Lannie.net

Just got back a bit ago, and I’m currently thoroughly enjoying the comforts of having a toilet nearby, a warm shower, and a comfortable chair. Never mind the broadband internet, hehe. A weekend of camping in the rain makes you appreciate all those little things in life a hell of a lot more all of a sudden…
That being said, this weekend’s festival has had all the ingredients of a great time. Good company, some great (and not-so-great) music, hilarious laughter, and companionship. And that’s what it’s all about. While it wasn’t the stuff of legends like some years have been, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

You can find all pictures HERE!
And you can find the whole report under the link, as always.

FRIDAY
The Friday dawned brilliantly and sunny. Olli and I woke up early to get our last stuff in order (and watch the Lost season finale which was beyond excellent!!!) and stashed everything in the car at noon. The trip went without much of a delay, and we were setup on the camping in Heerlen and ready for the others to arrive at four-ish. We still had some time to spare while the others travelled by train, so Olli and I walked into sun-laden Heerlen for a milkshake and a great dinner on a terrace of an Italian restaurant.
The air was humid and pressing, and we were all too aware of the thunderstorm that would be coming. But by 8 pm the others arrived and we set up the other two tents, chilling in the grass. We were at six at the time: Olli and me, Tijs and Kat, and Derek and Other Tijs. The latter would have his birthday at midnight by the way, and also turned in his thesis for his master’s degree, so we had something to celebrate. We were all hyper and cheery, so we had a great time as the sun descended and dark clouds started drifting in. We were hitting the booze and the grass quite hard, so the hilarity was in abundance. And then at eleven the sky lit up with the first flashes. We were still safe for a while, but then the wind suddenly gushed in and we had to run to bring our stuff into safety. At first we sat under a sheet to protect us from the rain, but when our butts were getting wet, we had to move inside a tent to stay somewhat dry. So Other Tijs celebrated the first bit of his birthday in his tent, being totally drunk, while outside the sky was lighting up at frighteningly frequent intervals with forked pink bolts.
We went to bed at 2-ish, all tired, and Other Tijs very sick.

SATURDAY
Saturday was the first day of Pinkpop. It thankfully didn’t rain in the morning, but most of us slept poorly because of some rooster and chickens that were roaming the camping (?) and loudly proclaiming their presence. Other Tijs looked like shit, and felt the part. We quickly took down our tents and got ourselves ready. Olli, Derek and I went by car, and the rest took the taxi to camping B at Pinkpop. We did great setting ourselves up, showing how much we’ve become hardcore camping people and festival goers in the past few years. Our camp, plus party tent to sit beneath, was set up in record time.
Unfortunately, while Olli had brought a gas pit and tea and cupasoup, we had forgotten to bring a pan to make them in, so while Other Tijs and Derek slept, Olli and One Tijs went into town to get one. They refused to roll me and Kat a joint to pass the meantime, so I asked our Belgian neighbours on the camping to do it for us. To our shared delight, they did. Derek joined us when he woke up, and we purchased a Koffiewekker for Other Tijs as a birthday present (which is a voucher for three times morning coffee, brought to your tent between 8-12 am, plus a cool t-shirt). When the boys came back, it turned out we weren’t the only ones who thought of the birthday boy – Ol and Tijs had purchased a cake for him. So when Other Tijs woke up he had cake and a gift waiting for him!
We arrived on the fields of Pinkpop to see Juliette & the Licks – which were a bit too generic for our taste. The sun was shining for a bit though, so we were not complaining. We just took it easy in the lush grass, before we walked on to Wir Sind Helden. They did not seem as much into it as last time, but apparently the singer didn’t feel too well. However, as time progressed during the gig, they did get the crowd going and that gave them more energy as well. They were a nice kickoff for the festival, indeed!
We then proceeded to half-heartedly watch Good Charlotte (which had an astounding amount of fangirls btw), and by then the clouds drifted in, temperature dropped… and dread set in. The sky was so laden with electricity that it made my hair stand on end – literally! We have pictures as proof.
And then the clouds emptied themselves over us. We had to flee from Marilyn Manson, because it really didn’t work this way. Everywhere were there was no rainponcho, there was just wetness. My jeans were literally soaked. I was SO glad I was wearing my army boots! We felt pretty much like Werchter 2005, when we missed the Chemical Brothers because of the weather. Back in our tentcamp, we huddled together under our party tent for a while, but we were all so cold and wet that we turned in early. Marilyn Manson shall have a rematch some day, I guess.

