Werchter 2009

First of all, got my results yesterday and I passed all of my exams, whoo! :) I'm very excited because this means I have another summer with absolutely nothing to worry about!

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!

Can you stay up for the weekend

Later that weekend I went to Luxembourg. My sister went to a festival down there called Rock-a-Field. My parents let her order her ticket, but they thought the parents of her friend were going to drive her there. Turned out it was the older sister of the friend who was the driver, and my parents didn't like the idea a girl with so little driving experience would be giving my sister a ride back home in the middle of the night. My sister had already paid for her ticket, though, so my parents decided they would go to Luxembourg themselves to take my sister to the festival, enjoy the rest of the day in the city, pick up my sister after the festival, stay over in a hotel in Luxembourg and return the day after. I could join, if I wanted to, and so I did.

I've got the thing you won't admit to

I had my last exam on Friday and although I will probably only get my results sometime between this and two weeks, I won't fail to have a good time in the meantime. I started out with the motown party Heebie Jeebies on Friday night, my first party at Make Up in ages (as in two months). I was sooo up for a party, and it was a really good nite until I became the eh, victim of a bad mix of beer, cava, martini, cocktail and sunbathing earlier that day (really, people as pale as me shouldn't do that - ever). Poor Bart and Filip ended up with a very sick version of myself, which was pretty embarrasing and not something I'm willing to repeat. Here are some pictures from before the blackout:

R.I.P. Michael

You can think whatever you want of him, but he made some pretty damn good tunes and will be missed a lot.

He's a dedicated follower of fashion

By the way, have you seen Roger's new Wimbledon outfit? Most stylish tennis player ever, without a doubt!

Warm me up and breathe me

I saw the last Six Feet Under episode two nights ago. It was a great finale for a brilliant series. If you haven't seen it yet, I can recommend you this excellent series about a family-owned funeral home and the lives of the family members living there. It shows very well-drawn characters, non-cliché storylines and beautiful visuals and music choices.

Between the click of the light and the start of the dream

I was feeling pretty down a couple of hours ago, and my typical way of cracking myself up is planning fun stuff to do. That might not be the smartest thing to do while you're in the middle of your exam period, but ah well, so be it. I already had a lot of plans for the upcoming summers (a couple of festivals, trips with my parents and sis to the Côte d'Azur and Dublin, loads of parties...) but I hadn't yet decided on where my 'solo trip' would bring me to this year. So after a bunch of research, I have set my mind on Stockholm. If you live there or have been there yourself, feel free to share your good advice with me. :)

I hate it when the past is catching up with me. I wish it was easier to forget.

The power of listening to what you don't want me to know

So, what's new? I'm in the middle of my exams, two down and three to go. The first one was an oral exam that went really well (I saw the professor write down a 16/20), the second one was a written exam and I'm not sure about how I did on that one. I've finally received the score for my bachelor paper and I can say I am pretty happy with my 14/20, especially considering most people didn't even hand in their paper.

Next exam is up on Monday, then I'll have to wait nine days for another one. Exams can be such a drag, a good study soundtrack has to pull me through the long days behind my desk. A small selection for you:

T.Rex - Cosmic Dancer


Status Quo - Ice In The Sun


Tori Amos & Damien Rice - The Power Of Orange Knickers


Manic Street Preachers - Little Baby Nothing


Air - Playground Love