Nico at Studio Skoop, 1976

Nico was present at the 3rd International Film Festival in Gent, Belgium to present Philippe Garrel's latest movie called "Le Noces de Chrystal". The movie was played at a packed Cinema Select with about 600 seats. The organiser Ben Ter Elst, introduced Nico and Garrel before the start of the movie and announced a surprise concert later that night at Studio Skoop. Ten minutes after the start of the movie, the first people left the theatre. This continued for the next hour with only a handful of people left who had the courage to sit all through the end. A film festival public has a higher tolerance threshold than the occasional filmgoer, but this incredibly boring movie was taking too much for most of them. Most of the remaining public also went to the Studio Skoop to watch and hear Nico playing, together with Lutz Ulbrich on guitar. There couldn't have been more than fifty people and the concert was extraordinary. People were watching Nico as in a trance. After less than an hour Nico finished playing and started packing her harmonium. The public just stayed there as if not knowing what to do. She signed some autographs and exchanged a few words with some people. Walking home after this memorable concert I saw her leaving into the nearby Park Hotel together with Lutz Ulbrich.