Kovacs @Ancienne Belgique - Brussels - 2015/10/16

Reports

About:

Artist:

Kovacs

Date:

16/10/2015

Venue:

Ancienne Belgique

Place:

Brussels

Your Reporter on the Spot:

Gieke Merckx….Translation to English : ©Karl Frank.

Actually, it's pure coincidence, but in the last six years I have seen more Dutch bands than in my entire (yet not so young) career. So I saw The Deaf, Jett Rebel, MR&Mississippi, Dotan, and will soon add Kensington and the State to the list.

And yesterday I went to a concert I have long looked forward to: Kovacs!. A brand new band from Eindhoven who just started in 2014, and that same year won acclaim as 'serious talent'. In her first year together with the band, she played already at the lowlands and North Sea Jazz Festival.

But that's actually not the only thing that typifies the band. Sharon Kovacs almost always wears a kind of wolves’ fur hat and so her nickname "The Wolf Lady" comes from that.

It's actually a great concept, because you do not know what or who you should look at first. There is a wonderful violinist who seems to be straight out of the Roaring 30s somewhere in Chicago; you best pay attention or Al Pacino will soon come looking for you.

Besides ...violinists in a rock or soul band!? I don’t need much more to jam my eyes and ears wide open. But the whole band was magical, piece by piece born musicians in the making, and with a golden future.

And then the concert …

You can’t possibly apply a label to Kovacs, not the band nor the singer. I know she is compared to Amy Winehouse, and the spirit of her songs fit into the times, but further comparisons can not be made. The band is simply much broader than that, so I sometimes imagine their music in a Quentin Tarantino film, evoking images of ladies in a clandestine bar, smoking cigarettes in meter long holders.

Sharon's voice fits perfectly in this picture: raw, tender, dark, passionate, but above all very beautiful. You can hear the influences of singers like Grace Jones, but also of Shirley Bassey, Nina Simone and Billie Holliday.

The concert was in the AB Club and the fact that there were only 250 people inside , made it an intimate experience.

The audience was instantly engaged, and rarely have I seen such an enthusiastic audience. Belgians reserved ?? Yeah right, none of that, it’s not for nothing that we have the greatest festivals in the world ... In addition to "the best kept secret" of course, but we go on silent, otherwise it’s no secret anymore, of course.

Hurry!

For people who would like to experience a wonderful concert: Kovacs will be at TRIX in Antwerpen in December and also at The Depot in Leuven. And you have to be quick, because within five years they will be done in small venues. Finally, you can tell your grandchildren in later years that you followed this band from the very beginning.

What I'd also like to say, is that you get to know people at a concert who have the same passion. It makes the concert even more enjoyable and you know you'll always see each other again. I would therefore like to end with the words of Livia, which I connect with completely, "Sharon Kovacs I love ya, but not in a scary way!”

CD: Shades of black.