Thursday
Unlike the past few years, we already set out to Dessel in the afternoon. We left at 2.30pm and were aiming to arrive between 4 and 5, because the camping was rumoured to open already around that time. Despite the fact that Lucie took us over the scenic route (showing us quaint villages like Baerle-Nassau and Chaam) we arrived around 5-ish with no problems. We could park our car easily and there were hardly any lines. In fact, we nearly got lost because we were confused by the lack of traffic jam, heh. The walk to the camping was a bit different this time; it was longer. In the oppressive, dizzying heat that wasn’t very comfortable, but when we got to the entrance we could easily obtain our bracelets and go to the camping where we could set up our tents. We were really in the front, close to the 24 hours area and the festival terrain, so we made good use of that. Around 6pm our camp was standing and we went in search for food. So far everything had been completely painless and smooth, and we were very impressed by Graspop’s logistic management once again. Take that, Lowlands! We were in good spirits because of it; all excited for the musical goodness that was about to come. We bought t-shirt merchandise, hung out, went to the parking lot where we used our car radio to listen to the match between the Netherlands and Cameroen, had beer and were up until 3am or something; the night was positively balmy after a hot day. Because of illness (Derek) and school obligations (Kat) we were not with the whole group yet, but we made up for it by drinking the beer that was designated for them. It was a great first evening.

Friday
We woke up around 7.30am in a tent that was already way too hot for comfort. I took a shower (no lines, I could walk right on through – something i was able to do all weekend <3) and one by one we all woke up and gravitated towards the 24 hour zone, where they sold breakfast and had a breakfast tent that offered some shade. It was in the morning warm but still doable; but already it was heating up intensely. When the Festival terrain opened we immediately went for our old hangout spot at the fields: the shade of that one solitary tree that was on the festival area. We were glad to see that our little tree was still there, even though the layout of the festival area had changed around quite a bit. (they seem to do that every year so far). Revamp, the new band of After Forever’s Floor Jansen kicked off the festival, and we watched it with some mild interest. We weren’t very impressed by it, though, we mostly had lunch and chilled out. What came after was Ghost Brigade, and that was one of the big surprises of the Festival for me. They were atmospheric and melodic, and they reminded me very much of the Gathering in their older days; or perhaps Explosions in the Sky, with a more metal edge. Completely in my street, so to say. I’ll definitely have to check out their stuff, I was very impressed by them. Anvil, which we checked out afterwards, was as sympathetic as we knew they would be from their documentary. Their music isn’t really my thing, but I still cheered them on as loud as I could; they deserve it. By then the temperature had skyrocketed, and within the tents it was scorching hot. Most of us left after Anvil in search of some shade, shower and chillage. Tijs and I checked out Billy Talent, but they didn’t really enchant me so I went back to the camping where Derek was just arriving. We’d already set up his tent, so all he had to do was inflate his air mattress (or rather, buy a new one because the one he had couldn’t be closed) and he was all set. We were back on time for the last bit of Anathema (which was pretty amazing – I dozed in the grass next to the tent while they were playing and they were excellent to dream away to), and the people in the tent simply adored it. Then there was another split; some people wanted to see Slayer, and I was among the people who wanted to see Devin Townsend, but we returned to the rest of the group soon enough when Devin couldn’t quite warm our hearts. So I still saw Slayer. At least now I can say I saw them live, and rocked out to “Reign in Blood”.
I half-listened to Therion going on in the tent next to us while part of the group was rocking out with them, and we lazed around for quite a while after that; going back to the camping at some point to booze up some more and put a bit of clothing on, since evening had fallen and the temperature was dropping. There was an orange hunter’s moon hanging over us, quite beautiful and quite present too. Kat arrived just in time to join us to see Aerosmith, the closer of the day. And damn, they did deliver! Steven Tyler’s an ass, btw; but he’s a very charismatic lead singer and the band played well and made good use of their stage equipment. We sang along with all their hits to our heart’s delight.
And then it was time for more beer at the camping, until we were too tired to see straight and went to bed.

Saturday
After another way too short night I woke up at 7am because of hot tent, had my morning shower, and went to search for Olli who’d already gone on to the 24 hour area. He and I hung out sitting in the shade, eating our breakfast and smoking cigarettes until the others joined us. When at 10am the Festival terrain opened, we shopped around a bit on the metal market, where Brenda bought a sarong and Olli bought the most hideous pimp hat (that turned out to be a fine protection from the sun, but it was hideous anyway). We watched Sylosis for a bit, but most of all we did our best to avoid the oppressing heat by staying in the shade as much as possible. We had to save our energy for Sabaton of course! Sabaton was, as always, made of awesome. They had some upgrades in their stage equipment and were obviously still madly in love with the Graspop party people, and the symbiosis that we had going on there was nothing short of brilliant. Great show! Tijs and I even ended up with our mugs on the big screen, as the camera filmed us while we were singing along with “Prima Victoria” on top of our lungs. I haven’t  found the video of it on the internet yet, but I’ll be sure to link it when I do
We spent a lot of time chilling out at the breakfast tent in the 24 hour area, since our little tree spot had been occupied by other people, and this was one of the only other places on the Festival terrain that offered both shade and a breeze. Thankfully the Leffe stand was closeby, so we had enough booze and water to keep us going. At dinnertime Slash performed, and he did so very well! I was very impressed by his performance (at least, the parts that I didn’t snooze through). The tail end of it, at least, was very strong. He ended with a couple of Guns n Roses songs, and his lead singer made us forget all about Axl Rose. Well done! After checking out Sick of it All it was time for what I thought was one of the highlights of the festival: Eluveitie! The temperature in the tent wasn’t funny anymore, it was positively sauna-like. A lot of us couldn’t take it and went outside, only Marco, Derek and I stayed. And at some point I reached a decision point: either I’d be miserable with the heat, or I’d be miserable with the heat while PARTYING MY ASS OFF. You can probably guess which one I chose. Some guys behind us started a cheerful dance/mosh pit to the equally cheerful folk metal tunes, and the boys and I danced, jumped and partied with them. It was a great time and I had so much fun during the gig; despite the rivers of sweat that soaked me completely. I really want to see them in the Melkweg, with better sound and lighting (and a lower temperature), I bet they’d be magical then. And I invite you all to come along when they do play here, because they are made of win.

