Oh man ! The Clawz play Belgium ! At one of the biggest festival in the country: DOUR FESTIVAL. Tommy got back from his vacation so he travelled along with Maike and we had two special guests: Wesley (Tommy's brother) joined us for his very first Clawfinger concert and we had to pick up Susie at the Central Station in Brussels: a fun day !
When we arrived in Dour, the Clawz just got there and Bård (the new tour manager) had to arrange some things in order to get the guestlist done. We met at the press entrance, but we weren't allowed 'coz we didn't have the passes yet. Bård told us we had to go to the main entrance, go to the ticket stand and ask for the backstage passes. He also told us that he specifically asked for VIP passes, that we should not take anything less then that. Oh man... VIP ! Cool ! Free beer and food and fun with the guys: PARADISE AWAITS US ! Yay !
First negative point:
The main entrance was a few kilometres down the road. OK, no problem. We get VIP passes later, so what the heck... This was a good time to catch up with Alexx, who came from Cologne to see the Claws. It was a long time since we saw him ! Finally we arrive at the main entrance and we are so happy to go get our VIP passes. At this point we meet up with Melantrys, Ruud and his girlfriend. They're also very excited to get backstage.
Second Negative point:
NO VIP PASSES FOR US ! They considered us GROUPIES. And when we called Bård, he said: "Well, Yves... you are groupies !" Aaaargh ! And I was wondering why they served us from behind an iron fence. I guess this was to prevent them from getting their faces smashed in by frustrated groupies when they denied backstage access. Man I was pissed... and also without a passport which they needed to let me in... I needed a beer... I needed 10 beers !! This is not happening ! Maike joined me to get some beers, but since we weren't at the festival ground yet, they couldn't serve us... GREAT ! At that time the whole situation seemed to have turned around at the ticket stand, so we got tickets to get in, but that was all. Bård assured us that he would work something out to get us backstage.
We walked to the stage were Clawfinger was going to play and there we met up with the whole gang. The weather was nice, the beer was cold (if you were lucky to find one) and the company was great, so... no worries !
The Clawz played a great gig ! The crowd went totally crazy and we enjoyed every second ! There was little problem though... it seems that the playlist was a bit too long, so the organizers were yelling at the side of the stage to stop the set. And then what happened was completely absurd ! They pulled the plug during the last song: "Do what I say" !!! So everybody was looking at eachother with an expression like "What the fuck !??" The crowd didn't know what was going on... Talking about an anti climax ! The Clawz were really pissed, as you can imagine ! But Ruud stated it perfectly afterwards: "When I grow up, they will pull the plug !"
We managed to get some press passes afterwards so we could join the Clawz in the press room where we had some beers and talked for a long time. It seemed that we were a bit too loud 'coz the people started complaining about the fact that they were unable to take interviews with our noises in the back, haha.
After all it turned out to be a fun day... we went back onto the festival ground and checked out some bands like Biohazard where Zak managed to surprise us with his "pulled up pants dance"... haha. Make sure you check out the pics for this one !
We followed the Clawz back to the hotel, near the airport in Brussels. We chatted some more and had some beers in the lobby. This is where Jocke told us the most amazing story about a support he invented together with the guys from Meshuggah when the actual support band did not show up. They call themselves "Le The Le The The" and pretend to be a french speed metal band, with hits like "Le Tour Eifel" and "Jeu de Pomme Noire". Make sure you check'em out while in a town near you, haha !
Zak was talking with his eyes closed all the time, so we knew he was completely shitfaced and so we left, 'coz the Clawz had an early flight the next morning. Everything considered, it was a pretty bizarre day... or as Jocke would say: "Fucked up... like a BEYBAH!"

A new album equals a new tour, right ? So the Clawz are back, playing festivals troughout Europe. The first concert I was able to visit is Waldrock. Situated in the north of Holland, more specifically in "Fryslan", it was about 2 hours driving from my place.
I was really excited coz it's been awhile since I saw the guys... On the other hand: this is the first Clawfinger concert I see without Tommy, the other half of the "Equipe Belgique". He is on vacation with his girlfriend so this will be a little bit weird.
It was already late when I left for Burgum so I had to be carefull not to be too late. But traffic was no problem so I arrived about 20 minutes before the Clawz were scheduled. And then... there it was... it sneaks into the story as it always does at the wrong time: CONCERT SECURITY!! I walked to the ticket booth where they also handed out the backstage passes and stuff. I state my name, show 'em my passport, try to explain that I'm on the Clawfinger guestlist... but no luck. All the guy did was looking at me like a cow that saw a train for the first time. Then he started looking into his papers, calling people on his intercom. In the meantime I hear the first notes of "Rosegrove" in the back. SHIT !! THEY STARTED !
My situation was getting better: I turned around and I saw about 10 angry 80's rockers looking at me with an expression that said: We also wanna get in... TODAY ! To cut a long story short: the guy ended up giving me a stamp so I could get in for free. No backstage pass, no guestlist, no nothing... Security is such a nice thing !
Oh well, at least I got in. So off to the stage 'coz they were playing their third song already. It was kinda funny to see the reactions on stage when the Clawz recognized me in the crowd. Damn it was great to hear those sounds again. It was a very good concert and the crowd was very responsive towards the Clawz.
After the concert I had to wait to get a pass from someone in the ClawOrganisation. But that wasn't a problem: they gave me an artist pass
So finally I was able to meet the guys. They were a bit tired 'coz they celebrated the Midsummernight the day before. Zak's voice was completely fucked up. He sounded like the Marlon Brando in the Godfather. He was constantly grabbing his throat when he heard the guy from Sepultura scream, hehe. He couldn't take it anymore.
It was also cool to see a part of the ClawFamily again: The Wolfmeister was present with his girlfriend, Maike was there and all the way from Denmark: Susie and Stinne Marie ! We had a few beers and lotsa fun. The girls went completely crazy when Peter "Ugly Muthafucka" Steele from Type O Negative walked by. What is it with this guy ? It's probably the size of his salami that gets 'em all insane in the brain. I guess Playgirl was a good career move for this guy. Maybe I should suggest this to Zak... who knows ??

After some time, the Clawz were back in Belgium. By this time the 'Use Your Brain' album was already released, so we all came to hear the "new" songs. It was a very cool concert. The 'Vooruit' is a very cousy concert hall. There is no barrier between the crowd and the stage, so this was the first time I was confronted with the concept of stage-diving... I was pissed at Andre because he kept swinging his hair into my face. Surprise of the evening: Zak had cut his long hair and instead he had these little white thingies hanging like spaghetti ;-))) No seriously, it looked cool. He wore the cool 'Fuck Racism' T-shirt (which is also in the 'Tomorrow' video)

In the summer of '94, we (me and Tommy) were going to the Torhout/Werchter festival. We arrived in Werchter on saturday, very late... we had no light to set up our tent and it took us quite some time to install the whole damn thing. Afterwards, we thought a little celebration was in order so we started to drink as if tomorrow all the beer in the world would be gone. A few hours after we passed out, the sun started to beat upon our tent and the smell inside was so horrible that we had to get outside... it was 9.30 in the morning. We dragged our bodies to the concert ground and started to look for a nice place to lay down. That's when the first band came on stage. It was amazing, who are those guys ?? Tommy quickly grabbed a program and asked me: Clawfinger ? Indeed, it was Clawfinger opening the T/W festival. A great performance, for all I can remember (with the hangover and all). The thing that I can remember the best is Zak and Andre performing a 'helicopter' with their very long hair. Supercool !