Balthazar are currently on their spring tour which kicked off on 8th April in Leeds, UK. They don’t need any special introduction for their legions of fans, nor for indie music connoisseurs in general.
But for anyone who doesn’t fall into either of those two categories, Balthazar are a well-established indie pop and rock group from Belgium who achieved international recognition with their second album Rats (2012), although the group had won a number of music awards and already achieved a good level of success within Belgium and the Netherlands with their debut album Applause in 2010. Now they are abroad again presenting their third album Thin Walls which was released early this year.
They filled the hall
Back to the Heimathafen, a grand and beautiful venue that has existed since 1876 and where you can really feel the history of the place. The packed hall waited with an air of expectant calm, saving their energy for later. I could well imagine the pressure that this must have put on the band’s support act, sibling duo Sarah and Julian from Hamburg. They filled the hall with the deep melodic mixture of their indie pop songs and lay an acoustic base for the stars of the evening. Well done.
restlessness rose among the crowd
The restlessness rose among the crowd, the temperature rose too and when the melody of Decency from the most recent album finally announced the start of Balthazar, the rocket took off. Yes, we were flying between the songs mainly from the Rats and Thin Walls albums without any disruptive gibberish/babble in between. Then What, Night Club from the third, Lion’s Mouth, Sinking Ship from the second and Blood like Wine from the first album are just some of the songs that warmed fans’ hearts and brought them even higher.
On the stage they seemed so cool
On the stage they seemed so cool, they took it with a kind of rocker’s dancing around and dribbling the instruments, occasionally even with a bit of despondency. They got the entire audience rolling with them, even though they seemed a little tired from time to time and Patricia – the only female musician among the guys – came across as a little distant, but it turned out that she was very ill. She still managed to get through the whole performance and all members of the group openly showed her respect onstage. And the next day they announced via Twitter that they were canceling the three following concerts (in Hamburg, Copenhagen and Hanover) due to that very reason. We wish her all the best and a quick recovery!
They had been touring the whole of last month, performing almost every night, and still they rocked the evening! And their fans got crazy especially when the band said goodbye. They were able to call them back twice, and it was an outstanding evening in a glorious Heimathafen!
Review by Petra Gorisek.
Find Sarah and Julian on Facebook.