Sunday
…was the sunniest day of them all. While the Friday and Saturday had occasional white puffy clouds or misty hazes obscuring the sun, on Sunday none of this was the case. The heat was merciless and killing. We literally had to cop out of several shows that we otherwise might have checked out because it’d be simply too hot in the tents. Instead, on Sunday Olli, Bren and I checked out Atreyu (good show) while the rest was at Between The Buried And Me (which was apparently also great) and then we just… fled. We fled for shadow and stayed there for the next couple of hours. Some of us even took showers in that time.  The only thing that was able to entice me to come out of that cool shade was As I Lay Dying – one of the very reasons why I had wanted to go to Graspop; topping my goddammit-i-haven’t-seen-you-yet list for the better part of three years by now. Now imagine this: a tent with a band that rocks relentlessly, temperatures skyrocketing and sweat dripping from every body that’s packed into the place. Around you, most of the men are bare-chested, and a surprising amount of the ladies have taken their tops off, walking around in bikini or bra above a skirt or shorts. And I decided fuckit. I took my top off as well and enjoyed the concert in my capri shorts and my purple bra. It helped with the heat, and damn, the concert rocked my socks off. It was a great setlist, a great concert, and it was completely utterly worth it. Now I just have to see them in the Melkweg with a longer set, and a dedicated audience… but as it was, it was all I hoped for and more.
After that we went back to our shade spot for more showers and some very needed drying up and hydration (both drinking and putting my head under the tap at the toilets). We smoked and drank a bit, and spaced out a little before we went to check out Killswitch Engage. By then the temperature had gone down somewhat and was only somewhat above the comfort zone now. They played at the main stage and they were obviously terribly drunk. The show wasn’t too great, either, but they had a lot of fun on stage. I admire Adam greatly as a guitarist and a producer, but man that guy is whack I especially appreciated it when he said: “And this song I dedicate to all you girls tits. This song is called My Curse.” *giggles* He then proceeded to fuck up the intro to the song. But at least we had a very fun time
Although I’d really have liked to see Unearth, this was one of the bands that I had to skip because of the heat. We went back to the camping terrain for some needed chillage, although some of us hung around to check out Amon Amarth (who was allegedly really good) before we would watch Kiss, the closer of the Festival. Two years ago Kiss was a total cock up in my eyes. We had a great time at the gig, but not because of the performance but the beer we’d consumed. This time, however, they gave a great show. They played well, had a lot of audience interaction, pyrotechnics and lightshows, and they ended with confetti, fireworks and a screen that said “Kiss loves you, Graspop!”. The fireworks blended in with the ending fireworks of Graspop itself and I had lost the rest for that moment and watched the fireworks with a heart full of emotion and a huge grin on my face. I always get stupidly emo over fireworks, I don’t know why. Anyway, I rejoined the others soon enough and we hung out at the tent camp for a while, completely knackered but unwilling to go to sleep, because then the festival would be over. Eventually exhaustion won out though

The next day we woke up at 8am, the sun had given us an additional hour of sleep in which we didn’t suffocate in our tents, a rare gift this weekend that we sorely needed on Monday morning. We’d quickly packed up and walked to the car, from where we pretty much effortlessly were able to leave the parking lot and went home (learn from this, Lowlands!). Olli and I were home around noon, where we lazed around for a while and went to pick up Bodhi from the pension.

And then life resumed. Back to the real world!

We dropped him off at the dog pension this morning because we’re going to Graspop tomorrow afternoon. It was a complete bitch to leave him there, because he was really scared and refused to go inside. Thankfully the people there were really nice. I hope he likes his bench mate, but knowing Bodhi he’ll probably have a blast. Now all I have to do is resist the urge to call every day to ask how he’s doing. :’)

In other news… I had a training day at my new job at C, and I already found some things that I know I’ll do well on. I get along well with my direct colleague P so far (she reminds me of my mom, heh) and for the rest the company seems really fun and the people are young & sociable. And the commute is doable, 40 minutes from door to door. So far so good!

