Sundays are for music

Photo from his instagram, because Bert's photos have obviously not been editted yet, etc.

Well ok, every day is for music but yesterday afternoon Bert and I went to Brussels because Tomoyasu Hotei was performing at the AB Club.
We were there before the concert, because we had the amazing opportunity to interview him for BCM #38 (so not the one coming out day after tomorrow, the one after, deadlines and all that jazz). 

You may all just think I'm saying this because I'm expected to (in which case you don't know me at all!), but I can honestly say that he was one of the nicest, warmest people I've ever had the pleasure to interview. He was funny, really took his time for us even though his time was limited and even made time to just talk to us outside of the interview. When I asked him if he wanted to write something down for the fans (our traditional autograph page) and if he would be ok with signing an instax photo to give away, he instantly was and really took the time for that, too. (Something to look forward to for the fans!) 
He's legit a great person, down to earth and point blank a pleasure to meet. Shout-out to his team as well, because everyone I met was amazing, super professional and helpful. You guys rock! So yeah, that was amazing!

 

But that wasn't it! We were going back a few hours later for the concert, too! Bert had been given photography permission, so he was going to shoot it for a review in BCM :).

We spent a few hours browsing the local geek shops, which are all open on Sunday (some quite late too!à and resisted buying some Funko goodness (I might still ask a friend who works in Brussels and frequents these shops to pick something up). Mostly because I had taken my Kanken mini, and that only just fit my interview kit and instax, oops. 
So we sat in a café opposite the venue for drinks and croque monsieurs. The people working there were also super friendly, and the croques were really delish :). 

When it was time to go in, we picked up our tickets, got to the club and found a spot right by the stage. Well, Bert was right behind me. You'd think that a Japanese artist would draw mostly Japanese people to the gig, but nothing is less true, because there were as many Japanese there as there were Belgians. Easily. The concert itself was amazing. 
Like I told a super friendly girl I was talking to afterwards, my favourite gig I've ever seen remains David Bowie at Rock Torhout back in 1997 (when Rock Werchter was still Torhout Werchter), but this was easily the second best! 

Hotei LOVES being on stage, as does his band. 
He's very interactive with the audience, he's super funny when he talks to them. His music is even better on stage then it is recorded, so that's an added reason to go there. 
He really listened to the audience too, because when he came back out for the encore and asked what people wanted to hear and someone called out for Bambina, that's what they got. 
Which I can totally live with, because that's my fave song by him (I quite loudly seconded the suggestion haha). 

No seriously, the gig was AWESOME! So, SO GOOD! 
If I can, I will absolutely go see him again!

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