‘The Ideal Crash’ – the third and highly praised dEUS album – has been around for 20 years now and that’s something to celebrate! In no small way either! With a complete performance – from start to finish – of this absolute dEUS classic, actually. From the (frankly genius) first track ‘Put The Freaks Up Front’ to the musing last one ‘Dream Sequence #1’. Tom Barman about the album: ‘Als er ooit een moment komt om een album in de kijker te zetten, dan is het ongetwijfeld ‘The Ideal Crash’. Het was een bijzonder belangrijke plaat voor ons die meteen de standaard hoog legt voor de nieuwe dEUS-songs die we na afloop ook zullen spelen.’

‘The Ideal Crash’ was produced by Canadian producer David Bottrill – also producer for Tool, The Smashing Pumpkins and David Sylvian, amongst others – who would later handle dEUS’ second last album ‘Keep You Close’. ‘The Ideal Crash’ adorned many a year-end chart in ‘99 and even made it into the top 20 of Oor’s Top 100 Of All Time, finely flanked by Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ and Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’.

Guy Garvey (Elbow) still considers the wonderful single ‘Instant Street’ to be one of his most favourite songs of all time. And, 20 years later, ‘Instant Street’ still ranks in the top 15 of the most recent BelPop 100 (the ranking of the best Belgian songs, as chosen by listeners of Radio 1).

To coincide with dEUS plays ‘The Ideal Crash’, the album will be re-released in a re-mastered version and the band will be playing – long live the symbolism! – no less than 20 concerts throughout Europe. Brand new guitarist Bruno De Groote is part of it all, of course. Together with the rest of dEUS, he will soon dive into the studio for the recording of their 8th album.

Just as the previous artists to appear in the ◄◄ REWIND series, dEUS will be lauded with an official ceremony in the Steenstraat as a tribute to their contribution to Belgian (pop) music.

◄◄ REWIND

In 2007, AB launched a timeless series: ◄◄ REWIND. Central to this series are Belgian artists who perform ‘their classic’. Call it a milestone in their career, or what’s more: a key album in Belgian pop music. It is often – but not always – about albums that are etched into collective memory. Call them points of reference in the Belgian music landscape. So each ‘pièce de résistance’ is performed in its entirety. Completely? That’s right, in the exact order that the artist wanted (or still wants) to tell his/her tale.

With ◄◄ REWIND, AB also contributes to the activation of Belgian musical heritage. Already passed in revue: ‘The Kids’ (The Kids), ‘Op Zoek Naar Romantiek’ (Guido Belcanto), ‘Jonge Helden’ (Arbeid Adelt!), ‘Gorky’ (Gorki),‘1981-1984’ (The Neon Judgement),‘Royalty In Exile’ (The Scabs), ‘Nooit Meer Drinken’ (Raymond Van Het Groenewoud), ‘De Mens’ (De Mens), ‘The Ship’ (Luc Van Acker), ‘Un Ball Dans La Tête’ (De Puta Madre), ‘Hè Hè’ (Jan De Wilde), ‘Laïs’ (Laïs) and ‘Struggle for Pleasure’ (Wim Mertens).