Tomorrow it’s 24 June, which means that Olli and I will be married for five years. We wanted to plan to do things, but with us leaving for Graspop and having to pack and clean and everything we thought we’d just take it easy tonight and have some fun together. We’ll do the official things like planting our tree and going to dinner later. There’s other things to do first, like rocking out and throwing the horns during great gigs and stuff. I can live with that as well.

You’ll have to excuse me, I wrote this for Geekstijl, and since I refuse to write it twice in different languages, you’ll have to make do with the dutch report. Sorry!

Afgelopen zaterdag reisden drie van jullie razende reporters (ed: Lie, Wen en ik) af naar Landgraaf om een dagje Pinkpop mee te pikken. Met een line-up waar onze hartjes harder van klopten besloten wij om een paar van onze favoriete bands even in het echt te gaan checken… met een roze hoedje op!

Ik heb even zitten rekenen, maar sinds 1999 heb ik in totaal zo’n veertien meerdaagse festivals meegemaakt, en ook nog een handjevol daagse festivals. Je kan dus zeggen dat ik flink door de wol geverfd ben wat betreft goede muziek, modder, zon en bier. Als achtienjarige deerne ben ik destijds begonnen met een aantal jaar Pinkpop (voordat ik andere festivals als Rock Werchter, Lowlands en Graspop ontdekte) en het was leuk om al die herinneringen opeens weer terug te hebben komen toen onze trein het station van Landgraaf binnenreed en we begonnen naar de trek naar het festivalterrein. Het weer was zo fantastisch dat we gauw luchtiger kleding en hoedjes gekocht hebben, en daarna begon de pret!

In de stralende zonneschijn zagen we Moke (plus compleet filharmonisch orkest), waarvan we erg onder de indruk waren. Ik persoonlijk kende Moke niet zo goed (eigenlijk alleen van hun grootste radiohit “Switch”) maar ze inspireerden me wel om wat meer van ze te Spotifyen. Ze speelden erg goed, en de dimensie die het orkest gaf aan hun muziek maakte het toch wel een magisch begin van een dag op de festivalweide.

Hierna hebben we een tijdje bands half meegekregen terwijl we in het gras aan het luieren waren (voornamelijk Ryan Shaw, Destine en Mando Diao), voordat we helaas moesten splitsen. Ik ben een al jaren een ontzettende fan van Biffy Clyro en Wendy wilde graag Caro Emerald zien, en Lie volgde mij naar Biffy. Lyanna vond Caro Emerald niet zo fantastisch als ze hoopte, vertelde ze (maar dat kan ze wellicht zelf nog verder toelichten), en Aur3lie en ik hadden erg veel lol met Biffy. Ik was verrast meerdere fans in het publiek te treffen die net als ik het hele repertoire luid konden meezingen, en nog veel verraster hoe hun radiohit “Many Of Horror” keihard meegeblèrd werd door wat wel de hele menigte leek. Het was een leuk feestje; de band speelde strak en hoewel ze nooit heel erg van de interactie zijn van het publiek, deden ze wel hun best om in het Nederlands het publiek te bedanken.

Na de concerten vonden we elkaar snel weer. Nadat ik in een vlaag van voorzienigheid een leuk Green Day t-shirt voor Lie’s verjaardag gekocht had (2 juni jarig mensen, allemaal feliciteren dus!) hebben we in het gras zitten bierdrinken en de Editors bekeken. Editors speelden ook goed, maar ik kan persoonlijk slecht heen stappen over het laatste album, dat ik persoonlijk zwaar bagger vind. Het was voor ons in ieder geval een mooie gelegenheid om eventjes uit te puffen en ons avondeten naar binnen te werken. Tegen die tijd was de avond gevallen en begon de lucht rap te betrekken, dus het was een goed ding dat we regenponcho’s hadden. Tijdens het concert van John Mayer begon het inderdaad te regenen. Nou, dat betekende niet veel goeds voor de rest van de avond! Gelukkig viel de hoeveelheid regen die we op ons hoofd kregen ontzettend mee.

We hebben in ieder geval ontzettend kunnen genieten van headliner op de zondag Green Day. Ik had de band al eerder gezien op Rock Werchter in 2005, maar Lie en Wen nog niet. Wendy kende ze zelfs niet zo goed, en halverwege het eerste liedje verscheen er een grote grijns op haar gezicht en sprong ze mee met iedereen. We stonden vrij achterin, maar ook daar stond het publiek te stuiteren, te roepen en mee te zingen. Leadzanger Billy Joe is een vakman op het podium; hij wist het publiek als geen ander te bespelen en nam ruim de tijd om een band te scheppen en de clown uit te hangen. Het ene moment zong hij heel gevoelig hun hitsingle “21 Guns”, en dan het volgende moment stond hij t-shirts het publiek in te schieten met een soort bazooka en mensen uit te nodigen om het podium om mee te zingen. De grote hits werden woord voor woord door het publiek gezongen, daar kwam de zanger grotendeels niet eens aan te pas. Kippenvel in Landgraaf. De volledige set duurde bijna twee en een half uur, wat ik eigenlijk maar heel weinig bands ooit heb zien doen. Wendy vroeg zich aan het begin van het concert af of ze aan het einde van die twee uur die er voor hen ingepland stond nog steeds zo energiek zouden zijn. Het antwoord was jazeker! De set werd (zoals altijd) afgesloten met “Good Riddance (Time of your life)”.  “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right. I hope you had the time of your life…”
Oh, en er was vuurwerk! Heel veel vuurwerk! Als er iets is dat mij blij maakt op een concert naast hele goede muziek, dan zijn het wel pyrotechnics. En Green Day had er volgens mij meer dan Jan Smeets zelf had op de laatste dag om het Pinkpop af te sluiten op zondagavond.

