Soulwax played three sold-out shows this week at Les Halles De Schaerbeek in Brussels. Here’s my review!
In the week leading up to the shows, Facebook kept pushing me these ‘On this day 15 years ago’ messages. Well, on those days 15 years ago I was a lucky boy who got the opportunity to be part of the crew for the Soulwaxmas shows in 2010.
The last Soulwaxmas took place in 2012, but seeing my favorite band for three nights in a row this week kind of felt the same.
Let me start by telling you what hasn’t changed: Soulwax live still consists of three drummers (Iggor Cavalera, Aurora Bennett, Blake Davies), Laima (vocals, keys, Laimatron), Stefaan (bass, keys), Dave (keys) and Steph (vocals, keys, percussion).
Just like in 2024, the three drummers are still on their high risers in the back, the lights are hanging in scaffolding and the music on stage is played by four custom-made controllers.
What has changed is the setlist: they play more and longer versions of tracks from their latest album ‘All Systems Are Lying’. This means that the set is longer than before, and takes about 1.5 hours including encores.
Let me tell you: the setlist is mind-blowingly good! ‘Hot Like Sahara’ and ‘Krack’ kickstart the show and there’s no turning back from that point.
There are a couple of nice surprises in the set: a few older but never released tunes that they played around 2010-2012, named ‘Coronet’ (in which Steph and Laima sing the chorus of ‘Faith, Hope And Charity‘ by Fun Boy Three, ‘RapRapRap’ (which was used for the Grand Theft Auto Los Santos video game soundtrack as ‘This Brickade Is Mine‘) and ‘What You Got’ (which used to be another tune called ‘Making The Best Out Of Things You Can’t See’).
During a short version of ‘Heaven Scent‘, they stop the set and demonstrate how their controllers on stage work by letting a posh English voice do an explanation.
‘Pills And People Gone’ is a nice break in the set, the transition of the album version of ‘Run Free‘ into the ‘Nite Version’ is spectacular, same thing with the album title track ‘All Systems Are Lying’ blending into the ‘Nite Version‘ remix.
I loved the encores of ‘False Economy’ because it takes the energy level down and ending the set with the final piano chord of ‘Conversation Intercom’ (which they didn’t do on the second night, the nite version of ‘Accidents And Compliments’ was the last song).
Not only the setlist, but also the light show was changed. It’s more dynamic and they use more colours than during the 2024 tour.
I don’t know exactly the reason, but the crowd was very enthusiastic and wild on all three nights. A moshpit, crowd surfing (and even a brawl at the front) reminded me of those crazy times fifteen years ago at Soulwaxmas!
If you are coming to one of the shows in January, you are in for a treat!
But if you can’t restrain yourself, here’s a video to get you in the mood:
Leave a Reply