From Thursday until Sunday I was at the Rock Werchter festival. Four days of hot hot hot weather, great music, weird moments, very little sleep and the most lovely people.
When it comes down to music, the most memorable Werchter 2009 gigs to me were Oasis, Elbow and The Prodigy. It was the third time this year that I saw Oasis at work (after indoor gigs in Brussels and Lille), and no matter how much I enjoyed those previous gigs, the show at Werchter is on top of my list. The setlist was more or less the same one as in Brussels and Lille, yet everything felt even more wonderful this time. It was everything rock 'n roll should be about: music, love and lots of attitude. The band was in great shape; I love the way Liam Gallagher put it himself: "You were good, but not as good as us." - I second that. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure my friends and I (and the lovely Irish people next to us) were the most vivid bunch of the entire crowd. It seemed like all the people who should've been there, were there: Peter, Jonas, Michaël, Carmen... I love them all so much, and I'm glad they were there with me. I had to laugh so hard when we were looking for a good place to stand about half an hour before the gig started, and Peter was bothered by the many people sitting on the ground: "Fuck you! I want you to stand up and show some respect for Oasis! Festivals aren't made for sitting! What's wrong with you? Are you out of your mind? It's Oasis who's playing here in half an hour!!", hahaha. :) Another funny moment was when, at the end of the gig, Liam went frontstage asking his brother (our mate Paul, not Noel) to light his cigarette. Most people didn't recognise him, but we started cheering for him as loud as we could.
Afterwards, we went to see The Prodigy, another Werchter highlight for me. They were just hypnotizing. The proof? The rather questionable dancing by me and Jonas.
The day after, we got to highlight number three: Elbow. Never thought a rather 'symphonic' band could be such a great festival band. Guy Garvey is such a great artist. His voice was breathtaking and - despite not looking like the average rock 'n roll star by far - he managed to charm every single person in the crowd. Pure class.
More gigs I really enjoyed were those by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Placebo, Just Jack, Regina Spektor, Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand and Coldplay.
More fun moments took place on our camping, where I stayed with Filip and his very likeable mates. We obviously didn't get much sleep, but we definitely had a good time. The last night was the best, though. Filip was "dj'ing" all night long using the "marginal file" on his iPod, over 150 songs that you're not too sure about you even want to know them. This interesting soundtrack and unexpected visits from soccer crazy Englishmen and some curious guy from the Netherlands led to a few crazy moments and discussions. And that was even before Filip went to sleep only to find another Dutch bloke curled up in his sleeping bag!
I mean no offence, I like Oasis' music and admire what they've meant and mean to the music scene, but come on, you'd think by now people would have cooled down a bit and brought it back to the music instead of idolizing rock stars. If I'm not mistaken they're the ones who warned us not to put our lifes in the hands of a rock 'n roll band.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, glad to hear you had fun. And nice to see Max somewhere on those pictures.
See you sometime this summer.
"If I'm not mistaken they're the ones who warned us not to put our lifes in the hands of a rock 'n roll band."
ReplyDeleteI second that. But it was an amazing gig. And no Timspotting this year, hoeray for that! But didn't you have it superhot in those clothes?
You might have a point, Gisèle, but I guess some people will just always be a fanboy/girl, and I'm certainly part of that group. ;) And like Tim says, it wàs an amazing gig.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see you even once, Tim! :( So I guess Timspotting will be saved for Pukkelpop. ;) And yes, it was very hot indeed. But it's better that way than with my shoulders completely burnt.