Cool Belgium

Dan Donovan was in Belgium last week with his band King Kool.

They were playing a custom bike event which he described to me as follows:

The event, Synergie Meeting, was held in the grounds and buildings of a disused power station on the edge of a small town and attracted some 700 music and bike enthusiasts from around Europe.

On arriving and receiving my passes I was surprised by the lack of high viz jacketed security personnel, unlike similar events in the UK. In fact, there were none. No ‘Don’t Do This’ and ‘Don’t Go There’ signage. It was very relaxed, yet not unordered or chaotic.

The punters and organisers were an alternative bunch but this was no underground rebel event. It had the consent of the local authorities who had been involved, I’m sure, in the year leading up to the show.

The bikes were on display inside the power station where they sat alongside art and photography exhibitions among the old turbines. People smoked and drank freely everywhere without a single glance of disapproval.

As the day progressed so did the consumption of Belgian beer. The atmosphere was pretty lively as you can imagine yet smokers, non-smokers and juniors mingled and danced without any tension.

There were no brawls or unruly behaviour and the noisy event ground peacefully to a halt in the early hours.

Around 1.30am a police van pulled up, three officers stepped out, glanced around, got back in, and drove off. That was the only moment I saw any police. This kind of event would have been very different in the UK.

This was a fine example of a gathering where people were left alone and were free to be themselves without an overbearing health and safety nanny state vibe.

I was pretty knackered after leaving the UK at 5.00am, driving to Belgium and playing a gig. My only sin was wanting to get some sleep.