As I told you before, I went to Off Festival in Poland last August and tremendously enjoyed it.

On the second day of the three-day fest, I saw two shows that on paper looked quite identical, but the actual experience couldn’t have been more different.

OK, one band was a duo and the other a trio, but other than that: a mixture of electronic beats and acoustic instruments, a pretty girl (one, i should was rather foxy, the other was just regular-next-door-all-the-more-lovely pretty) playing keys, dudes playing guitar and singing, everybody hitting stuff hard.

But whereas the trio seemed to have lots of fun, enjoying themselves, enjoying the interaction with the crowd and taking the party to the next level, the duo just seemed to try as hard as they could to be really dramatic and pathetic. Not once did they acknowledge the audience, all they did was stare at their buttons, keys and strings and robotically (although with lots of pathos) do their thing. I was so pissed off that I left halfway through their set. The gig by the trio on the other hand was one of the best surprises of the festival - I had never even heard of the band before. It was so much fun, the crowd went nuts (those Polish audiences were some of the most enthusiastic i have ever seen!), and you could tell that the band themselves were having a blast too.

So why I am telling you this right now, nearly three months later? Gablé are a trio from France, and they will be playing Beursschouwburg in Brussels on Saturday the 5th of November, for free. You should be there, I’ll buy you a beer and we’ll have a good time.

As for Xiu Xiu, I will never waste another minute of my life listening to their music.