TSAR B

The B in TSAR B, as we’ve just discovered, stands for ‘Busy Bee’. Just ask Google what a whirlwind the Ghent-based Tsar has been over the past ten years. That’s a hell of a lot harder work than Marc Van Ranst put in during his glory year of 2020. Incidentally, the team of announcement writers for the Lokerse Feesten are paid by the word, yet we still feel a certain hesitation about simply listing all the achievements and genres in which Tsar B thrives. That would be quite a bill. Let’s limit ourselves to neo-soul, a handful of techno beats and a warm stream of classical music that demonstrates what the ‘B’ might also stand for: ‘Bijzonder mooi’ (Extraordinarily beautiful). The last time we went to a Tsar B concert, we let ourselves go so unashamedly on the dance floor that we haven’t dared look anyone we know who was there in the eye for months. Familiar with it? Her latest is called ‘The Writer’ (2026). It’s the sort of record that compels you to head for the cupboard where the winter blankets lie in wait, thanks to the goosebumps you get from the short opening track ‘Opening scene’. What follows are ten tracks, each one worthy of ‘Suds and Soda’: that is to say, they’re so overwhelming that Tsar B can save them for the encore to blast her audience into full-blown euphoria with a few killer bangers.  Tsar B is undoubtedly set to play one of the most packed gigs at our Club on Wednesday 5 August. Arriving on time is usually a piece of advice you’d be well advised to follow, because you know what the ‘B’ sometimes stands for: ‘Blimey, I’m late!’