We strompelden compleet gesloopt maar voldaan naar de laatste trein richting het noorden. Het was maar een dagje, maar wel vol met goede muziek; wat ons betreft hadden we volledig waar gekregen voor ons geld.

Er zijn echter wel een paar kanttekeningen die ik wil maken wat betreft de organisatie van Pinkpop zelf, en dit zijn ook meteen de redenen waarom ik niet meer de volledige drie dagen naar Pinkpop ga. Pinkpop is namelijk een leuk festival, totdat je beter gewend bent. Hoewel ik Brand bier blij naar achteren giet (zelfs aangelengd met water, bah voor festivalbier in Nederland) is het eten is er namelijk slecht, en het toiletpapier is altijd op tegen het einde van de dag! Is het nu zo moeilijk om toiletpapier bij te vullen? Werchter heeft anderhalf keer meer bezoekers, en daar hoef ik niet aan het begin van de dag een dot toiletpapier te pakken zodat ik ‘s avonds mijn achterste ook nog kan afvegen. Qua faciliteiten voor handen wassen is er ook bar weinig op het terrein, en als je de hele dag in het gras gezeten hebt, zonnebrandolie gesmeerd hebt en bier gemorst hebt, voel je je bepaald een stuk groezeliger aan het einde van de dag. Ook zouden mogelijkheden om te schuilen voor de elementen (zon, regen) ook erg prettig zijn. Het zijn kleine kanttekeningen die het festival zoveel leuker zouden kunnen maken.

Voor nu is voor mij Pinkpop meer een dagjesfestival dan de volledige drie dagen te gaan. Als ik dan toch drie dagen wil gaan feesten op een festival, geef dan mij Lowlands, Graspop of Werchter maar! Zoals het nu was, was het geweldig leuk. Wellicht dat ik volgend jaar weer een dagje Pinkpop meepak, want het was toch wel super gaaf.

Here are the bands that have been confirmed for Graspop so far. I’ve bolded the ones that I want to see, and I left a few out whose names REALLY didn’t ring a bell. The things that make me most happy are, obviously As I Lay Dying, who I finally get to see, and Sabaton and Killswitch are always good for a party. Those three are enough for me to be there, although I’m of course secretly holding out for Soilwork and Parkway Drive as well. We’ll see… I’m already terribly stoked for this festival anyway.

Graspop Metal Meeting 2010, here we come!

Alestorm
All Shall Perish
Amon Amarth
Anvil
As I Lay Dying (!! FINALLY!)
Behemoth
Bleeding Through
Bloodbath
Bullet For My Valentine
Channel Zero
Deadlock
Ghost Brigade
Hail Of Bullets
Ignite
Immortal
Killswitch Engage
Kiss
Korpiklaani
Motörhead
My Dying Bride
Nile
Obituary
Sabaton
Saxon
Sepultura
Tankard
Tarja
Therion
Walls Of Jericho

1) Where did you begin 2009?
in the livingroom of our old apartment in Rijswijk, surrounded by friends and champagne.

2) What was your status by Valentine’s Day?
Married

3) Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Nope. I’m done with that for a while I hope.

4) How did you earn your money?
By working

5) Did you have to go to the hospital?
No

6) Did you have any encounters with the police?
No

7) Where did you go on vacation?
Because we bought a house, we didn’t really go on vacation. Our vacations were, just like last year: Dessel, Belgium – for Graspop Metal Meeting. And in August we went to Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands, for Lowlands festival.

8- What did you purchase that was over $1000?
Our couch, for starters. And also a lot of money on other furniture, of which the couch was the most expensive, I think. We spent a lot of money this year!

9) Did you know anybody who got married?
Johanna’s sister Elina. We ran into her last night at her wedding party.

10) Did you know anybody who passed away?
No

12) Did you move anywhere?
Yes, to Nuttyville. Buying and decorating and going to live in the new house was a HUGE thing this year. We’ve been settling in and making ourselves comfortable ever since.

13) What concerts/shows did you go to?
Enter Shikari @ Melkweg (23 January)
Dragonforce @ Melkweg (29 January)
All That Remains @ Melkweg (13 February)
Sabaton/Hammerfall @ 013 (27 February)
Graspop Metal Meeting @ Dessel, Belgium (26 June)
(notably: Slipknot, Parkway Drive, Trivium, All That Remains)
A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise @ Biddinghuizen (21 August)
(notably: The Prodigy, White Lies, Lily Allen)
In Flames @ Melkweg (16 November)
Enter Shikari/The Prodigy @ HMH (23 November)
Gare du Nord @ Paard van Troje (28 November)
Biffy Clyro @ Melkweg (18 December)

14) Where do you live now?
Nootdorp – near the Hague in the Netherlands

15) Describe your birthday
Tijs and Aurélie came over to hang out and wait for midnight together. We had booze and laughs and talkes and we watched some movies. It was nice <3
The actual celebration was a shared one with Olli and Brenda a couple of days later. We had a BBQ and sat in the garden till 4am. Lots of fun!

