It has been quite an experience ‘incroyable’ ! Mylene Farmer LIVE is beyond words; again she has touched me very deep. This time…. front row experience. Hard to explain, it’s a feeling, it’s a walking dream, it’s something unique. This podcast is dedicated to Mylène, her music, her unique live performance. The trip was a serious one…. and for Mylène it was her final concert of the 2009 tour.
Log: departure by train from Rotterdam Lombardijen @12:40pm. Dordrecht station @13:00. Change line for the next train: IC Hispeed to Brussels MIDI/ZUID. Arrival in Brussels @14:40. I decided to walk the last bit from the station to the hotel; next time I will definitely take the subway! It turned out to be a 15 minutes climbing up the hill task! Finally…..arrival at the hotel @15:15. After relaxing and unpacking the bag I recorded a soundseeingtour as featured on this podcast episode.
Brussels on that particular friday afternoon was noisy and messy! Hate to say it but the chaos and noise in this city caused a typical impression. (…tout est chaos!) I’ve been in London and Paris but somehow these cities seem to have ’structure’ and ‘manners’, unfortunately Brussels didn’t show these features too much… People disliked speaking English to me. They simply hesitated. I was better off speaking Dutch in some cases. Don’t get me wrong but Brussels is the headquarters of Europe isn’t it? (Say that again while stores are closed on sundays)
Saturday morning: alarm clock set @7:30AM. American Breakfast in the hotel was good. Left the hotel for my trip to Stade Roi Baudouin via subway. Arrived at the SRB station @9:30. I realized to get cash money for the official merchandizing t-shirts etc. later that day so where was the cash machine…? I asked around and was directed to the nearest bank at app. 2 km’s from where I was! Not very practical isn’t it? Welcome to Belgium. Ah well, good for some sweat and tears.
Back at the stadium ‘blue entry’ around 11:00AM. Already like 30/40 people waiting for the doors to open up and I joined them. The sun was shining! Life was good! Some drinks, some sandwiches that I got on my way from the bank back to the stadium.
Green light for entering the stadium area @1:30PM. Here we were able to buy lunch, water, beer etc. Soundchecking we could hear as the concert area was real close now…The waiting was till 5:00PM when the final gate to the concert area would open. And it did! Right on time… exactly 05:00pm we were running to our places!!! Literally, running!!! How cool is that??? Yess!!! Front row. Cat walk. All set. I was in !!!
@8:00pm the program started. Excuse me but I’ve forgotten the name of the drum band that had their pre-concert performance. Just like me I saw many people staring and being nervous just before the real thing….We wanted Mylène! Waiting again. Eventually Mylène kept her fans waiting till app. 09:30PM (!) when her eyes watched us from the bigggg screen. The show was starting….with the introduction. And that is an understatement;
Thrilling opening! I will never ever forget her eye watching from the screen and the lasers that literally were ’shot’ from the screen into the public, a 3D experience I had never seen before! The sound was beyond words. And I’ve heard a lot of sound systems in my life…. this one was f a n t a s t i q u e . Everybody (including me) was screaming and yelling, such a mind blowing lift-off. The concert from there can be described as a non-stop walking dream, Mylène took her fans on a journey, a journey that came from her mind, her soul, her dreams and was performed in a stadium filled with the 40,000 people audience.
Acoustic parts of the show, she had entered the center of the catwalk via the underground like the pianist did too. The songs they performed now…I can hardly describe it but let me try: moving and intriguing moments, confusion and joy, tears on all of our faces; ‘Point de Suture’ and the clip on the big screen - moments of full impact. The track all of a sudden became fully meaningful to me and that was when I couldn’t stay strong anymore. She got me! Don’t wipe your tears boy, it’s on everybody’s faces so why bother… just embrace all of it.
