sexy and elegant.
The show ended with the traditional Jesus Christ Superstar-bit and was followed by the encore which allowed Danny to do his little solo. These are both nice but when you see it at all their shows it tends to get a bit boring. No offence, like… Still, this was the sixth time I saw Vive la Fete and it’s always a pleasure.
Words: Annemieke Koomen.