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The country went into lockdown in March last
— You started doing live music streams
year. Nobody could have predicted at that
from day one; how do you reflect on those
time what this would mean for the cultural
early beginnings?
sector. While we were all standing in line at
“I am incredibly pleased that I made that
supermarket checkouts, Jef Neve decided
decision, even though it was quite impulsive.
to treat his followers to some online mini-
There was almost a sense of euphoria during
concerts. All he needed was a smartphone
that first lockdown. We felt a kind of excite-
and a piano. This was the start of a year full
ment that something was happening that
of surprises, new insights, and a very cool
we had never experienced before. I suddenly
concept in the form of a series of online
sensed that there was room to offer some-
concerts.
thing in return to my audience for a change. Everybody was at home, and I thought, well, why not?” — It eventually turned into the ‘Spring Live Sessions.’ Did this idea just come to you all of a sudden? “No, it grew organically. Having gone live on Facebook and Instagram every day for two months, we switched to a paid platform. I performed these shows from my studio in Sint-Martens-Latem with a small team, but
