Erlend Oye. La Comotiva Band. He’s now on my Spotify playlist. And errr, no I didn’t know him from Adam till my nieta introduced him to me. And treated me to his band concert here in Brussels! Turned out to be the highlight of our trip to Brussels. (Aside from the 2 food trips to Chez Leon)

The concert was staged in Brussels’ Botanique Garden — in one of the halls that’s standing room only and where the band went down the stage and got the entire crowd singing along! When it was near the concert’s end, the audience kept asking for an encore and refused to leave. So the band “escorted” everyone out like a pied piper, singing and playing along. Out the hall, along the passageway, through the stairs until everyone’s out the door.

I’ve attended concerts before. Have watched and enjoyed many bands too. But this is a first. Way beyond my expectations. I love their music now. It resonates across many generations. Nice beat, lively and socially relevant too. At performance night, they were dressed so casually, nothing fancy. So it felt like you’re just visiting a friend to jam with. Really. Check out his music on Spotify.