Go See Sarah Bettens In Concert!

By Contributing Writer on Friday, September 26, 2008 - 00:51

by Natazzz - Contributing Writer

Photo by Lieve Blancquaert

I first saw Sarah Bettens live at the Dutch music festival Pinkpop in 1996, when she was still with her band K’s Choice. Back in those days, I was a huge music fan and I usually spent my summers going from music festival to music festival. 1996 was an amazing year for music and I can remember that the line up at Pinkpop was particularly remarkable, but one of the highlights was definitely K’s Choice.

I still recall Sarah’s awesome performance of Not an addict together with Skin from Skunk Anansie. I absolutely loved it. As soon as I got home, I bought the CD Paradise in Me and I played it over and over again until I knew all the songs by heart.

The first time I listened to the CD, it literally gave me goose bumps, that is how much I loved it. There are some awesome songs on there besides Not an Addict, including You’re only Dreaming and Dad. I still love that album today, and I would have it on repeat on my ipod if only I had one.

Photo by Lieve Blancquaert

For those of you who are not familiar with Sarah Bettens (how is that possible?), Sarah is a Belgian singer who is currently living in the United States together with her partner and their two kids. She started her career in the band K’s Choice together with her brother Gert. During the mid nineties until the early 2000’s they were quite famous in Belgium and the Netherlands, and they even had a few hits in the rest of Europe, as well as in the United States. K’s Choice even performed their song Virgin State of Mind in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode Doppelgängland during Season 3.

After years of success with K’s Choice, Sarah decided to pursue a solo career. When I first heard she was going solo I wasn’t sure how to feel. On the one hand I was curious to find out what she would sound like on her own, but at the same time I was very sad that K’s Choice would be no more. I am so glad she went solo though, because otherwise we would not have had great albums like Scream and her latest album Shine that has just been released worldwide.

All the songs on these albums are great, but my two favourite Sarah Bettens songs actually do not appear on these albums. The first song that I love is Leef (Live), a Dutch song that Sarah recorded for the Dutch movie by the same name. My other favourite is I need a woman which she sings together with Stash (a Belgian band).

Sarah Bettens - Photo by Frank Clauwers

Tags: belgium, entertainment, music, Sarah Bettens

See Sarah Bettens in Concert!

Submitted by Sandra Showtime on September 26, 2008 - 11:09.

Ok, I wrote a note and will follow your advice. But I do have a question, though. When do you sleep, Natazzz? You seem to write for all of us!

Thanks for another nice article ;)

I like it when women do what I tell them to

Submitted by Natazzz on September 26, 2008 - 15:43.

Don't worry Sandra, I get plenty of sleep.

Although I admit I sometimes forget blogging isn't actually my day job.

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-Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

I blog, therefore, I am

I saw her this summer in antwerp!

Submitted by Alsen on September 26, 2008 - 18:37.

And it was A-ma-zing !!!!

I was just in front of her, completely in awe, she was barefoot as were all the musicians and the atmosphere was very intimate and cosy (despite of the belgium rain all over us in the middle of august )

Just so you know, I'm a huge fan of hers since Buffy the vampire slayer (yes, i'm that fangirly) but I never had the chance to go to one of her concerts. As soon as I found out she was coming in Europe I booked everything I could (ticket, train, hostel) and it really was one of the highlights of my summer.

To be quick : just go. You'll see.

humm... that voice.

Sarah Bettens and Skin?

Submitted by maxime68 on September 27, 2008 - 07:29.

Sarah Bettens and Skin performing together? That must have been really incredible.

K’s Choice were very popular in France too and even though they played at a very small venue the first time I saw them, it was one of the best live concerts I ever attended. There’s something about the French audience which makes concerts very special.

That’s why I chose Paris (Elysée Montmartre) over Zurich for her tour last December. I know that sounds crazy, but it was really worth the trip. YouTube has a lot of clips from that show (1st December).

“Don’t stop” from the Scream album is one of my favorite songs ever, it’s one of her slooower songs and the first time I consciously listened to the song, I was like “wait, what was that again? “ and played the song at least 10 times over.

I hope, that she’ll add some more to cities to the new schedule and that some will be reachable for me too.

http://spoilmyself.blogspot.com/ http://strawberrysaffron.blogspot.com/

Sarah & Skin link in article

Submitted by Natazzz on September 27, 2008 - 12:52.

Yes, it sure was awesome.

The Not and Addict link in the article links to the actual performance of Sarah Bettens & Skin at Pinkpop.

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-Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

I blog, therefore, I am

thanks

Submitted by maxime68 on September 27, 2008 - 13:25.

Thank you for the subtle cue ;-) I don’t know how I managed to overlook that link. I guess even if it had been flashing and blinking, I’d still not seen it.

YAY

Submitted by Nanouk on September 30, 2008 - 16:50.

Nice:) I've seen Sarah now 3 times and apart from sometimes getting annoyed by the screaming lezzy groupies I really enjoy her concerts:) Ill be sure to check it out if shes anywhere near my place in NL :)