Blindfolded to the stage The voice of Flanders being led, then having a guitar put in your hands, and five minutes later blowing everyone away with a magical version of Bob Dylan’s All along the watchtower, made famous in Jimi Hendrix’s version. It is inevitable that the nerves of Laurens Maes (25) are coated with a layer of stainless steel.
Even when we meet him on Wednesday evening, Laurens radiates a natural and relaxed cool that you would not expect from someone whose life could take a completely different turn in 48 hours. “Maybe I stay so calm because I don’t really care about the competitive element,” he says. “After every previous round I also thought it would end there for me. What I am passionate about is the music and my performance.”
(Read more below the photo)
READ ALSO: Laurens (25) took off his blindfold and stood on the stage of The Voice: “I really knew nothing”
Laurens’ literal ‘blind audition’ could not faze the candidate. — © VTM
“I haven’t really gone out of my way to campaign and I may not be the biggest vote getter. Really, I wish all three of my fellow finalists the same victory. As a football player (Laurens is front left for the Ghent café team FC De Albatros, ed.) I would also rather give a nice assist than score myself.”
Also daring: after the successful one cross battles Laurens gave up his job in the advertising sector to devote himself completely to what he loves most: making music and performing. “I don’t want to do that with a support group that bears my name, but as part of a real band, as blood brothers among each other.”
Timid fans
One of those brothers is Alessandro Labriola. He doesn’t play a note of music, but he is the manager of the restaurant Sole d’Italia, with which his family has been bringing a piece of Puglia to the Zwijnaardsesteenweg for more than a quarter of a century. “Laurens lives nearby. He already came for a coffee every day. After his dismissal, I offered him a flexi-job so that he could pay his rent.” (laughs)
Alessandro gave Laurens work in his restaurant Sole d’Italia. — © fvv
Sole d’Italia will remain closed on Friday evening. After all, Alessandro absolutely wants to be there when his buddy brings the trophy to Ghent. By the way, Laurens’ first fans are reluctantly starting to discover the Italian neighborhood restaurant. “A daddy who came in this week with his eight-year-old daughter was very cute,” says Alessandro. “Not to eat anything, but because the girl wanted an autograph from Laurens.” However, he was busy rehearsing in the studio of his coach, Mathieu Terryn. “When Laurens returned, we quickly recorded a video for that girl.”
“I also received a video from a mother,” says Laurens. “You see her dancing in the living room with her husband and baby while I do Oh Caroline sing on TV. Fantastic. That’s why you do it, right?”
Laurens is doing some more dishes. 48 hours later he is expected on stage for the final of ‘The voice of Flanders’. But that doesn’t make him nervous. — © fvv
Laurens didn’t have time to do the dishes or serve dinner last week. “Every day we had to practice and work. Working out songs with the coach, now rehearsing with the orchestra, then with the dance teacher.”
Does Laurens have any input in this? “Yes, I wrote most of the songs myself. Mathieu lets each candidate be himself as much as possible, although he has already taught me a lot about stage presence. There is also room for consultation regarding the outfits I wear during performances. For example, the stylist takes into account that I don’t like wearing sneakers. (enthusiastic) I’m going to perform one song in a suit, all in pink.”
Love for Ghent
For Mathieu Terryn it is clear. “Laurens is someone who was born for a stage, who breathes and lives music,” he says.
“That was actually the case when, as a twelve-year-old boy, I cycled from Heusden, where we lived, with a guitar on my back, to the Ghent Festivities to perform as a street musician,” says Laurens. The love for Ghent is so great that he said the word ‘show’ tattooed on the back of his upper arm.
The font of that tattoo comes from his grandmother’s old typewriter. “I had a very good relationship with her, but unfortunately she passed away two years ago. I write all my texts on her typewriter. Every song I will sing on Friday night is for her.”
‘The voice of Flanders’, Friday at 8.40 pm on VTM.
“I wish all three of my fellow finalists the same victory.” — © VTM
Does ‘The voice of Flanders 2024’ sing with a Ghent accent? We’ll know tonight. — © VTM
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