BEST PARTY EVER !!

HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!

I'd say I've been to quite a number of parties in my life, but last Saturday's beat them all!
What a party!!! Had a blast!

Our band (De Rammen) was invited to perform a few sets in the Kursaal/Casino building, which is right on the boulevard in Oostend (Belgium).

Every year the BAL RAT MORT (first held in 1898!) is held the first weekend of March and draws some 2500+ enthusiastic people to the Kursaal.

ALL of them were dressed up. Most had dressed up in the theme of the event - "Sambacarnival in Bahia" - so an incredible lot of feathers! A large number of women only had little clothes on - Brazilian style bikinis, bling bling and lots of skin. One even appeared fully body painted, only wearing tiny yellow shorts and feathers.


Met quite a bunch of ladies from the UK! (Coralie, Eve & Jan - Thanks for the photo Coralie!!) Great fun! Of course we had our pictuires taken with them! I was once again mistaken for Anthony Hopkins,... something I have been hearing the last few years... the junior version I hope... Haha... (Better than being compared to Gordon, right?)

It was quite some day though!
We left Dordrecht by bus little after 1PM, which gave us plenty of time to cruise the city and have a drink at a bar and eat chicken at "De Koekoek" (a restaurant open 24 hours a day, with just chicken and bread on the menu! Cheap too!).

When we opened our first set in the entrance hall at 9PM at the party, the crowd started rolling in. We were absolutely stunned at some of the incredible creations people were wearing!

The Kursaal has three large halls, where bands were playing on stage (continuously from 9PM through 4AM!). The central hall had a DJ on stage. Our Venetian outfits fit OK with the theme and even in this ambiance drew quite some attention. The organization enjoyed our presence and repertoire, so hopefully we will be invited in the future as well.

We were talking to two of these British girls I mentioned earlier when we were standing close to the podium. At that moment a competition was being held for the best/prettiest outfit of the night. I jokingly told them and my pal Ed we were NEXT on stage. Got a registration number from the organization, we led the ladies on stage, did a little dance with them for about half a minute, left the stage and couldn't stop laughing we actually did this!

Right after our third gig in the Delvaux-hall, the award ceremony was held on stage. Among all these incredible creations Ed and myself never counted on winning anything...

But then surprise struck...
In fourth place (out of 15 available prizes): Number 26.... THAT WAS US!
So we actually came in fourth!!!! hahaha. We couldn't believe it. Unfortunately the lovely ladies were not present top join in the celebration!! Oh well...


Party went on for another number of hours. Our bus left little after 2:30AM.
We all agreed this was one of the very best (if not THE best) party we ever played at. Looking forward to going back next year. If not invited to play, then most definitely as a guest!


Enjoy,


HK