rock werchter 2007
I got back from Rock Werchter yesterday morning and I am still very much alive! (Why yes, most of my family doubted I would survive this. Thank you!) I had so much fun :D Basically morbidmuch and I spent four days listening to some great music; camping (I never had gone properly camping before. I used to go 'camping' with the youth club but back then I was too young to sleep in the actual tents); and having the constant smell of fries in our noses (and even for a fries fan like me that was a bit much). I stupidly didn't take my camera with me thinking it would only get nicked or soaked. So, um, what about a report? With squee? And links to some youtube videos (gotta love the internets!) Yes? :D
On Thursday we stuck around the main stage all evening and first saw Zornik and My Chemical Romance, both of which were okay (thought I didn't know MCR at all). We also saw some of Marilyn Manson's performance from the back of the field but I'm really not a fan of his music so I wasn't at all sorry we didn't see all of it. Later that night we saw Björk and the awesome MUSE!!!
Friday was a rainy and muddy day so it was nice we got to start our day with JASON MRAZ at the Pyramid Marquee/the covered stage. I was pleasantly surprised - he's kind of really, really awesome!! He's incredibly versatile. At one point he sung some sort of opera and I'm so bummed it's not on youtube :( But I did find part of the beginning of the concert, The Remedy and Curbside Prophet. After that one we went back to the tent for a while and went to the main stage later on for Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party. I don't know enough of their songs but both were really great and now I'm determined to check out more of them. I also might have a tiiiiny crush on the drummer of the Kaiser Chiefs, Nick Hodgson and the guitarist from Bloc Party, Russell Lissack. Yum. (And talented of course!!) Afterwards we returned to the smaller covered stage again for Admiral Freebee but it was sunny so we stayed outside. We also saw part of the set of The Arctic Monkeys and later on went to Pearl Jam. Appearently I am the only person alive who's not familiar with Pearl Jam's music so the whole thing was kind of lost on me but morbidmuch liked it ... as did everybody else :|
Saturday was THE DAY. We went in early and saw De Heideroosjes perform from the middle of the field (not really my thing though) but afterwards we went to the front part, really close to the stage, and we managed to find an awesome spot where we could lean against a railing (!!!) and so we stood there during Razorlight's (good - odd outfit though) and Amy Winehouse's performance (I'm not the biggest fan of her music but she was okay ... and wasted!). Then came the real reason why we stayed so close: SNOW PATROL and THE KILLERS. During those two shows our PERFECT PLACE, WHICH WAS SO CLOSE TO THE STAGE was absolutely PACKED. We could barely move but it was all so worth it. Both performances were AWESOME! The bands rocked so much!! And the atmosphere at the front was great. Gary Lightbody (the singer from Snow Patrol) was amazing and was obviously enjoying it all so much. ;) I don't expect the poor guys to come back to Belgium any time soon though because last year (when they also came to Werchter), their instruments were lost at the aeroport and this year their bags with their clothes and stuff were lost. Awwwww! ;) And you know what? Snow Patrol has too many tall fans. Most of the time I had to stand on my toes too look over the tall Englishmen standing in front of me but it so great. I have no words to describe it all. Just awesomeawesomeawesomeAWESOME!!! By the way, The Killers had the oddest set-up with flowers, wooden boxes and horns ... but they rocked so much. These two bands were the ones I had looked forward to the most and so I thought we had had the best but boy, was I wrong. Later that night KEANE came and WOA, that really was the highlight of the entire festival. A-MAZING! Unexpectedly too. I mean, I've been a fan of theirs for a few years. I love their music, enough even to have bought both of their albums (I don't just buy any CD) but they were so much more than I had expected. We were standing literally right at the stage, second 'row' at the right side of the stage and we had the best view ever. They gave an amazing show in which halfway through the set, went to a small stage a little in front of the main stage, right in the middle of the audience. Tom's voice was amazing, the stage set-up was beautiful and the footage they showed on the screens original and ... I don't know, it all just clicked and it made an amazing show! The atmosphere was fantastic as well, they had managed to capture the entire field and we/the audience kept clapping and clapping (and not just once) and those Keane boys were clearly really, really overwhelmed and didn't know what to think of us. But it was all for you, my (modest) babies!! <3 I wish I had a clip to show you guys of Tom's face at the end but right now I've only managed to find Your Eyes Open, Hamburg Song, Nothing In My Way and Everybody's Changing. Watching those videos gives me chills all over again.
Sunday started late for us with a few songs of Maxïmo Park but we then went to The Kooks who were okay but a bit of a dissapointment. It was incredibly hot during the show though. It started raining heavily again in the evening and so we went early to the covered stage and to the tunes of Frank Black weaseled our way in to get a good spot for DAMIEN RICE and we managed to get pretty close to the stage. Had the best view and a damn fine show! Damien didn't talk that much in between the songs until he pulled his guitar out of tune. He then asked Joe The Roadie (!) to bring him a cigarette and some wine and sung Cheers Darlin' playing drunk. Awesome. Just awesome! A few other songs: The Blower's Daughter & Radiohead's Creep and Delicate. We sat outside the covered stage while The Australian Pink Floyd Show played and used the same trick as with Damien Rice to get an awesome spot for Tori Amos. It was an amazing show but we had been standing there 40 minutes in advance so by the time she was done our feet were sore and we went back to our tent.
There are lots and lots more videos here.
Ooh - ooh. Request! I recently friended quite some Belgian people so perhaps someone knows this. Where could I possibly get some mp3s from the festival? I'm sure people taped them so it must be out there somewhere. I thought of having a look on B-News (of Telenet) but I haven't got a clue where to start. There are just too many groups. I'd be a very happy Greet if you could point me in the right direction.
