Hi all
I’m back. Back to the land of the living. It took some time to shift my gears down, going to the best festival in the world makes you live a little bit faster than regular. I’ve seen and heard so many things. I just cannot get the storm of emotions (butterflies!) under control to write a story. That together with my new job (yay!) leaves very little time to satisfy my faithful and beloved readers with stories.
But here’s a shot, some fragments of Werchter that are drifting through my mind right now. It’s impossible to give a top 5 (or any top list). There were so many highlights on the right moment, so in no particular order:
The Australian Pink Floyd Show
I’m not really into Pink Floyd. I’ve always thought it was too slow, I could not connect. Maybe you have some crazy ideas now about didgeridoos or kookaburras (at least I did), but these guys rock. It was a clean copy of the original Pink Floyd. And they did play all the hits. They finished with a bewitching "Comfortably Numb".
Tori Amos
My god! Did she charge her concert with powerful mysticism. The air was full of electricity. Breathless, she left the complete audience without breath.
Pearl Jam
Eddies eyes were like burning pieces of charcoal, they pierced through the audience. No soft or weak moments, they played like an oncoming train, nothing could stop them. I award them the best performance of the festival.
Metallica
Dennis and I really took the cherry from the Metallica-cake. When we approached their stage they started with Sad But True, One and Nothing Else Matters. Then, when we walked to another concert they served us Enter Sandman. Nice!
Peter Gabriel
He shook me. Peter took me in his arms and carried me around. Me happy. My eyes started to burn and my throat got really thick when he started "Biko". But there were too many 17 year old girls (am I really saying this?) waiting in line for Keane. That part of the audience could not really appreciate the old master.
Marilyn Manson
He had a day off, I guess. No, actually his concert was just plain shitty and uninspired. Booh!
Maxïmo Park
The leadsinger was kinda busy, moving all parts of his body while singing. They kept hitting the audience with attractive songs at very high speed. I’ll keep an eye on them, they will be big soon, very soon, very big.
Jason Mraz
Some singer songwriter from the US. Hey kicked off day two really early (something like 1.00 p.m.). But with just his guitar he played the audience. He was very good breakfast after the heavy night before.
Bloc Party
Go see! They’re worth every penny.
We spotted a t-shirt slogan that truly breathed our festival behaviour: The Liver Is Evil, It Must Be Punished! I can say we claimed a fair share in the overall beer consumption, approximately 500,000 liters of Stella.
Werchter sounds like a very ok festival! I always wanted to go to one, but I doubt if I can take the amounts of beer, camping and lack of sleep (although in a way it sounds very appealing). I think in a way you need to be a festival kind of person to like it and I doubt if I am one, but I really would like to find out (rather sooner than later really).