U2360 tour 2009 ... leg 1 ....

call me crazy, call me mad, but I'm gonna dream out loud this summer ... !!!
no more wondering what it will be like to be in one of those huge kickass stadiums myself ... come july, I will know what it's like ....

after months of anticipation for the new album No Line On The Horizon, it all of a sudden was there ... online .... yep ... online ... leaked, some say ... anyway ...
it now has been played by me many many times, and I like it ! a lot !

Then they announced the 360 tour ... At first I wanted to go only to the dutch shows, and one or two foreign concerts maybe .. then out of the blue, and sort of molded by coincidences, I developed this plan that has now resulted in a summer full of u2 concerts and nice breakaways .... thanx to people I dont know that seem to have their hearts at the right places ... selling tix for the face value as opposed to the money greedy scalpers ... also bought some tix online myself and traded the rest ... funny to know that a girl from mexico is coming to amsterdam where she will give me my dublin tickets in exchange for her amsterdam tix ... this is only the start of colourfull stories and meetups that will come out of this whole tour thing ....

6 nights from now ....
It all starts sunday the 28th june
I will fly off to Barcelona with my parents to go and see U2 start off their worldtour in Nou Camp stadium (I'm not yet gonna show pictures here of the amazing stage that they have designed for this tour, as my mum prefers it to be a surprise when she enters camp nou ... ha ha , what a surprize it will be ,.... I cant wait ...)

back on the tour .... they will start off 30th june and me and my parents will be on the field that day ! it's gonna be amazing for them to experience that, last time we were in dublin, in the stands, perfect seats, but ... seated ...

then U2 will do another concert in camp nou on the 2nd july for which I also have my ticket in hand .... and that time I will make sure to be among the first ones to enter, to be all the way up front, surrounded by so many other voices ... ha ha cant wait .... but actually ... seen the new set up of the stage etc, I am sure every place in the stadium is ok ! especially on the field ... my mum and dad will go back home on the 3rd and I will continue my little tour ...

on the 5th july I will fly to Milan, where they will play on the 7th and 8th and I'll be there both times .. then on the 10th july it's on to Nice for a nice break by the sea that gets broken up to go and see the boys play in Nice on the 15th july then on the 16th its homebound ...

where I will need to get ready for leg 2 ... this looks mad ....... it will be tooo !
They will play in Amsterdam on the 20th and 21st and then I will fly off to dublin on the 23rd july to see them play 3 times ! back home home on the 28th july

and then there is the final and 3rd leg where I'll be heading for the UK for my final 4

In short it looks like this ... (imagine me smiling when I type this up ...)

Barcelona 30th June
Barcelona 2nd July
Milan 7th July
Milan 8th July
Nice 15th July
Amsterdam 20th July
Amsterdam 21st july
Dublin 24th July
Dublin 25th July
Dublin 27th July
Wembley 14th Aug
Wembley 15th Aug
Glasgow 18th Aug
Cardiff 22nd Aug

Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales .....

guess what .....

they will be back in 2010 ...... see ya on the road !!!

lazerrrrrrrr

this was my view from where ~I was doing my set ... nice lazerrrrr

making noise in eindhoven

wow .... what a joy .... let me in the sound ....
u2 sings about it, I got to do it ... in full ...

they had arranged a place for me on the dance floor, and they hired extra speakers, making it an amazing wall of sound, for me to model and arrange ... haha! yes ... this is what playing livesets is all about .... standing in front of the sound, allowing you to feel every little tiny frequency shift, that when applied in the mix .. results in an interconnecting force that seems to speed things up .... this is why I bring all my gear, so I can truelly alter every little corner of sound that is there ... and the pleasure comes when you start mixing, and then the instinct takes over ... as your gut and your inner ear are being massaged, they also start to guide and control ...

ok, maybe you have to experience it for yourself to understand fully ..
but hey .... what a joy it was !

they also had arranged this amazing laser, that can shoot out every colour in the rgb spectrum, pretty special for a laser, even in this century yes ... they did have to pull a huge cooling unit up the stairs in order for teh laser to work, but they did not mind, they really made a huge effort to make the night a special one ...