SUNDAY
Day two of the festival started with a bit of rain. It was drizzling, mostly. We woke up slowly, got ourselves food supplies on camping B, got a shower (well, Derek and I did, at least), and waited out the worst of the rain before we went to the festival terrain. And that’s when it got all better. When we arrived, Gabriel Rios was playing. His performance was enjoyable, but we agreed that his music would be much better if the day would have been sunny and bright – that’s the kind of music it is. But Gabriel managed that on his own: during his hitsingle “Broad Daylight” the sun actually started shining!! Happily we went to check out Tom Morello’s Nightwatchmen, but to be honest that was not my cup of tea at all. He was trying to be Bob Dylan – so politically laden! He was talking about the working people and unions and revolutions, and he only had an harmonica and a guitar. We got bored quickly and left. While Olli and I went to explore the market, the rest checked out Razorlight I believe. From where we were sitting on the market, we thought it sounded good, but apparently the others were not very impressed.
Since by now the sky was only half clouded and the sun was regularly shining, we decided to get back to the camping to chill out for a bit. Olli and I hung out our soaked jeans from the day before, which actually completely dried! We had a great time chatting and laughing, until to my horror we realized that Snow Patrol actually started at 7pm, while I thought 8pm!! And we only realized because we recognised the song “Open Your Eyes” in the distance. So from there it was still a twenty minute walk to the festival terrain, and I knew I was fucked. I felt a bit bummed as we walked back to the festival terrain, because I really wanted to stand in front and go for the whole experience. I felt really stupid. But then we arrived and I wormed my way through the crowd all the way until the inner circle, and I still could enjoy nearly 45 minutes of concert. They still played “Chasing Cars” - goosebumps when the whole crowd sang along, and “Run”. I called Nina and Anneke during the concert and let them listen in too for a bit. It was great! Gary Lightbody is such a cutie, as if he STILL can’t believe what is happening to his band. It’s massive, the way the crowd responded. And by that time when I rejoined the others, I was happy and optimistic, and not bummed anymore. It’s not the full experience what I wanted, but enough to make me get totally into the festival spirit.
On the way to Lost Prophets I quickly ate something and then sat down in the field to watch it all happen. The sound utterly sucked, by the way, but the band was enthusiastic enough and it was a good set that they played. Still, this is a band that sounds better on cd. I believe they made some converts though, some of the others were like ‘hm, I should check out their albums’ which is why such a band usually plays at festivals. “Have fun with Muse,” the singer told us at the end of the concert. “They’re great. They have pretty lights. I want pretty lights, too!”
So then we went to see Muse. By then I’d had quite a bit of thc in my system, I have to admit, and that must have helped. But oh, the lightshow. Did WE get pretty lights, that Lostprophets dude was completely right. It was gorgeous. And on top of that, they played an awesome set. I was floored. We were quite in the back but even where we were standing, people were dancing and cheering and having a great time. So was I. It was totally impressive. “Knights of Cydonia” with their ‘No one’s going to take me alive, the time has come to make things right’ words on the screen, and then “Invincible” – ‘tonight we can surely say, together we’re invincible’. *grins* That’s when I decided that I was probably stoned because I thought that was the most beautiful and profound thing ever. But still!! Based on Popomundo standards, I’d rate this show as splendid.
The walk back to the tent was a bit painful. My feet felt like my armyboots had been filled with concrete, but with all the other festivalgoers walking back and singing and laughing, that long procession was really enjoyable. Spirits were soaring. We also had a good time at camp. I think I went to sleep at 2am or something.

