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Vooruit, Gent (B), 24 March 2000
The last night of the tour. And it turned out to be a special night. With contradictions. And with some amazing discoveries; D.E.E. can walk and he can talk ;-) Rayner Jesson, their new manager, had turned up for this show. The band was probably eager to impress him. And they (or D.E.E. at least) were impressed by the surroundings. He called Gent the prettiest place he'd ever been to. And perhaps the Vooruit is the prettiest place they ever played in. Like the rest of the monumental building the main-hall is beautifully decorated and ornamented. Surprisingly so for a "Worker's Palace". Vooruit means FORWARDS in a "Proletarians Of The World, Unite!" way. Founded by a socialist cooperative society the Vooruit was to be a place for the working classes to relax and be culturaly educated. Somehow I don't think of D.E.E. as a socialist, but more as a right winger. But he too is trying to "educate" people in his own way. So it was a perfect surrounding. The band was dressed in their sunday's best on this friday night. The stage was beautiful, the lighting too. It could only be a great show. Nothing could go wrong. And of course it did! When they started it turned out that the sound wasn't great. But that was most likely not the real reason for D.E.E.'s disappointment. He got up from his barstool, walked over to the side of the stage, to tell the soundman how the sound should be. After South Pennsylvania Waltz, his usual "Thanks for clapping" (doesn't he realize he is supposed to say "thank YOU for clapping" ;-) sounded as insincere as a second-hand car salesmen. He uttered those words as if he was telling us all to drop dead. The contradaction between the meaning of that sentence and the delivery caused quite some laughter. The main reason for the irritation was that the band was tired/still ill, and that D.E.E.'s voice was (speak about appropriate albumtitles) hoarse. Or in his own words: shit. D.E.E./they were annoyed that they couldn't achieve what they had in mind. But it all turned around in a couple of seconds. Right after he tried to express his gratitude for applauding, D.E.E.was handed some flowers. That seemed to break the ice, loosen the mood, ease the tension. He said his wife would probably like them. He placed the bouquet on Jean-Yves' drumriser, where they remained for the rest of the night. Looking like an offering on a altar. 
 The next song was Wayfaring Stranger. Like in Eindhoven, it had been brought forward (Vooruit ;-) in the set, compared to Zwolle and Nijmegen. Wayfaring Stranger was now played as the 4th song (Poor Mouth was moved back and was now song #13). It hasn't been mentioned before, but the "eerie" sounds that divide the song in two (solo/band) were exactly the same as on Secret South. So they must use a tape for this. When D.E.E. plays the banjo he uses several picks. When he changes instruments he takes them off with his mouth and places them on the bandoneon, or the bandoneon-case. After Cinder Alley he couldn't find his thumbpick anymore. It had fallen to the floor. Some members in the audience pointed out where it was. and D.E.E. said (he was unusually talkative) "I'm alright then". And that seemed to encapsulate the atmospehere. The audience was very enthusiastic, not reserved as in Eindhoven, the band (though still tired) no longer dissatisfied. It turned out to be an amazing evening. I don't know if this qualifies as amazing but the change in the Harm's Way lyrics on this tour was remarkable. Instead of singing "I've got no reason to lie to you", D.E.E. now sang he has all kinds of reason to lie to us. In Strong Man he doesn't want to use strong language. Instead of "He (pointing finger upwards) is the one who brought down the son, let there be no Goddamn doubt", the doubt is "Hellbound". In For Heaven's Sake D.E.E. is well pleased with himself. He sings "I love this song. I think it's good". But when they came back back for the second encore, he is his usual (?) modest self again. Saying "we don't deserve this, but we'll take it" of the rapturous applause (and the coyote cries) That applause continued long after the last notes of Haw had sounded. This wasn't technically the best show they had played. But because of the ambience it was the show I enjoyed the most. The songs from Secret South (well, most of them) have really come to life on this tour (though I still find that Clogger-solo very clumsy). And in many instances sounded better than on the album. I wouldn't mind if Glitterhouse released another Hoarse (and by that I don't mean with the songtitles in the right order ;-) Long after the houselights had gone back on, D.E.E. returned to the stage to talk to people and sign CD's, tickets etc. The merchandise-stand was raided. A limited edition CD of Secret South was available (with bonus videotrack), as well as a vinyl version. Back in the hotel the band celebrated a succesful tour, but were probably still happy to go home. (D.E.E. has said more than once that he wants to be with his family, but that he has to tour to support them). We look forward to seeing them back in "Europa" in May and June! By Martin Read another review from the Belgian newspaper, "De Morgen". 
    
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