FAN REVIEW + PHOTOS: SIOUXSIE – Brussels – 5/3/23

Bang! And within a few seconds, Siouxsie’s gig in Brussels on May 3, 2023 was sold out. The ticket price was low: 49 €. For everyone who still wanted to buy tickets: no chance. How lucky and privileged I was to hold a ticket in my hands. The first Siouxsie concert in 10 years, this was the kick-off event for a small, but nice tour. And then at the Ancienne Belgique, one of the best locations in Belgium for live music, also quite small, but nice. It’s a legendary stage, where back in 1982 there was a physical argument between The Cure members on stage during the Pornography tour and the band split up.

So here I queued for about two hours before the show’s start in the middle of the pedestrian zone of the beautiful capital of Europe near to Manneken Pis. It was a beautiful, sunny day and all the fans – mostly wearing black – smiled just as sunny and happy to finally see the “Grande Dame” live again. Passers-by ask the waiting guests: “Who is performing?” When they heard “Siouxsie”, we all got astonished looks with wide-eyed admiration: “Siouxsie!” one of the passers-by shouted, “I know! Dear Prudence! Wow!”

Admission was at 7 p.m. I took a very good standing spot, on the balcony right by the stage: next to me and behind me were people speaking foreign languages: English, German, French, Dutch, Italian etc. Not only were many fans with Siouxsie shirts gathered here (but even more with The Cure Shirts), but also people who came from all countries. Here not only francophone Belgians stood next to German-speaking or Dutch-speaking Belgians, but also Europeans and beyond! One even came from New York and really wanted to see the start of the tour. They all had one thing in common: despite language barriers, they talked and shared their joy about the forthcoming concert.So we waited … waited and waited … for a whole 30 minutes over the show’s start time until SHE finally stepped onto the stage with a stunning aura and charisma: in a light blue, wide jumpsuit and with silver sneakers, gray strands of hair, a stylish straight haircut with bangs. Yes, that’s punk too!

True to style with particularly dark and distinctively made-up eyes, she looked happy. The first song was “Night Shift”, it came across full of her power – despite initial sound problems in her voice. A force that probably grabbed everyone: She finally stood in front of us all on the stage and grabbed us directly with her incredible charisma and presence. She apologized for her delay and everything was fine again.

From there we all drifted from song to song in a set list that was very well chosen, certainly carefully chosen it seemed. The songs didn’t just string together. No, they built on one another. Her voice sounded more sonorous than decades ago. Deeper, but not worse… more mature. I liked that and I liked a lot of the songs better live than on the album. Otherwise on the LP I paid little attention, some songs became my favorite songs live.

The second song was “Arabian Knights” and Siouxsie moved, snaking around the stage as usual, but every movement of hers was surprising yet timed to the beat of the music. We not only hung on her every word but also on her movements. She moved so gently and powerfully, on tiptoe and with wide arm movements, then she’d swing back to a kick. We enjoyed “Here Comes That Day”, “Kiss Them for Me” and “Dear Prudence”. My almost thrilling feeling became stronger and stronger: Yes! She really is live in front of us! Each song came with an announcement, a short story or question, an added movement, a nice interaction with the audience. The band faded into the background and yet everyone would have noticed how well everyone played each song, how well coordinated they were and how well the musicians interacted with each other.

Siouxsie stood on the stage yet was still so close to us that she sang and danced almost among us. She dedicated “Face to Face” to all cat lovers and made wonderful cat sounds and movements. Every song was not only just sung, but also performed properly. “Loveless,” “Land’s End” followed, and then “Cities in Dust”: the audience screamed, the interior pogoed and reveled. “But Not Them” and “Sin in My Heart” followed.

She picked up the guitar and we all liked that too, although I prefer to see her snaking around on stage. Then she banged out some more: “Christine,” “Happy House,” “Into a Swan,” and “Spellbound.” Wow – what a climax! Then it was over. Already? We were all just at our peak, we had enjoyed Banshees, Creatures and Siouxsie songs and she walked off the stage. The evening was so entertaining.

After a short break, the encore followed: “Peek-A-Boo” and “The Passenger”. We really lacked nothing. The whole concert was like a best-of album. It got us all. The fact that “Hong Kong Garden” was missing doesn’t bother me anymore. We were all in love, our hearts were full. Her aura, and yes, also her positive charisma reached us all. She was obviously in the mood for this concert and so were we all! Her age, our age, the long time since we hadn’t seen her live: everything was forgotten.

Thank you for the wonderful, enchanting evening! May I end with a quote from The Cure? “Everything you do is simply delicious, Everything you do is quite angelicate […], Everything you do is simply dreamy, Everything you do is quite delicious […], you’re simply elegant!”