Pukkelpop 2009

Just a little over a week ago, I returned from three great days at the Pukkelpop festival. A small recap with some pictures of my favourite acts and the amazing people I shared these days with.

Day 1 - I saw: The Maccabees, Baddies, The Twang, James Yuill, Shantel & Bucovina Orkestar, Paolo Nutini, The Big Pink, Maxïmo Park, Dizzee Rascal, Soap&Skin, La Roux, Andrew Bird, Freaky Age (yes, Filip), Ladyhawke, Faith No More, My Bloody Valentine.

The Big Pink: a very nice discovery. Ministry meets Stone Roses. Lots of potential!

Maxïmo Park and the ever excentric Paul Smith. Andrew Bird: really good, despite the leaking Chapiteau tent. Chearing for my mates from Freaky Age.Faith No More: too good to be true, even though I expected very little from this gig.
Day 2 - I saw: Das Pop, Metric, Alberta Cross, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Chapman Family, The Airborne Toxic Event, Air Traffic, Glasvegas, Patrick Wolf, Snow Patrol, The Black Box Revelation, Placebo, Blood Red Shoes (from a distance), Kraftwerk.

My sister came over for one day.

This Australian bloke called Bert proposed to me in a drunk haze and - polite as I am - I said yes. So...meet my fiancé...technically. ;)
Discovery of the year: The Chapman Family. You find some of their music a few posts back. Definitely give them a listen, although it's their terrific live performance that should really win you over.

The Airborne Toxic Event.

Glasvegas: superb! (and my ultimate sing-along moment)

Patrick Wolf.

Kraftwerk, legends.

Day 3 - I saw: Telepathe, The Temper Trap, The Rifles, Jack Penate, Absynthe Minded, Enter Shikari, The Whitest Boy Alive, Mad Caddies, Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys.

The Temper Trap, glorious gig.

The Rifles, always good to see them again. Indie poprock like it should be.

Meeting up in the press area with Rob, bass player from The Rifles. We catched up over some beers, good to see him again!

Met some weird folks at the festival, as usual.

Filip.

Jim and Bart, falling in love.

Won't stop to surrender

I definitely wouldn't describe myself as a kitchen princess, but these Italian chocolate truffles by me and my sister taste pretty damn good.

Noel left Oasis

...and I can't believe it. I've been loving this band for such a long time - unfortunately only went to my first Oasis gig for the first time this year - fortunately already three times since then (Brussels, Lille, Werchter), each time being a great experience. Rock 'n roll stars like Liam and Noel seem to be very scarse these days. Been listening to Oasis records all day and I just can't get over it.

The kids are not alright

The Belgian Pukkelpop festival is always a great place to discover new bands, but none of them were as good as this one. Meet The Chapman Family!

This is their single 'Kids'...

...and this is one of their amazing live performances (love the part at the end where they turn completely insane).

Dublin day 3

We spent our last day on the beautiful coast. Stunning.

Back in the centre before leaving for the airport.

Dublin day 2

On our second day in Dublin we visited Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin's former prison. On our way, we walked through a rather poor area of the city where all houses were as small as this:The prison, now a museum, has been used for several films - for instance The Wind That Shakes The Barley and In The Name Of The Father. This is a hallway with normal cells. They were used for men, women and children and lack any form of comfort.

In this cell sentenced to death prisoners spent their last hours before they got executed.

Inside a cell.

After this very interesting visit, we headed to Phoenix Park. The Wellington monument.

Jameson's distillery.

My dad earning his whiskey tasting diploma, haha.

Our cute souvenirs. :)

Dublin day 1

Last week I was on another trip, this time to Dublin (Ireland). And these are the pictures of a very amusing yet way too short vacation.
Trinity College, university of Dublin and university of many famous writers, for example Oscar Wilde.

The statue of Molly Malone.

Me in front of a pub called 'Bruxelles' and next to Phil Lynott, Thin Lizzy's bass player.

Stephen's Green, the gorgeous shopping mall.

The typical coloured doors of Dublin. They are refreshingly bright considering the houses themselves tend to be rather bland.

The Camden area, which shows indeed some similarities with the Camden in London.

No visit to Dublin without some Guinness!

Christ Church Cathedral, which I thought was a lot more beautiful than St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Dublin Castle.

A very charming indoor market, very Covent Garden-like.

Another indoor shopping/art/restaurant complex, with a quite interesting design.

The Ha'Penney bridge.

The Liffey.

The Millennium Spire, nicknamed by people from Dublin as 'the stiffy on the Liffey' or 'the erection on the intersection'. Haha. :)

Dublin by night: The Temple Bar.

And a whole lot of street musicians. The guy with the pink sunglasses was a vagabond by day, the new Johnny Cash by night.

My dad buying a demo from this cool folk/rock band.