From the acoustic part at the end of the catwalk she was now walking back to the main stage; her gentle style, her fragile style, her beautiful clothes, her face, she passed me by at a 7 metres distance, one can’t imagine what I felt, and what we all felt these minutes; it was the interlude to ‘Avant Que l’Ombre…. It had become dark. Confused. Touched. Emotional. What did she do to us ? She just gave us her warm welcome…
Mylène took us from the dark into the light again, from ‘Libertine’ to ‘Dégénération to ‘Désenchantée, I took some video clips on my photo cam. It’s not in HQ but it’s fair enough to get the impression. The video is available from the link within today’s shownotes.
We’ve been completely in a trance, in extase, we’ve seen in concert Mylène Farmer! We love you!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Buy the album ‘Point de Suture’ from iTunes here (French Store)
Buy the album ‘Point de Suture’ from amazon.com here
Watch photos from the concert Mylène Farmer LIVE 2009 in Stade Roi Baudouin here
Watch the video in 640×360 format from Youtube here
Tags: 2009, Brussels, Bruxelles, Laurent Boutonnat, Mylène Farmer, podcast, Point de Suture, soundseeingtour, spacemusic, Stade Roi Baudouin, Stuffed Monkey, TC
September 28th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
You described pretty well what many of us felt!! At least I know I did… it was my first time seeing her live, and it was simply incredible… like from another world! I couldn’t believe it… I think I still can’t!
Mylène Farmer gave the 75,000 people at the Stade De France on that September 12, the night of their lives… that is, until the next concert of hers!!
She is amazing!!
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TC reply: and let us enjoy the upcoming DVD/Bluray edition of her LIVE tour 2009… I’m looking forward to that release as I know I will lock myself up the whole weekend, watch it and experience the dream again
Thank you Isis for sharing your experience, very cool.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Hello,
I was there and for me she is the best performer ever in the WORLD, beautiful show full of emotions, very good sound,… i will never forget now i m waiting for my Double CD and DVD bonus collector at the beginning of december!!!
Pity you didnot enjoy Brussels that much as its a good city!
Bye
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TC reply:…. yes we can spend some more money on the goodies soon. Brussels was not very interesting and I had a bad experience with the traffic, a cab driver almost got me killed in the middle of a crowded city centre when driving by at 50 miles/hour late at night. Lucky me I was quite ‘awake’ and could step out of the way….
November 16th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Hi TC
Isabel and I we have seen Mylène on the fifth of september in Geneva - I can confirm all that you said - she was just incredible … it was almost a spiritual experience - wow. I have seen many great concerts including Pink Floyd, Jean Michel Jarre, etc. but this was simply out of this world. What a presence on stage - amazing.
Continue your great work, TC - the world needs it more than ever!
Best regards from Switzerland
Isabel & Matthias
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TC reply: … that is so cool! Great hearing this. She is fantastic, the shows are LIVE dreams for sure. There’s simply nothing like it. Let’s wait now for a Bluray edition of the 2009 tour…
November 26th, 2009 at 9:24 am
I’m glad I found this post! I was there as well, not far from where these photos were taken, (sligtly closer to the stage, but on the other side of the catwalk)! This concert was awesome! I also enjoyed Brussels, as I was there for the weekend.
I live in Australia, but came to Europe for this, (as well as living in Lyon for a month around this).
Thanks for sharing the photos! Awesome stuff!
November 29th, 2009 at 1:30 am
Oh, and the Brazilian drumming band on before hand was called Balé de Rua. They were good too.
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admin reply: Thanks MarkB!
April 12th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Well, I crossed the Atlantic ocean (from California) and came to Brussels to see my favorite French diva’s last venue in this No 5 tour. The show was just wonderful , just what I expected. Enjoyed tasty mussels and incredible show in Brussels, what else can I say ! Just ordered the DVD from FNAC and looking forward to re-live the rocking night.
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TC reply: that’s cool! Wow, and I thought I had travelled so far to see her
Enjoy the DVD, I hope to get mine today or tomorrow. Thank you for posting your comment!
December 13th, 2010 at 10:59 am
[...] as soon as possible. Perhaps you do remember my visit in Brussels as posted on september 21st 2009 HERE. There’s also a small video on Youtube (HERE) which has been viewed over 4,200 times already [...]