I came to De Staat late in life, but after seeing them live in 2022 I resolved that I would definitely try to catch them again. In 2023 they announced that they were going to try something ambitious and experimental to support their Red, Yellow, and Blue project. In a small number of festivals and venues in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, they would play a three-day concert series, with a different set list each evening to match one of the three colours. Red covers their heavier material, Yellow has some of their less classifiable tracks, and Blue is more moody and downbeat.
Paradiso was one of the venues. Although you could get tickets for specific shows, I immediately bought a passepartout ticket for all three nights. I wasn’t disappointed!
Although there were some tickets still available on the night for a couple of the shows, Paradiso was packed. Each show had different set dressing, different lighting (of course), and a different opening act. Many of the fans in the audience were wearing matching colours. On Red Monday I found a place up on the second balcony, facing the stage. Iron Jinn played a suitably dark and sludgy set. For De Staat there was a large speaker at the back of the stage for Torre Florim to perch on, and a tall pulpit that rose up from behind the curtains late in the set. As always at their gigs, there was a huge circular rotating mosh for the song “Witch Doctor”. (One of the reasons I’d positioned myself up on high…)
On Yellow Tuesday, Smudged played a wild and punky opening set, with all band members decked out in green face paint. I was on the first balcony to the right of the stage this evening. This time, De Staat had a set of stairs at the centre of the stage, leading up to a huge lighting rig. The song “Pikachu” is one of the centrepieces of their show, and as well as doing their dance on stage, Rocco and Torre took it down into the audience as well.
Dutch singer Pitou opened the show on Blue Wednesday, and she joined the band on stage for a haunting and entrancing rendition of “I’ll Take You”. The band had a second drummer on stage, and you know you’re in for a good time with two drummers. I was on the second balcony again, but this time off to the left of the stage. (Probably the worst view of the three shows, but it did give some interesting photo perspectives.)
Because I came to De Staat late, I had spent more time listening to their more recent material than their full back catalogue. They played 48 songs over the three shows, and to fill all three evenings evenings they brought out a lot of songs I hadn’t paid much attention to before. Hearing them live really brought them to life, and I think I might now rate their 2013 album I_CON as my favourite. The raucous guitar hooks on “Make Way for the Passenger”, the incredible rumble of drums on “The Inevitable End”, the Beastie Boys echoes on “Input Source Select”, and the memories of Pitou’s voice gracing “I’ll Take You” all combine to give me chills whenever I hear the recorded versions now.
This concert series was an amazing experience. It absolutely cemented De Staat as a “must see” band for me whenever they tour again.
Set Lists:
Monday 29 January – Red
- Look at Me
- Ah, I See
- Life is a Game (Ladadi Ladadada)
- Me Time
- Old Macdonald Don’t Have No Farm No More
- Refugee
- Paying Attention
- Some Body
- Make Way for the Passenger
- Murder Death
- Help Yourself
- Burning the Flag
- Meet the Devil
- Head on the Block
- Witch Doctor
Encore:
- Rooster-Man
- Kitty
Tuesday 30 January – Yellow
- Danger
- Peptalk
- Blues is Dead
- Numbers Up
- Psycho Disco
- Input Source Select
- Habibi
- Fake It Till You Make It
- Mona Lisa
- Pikachu
- Make the Call, Leave It All
- Sweatshop
- Get on Screen
Encore
- Bombti
- Who’s Gonna Be the GOAT?
Wednesday 31 January – Blue
- Take Root
- Devil’s Blood
- I’m a Rat
- Someone to Be
- Keep Me Home
- One Day
- Firestarter
- I’ll Never Marry You
- Luther
- She’s With Me (Torre Florim solo)
- I’ll Take You (with Pitou)
- Running Backwards Into The Future
- Time Will Get Us Too
- The Inevitable End
Encore
- What Goes, Let Go
- Phoenix