16) What have you done in 2008 that you’ve never done before in your life?
- Signed up for bass guitar lessons
- Played the bass guitar
- Celebrated Halloween
- Drive around in a company car
- Get a parking ticket (see above )

…that’s not that many achievement points this year I see! Oh well.

17) What has been your favorite moment?
I have a couple. But just sitting in the garden with my laptop in early spring, while Olli was drumming in the garage, and realizing how UNIQUE that was, was a pretty damn good moment. The other moment was Brenda and me walking back to the others after the Slipknot concert, I think. Hand in hand, weaving through 30,000 people, breathless and happy.

18) What’s something you learned about yourself?
I was re-established in my knowledge of the fact that I shut down when I’m not feeling happy. I sleep like shit, I drift through life in complete escapism, and try not to think. But meanwhile it’s eating away at me and all creativity and sharing open-ness comes to a screeching halt.

19) What lessons in life did 2009 teach you?
Whatever plans you have for your life, forget it. It always goes differently, and people and goals change. But there is nothing wrong with that.

20) Any new additions to your family?
Only if you count the Popmundo kids

21) What was your best month?
August. Two weeks of freedom, beach, BBQ and Lowlands festival.

22) What music will you remember 2009 by?
The Prodigy, Disarmonia Mundi.

23) Who has been your best drinking buddy?
Olli, Lie and Brenda. I’m not going to choose.

24) Made new friends?
Hmmm…. nope! I’ve been thinking but I can’t think of anyone who’s here this year who wasn’t there last year…

25) Favorite Night out?
The last night of Graspop Metal Meeting. When we boozed it up and danced in the Metal dome till 4 in the morning because we didn’t want the festival to be over. We had SO much fun!

26) Will you end this year with the same mate you started it with?
I hope so, haha

27) What are your plans for Christmas?
chilling out, eating food, visit the parents & inlaws, having dinner with friends.

28) What are your plans and hopes for 2010?
I think I’m going to continue on the note of last year, I liked those resolutions. In 2010 I will be doing things I like with people I love, having a great time. Is there ever anything else? Love, music, friends…. and just plainly HAVING FUN.

So now it’s time for the 2009 AWARDS

Band of the Year:
The Prodigy. Damn, they blew my mind twice, at Lowlands and in the Heineken Music Hall. It was an igniting of a fondness, now blazing like fiery love.
Funnily enough if I check my last.fm I’ve listened more to Disarmonia Mundi and Enter Shikari. But that’s just the way it goes sometimes.

Album of the Year:
Not Killswitch Engage or Enter Shikari, although they were excellent. I think the album that I’m growing to love the most at the moment is Biffy Clyro’s “Only Revolutions.”

Movie of the Year:
A tossup between “District 9″ and the surprisingly excellent “Paranormal Activity”.

Festival of the Year:
Graspop. Hands down. The music was generally better, as was the atmosphere. Oh, not to mention the beer and the logistics. So yeah, graspop.

Festival Concert of the Year:
The Prodigy@ Lowlands 2009.
Blew my mind. It was seriously so good, I had expected to have a good time, but this pushed all my buttons. It was relentless energy, a raging crowd, and (rawr) Keith! Runners-up: Slipknot, and Trivium at Graspop.

non-Festival Concert of the Year:
I’m going to stay consistent here, but this award ALSO goes to the Prodigy & Enter Shikari at the Heineken Music Hall. And of the two, the Prodigy was the best. I danced the hardest at Prodigy gigs this year. Gig-wise, 2009 wasn’t outstanding, but I’ve had a lot of fun times. And the Prodigy wins, hands down.

Musical Disappointment of the Year:
The Editors – “In This Light And On This Evening”. I liked you, Editors!! I loved you, even. What have you DONE?!

Best TV Series of the Year:
Lost was consistently so good, I can’t wait for the last season to start. It was a disappointment to see every episode end. Honourable mention & discovery of 2009: Supernatural. AWESOME stuff. ]]> http://www.lannie.net/journal/2009/2009-questionnaire/feed/ 0 http://www.lannie.net/journal/2009/lowlands-2009/ http://www.lannie.net/journal/2009/lowlands-2009/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:54:10 +0000 Lannie http://www.lannie.net/journal/2009/lowlands-2009/ This entry is written on 28 August, but fuck that… I’m totally going to backdate this entry to the 25th or something, haha. Then at least I can find the entry when I’m looking for it. So yeah! Lowlands! Whooo! Beware, dear blog readers! This entry will contain gushing over the awesomeness of The Prodigy, swooning over Lily Allen’s cuteness, tales of rubbish weather alarms, watered-down festival beer, lots of people, and friendship and laughter, pretty much. So, where do I start?

