ELECTRIC BELVÉDÈRE

December 1st, 2024 - 

We are gathering at The Ambassadors hotel’s Studio 52, near the iconic Belvédère of Tunis, trending lately for the reopening of the municipal pool, after 20 years, left in a state of disrepair. I arrived 2 hours before the show. The bands were getting ready, sipping a few beers, chatting with the attendees, laughter and greetings, with always the same joy, the eyes full of tears, of those who build brick by boring brick their dreams. When asked about the intent behind this concert, Aziz Ben Aissa, Lead guitar of CrowZ and organiser says : 

“This concert is auto-financed by the three bands on the line-up. Our goal is simply to showcase 100% original compositions.”

The place that recalls the early 90’s punk scene was full. Soon, the single lamps turned off, leaving us in darkness, eyes guided towards a pink and blue scene. Bechir is at the back, nearly phantomatic in this staging. He will play with two bands tonight and I've heard friends calling him amazing, impressed by his multi-instrumentalism; drums, keyboards, guitar and singing. The boys are however, humble, breaking all walls between them and the public; holding eye contact, smiling, laughing, and spontaneously interacting during the show.

CrowZ opened tha bal, playing their first Album titled Now And Then, followed by their second album, Sketchbook. The crowd sings along to their first releases; An Early Fable and Pixelized Love, by heart, creating a sense of unity, faith in truth and mutual understanding. 

“If you lie in our lives we'll still lie in a world of fiction…”

They have that kind of timeless music that echoes long after its release, and genius lyrics that you only understand later in life. Their genre integrates J-rock, shoegaze, Frank Zappa’s type of Psyché and a few western opening lines, especially into the new album. 

Even though we only had a glimpse of it, we can tell that Sketchbook is a work in progress, mostly instrumental, an abstract collage of feelings and impressions, a groovy dialectic with little intention, but more like a brainstorm. 

Shade followed up with a stoner, heavy, psychedelic original repertoire, taking us to an outerspace odyssey, for those who listen, for those who dream, for those looking for inspiration to create, there is a whole world of wonders that awaits, enter at your own pace, in search for your soul or some meaning, follow the vibe, see what you find. 

Saharage closed the night, merging Stambeli - a traditional Tunisian Ritual genre - with Heavy Metal and video games epic music inspirations. It is surely something that you’ll never hear elsewhere, unless they become the pioneers of a new born metal sub-genre.

Electric Belvédère was the night to close down the year 2024, on daring experiments and high level creativity. As a journalist in the tunisian underground scene since 2015, i’ve got goosebumps, seeing the boys each and every year. We do not back down, we only evolve !