Also I got to play later ... played from 1.30 till 3 ...
my set was a lot of work ... as the direct sound, even more so, points out all things that should sound a little tiuny different, not too much, but just a little bit .. making you work ... call it being a musician ...

it was great to experience that the plan of attack worked, as I got to practice the night before, I had decided to change my set completely ... this time slowly building up the sounds, then after 45 minutes, making a drop from 164 to 132 bpm ... making the synths scream for real with the kickdrum dropping holes in between ... ha ha what a joy ... then in the end I speeded things up again and then all envelopes were pushed, making use of the amazing headroom in my mackie mixer and I danced my own arse off the last 45 minutes of my set .. and thats when I am truelly enjoying myself ... loosing myself in the music ... the set has been recorded ...
thanx for the great welcome, and sound etc ! sound was extremely clear, thanx dieJ
thanx for the invite, lets do that again !!!
ciao

surprise gig

friday night 7 o'clock phone rings, ferdy asks if can come and bring my liveset to merlijn tonight in order to play a full liveset, surprise surprise ....
as filterfedde dropped out last minute, ferdy was looking for a replacement and as I was gonna go to nijmegen anyway, along with the RAF acid machinery .... also, I had to play the day after in eindhoven, so I actually had prepared a set for that night, and had started packing up my set earlier that day, I was eating my dinner when the phonecall came ... ha, it did not take long to decide ... that was that .... packed up my things, and filled up my car with gear .... not forgetting the piece of paper with all notes from the night before, when I made my selection of patterns that were ok, and some that were not to be used, I was almost ready for the saturday, but not totally ready ... the list of notes still left me with a big mess of possibilities, all sorts of rythms and sequences, all unarranged, leaving all of that for the onthespot turning and twisting of the knobs and sliders .... doing it all live ...

for me, a liveset is truelly a road full of evolving sounds, instead of loads of clean climaxes .. it must also be the way to the unexpected moment when you get a beautiful collision of sounds and then after that, also the path that takes you away from it ... to reach another hot spot .... its all part of the liveset 1,5 hrs of discoveries ...

ok, back to teh night ... first up it was Unit Moebius .... then me and then the Rythmic Alkaloid Factory

loads of slowmo acid, twwisted beats and effected sounds guaranteed ..... some bad cables here and there ... loads of machines on stage, and yes, it was there .. the laptop .... I had one too, but only to record my set ...

There was not a lot of people ... guess it was the first signs of a busy weekend, with monday being that traditional festivalday .... pinkpop and loads of other things were on that weekend ,... and we were in nijmegen ... on a friday .... hey hey ...
I had fun, learned a lot again ... and was happy to do the job ...
.... next time I will bring longer cables ...
thanx for the unexpected invite !

acid circus

i'll be playing live, around 12 o clock
there will be extra speakers, lasershow, dj's liveacts, surprise acts and more
bring your skateboard ....

this sleeve still amazes me ...

somatic responses

finally, I got my chance to see them live ! After 16 years, somatics are gonna perform live .... and its only 30 km from home, and free entrance ! How is that for a change ! Back to the old days .....

Ok, I had to wait till three and I was there early, as it was 300 max capacity ...
so I was hoping for some good music ....
dmdn was nice, three decks at times, sometimes bonky off beats and clean acid records can do funky things indamix , and dmdn mixes !!! Nice ! bliksm liveset was nice but I missed the high hats, and more variety ... also nice analog stuff, but the rythms were digital ... soundcard dependant ... and the analog-digital were not sync sometimes it seemed ... interesting though ! Then a dj, and then pennik ettek LIVE ... which was good but a bit easy .... and then ... the brothers ....
I was a bit synical at first, but willing to give them a chance with their laptops ...
also, when they turned out to take turns, they each had their own laptop, it turned out to be ok, and as they progressed, much more than just ok ! This is what I need when I go for some dancing .... maximum input please ! Not just one rythm box and one synth singing along ... nooooo .... give me 4 -5 synths and four drummachines battling it out ... it was amazing, the stereo image was intriguing at times, the sound was clear and defined, hard and direct ... hitting home ! 16 years ago I heard them for the first time .... lifechanging music we called it ! Inspiring, unique and ever evolving .... wow .... this night they really build up to a giant climax ... making me bang my head, shake my toes and pinky en jump and shout !
My voice is gone, my body still hurts, old man as I am ... but yes .... am I glad I went ! Finally, a direct hit by the brothers from Wales !

THANX !!!

if only I would have had his phonenumber ...

the worst act ever ? no, I am not gonna give him that honour, but what an incredible experience it was ...

imagine this ....

It was the crackbeats night in the batcave in tilburg, a small dark place, being the third and smallest room in a big dance venue here, it's actually the place where I got de-virginized as a musician ! I like it !

