Zita Swoon have come of age.  Matured, focused and all too willing to play to us.  The band that I saw in 1995 seems a thin and ghostly one by comparison.  Bring in the parpy horns and melotron, add the the guitar of one Bjorn Eriksson and you have some funky, snazzy music you can dance your hearts out to!

Triumphantly bringing home their third lambaster, 'I Paint Pictures on a Wedding Dress'  Zita Swoon drive the audience into a frenzy, alternating numbers such as 'My Bond With You and Your Planet:  Disco!' with the groundscrapingly emotional blues of the first album.

Not one(s) to commit the crime of too much and all at once, Zita lead the audience over hills of stonking energy and around corners of building improvisations, taking them through intimate acoustics via the route of good stage communication.  The pied piper leads, and we all follow him like the rats of Hamlyn. At Rotterdam, dancers (dressed strangely in pink with matching pullovers on their heads) threaded their way through the support act, Matthieu Ha, laughing and giggling all the way.

Signs of fatigue were setting in by the time Rotterdam rolled round, but these were swept away at the tour end of Den Bosch, as a furory was unrelentlessly whipped up, followed with encore treats from 'Sunrise' and 'Everyday I Wear a Greasy Black Feather on my Hat.'  Stef danced an leapt his way to a climactic end to the tour. that left more than a few fans in need of a day off the next day!

At Den Bosch, which Bjorn later heralded as his best gig ever, his little girl sat wide-eyed on the stage, in awe of the proceedings, seemingly amused by those up front - dancing furiously to the noisy strummings of her father.  Two encores and a little girl's stunned blink later and the stage is empty, the audience catch their breath and wish in their hearts for more.  Only this time, it's the end of the tour.

Zita Swoon, we hope to see you soon.

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