Olli and I came to pick up Aurélie around 11.30 am on Thursdaymorning at her house. We quickly loaded up her stuff, and onwards we went to reach the Lowlands camping terrain – a trip that would be pretty disastrous all in all. The heat outside was sweltering, seriously not funny anymore. It was over 30 degrees Celcius and rising, and the news on the radio was riddled with warnings for the weather alarm that was supposed to hit us around 4pm. We hoped that we would be on the festival terrain by that time, and that we could’ve set up our tent by that time. However, that was not the case. About five kilometres away from the campsite we hit a huge trafficjam, and it became glaringly obvious we wouldn’t go anywhere for a while. So what should have been a 1.30pm arrival turned into a 5pm arrival. But then it turned out that the window in the passenger seat wouldn’t go up anymore. It looked like the electronics for it were fried, the garage said when Olli rang them. And this was rather worrisome, with a rainstorm coming up and… well, you know, leaving the car in a parking lot with thousands of other cars for the weekend.

So Olli had to get out of the parking lot again, drive up to the kiss & ride where the ANWB was with an emergency stand… and then had to stand in line allll over again. Lie and I resolved to take the tent and already get in line for the entrance, so we could at least set up the tent on the festival terrain (there was still that weather alarm looming over our heads, and clouds were drifting in). The others, who had gone by train, were already entering the terrain and they would keep our spot free on the camping site. So that was a bit of a relief. So Lie and I stood in line for the better part of 45 mins, between loads of people. By that time Olli had already called and told us that the damn car had fixed itself by the time he reached the ANWB (epic fail, Tangy!!!) and he had found another parking spot. All he had to do is get his bag and his chair, and then he would come and join us… although he’d be in the back of the line between thousands of people. We resolved to meet up on the camping site, I said through the phone.

But then I came to the front of the line and guess what. Guess fucking what. “Huh,” the guy said, peering over my printed e-ticket. “Never saw this one before.” Also, his scanner wouldn’t accept the ticket. I began to sweat and nervously tittered that he should have seen thousands of those by now, I had printed this one in February. So he got his supervisor, who took one look at it and snorted: “No wonder the scanner doesn’t know that ticket. It’s from 2008.”

I think I died a little at that point.

Imagine, the looming weather alarm, sweating profusely, car problems, traffic jam, and Olli still in line with his own faulty ticket miles behind me… and our tickets were not valid. I had printed out LAST YEAR’s tickets, instead of the 2009 tickets. I could have cried. Thank GOD I still had my tickets online, but they were in my inbox. Near to crying, I begged for a computer to log into my mailbox, so I could give print the tickets. That wasn’t possible, but what I could do was take the back route all the way back to the parking lot, where the ticketservice might be able to do something for me. I literally RAN back to that point, where I let them log into my mailbox (I couldn’t get into the stand with them, was forbidden, bah) where they got my order number. And from the order number, they printed tickets.

Meanwhile, Olli was still back in line, Lie was in the entrance to the camping terrain, where the others would come get our tents and bags and already take them to the camping. I wormed myself through thousands of people and managed to get to the entrance before Olli got there. Lie  and the others went to the camping with our stuff, while I waited nearly half an hour for Olli, so I could give him his ticket. Estimated time of FINAL arrival at Lowlands camping: 7pm. And the storm was said to hit (after rescheduling from the weatherpeople) at 8pm.
We still had to walk over all of the terrain (of course we were AGAIN at the camping way in the back, which didn’t promise good things time- and stormwise), and then set up our tent. We were pretty frazzled by that point, as you can probably imagine. But when we finally got to camping 1, our sweet, sweet friends had the campsite already standing, and they had started to set up our tent. Olli and I quickly joined in (the lack of outer tent/inner tent had them somewhat puzzled) and within ten minutes our tent was standing – the whole campsite was done, fifteen minutes before the storm hit.

We all waited out the tent in our tent, with the whole group: René (Karianne would join up with us on Friday morning), Derek and Sanne, Marco, Other Tijs, Lie, and Ol and me – while we drank and ate whatever supplies we had with us at that point. The storm was… well, lots of rain and some spectacular thunder/lightning, but that was it. It lasted about an hour, then it was dry for a while, and then another half an hour. By that time everyone was thirsting for beer and they wanted to go to the car to pick up our beer supplies. I had been texting with Jos in the meantime, who had asked me to go and come say hi, so I opted to do that instead. While the others went a-journeying, I hung out with Jos. And eventually we all came back to the campingplace, but by that time it was very late. We did a few beers, and then all went to bed, exhaustedly. What time was it anyway? 3am or something? Anyway, that concluded the Thursday.