This time I walked in and immediately noticed the visuals, two screens behind the dj stage where its normally a dark wall, refreshing ! Also there was a drumset on stage, looking promising .... This was actually not the "so to speak" worst act ever ... this one was ok, it turned out it was one man behind a laptop and one live drummer, nice to see, and well done at times the only thing was that the sound was very closed up .. maybe bad soundcard or what ?

Then it was time for the next act, and thats the one I am on about ... a guy from australia called rainbow ejaculation, yep, whats in a name, it turns out he also has a fetish for porn movies, big dicks and gay stuff .... all in rainbow colours offcourse, thats what the visuals tried to make clear I guess ... but the most offending part was this ...

He walks to the mixer to take over the controls and then he connects one end of the cable to to the mixer, and the other one, believe it or not, goes into his phone ! He then fiddles something with the cables of the mixer, it later turns out that made one channel into a dubbing channel, with the same signal, but overdriven ... he then presses play and the music starts .... soon there is a new record that gets sort of mixed in ... but all he does is flick the cross fader ... uhum ?? the mix goes on, and it is happy hardcore mixed with herman van veen (dutch folk singer) and other hits or not from any genre, mixed up, with the bpm changing all the time... fuck this ...

The sound quality is really damaging my ears, especially the harsh high frequencies ... and the sight of that guy, with an orange woolen hat over his face with two holes cut out, frantically playing with that cross fader and turning the frequencies without any real finesse ! I mean, if you then find a balanced spot between teh clean and distorted signal, and then do something interesting with phasing frequencies .. but no, offcourse, the mix would leave no room for that ... ... no way ....

I tried to make clear that I thought he sucked, putting up my arms expressing the whats this alll about man ? He waved it away, and after I looked at this idiot for 3 more minutes and then I decided to get up next to him, and pretended to be handling the turntable that was there, unused ... I wanted to make clear to him that I wanted him to either mix for real or go away .... man come on ... the mix he played had been downloaded three months ago by loads of people that were there ... some had even come to see him, and paid entrance and train etc ...and then he does this ! what a complete asshole ! I had a discussion later with a guy who also was playing later that night, maladroit he is called, dont know him, anyway .. it was ok to talk to him, hear about teh aussie scene and I guess it all remains a matter of personal taste ... but when I finally got my chance at teh end of his set, to boooo him away ! I did so ! Loudly !
fuck off and come back with records or cd's and mix live, for real ! then I will be abel to maybe enjoy your mix and choice of music, now, you give me no chance !

Ah, and yes, I wish I would have had your phone number that night !
but you probably turned that option off
professional that you are !

After I sat out his set, cause I wanted to hear eitherherd ... it was time for one more deception .... another great laptop act, frantically waving along with his liveset ... ableton I guess it was, but the way he was pre-reacting to the changes and stuff ... fuck off .. no live nottin .... it seemed he was fulfilling his own expectations ... and not surprising himself ... uhum ....

10 minutes and that was it ... off home .... with a bloody beep in my ears ..

bourges video

bourge off 2009
Uploaded by mixopif - Explore other music videos.

colourfull !

food for the eyes when I'm mixing records ...

303

bourges off 2009

What a week that was !!!

It all started in that mad busy paris, as I had to go and see toolbox, the record distributor to drop off my accu 003 release. The place is truelly a tetris-like space, using boxes of records as building blocks !
Met some great people, with a great heart for music! Then it was off to Boutigny, where I was gonna spend the night prior to going to bourges. Julien lives in this great place, bang in the middle of the forest ! Amazing place ! Later that night we ended up at his sisters place, it was her birthday, and I had the honour of being at the table with a complete french family, including the mammie, and mama of the bunch .... it was great to be their guest, but at the end, a bit too much french for my head ... next day ... it was again exciting as it was off to bourges, not knowing what to expect as it was after all, legal .... and strange in a way ...

