Here’s a selection of photos taken during a recent train journey from Brussels to Utrecht at the start of my December tour with the Monochrome Set.
I love these double-decker trains.
Brussels railway station contains several artistic references to Tintin, a character created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé.
Nice clean signage.
Turntables ahoy! The vinyl revival has most definitely reached Brussels.
You couldn’t really call this locomotive a looker.
“I believe I can fly…”
Cables and rails at Brussels station.
Having a fag.
Graffiti by Brussels station.
The curious case of the reflected face at the window. Who is he? What does he want? Why does he keep staring?! Help!
Band members look alarmed as the stare continues into infinity.
I loved this conductor’s style. He looked like he’d stepped out of a Paper Lace pop video.
Police and sniffer dogs entered the train with my bag getting extra special attention from the cop who directed the pooch in its direction twice.
That’s the kind of bad boy I am. So bad they sniffed me twice.
I loved this strap-on buffet unit.
A Dutch cookie.
Old fashioned signal box and semaphore signals.
Dusk through the train toilet window.
Arriving at Utrecht Cetraal railway station.
It’s all shiny and modern inside, and it’s also the largest junction station in the Netherlands with more than 900 trains leaving the station per day.
Curious art installation outside the station.
I don’t think I like these flapping plastic sculptures.
Stark modernist architecture by the station.
Everyone loves a taxibuffer.
We were playing a club/bar/rehearsal facility called dBs, located a fair way out of the centre at CAB Rondom 100
3534 BE Utrecht.
The dressing room was pleasingly bedecked in a mass of stickers, mostly from the heavy metal fraternity.
Soundchecking. I got to play on a rather snazzy bright yellow drum kit.
More stickers.
A ‘dedicated metal vocalist’ looks for a ‘true metal band.’
I’m not entirely sure what a ‘Proto-Doom’ band is, but I’d wager that they’re jolly loud.
Loved this drum light.
A few more stickers.
The support band do their stuff.
After the show, I indulged in some Steen Brugge. It was delicious.
The hotel wanted to get all touchy feely with its guests, inviting them to ‘Share Your Mind’ on a big blackboard in the foyer.
I’m so sorry. I couldn’t resist.
A chilly early morning view from my hotel room.
A deserted Centraal station.
Waiting for the train into Germany.
Snowy fields.
Eight days and seven gigs later, I was back at Brussels station, waiting for the train back to Blighty.
Hefty military presence outside the station.
Waiting for their train.
Rails and cables: dusk in Brussels.
Related posts:
