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Behold: a miracle! The Woodentops will be performing an exclusive show for the Benelux at N9 villa, Eeklo. This band was a force to be reckoned with in the eighties indie rock scene in England. John Peel was a big fan, for instance. Frontman of The Woodentops is Rolo McGinty, who founded the band in ’83 in South London. They got signed on Rough Trade, one of the leading indie labels of the eighties, and they released 4 LP’s and 6 singles. One of their most succesful LP’s was Hypnobeat Live, a title that refers to dance music. Of course, house and techno were yet to be invented, and The Woodentops probably were the first British indie/dance crossover band. Rolo didn’t only play guitar, he also introduced an old Casio keyboard and a drum machine into their sound. Bands like Stone Roses or Primal Scream weren’t around yet, and this meant a revolution in the guitar-oriented indie rock scene. Not surprising that Woodentops-songs like Why? and Good Thing were big hits on early Ibiza raves.

But then they simply had bad luck. Rough Trade didn’t really keep up with the quickly evolving indie scene and got in to money troubles. However, they refused to sign out The Woodentops, and they weren’t allowed to use their own name for three years, right when the indie/dance scene became popular with bands like Blur and The Soup Dragons. Disillusioned, they threw the towel. Until 2005, when Rolo received a tape of an ’88 concert. “I was amazed”, he said. He rang up his old chums and the band was reunited. New songs were composed, a new album is in the pipeline. They also started gigging again in England, where they were formally rehabilitated with a show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. And now a show at the much smaller club N9 villa! We can’t wait!

Ticketing and presales (presale 14 euro/ 17 euro at door)

- Presale tickets are available at the entrance and bar of N9 villa (molenstraat 165, Eeklo) and N9 fabriek (molenstraat 31, Eeklo) during opening hours. N9 villa is open during concert nights, N9 fabriek is open during office hours (9:30-18:00) and on wensday, thursday and friday evenings, except during school holidays. Presale tickets are also available at recordstore Vynilla (St. Kwinensberg 37, Ghent).

- N9 also offers an online ticketingservice, hosted by ticketmatic.com. You pay 2 euro of processing costs per ticket. You can print your tickets at home and scan them at the entrance on concert nights. Acces the online ticketingservice via the link ‘reserveer tickets’ above this article.

- You can also book your tickets via phone 0032 (0)9 377 93 94, and pay for them at the door, but you will not be entitled to presale rates.  Doors open 1 hour prior to the start of the concert. If you have not picked up your tickets 15 minutes before the start of the concert, you tickets can be sold on.