Oostende shows its true colors @ KLEUR

The musicians of Teranga Band welcomed us in the early evening on the Strandplein and made clear where KLEUR stands for, with their cheerful mix of reggae, salsa and everything in between.The sun was playing hide and seek behind the clouds, but the faces of the audience radiated abundantly. On and before the stage we quickly counted ten different nationalities, but when we entered the world kitchen afterwards, we immediately lost count. There were goodies from India, Gambia, Congo, Kameroen, Jamaica and Soedan, but we picked a plate from Tibet with a very spicy sauce. It was so spicy that we had to evacuate ourselves from the boulevard to go quench our tongues...

Marketing wise not really the best move, then, but the West coasters of Windub lured us back to the stage.

There had arisen a cool breeze in the meanwhile – what would you expect with such a name ('wiend up' is West-Flemish for 'head on against the wind') – after which the drummer invited the audience to huddle a bit closer together. Preferably right in front of the stage: "there is free beer here!" A white lie, but still a better move than the Tibetan cook.

The seven-headed reggae band was very willing to share the applause with the sun, which stung for a last time, before disappearing into the sea. The rich sound of Windub, however, remained intact, founded by the four voices and subtly supplemented by small percussion instruments like the vibra slap and the cabasa. At the end we even heard a fifth voice, but nobody seemed to see where that one came from. All the audience had to do, however, was turn around towards the PA-tent, where Saimn-I was freestyling behind the buttons. 'Let Us Unite' in a West-Flemish private party, wuk!

Los Callejeros upped the pace – and the number of nationalities – with their folk and Balkan, causing a small party on the Strandplein. The frontman announced himself and his companions as a band from Leuven, but only in the binding texts we heard a shard of Dutch every now and then. Just enough to know that they were singing about peace, so we can conclude that this happy band had certainly earned their place on the bill. These binding texts went further than only text, by the way: for the track 'Candela', a young lady was invited on stage to put a burning candle in the back pocket of one of the musicians, which he had to extinguish by shaking his ass furiously. Fiddlesticks! 

We were not a big fan of their music, though, so we also went to look at the Satta Soundsytem Corner for a while. This little dub corner was erected askew behind the stage, and the whole afternoon, non-stop bass music had been drifting from there across the boulevard. This sound didn't attract many viewers, but that could be the fault of the nearby toilets. There was a bad drainage (or none at all), causing a little river to flow towards the boxes. A small pile of sand stopped this little stream, but of course the urine smell lingered for a long time. A point of attention for next year!

When the sky went completely dark and the festival counted its last hours, we were still looking out for headliner Bitty McLean. He came half an hour late; wearing a suit and tie as usual, but today he was accompanied by a dj. He had to make up for his being late and at first he seemed to succeed in his purpose, which was only thanks to himself. The dj had technical problems and there was barely more life to him than to the plants that guarded the stage.

Halfway the show it became clear that the audience was not very familiar with the repertoire of the British-Jamaican artist. 'Walk Away From Love' did not get any forward and 'It Keeps Rainin' (Tears From My Eyes)' was only heard for a few seconds, but did not cause any jeering. Bitty had to save his face with a few Bob Marley covers and checked after every track if everybody was still feeling good. Thrice he disappeared off the stage, returning with the words "One more?" or "Are you gonna let me go?", after which the enthusiasm of the audience barely increased.

There was nothing to criticize about this track show, because Bitty sang crystal clear and with a broad smile. The seemingly uninterested audience, that preferred talking over listening, caused this concert to be less than memorable. And thus it became the headliner that belonged here the least. For shame!