And I still had to get home from Delft. Now; I’m in the vicinity of the University of Delft, so that means a trip to the station of Delft first, and either a tramride or a busride home from the station. It’s all in all about 35-45 minutes, if I’m lucky. Around 4pm the weather started dropping significantly and the sky was completely overcast, so my colleague and I grinned at eachother and shut down our computers at 4.55pm, so we could still get home in time before the rain started.

At 5pm I left the building, and it was starting to rain. My bus was supposed to go at 5.05, but of course it was late. Damn bus. By this time I was slightly damp, and I twittered “Come on, bus…. Don’t be late, not now ”
It finally showed up at 5.11 (simply because EVERYBODY went by bus all of a sudden, they didn’t want to bike through the rain I suppose), which meant that no way in hell I was going to make it for my 5.17 tram at Delft station, and that I was better off hopping over on the other bus. Point in favour was that I wouldn’t have to climb onto the walkbridge over the station, which is like 10 meter high or something. With the lightning that was starting to fork the sky, that didn’t seem like a good idea to me. Also; the layover station of the bus was pretty well sheltered, so I could wait five minutes and not get any wetter.

My layover bus was right on time (yay!) and I was one of two (!) people in the bus, so it went on its way to Nuttyville swiftly. The rain kept on falling harder and harder. I got a little giddy with the excitement (over rain, yeah, i know, I’m a sad person) of the adventure, but I also started to wonder how the hell I would get home relatively dry. It’s only a 300m walk from the busstop to my house, but with the rate it was coming down now, I didn’t think I could make it.

In the end… I did make it home. I ran the whole way, but fat lot of good it did me, hahaha! You see the dry spots on my t-shirt? That’s where the strap of my bag was. For the rest I was completely soaked. But at least I made it home, and now it’s still merrily raining and I’ve towelled my hair dry & I had a change of clothes (even my underwear).

And thus we conclude Lannie’s adventures in nutty weather & public transport. I hope you had a great time. Surprisingly enough, I certainly did!

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!

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.

With my amber wedding necklace, tacky bracelets and pretty make-up (of which the latter is not yet featured in this mugshot), I think I’m pretty much set. Olli remarked however that I am a bit too covered to look like a true fertility goddess, which I’m inclined to agree with – and with the brilliant weather forecasts I’m toying with the idea to set out for a white dress and some more tacky jewellery tomorrow.

The only thing that I am really struggling with is the wig with 3ft long blond hair. HOLY CRAP people with long hair, how the hell do you manage? It’s one tangly mess!

I finally managed to braid it into some semblance of sanity, and that’s the only way it still is manageable without driving me crazy all day, I think. Remind me to never grow hair till my butt!

You see, it’s 22 March today. In an uncharacteristically romantic move by my person, Olli was surprised by a delivery of a bunch of fourteen dark red roses today. Fourteen roses, for fourteen years since that first snog outside of the Troll disco in Hoorn on that March evening.

I don’t do sweet stuff for you often enough, sometimes I think that I’m the guy in our relationship… guess I’m just not much of a romantic soul. But this one’s for you. I love you sweetie!

They say that the weather will improve vastly this week as well. I heard rumours about 16 degrees celsius… let’s see what happens

Everybody wants to be outside, see flowers, feel the sun on their face. Only two more weeks and then it’s officially spring. Yay spring!

Now let’s be honest here, it hurt like a motherfucker. My skin is still really swollen, and it still needs to be bleached out a bit. This will probably happen in the next week. Also, you can’t really see the colouring yet. He used pink and yellow for the cherry blossoms, but right now you’re not able to see anything from it so I am already wondering whether I should go back with it and have the colouring re-touched. But first I should let it settle.

I’m really happy with it, really proud that I toughed it out. (and of course I’m already thinking about my next tattoo…) And soon you’ll have the pictures of the real & finished product.

Today however, really sucks. Maybe the timing for my tattoo wasn’t all that great in the end… I got my period and I think that maybe something was wrong with the sushi I ate later, because I’ve been nauseous and suffering from diarrhea all day. I’ve mostly slept the day away today.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t still have a pretty new tattoo!
*pleased*

And so we had an opportunity to test out the crappiness of my webcam, since we were looking into this silly website that shows daily mugshots.
Although the webcam is as crappy as I feared, at least the picture is something that I wanted to share. It’s a terribly cute picture that reminds me of those photobooth pictures that we used to take, all those years ago