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Pukkelpop 2014


TheNewUnion
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Biggest disappointment was by far and away Snoop Dogg. To think I'd left halfway through Kelis for it. Half arsed, 2 minute songs and not even a proper finale. One of the worst acts I've ever seen.

I left Kelis before she even started as she was late coming on and I got bored of waiting, grabbed a beer outside and came back in to watch Snoop. Really enjoyed it, but see what you mean, there was a lot of him rapping over backing tracks, filling in vocals on pre-recorded tracks etc. I find that with a lot of live Hip Hop though, not many artists do a good job of it.

Edited by TheNewUnion
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Great pukkelpop once again!! The weather was not as good as last years but much better than expected!

It was great to see The Strypes playing. i'm sure that they will headline major festivals in a few years. Impressive band.

Great shows: Gogol Bordello, Royksopp, Kyle Gass, Frank Turner, Anti-Flag, Cage The Elephant, Black Lips, Lonely the Brave (amazing band) and Brody Dalle

Dissapointing: All headliners. Editors were boring (except first 5 songs). I arrived 10 minutes before the show and I could be in the front part of the Main stage. I've never seen so empty the Main stage in a headline slot. I thought that they were more popular in Beligium. Outkast were boring (but I hate hip hop so my opinion is not relieable). Queens of the Stone Age were correct, but far away from a wow.

this year pukkelpop signed all headliners avaliable, so it wasn't their fault, but the set of headliners was soooooo poor. I missed bands like Kraftwerk, Iron Maiden, Foo Fighters, Metallica or Faith No More, that headlined the years before...

In the other side, 2014 has been the year that more I've enjoyed the medium sized and small bands... really good selection.

I hope that they will spend less money in hip hop next year. I don´tt know how can they spend a huge quantity of money in acts like outkast or even worse, Macklemore.

This year the Shelter Stage has recovered its interest with bands like NOFX, Lagwagon, Anti-Flag, Flatliners, Red Fang, Dave Hause and avoiding this horrible european emo metal bands that sucked the last years (Yashin, Palm reader, we Came as romans... etc etc) and made Shelter Stage be empty during the afternoon

Edited by johnybegood
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Watching the highlights from Reading so it's as good a time as any to write my review of PKP14. Was another excellent addition for me, musically right up there with the best I've been to. Saw some great performances and shared the time with a bunch of fantastic people, which of course makes all the difference.

Spent a lovely day with friends in Rotterdam on Wednesday and then made it to Hasselt around 6pm. Went for a meal in town with a few of the Efests crew and then hit the site for the pre-party. Must admit I was a bit disappointed with the lay out of the Boiler Room. Yes, the lights were pretty but it lacked the 'wow' factor from last year, and there was a complete absence of lasers (which is never a good thing). Anyway, lots of nice beers and great conversation in Hasselt to finish the evening.

Like last year, I'll go through the bands I saw by stage:

Main Stage

Gogol Bordello - you know what you're getting with them and it was a standard performance. Predictable but fun.

Janelle Monae - criminally small crowd but she had a lot of energy and, of course, a great voice.

Outkast - Kind of passed me by as we stood near the path. I hadn't listened to much of their stuff in the run up so shouldn't have expected to be able to properly tune in to their performance.

Drenge - was really looking forward to this but a combination of the Main Stage and rain meant that it didn't get going for me. Took refuge in the Club (which ironically was the stage they should have played) for the second half and enjoyed what I heard.

Snoop Dogg - very similar to Outkast. Enjoyed what I heard but again watched from the path as couldn't be bothered to make my way towards the front. Huge crowd though, biggest I saw there all weekend.

Marquee

St. Lucia - one of my big discoveries in the lead up to the festival and they definitely delivered on the day. Sound was true to the studio recordings and was a great way to kick off proceedings. Very enjoyable.

Atomic Bomb - deliberately hadn't done much research on them as I wanted to go along and experience it first hand. They were great. Really positive and happy vibe coming through the music and the skill of all the people on stage (aside from some of the cameos) was very evident. Perfect festival music which left a smile on the face. Was nice to see them around the hotel the next morning too, even if they did take up the entire 4th floor.

Cage the Elephant - was hard to take your eyes off the lead singer but the music was spot on too. Knew a few of their songs but the ones I didn't sounded good so was enjoyable all round.

Glass Animals - was initially very impressed with their music when doing my pre-Pukkelpop research but cooled slightly as the start approached. They were better (and more upbeat) than I thought they'd be so all good really (nothing too memorable though).

Saw a bit of both Royksopp & Robyn and Portishead, but not enough to pass judgement with any conviction. Enjoyed both and kind of wished I'd seen more of the former (was never gonna happen though with Andy C on in the Boiler at the same time).

Dance Hall

Cut Copy - made the decision to miss Dan Croll for them and they were somewhere between 'OK' and 'good'. Thought I'd be completely blown away but they never really got going, which was a pity.

