This is the best performance I have ever seen. So far, of course. I sincerely hope that Santa Cruz will one day be dethroned from my number one spot. Because it is about time. High time for new musical highlights. But it won’t be easy. A few weeks ago, I was at De Loods again for the first time in years. The poster is still hanging there (see photo), and rightly so. Hence this blogpost.

Back then, Automatic Sam and I had the honor of supporting them. Santa Cruz was brilliant, ruthless, weird, freaky, unpredictable, druggy, terrifying, exhilarating, and above all, unforgettable. The evening felt like super underground. An obscure band at an even more obscure location. Everyone who needed to be there was there. During their performance, I had to laugh out loud a few times out of excitement and enjoyment.

Fun fact: after our performance, Guy Tavares asked us to just leave all the amplifiers where they were. They could certainly use them. Our Fender Twin and London City combined with their Sunn amplifiers. It was crushingly loud. Years later, our drummer found recordings of the performance. As if it was meant to be.

“Andy, waar ben je?!”