When the band came to Nijmegen my curiosity ruled over my biases. I took my camera and found myself a place in the young crowd of teenagers. Di-rect is a band that is fun to watch and the best thing is that their music wasn`t as bad as I had expected. Some of the songs were pretty good actually. But the main effort of Di-rect lies in the uncontrolled and arrogant performance of guitar player Spike, the cute face of lead vocalist Tim, the shy bass player (like all bass players) Bas and the engine of the band, drummer Jamie. The first and the last made the best impression on me.

Of course I despise arrogant, egocentric and overacting musicians, but in a strange way watching Spike do his thing was one of the highlights of this evening. The guy is rock `n roll in every sense of the word. He shows little respect for the crowd and no respect for the sound engineer whatsoever. The funny thing is that despite this act you can tell that Spike is actually a very nice guy in the warm way in which he treats his colleagues on stage. Jamie made the best impression as a musician. His drumming was particularly pleasant to listen to.

The biggest compliment I must give to Di-rect is the way in which they were able to get the whole crowd clapping, dancing and jumping. Remember, these guys are on average only 21 years old! In conclusion I would never buy or even listen to one of the albums by the band (I just don`t find their music interesting enough), but I can advise anyone to check this band out when they`re playing in the neighborhood. Di-rect is fun to watch.

(Review & Pics: Geert Oldenmenger)