GIG REPORT

The Dirty Scene Tour - 01/02/2003 - JH De Pit - Koksijde: Mise*en*Scene -  The Dirty Scums - The Thirsty Scums (cancelled)

OWN REPORT - 02/02/2003

What we expected to be a nice evenin' on a mystic date (01/02/03 !) finally ended up in a cancelled gig. Koksijde is situated on Belgium's west-coast, near the borders of France. We never played much in this region, and in any time a very long time ago. Qrizz had told me about an enthusiast organiser that he referenced to as the opposite of the organiser of the Mol-gig. We furthermore had for the first time since long a new roadie, I had bought this week a second box of loudspeakers for my guitar-amplifier, and the flyers for the punkfestival for our 21st Anniversary Gig were ready to be distributed. Yes we were really ready for it.

The mornin' showed us a very beautiful snowlandscape and I was curious to see the coast and the sea in this time of the year and in these conditions. We would meet at 5 pm but in case of bad weather conditions we would meet and leave an hour earlier. Qrizz called me in the mornin' in order to share some equipment so Mise*en*Scene would only need one car to drive on the snowy roads. About the weather conditions: as we were leavin' earlier than M*e*S we agreed to give Qrizz a phone-call once we were on the highway to report him about the state of the roads. As usual I spent nearly the whole day collectin' all the cables and other stuff necessary for the gig, as well as all the things needed for our sale-stand.

After I saw (all the snow on) the 1 pm news I called Zjantie and Keez to confirm that our appointment would be at 4 pm. In order to know more about the weather in Koksijde I tried to contact the organiser, but he only had given us the phone number of the venue and not his personal number, so it was impossible to reach him. When The Dirty Scums finally met at 4 pm, Qrizz and me had already several more phone-calls behind the back concernin' the weather as it still hadn't stopped snowin' since this mornin'. It quickly appeared that Zjantie as wel as Guido, the driver for M*e*S, were a bit scared to drive their van/car along the snowy roads to Koksijde ... In normal conditions Koksijde is at least an hour of drivin', but this day it certainly would be a ride in the snow for more than two hours.

We decided to search on the net the condition of the roads to Koksijde, and after a bit of surfin' we found they were like this: "one drivin'-lane of the highway difficultly passable, the other lanes covered with 10 cm of snow, maximum speed 50 km/h, several car accidents - prospect for the night: glazed frost possible". Well this was certainly not the kind of thing to put our drivers on ease. We again tried to contact the organiser in order to hear about the weather in Koksijde, but again in vain. After havin' discussed several times the pro's and con's and after more calls and consults with M*e*S and although we're absolute no pussies, we finally had no other choice than to decide to cancel this gig !! I never use too many notes of exclamation, but believe us, this was not an easy decision, it's the 1st time in 21 years that we had to cancel a gig ourselves !

It finally was 6 pm when we could reach someone of the youth club to tell him about our decision. He said he was already afraid to hear somethin' like that, but some local bands had already proposed him to come to play in case we wouldn't hit the road. Well this made the burden at least more bearable for us. We spent some time together drinkin' Duvel, which is definitely a great Belgian beer. We really feel sorry for organiser Tom and we hope the gig can be postponed till September.

Here's how the weather looked like in the mornin'.

Entrance of our rehearsal roomRoad behind the rehearsal roomSome of my sheep in their winter-meadow

Dirty Pik