As soon as I saw the rainbows on the way there, it was all gonna be ok ... I just knew it ... it had to be .. it wasn't gonna piss with rain all weekend ... they were not gonna find my little stash of marijuana I brought as a present for my friends that I had not seen for years ... no ... it was all gonna be ok ... Then we hit a little dirt road, and shortly after there was the welcome committee ... loads and loads of gendarmes ... plus helicopter and drug dog jeaaaah ! Bring it on ...
I had some explaining to do about the huge pile of records I had brought ... mmmm selling them huh ? Why ? Ok, you are an artist ... ok ... eeeeeh little confusion .. but in the end they let me keep my records, as they require you to have a permit to seel thinmgs at events like these .. jeaaaaah ... thanx for nottin mr sarkozy ...
Then after the dogggie had made its way trough my bus, they even put him all the way up, on top of my bed ... but nottin ... haha ... they could not believe it, a big bus, from holland, and no drugs ???
So off I went, and was then welcomed by someone from system18 who had sort of hosted this whole thingie, together with some other systems ... that was very nice, a warm welcome in a different way completely .. ... I was reassured and told I could play that weekend, at their combined system ... so ... I only just entered, and I could start relaxing fully .... and so I did ..... Drank a couple of heavy duty beers and staggered around the terrain on friday night, danced my arse off, what a great drum-n bass system they had ! thanx guys for the great tunes .. also, overall ... the people were amazing, great costumes, masks, smiles etc ... very exchanging atmosphere as
opposed to the energy I felt when I was at marigny couple of years ago .. that was much more scary feeling, this was open .. and warm .... no worries ... It's party time mate !!! and we are here to do so !!!! join us ......

Met great people, sold loads of records and cd's, had a blast playing saturdaynight in front af a kickass system .... wow ... what a sound that wall produced, shame it was a little bit too risky with the rain, to stand in front off that huge wall ... opne day I will , for now we staying in the tent, right off the wall ... which was nice too ! Great view over the dancefloor !!! My little toy did its magic again ... And then the "job" was over and done, it was much enjoyed by myself !!! its great when you can enjoy what you do ... haha .... Sunday was relaxed, again, great weather .... Monday I went to go and see my parents, who were 100km from bourges, with a broke down car ... as it was getting fixed, I took them along in my bus to go to the loire, for a great walk at the riverbeds at orleans, then dropped them off later that day and they continued their holiday the day after, while I was making my way slowly back to holland, discovered great sites along the route nationale, had a swim and a sauna, great spots in the forest, and at the water ... and then .. yes I had to go back ... which was hard, but ok ! My battery was after al ... fully discharged and recharged !
Time to evolve further .... Immediately connected my lifeset back up when I came back, even played a bit but almost fell asleep with my head on my mixer so, full of inspiration ....

noorderlicht 010

noorderlicht 010

wow, what a night that was ...
and day,
by the way .... and the water !

Great to see all participants interweaving their lights and crafts making the busstation at rotterdam noord a very cosy warm place indeed, despite the wind and cold ...

right next to my alltime heroes .. but a bit strange ....

right next to my heroes from dublin,
and the prodigy etc ...

the strange thing is, all these sites are selling my music, and I dont know nottin about it all ... let alone that I get any money ...
the f**ked up thing is, the site where I hosted my tracks is bankrupt ..., that site was my answer to these illegal mp3 sites ... basically this way, anyone could download my music for FREE in the highest quality mp3 possible.... and the diehards will buy the vinyl anyway ... so I hope all these mp3suckersites choke on it ..

slide project-tower short movie

hey,
for a long time the movie about my brothers slides I projected was gone,
lost in the digital highway...
now I found it again, on the same highway, guess I took the right turn this time,
so here it is .. it was a few years ago ... one of the first
lighting tribute projects for my dear brother Finsent
.... with many to follow ..

http://www.brabantsdagblad.nl/video/regionieuws/article1552967.ece

Graaf, grijns, peins

finally .....

I will be playing again, in france this time ..
its the free festival de Bourges the weekend of 17-18 april fri-sun

Very much looking forward to this, on the road, with my new record also !

I lost my music serverr .....

aaaaaaaaah

today I wanted to check my music on musicv2 where I have spend loads of time uploading all my music that has been released so far on vinyl, along with complete livesets, dj mixes and more unreleased tracks ...

now he site has gone ....

I already had a bad feeling from that guy, he did not live up to his promises, tried whatever trick to get more money, promising changes and nice features, for which he needed more souls to donate their hard earned cash ...

and now its all gone ....

I dont know yet what to do ...
I have records I pressed with the address of teh website ...
here I am... gonna have to put bloody stickers over the address .,.. nice
on a very meticoulsy designed record sleeve ... a sticker ....
fuck fuck fuck
I am mad, upset, disgusted and sad ...

years of work down the drain ........... all gone ....
also my brothers page .....

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA

And there are thousands of other paying members ... also, all of their mixes ... gone !

Ah well, venting this helps a bit .... but still ... i am fucked ....
this is gonna cost time and energy that I want to spend on the next record releases ..

..............

Time to Stand Up and Evolve !!!

some colours for a weird and strange but special day !
today its the 10th february,

34 years ago my brother finsent was born
I miss you maestro