Most people know of Charleroi as the Brussels “Ryanair airport” (ie – an expensive 45min Ryanair-owned coach ride into town) … in fact, Charleroi is the largest Walloon and third largest Belgian city (just over 200,000 inhabitants) but struggles economically (27% of the population earn less than €10 000 a year compared to 17% nationally). The infrastructure desperately needs updating, and the mix of empty rundown buildings and flashy neon lights is pretty grim. It was once a busy mining town which goes some way to explaining all of the above and which also accounts for the hordes of second and third generation Italian families that pepper this area of the country. I headed there last Sunday with Emilie & Ari for a little shooting session… a few more on this flickr set
Daytripping in Charleroi
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Weirdest concert I can remember attending this evening… Groundation Bob Marley tribute concert in Charleroi… which in itself is potentially the weirdest town I can remember setting foot in. I must go back to photograph it before it changes – it’s a standing memorial to the cheesiest, gaudiest 80sness… and the inhabitants are definitely a big part of that impression – sort of wonderful. But the concert – terrible! The opening act was a reggae band from charleroi, probably by default – the guitarist looked like he belonged in an 80s metal band, the bassist could’ve been cast in the Mamma Mia… and awful, awful tunes. We made it through about three tracks when Groundation finally made an appearance before running back to the car and home. I didn’t want to ruin my impression of Groundation any further… saw them two years ago at Couleur Café and they were incredible… I’m cheating again and posting a couple of shots from way back then, to lift my mood.