Friday was said to be the shittiest day weather-wise. Well, I didn’t notice it! It was damn hot at times, enough to regret wearing my jeans. I woke up at around 8.30 and had a shower, we had breakfast at camp, and then went to check out the festival terrain. We had to wait in line for nearly an hour to get in (we were a bit early), but when we finally did enter the first thing we did was… get vietnamese food. Yum! We roamed the terrain for a bit, bought a cd, and marvelled on how pretty the Lima stage had become. And from there on it was already time to go to the Alpha tent, because the White Lies were performing there. And oh, damn they were good! They kicked off with ‘Fairwell to the Fairground’, which swept me off my feet immediately. They played damn solidly, although it was obvious that the crowd didn’t really get into it until the end. Still, it was a good start of the festival, and I’m glad I’ve seen them. After that, we lazed about in the grass for a bit at the Lima (half listening to the Tallest Man On Earth) and went to get something to eat and half-heartedly checked out La Roux, which was nothing special. We got back to the Alpha in time for Lily Allen though, who true to form made it a party again. It was really funny to see her after the White Lies, who so earnestly performed for us, they played their songs. Lily Allen just… partied with us. Great fun, to sing her hits along and chant “It’s not fair” with her. She’s just so adorable. My girlcrush seems to be undiminished since Werchter 2007, haha. What we did after that is kind of a blur. Food, probably… and oh, I remember.

We went back to the camping to pick up sweaters and the like, because afterwards would be The Prodigy, and night was falling. We also saw a bit of the tail end of  Sedan Vault, which is pretty damn interesting experimental prog rock kind of stuff. I liked what I heard, but I didn’t linger long. Some of the boys were already in front at the Prodigy, and Karianne and I tried to join them. We didn’t succeed, of course – but we did manage to get to the first ring, where the party started.
Now please excuse me while I relive that gig again. *sighs delightedly* Incredible. Fucking sick. Blew my mind. Want to shag Keith senseless. The crowd screaming in utter rapture when the first tones of Out of Space boomed through the tent. The bruises. So much sweat, and far from all of it my own. The setlist – all their hits… I think they only skipped Spitfire, that was it. They played everything, and oh my god did the crowd go nuts. And you thought only metalheads knew how to build a mosh pit? Think again. This was as intense as any gig I’ve ever experienced. And I don’t think I’ve ever heard a crowd scream so loud. And I’ve heard some screaming crowds, let me tell you that. Besides the pic on the side here, I didn’t dare to make any other pictures, the crowd was too crazy. I walked around the rest of the festival with ankles that felt decidedly bruised from all the feet landing on it, and Karianne had some bitch create bruises on Karianne’s shoulder somehow with her nails, but apart from that it was one big haze of adrenaline and awesomeness.
And damn, it was only Friday and I’d pretty much seen all that I wanted to see already! How’s that for a great first day!

Saturday didn’t have all that much for me, music- wise, apart from the surprise act, which was highly speculated to be Them Crooked Vultures. We basically hung out, drank festival beer, and watched with amusement when suddenly some clouds drifted in and rain fell! I opened up buienradar on my cellphone and we found to our hilarity that there was one blip on the map of Holland, and that was over our heads. It was the only rain in the whole country, and it passed after about ten minutes. During this time we were under a tarp at the Asian Food Court, so we were very amused by it. After that it continued to be as hot as before, and I was really glad I was walking around in shorts. We saw a bit of Crystal Antlers in the Charlie and went with the boys to check out Sonata Arctica, who performed well for a tent that should have been much more filled, but yeah, the rumour of Them Crooked Vultures had drawn all the people away to the Grolsch tent. Because of this, we were way too late to even enter the tent – or get anywhere close – so we mostly missed out on it, drinking beer in the sun. I’m told it was a really good show. DAMN it was busy! I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Lowlands terrain as crowded as it was this weekend. And it’s been sold out before, hasn’t it?
Anyhow, the day was far from a loss to any of us. After going to the camping to pick up sweaters and chilling at the camping site, Karianne, René, Olli, Lie and I checked out Bassment Jaxx, who performed solidly – very good live – but didn’t entertain that much. They had a bad show, despite good music and talented singers (really weird) and the Kaiser Chiefs, who didn’t impress at all. They were really impressed by themselves, though, and liked to have the whole tent chant their name. It made for some fun while boozing, when we watched them from a distance. It was really funny how the Kaiser Chiefs just kept singing “Oh my god I can’t believe it, I’ve never been this far away from home” … on and on. I know they have repetitive lyrics, but this kind of took the cake. Especially when it had already gone on forever and Olli started to count and got to eighteen before they finally shut up. We had already started singing: “Oh my god I can’t believe it, I’m singing this chorus once again” instead, haha! Well then, we had a bit of a buzz, we were at the Alpha tent, time for the Alpha DJ’s to start, right?

And thus they did. With beer in our bellies, the others joining up with us, and lots of really good music, we went on to dance and goof around to our favourite songs. The boys had been hitting the rum at the campsite, though, so they were even more drunk than we were. Derek even breakdanced for us, to our collective amusement. All in all, it was a great day, and we danced ourselves silly.Lie even still wanted to go on AFTER the Alpha DJ’s, but the rest was completely knackered. Olli, Marco and I wanted to go to the Echo to catch the movie “Drag me to hell”, but unfortunately they were full already. So we chilled out a bit, I had a cup of the most delicious soup in the world, and then we all went back to the camping for some chats until we went to sleep. So yay!