PS - I learned that it's not so much the people that start to smell it's the actual earth/grass/mud. I don't think I'll ever be able to erase the smell from my memory.
PPS - It's fun to hear all the English speaking singers trying to pronounce 'Werchter'. Some said 'Brussels' instead (riiiight! MCR *glares*) and some just stuck to 'Belgium'.
On Thursday we stuck around the main stage all evening and first saw Zornik and My Chemical Romance, both of which were okay (thought I didn't know MCR at all). We also saw some of Marilyn Manson's performance from the back of the field but I'm really not a fan of his music so I wasn't at all sorry we didn't see all of it. Later that night we saw Björk and the awesome MUSE!!!
Friday was a rainy and muddy day so it was nice we got to start our day with JASON MRAZ at the Pyramid Marquee/the covered stage. I was pleasantly surprised - he's kind of really, really awesome!! He's incredibly versatile. At one point he sung some sort of opera and I'm so bummed it's not on youtube :( But I did find part of the beginning of the concert, The Remedy and Curbside Prophet. After that one we went back to the tent for a while and went to the main stage later on for Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party. I don't know enough of their songs but both were really great and now I'm determined to check out more of them. I also might have a tiiiiny crush on the drummer of the Kaiser Chiefs, Nick Hodgson and the guitarist from Bloc Party, Russell Lissack. Yum. (And talented of course!!) Afterwards we returned to the smaller covered stage again for Admiral Freebee but it was sunny so we stayed outside. We also saw part of the set of The Arctic Monkeys and later on went to Pearl Jam. Appearently I am the only person alive who's not familiar with Pearl Jam's music so the whole thing was kind of lost on me but morbidmuch liked it ... as did everybody else :|
Saturday was THE DAY. We went in early and saw De Heideroosjes perform from the middle of the field (not really my thing though) but afterwards we went to the front part, really close to the stage, and we managed to find an awesome spot where we could lean against a railing (!!!) and so we stood there during Razorlight's (good - odd outfit though) and Amy Winehouse's performance (I'm not the biggest fan of her music but she was okay ... and wasted!). Then came the real reason why we stayed so close: SNOW PATROL and THE KILLERS. During those two shows our PERFECT PLACE, WHICH WAS SO CLOSE TO THE STAGE was absolutely PACKED. We could barely move but it was all so worth it. Both performances were AWESOME! The bands rocked so much!! And the atmosphere at the front was great. Gary Lightbody (the singer from Snow Patrol) was amazing and was obviously enjoying it all so much. ;) I don't expect the poor guys to come back to Belgium any time soon though because last year (when they also came to Werchter), their instruments were lost at the aeroport and this year their bags with their clothes and stuff were lost. Awwwww! ;) And you know what? Snow Patrol has too many tall fans. Most of the time I had to stand on my toes too look over the tall Englishmen standing in front of me but it so great. I have no words to describe it all. Just awesomeawesomeawesomeAWESOME!!! By the way, The Killers had the oddest set-up with flowers, wooden boxes and horns ... but they rocked so much. These two bands were the ones I had looked forward to the most and so I thought we had had the best but boy, was I wrong. Later that night KEANE came and WOA, that really was the highlight of the entire festival. A-MAZING! Unexpectedly too. I mean, I've been a fan of theirs for a few years. I love their music, enough even to have bought both of their albums (I don't just buy any CD) but they were so much more than I had expected. We were standing literally right at the stage, second 'row' at the right side of the stage and we had the best view ever. They gave an amazing show in which halfway through the set, went to a small stage a little in front of the main stage, right in the middle of the audience. Tom's voice was amazing, the stage set-up was beautiful and the footage they showed on the screens original and ... I don't know, it all just clicked and it made an amazing show! The atmosphere was fantastic as well, they had managed to capture the entire field and we/the audience kept clapping and clapping (and not just once) and those Keane boys were clearly really, really overwhelmed and didn't know what to think of us. But it was all for you, my (modest) babies!! <3 I wish I had a clip to show you guys of Tom's face at the end but right now I've only managed to find Your Eyes Open, Hamburg Song, Nothing In My Way and Everybody's Changing. Watching those videos gives me chills all over again.
Sunday started late for us with a few songs of Maxïmo Park but we then went to The Kooks who were okay but a bit of a dissapointment. It was incredibly hot during the show though. It started raining heavily again in the evening and so we went early to the covered stage and to the tunes of Frank Black weaseled our way in to get a good spot for DAMIEN RICE and we managed to get pretty close to the stage. Had the best view and a damn fine show! Damien didn't talk that much in between the songs until he pulled his guitar out of tune. He then asked Joe The Roadie (!) to bring him a cigarette and some wine and sung Cheers Darlin' playing drunk. Awesome. Just awesome! A few other songs: The Blower's Daughter & Radiohead's Creep and Delicate. We sat outside the covered stage while The Australian Pink Floyd Show played and used the same trick as with Damien Rice to get an awesome spot for Tori Amos. It was an amazing show but we had been standing there 40 minutes in advance so by the time she was done our feet were sore and we went back to our tent.
There are lots and lots more videos here.
Ooh - ooh. Request! I recently friended quite some Belgian people so perhaps someone knows this. Where could I possibly get some mp3s from the festival? I'm sure people taped them so it must be out there somewhere. I thought of having a look on B-News (of Telenet) but I haven't got a clue where to start. There are just too many groups. I'd be a very happy Greet if you could point me in the right direction.
PS - I learned that it's not so much the people that start to smell it's the actual earth/grass/mud. I don't think I'll ever be able to erase the smell from my memory.
PPS - It's fun to hear all the English speaking singers trying to pronounce 'Werchter'. Some said 'Brussels' instead (riiiight! MCR *glares*) and some just stuck to 'Belgium'.