Mechelen

I was in Mechelen to see a concert at the Stadsschouwburg. Maybe not the most obvious place for me to attend a concert, but that is just the way it worked out. What I didn't know was that 1 November is a national holiday in Belgium and that meant that all the shops and museums and many of the restaurants were closed. It was a pretty grey day anyway, so it turned into a slightly depressing day, just wandering round the almost deserted centre of Mechelen.



The thing that did make it all worthwhile in the end was the concert. It was An Pierlé I had come to see, and I have seen her a few times before, or quite a few, but this was a slightly different concert again. After the tour built very much around the new album, "White Velvet" last year, she now played a mix of songs from that album, from earlier albums, and some new songs.

She wore a shiny white dress with lots of sparkles this time, very stylish and very An. The set-up on stage a little different than before, Peter not way in the back with a full set of drums but more to the front. And An had a proper grand piano. And there was a little more room for the cello again.



A few new songs I hadn't heard before, and some old ones I hadn't heard live before either, like "Tower", which is a great song. She also sang "Build a Better Life", and was accompanied by Peter on high chair and ergonomic sitting ball, a new style of percussion that worked well.

The theatre was quite posh, a real old-fashioned theatre, and the audience didn't seem like An's regular audience. The set was relatively quiet, maybe because of that. The hall wasn't very big, which did create an intimate atmosphere, and also made it a slightly different concert.



I spent a short while in the theatre in the afternoon too, when the band was rehearsing. An empty theatre, just the musicians and technicians, testing the light and the sound. A different atmosphere again. Nice to hear some of the songs in such a different setting altogether.