MONDAY
We woke to drizzling rain once again, but this time it would not let up. We did our morning things and put on our rain poncho’s, and went to the festival terrain. Now Tijs has this utter hatred for “Chelsea Dagger” by the Fratellis, which were performing while we walked to the terrain. During their whole concert, we pretty much walked back. And guess what they started playing when we arrived? It was great! Everyone around us just started chanting, and we had a good laugh over it.
We went over to the 3FM stage to check out (and laugh at) 30 Seconds To Mars, which might very well be one of the most emo bands out there. They take themselves so seriously! And the lyrics are, imho, kind of horrid. If you don’t believe me, go check out the lyrics for “A Beautiful Lie”. Says it all, seriously. The concert was decent enough, until Jared Leto fucked up by proclaiming that he had been playing in Copenhagen the other day, and that he really fell in love with our city. OUCH!!! Someone needs to tell Jared that the Netherlands does NOT equal Denmark… *laughs* And then he managed to do very poorly during their greatest hits, “The Kill” and “Attack”, and we just cringed. We made some great pictures of the boys looking all bummed and emo in their rainponcho’s though.
It was at this location that Stone Sour would perform, and not wanting a repeat of my Snow Patrol experience I just stayed put. It was still drizzling with rain, sometimes really raining, but there was nowhere else to go (Wolfmother didn’t really have appeal for me) and they played System of a Down songs on record on the stage, so I just waited an hour in the rain for Stone Sour. Which was completely worth it by the way. Corey Taylor was great. I just love his devil may care grin and the way he makes fun of the audience and himself. He is just SO sexy! And the concert was one great party. I was utterly satisfied.
Somewhere during the concert the ‘dagjesmensen’ Bas, Dagmar and Sanne joined up with our group, and we spent the afternoon chilling out sitting on sheets in the grass, checking out the Scissor Sisters (who tried really hard) and the Dave Matthews Band (who were decent but had no stage presence). The utter surprise of the day was Linkin Park. I had a brief fling with their album Hybrid Theory just before their breakthrough here in the Netherlands, but then they got way overplayed and I got over my teenage angst, and my love for them pretty much fizzled out quickly. Well, this concert made them climb my hitlist of awesomeness somewhat again. What a GREAT gig that was! Chester’s voice was very true and on-key, the set was played tightly, they played all of their hits. It was very impressive actually.
We then played some beertray-frisbee to stay warm. The rain had stopped, but the chill was creeping in and damn we were getting cold. We watched a bit of the Kooks, but the tent was packed and we were not really into it, so I just bought a Stone Sour t-shirt and we waited for the Smashing Pumpkins. I was surprised to see that the WHOLE band was back together! I thought that D’Arcy was not back, but apparently she is. They played well, even though Billy Corgan wasn’t singing all that gloriously. We watched it with some degree of interest, but by then we were so thoroughly cold that when Bas and Dagmar left, we also went back to the camping, where we spent our last evening in each other’s company. Nice detail was that Sanne could get a bracelet so she could stay the night with us; it cost only 10 euro’s and she was all legal for a night on camping B. That was great! So we sat about and chatted until a bit after midnight, and then we went to bed.

And today we just broke down camp, left the party tent behind (which had served our well but was kind of dying), Olli and I also left our tent (in true festival fashion, this was our fourth tent in eight years). It was moldy and stinky and too small for the two person air mattress we use these days. So we left it behind and we’re going to buy a new, bigger one. We were packed very lightly when we walked back to the car! The trek home was long, since we kind of accidentally took the scenic route to Roermond (even a bit through Germany, haha!) and there was a traffic jam around Zwijndrecht, but we were home at 2.45 pm. The shower was god smackingly glorious, and so was the nap we just took. And so here we are
Pictures will follow.

Rock Werchter, here we come!!