And then came the Sunday. Might I by the way comment on the fact that I slept like a baby at Lowlands? I woke up on Saturday and Sunday around 7am to have a shower, and then in both cases went to bed again and slept until 9 – which was by the time it was starting to get warm in our tent. Olli and I had this huge air mattress we were lying on that was mighty comfy, and despite my neck and shoulders being painful and tense because of dancing, I was physically in a great state the whole weekend. No sunstrokes, no sunburn, just getting a healthy tan. I decided to be daring that morning and did my hair in pigtails. We went to the festival terrain and hung out with the whole group at the Lima, enjoying breakfast (fruit salad and panini with mozzarella, yum!). Olli and I walked over to the stand right next to the Lima where you could create your own buttons for one euro or something, so we both made one for Lie’s hat (she already had two of them on it) and after that we checked out the Airborne Toxic Event at the India, which was nice! Again rather progrock-y, but I loved how atmospheric they were. After that slowly went over to the Alpha tent, where Enter Shikari was going to perform! However, that turned out to be a disappointment. Where they played the house down in 2007 apparently, they couldn’t make it happen here. It was way too hot in the tent, the sound settings were lame, half of the music was lost, and the crowd was pretty much dead. Well, you can’t always play the house down I suppose.

Next up would be Snoop Dogg but we decided to dodge that by properly boozing it up with beer from the camping store – not watered down festival beer. So we hung out at the campsite and finally got a real buzz going. Had lots of fun goofing around (Marco wanted pigtails in his hair too, he looked really cute) and just… well, cracking jokes and laughing. I had initially planned to check out Bloc Party or the Arctic Monkeys, but we decided to go for something more exotic and what we got was Peaches. Damn, that was one sexy show! It literally sizzled. The singer sang incredibly well, music was perfect, and near the end she got shitloads of people to take their top off just for her, haha It was a nice concert to end the festival with. Afterwards we kind of wanted to go to the Grolsch tent to dance some more to some other DJ’s, but we were all so beat that we danced to a few songs and then went back to the camping for a few more beers and then to bed at 1am or something.

And then came the Monday, a day I would rather frigging forget. Oh, until we got to the parking terrain all went smoothy enough. The sun shone down merrily on us, and by 10am our campsite was smoothly broken down and packed up. Because we were on a so called eco camping, we even cleaned up after us. We got breakfast from our last coins, and then we went to the camping terrain – where we arrived at a little bit before eleven – and we immediately noticed trouble.

There were only two exits, and thousands of cars. Massive traffic jam… we weren’t going anywhere for a while. I curled up on the backseat and promptly fell asleep. When I woke up an hour and a half later, we had moved all of 40 meters. I shit you not. The next hours the sun climbed and everything heated up incredibly, it was over 30 degrees celcius again, and we had no water. People were playing frisbee and drinking beer. Cars were just standing there. Nothing happened. NOTHING. There were no Lowlands organisation people, either. No one to beg for water, no one to direct traffic. NOTHING. By 3pm we were getting severely dehydrated. Olli decided fuckit, and went to scavenge water. He finally found some truckdriver who was breaking up the camping store and stowing pellets of waterbottles into his truck. Olli begged him for the water, which the guy wasn’t allowed to sell, but they kind of just illegally exchanged money and water, and Olli had thusly four litres of delicious hydration for us an hour later. Bless him <3

By 4pm the amount of cars had diminished to such a degree that we, strengthened by the fact that we now had water, decided to take a chance. We crossed all the way over the parkinglot and joined another line to the exit, one that went faster. On our way, we crossed some people who had made a stand next to their car; with plastic flower chains and hats, and a bottle of wine. ‘Will trade for water’ the sign said. We gave our 2ltr bottle of bar le duc to them that we were planning to just give away, to which they nearly started to cry and they gave me a hat and a bottle of wine and a flower chain in thanks. And then, by 5pm, thank fuck, we finally made it out of the parking lot.
EPIC FAIL, Lowlands organisation. I cannot express how epically (sp?) you failed there. This was seriously dangerous. We constantly heard ambulances driving by, picking up dehydrated and unconscious people. How can you let such a clusterfuck happen? Festival is over, you got your money, now all go and bake in the sun? Seriously, this pissed me off so much.

But eventually we were home by 6.30 pm, had a shower, some online time, a snuggle… and then I went to bed. Because Thursday my new job would start. And thus Lowlands had ended.

*** ADDITION ***

OK, because I was watching the Prodigy on 3 voor 12 and the vid won’t be available for all that much longer, I took the liberty to make some screenshots. Couldn’t help myself, I wanted to share the awesomeness. Here they are

Did you miss me, Internet?

This is going to be interesting for sure. Then again, we’ve done the huge storm at the night before the festival before at Pinkpop 2007. The storm that hit the camping on that particular night was rather epic as well. So we’ll see. We just gotta make sure we won’t stand in a ditch with our tent, and then I’m sure we’ll be fine

…Nawwww!

Btw, I think that it’s official that I suffer from hayfever. Those pills Bren gave me to battle the hayfever worked like a charm, and if I thought that it might have gone away by itself, then I came out sorely mistaken. I ran out of them yesterday and lo and behold, I felt crappy all day. And now I have new pills and they work again. So I think you can chalk me up as a hayfever sufferer…. of the summery kind. It’s probably alsem and bijvoet that are causing the problems, and they’re predicting to bloom until mid august, so it should pass soon. Fingers crossed!