Susan's R&R birthday party

To celebrate her 27th birthday, Susan Pinkster organized a secret party at squatters place Kongsi, with some great bands. We vs Death were the most eagerly awaited for. Other acts included Green Concorde, Daan and the debut of The Debbies. We vs Death and Green Concorde were arriving late, due to another gig they had done in Groningen. They had to drive for a few hours to get to the party. Now that's what I call great spirit!

Ottoboy was at the party as well. He's living just around the corner of the squatters building, so at the end of the party it was just a short crawl towards his home. A few days later he told me he just started recording new material there at Kongsi. With nobody bothering him, he can just leave the studio setting intact the whole period, and press 'record' anytime he wants...

We vs Death played without the available soundsystem, so you got the sound straight from their amps. Even the trumpet played acoustically. I have to admit I never heard a better sound from them then at that party. Maybe the alcohol had something to do with it, but I also feel that the added value of soundsystems or PAs is overrated. The Evens are categorically against using any soundsystem except their own guitar amps. Also their vocals are amplified through a guitar amp. And the sound couldn't have been better then.
Green Concorde used the PA system for their vocals, and that sounded pretty adequate indeed. The vocals were a bit distorted because of the poor quality of the PA, and this added just the right edge to their paranoid music of the big city. When I heard them later on at dB's, the distortion wasn't there and I missed it. How come bands are taking great pains to sound raw on record, and then loose interest when it comes to vocals and drums while playing live?

More pics of the party are here. I'm ashamed to say I don't have many pics, because the battery had run low... :(