Product of the dark Eighties

For us the Eighties were coloured black listening to bands as Sister of Mercy, Fad Gadget, Joy Division & Nitzer Ebb. Our little brave country also contributed highly to the scene with bands as Front 242, A Split-Second and the Neon Judgement. Countless were the events we passed by in that period.

The story of Dark Balloon only started recently, in 2013. For many years we were dreaming of having one of our favourite bands, ‘Front 242’ in our home place, Retie. A village in the North of Belgium, between Eindhoven & Antwerp and close to our Dutch neighbours.

When we got in touch with Patrick Codenys (F242 keyboards) on a festival in Antwerp, the plan rapidly transformed into reality. Our organisation was founded early 2014 and the Front 242 concert was planned on December 5^th that year. 850 tickets sold out three months before the concert created a hype in our region that was never seen before. The evening itself was a blast. Our heros did more than their job. A Split-Second was supporting.

Overwhelmed by this experience and all the good comments, as well from artists as our audience, we were energized to continue (however this was not the upfront plan). Our objective is clear: Having bands in our city we would pay a ticket for ourselves. Being ‘professional amateurs’ we limit ourselves to a few events a year, which we can promote with love and passion.

Check here the bands we already promoted

The Dark Balloon Formula:

     A fantastic team (we can say that 🙂 )

• Love for alternative music
• Humour
• Every now and then a cool beer
• Professional amateurs
• Financially healthy
• The objective is idealism, not money
  

   Intensive promotion

  • Promote with passion on numerous events
  • Classic(Flyers, Posters, etc)
  • Online (Facebook, site, online calendars)
  • Promo videos
  • National Press: Studio Brussels – GVA Nieuwsblad – De Standaard – Laatste Nieuws
  • Local Press: Newspapers – RTV
    

    Bands

    • Kickstart with FRONT 242 in dec 2014
    • Genre : Beautiful bands in New Wave – EBM – Electro
    • We only bring bands we like ourselves
    • We try to take care for the bands as good as possible

    (and we hope they spread the news…)

     Retie – a nice village

    • Support of volunteers of local organisations such as RKC, Retie SK and Chiro
    • Perfect cooperation with Community Retie – Zaal Den Dries – JK2470
    • Local sponsors
    • Cooperation with local pubs (presale) and hotels
      

      Audience – We do it for them

      • Target Age: 30-60 years
      • Strongly local embedded (Kempen), but known in every corner of the country
      • International visitors: The Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland…

      A small extra for our audience

      • Light and sound – High quality standard
      • Free toilets
      • Free cloakroom
      • Highly appreciated catering – Cookings
      • Friendly staff
      • Payback of unused drink tokens
      • A nice online souvenir with pictures from our house photographers Chris and Luc