Me and a bunch of friends went to see dEUS the other night. We've all listened to them back in the nineties so it was a very anticipated reunion. They have been an important inspiration to discover some of my late favorites such as The Velvet Underground and Tom Waits. And especially the connection with The Velvet Underground is evident in dEUS. Besides the fact that they're obviously inspired by the Velvets, they've also evolved very much like them. They started off with a defying debut (that was actually received way better than the Banana-album was in its time), carried on with an even more experimenting sophomore that showed great diversity. Then Stef Kamil Carlens (John Cale) left the band, and they made a more melodic and less experimental album which showed that Carlens was the experimental generator in the band, while Barman (Lou Reed) was the melody maker. Carlens went on and made Moondog Jr. and later on Zita Swoon that both were and is good, but it's the two of them together that created some of the best rock music of the 90's. On the new album some of the spark is definetely gone and only the last half works really well. Especially the songs where Carlens participates for a guest visit. Hmm, wonder why...?

Anyhow, my expectations were modest. It's been six years since the last album and only Janzoons and Barman of the original line-up is left. First off a danish band called Kitty Wu played their gloomy mix of dry guitars and melancholic arena-rock. They have kind of evolved into sounding like Interpol now, just more grand. They gave what they had, but weren't jawdropping.

After the usual tension-ladden waiting for the main event, the stage suddenly went black and an expectant hymn striked. This was it. The band that made my teenage years less of a hell to fumble in. The band that comforted me with "Nine Threads" when I was sad and made my blood rush with the repetitive guitars of "For the Roses". I got drunk to "Suds and Soda" and expanded my mind inside "Everybody's weird". I saw them in '99 in Hamburg, but it was still exciting. They started off with one of those new, a bit boring, rock'n'roll-songs "Pocket Revolution", but then carried on with a blend of songs from the first three albums as well as some new ones. The sharply cut beams of light coming from behind of the band shrouded them in mystery and took focus away from them and onto the music. Barman really seemed to be on top of the game and happy to be out of his six year hiatus. Remarkably they played most of the new songs with less energy than the old ones. Not all the new songs fell apart though. "Sun Ra" was an exploding buzz of crazed energy, and "Nothing really ends" was as beautiful as on record. Obviously only the good songs from the new record worked well live. Well, duh. The old songs, though, were of course the biggest adventures. Man, when they spazzed out in "Fell off the floor, man" I could have choked out of happiness. Unfortunately it seemed to me that they cut off some of the songs from "The Ideal Crash" before they got really spaced out which was such a shame. But hey, it was still great hearing "Instant Street" and "Magdalena", it was exciting to hear "W.C.S. (first draft)", and warming from the edge of my skin through my blood to my little, soft pounding heart to hear "Serpentine". And "Theme from Turnpike" is still able to amaze and surprise me as a fantastic, obscure score to a seventies spy-movie with it's Morricone-inspired guitar. When they finished, the audience (me included) was so excited that there was no end to the applausing. So they came back. Normally I prefer a band to play a full set and not give in to the mobs screaming for more. But this time around I really wanted them back to play their big hits.

And so they did. Firstly "Little Arithmetics" with the sweet little melody and the bababaing going into the swirling noise, then as a little suprise and no hit at all (yet) a very wooing, groovy version of "What we talk about (when we talk about love)". Barman was actually kind of sexy. And in the end...tadaaaa...yes, you guessed it: "Suds and soda" as we know it - chaotic, enchanting and a singalong-favorite. Despite the lack of energy in some of the new songs, dEUS still shook the building with some of that popnoisy artrock we kids just love. I had a big grin on my face when the show ended.

Bonusinfo: When I got to work the next day, I was told that dEUS had visited our restaurant for supper and Mr. Barman had hit on one of the waitresses and offered her a place on the guestlist. She foolishly rejected. I think Mr. Barman is enjoying being on the road again.