Mo - was probably looking forward to this set more than any other as I fell in love with the album in the run up. She was great but the set list meant there were long sections that were too down-tempo for my liking, so that took the edge off it. Was still great and she was a real character on and off the stage (she spent about a quarter of the set in the crowd!).

Clean Bandit - I'd watched their live streams from a couple of festivals this summer so knew what to expect. Having said that, I thought they were superb - exactly what a festival band should be like. The crowd was big and very enthusiastic throughout, which all helped add to the occasion. As predictably huge as 'Rather be' was, I loved hearing 'Extraordinary' and 'Up again' live - big moments of the weekend for me!

Flume - was really up for this but the tent was packed and the time of the night meant I was looking for something a bit more up-tempo. Many people I spoke to afterwards said this was their set of the day but I didn't feel it myself.

Disclosure - of course those of you who are regulars on here will know that since the dawn of time I've been bleating on about how they were too big for the Dance Hall, and sadly my prediction (unlike the ones I make each year for the headliners) came true. The tent (which I'm convinced was smaller than previous years) was dangerously busy, particularly near the disabled platform near the back right. Managed to get about half way down the right hand side for the start but the heat was unbearable so had to get out. This proved very difficult as there were so many people packed in. If it hadn't have been for the fact I was so smashed by then it would have been a scary situation as there were some pretty big crowd surges and crushes. There was one comical moment though when I spotted Discotheque Dave in the crowd as the surges moved us closer together. It was like something out of Titanic as we got almost within touching distance, before the crowd took him away and he disappeared, never to be seen again (at least until we met up the next day). The music was secondary for a while but what I did hear was great. They played all the hits but the middle of the set was an extended 'club' section of fairly anonymous beats and baselines, that sounded really great. Gave up with about half an hour to go and wandered over to the Main Stage for Deadmau5 (which lasted all of 5 mins, hence the lack of review).

Dub FX - like Clean Bandit, this was simply a great festival set. Tent was jumping from start to finish and many of the tunes were on a different vibe to pretty much anything else I heard over the weekend. Was in awe of the talent of the guy; to stand on stage on his own and create backing tracks from scratch just using his voice was amazing to see. Had a big smile on my face throughout, and really enjoyed hearing songs I love off the album live. One of the best performances of the weekend.

Sub Focus - best live set of the weekend, absolutely loved every second of it. Please play every year.

Drumsound and Baseline Smith - similar vein to Sub Focus and received with nearly as much appreciation by the crowd. Considering how early it was and also being the last day, the big crowd were well up for it. Loved hearing 'Atmosphere', 'Close', 'Freak' and, of course, set closer 'Through the night' live. Lots of fun!

Second City - enjoyed the tunes but there seemed to be a delay on the sound, which became an issue when he was mixing. Didn't spoil it but took the edge off somewhat.

Will have to call it a day for now - hopefully finish the rest of the stages tomorrow.

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Shelter

Kadavar - as is now customary, I saw only one band in the Shelter all weekend. I had two of their albums but only really listened to one beforehand, and I couldn't pick out too many songs from that on the day. Was an enjoyable, if not very memorable, set.

Boiler Room

Saw loads in here over the weekend so will only comment on the ones where I was present for most of the set:

Gewelt - local lads from Hasselt who played a very nice mix of vocal and deep house. We have a mutual friend and I actually met up with them on Saturday night during Tensnake. Nice lads who were over the moon to play Pukkelpop.

Paul Woolford - love his productions and this set didn't disappoint. On point from start to finish.

Gorgon City - enjoyed their set last year and much of the same this time round. Their own productions got the best response but the set was solid all the way through. NB: currently watching their live set from Creamfields and they are smashing it.

Solina - another local DJ given the chance to step up. Musically, this was one of my favourite sets of the weekend as her mix of Tech House and Techno was right up my street. Mixing was flawless too.

Breach - very fond of his productions and he played a good, if not great set. Didn't know that he sung over the top, which worked well on the whole.

Duke Dumont - must admit I was a bit worse for wear by this stage so I'm pretty vague on details. Remember him dropping a few of his own productions, which went down very well.

Nina Kraviz - came straight out of Sub Focus to this and the buzz just carried on, albeit with a different vibe. Music was relentless in a hypnotic way that just locked me in. She put on a good show as well; teasing the crowd, strutting around behind the decks and at one point just standing with her back to the tent waiting for the beat to kick in. Another favourite of the weekend.

Andy C - I knew before I left the house this would be the best set I saw all weekend, but that doesn't take anything away from just how amazing it was. He simply smashed it from the first tune to the last - there was no let up at all. Mixing was phenomenal throughout, he must have played 50+ tunes in 2 hours which is no mean feat. Only down side is that it will be at least 2 years before he's back again (played in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2014). Thinking of emailing the organisers to see if they will make him resident.

Castello

Jungle - managed to make it into the tent after queuing for a while but it was too hot to stay for the whole set. Was a bit gutted about this as they were near the top of my 'most anticipated' list. Probably a mistake to put them in here, Dance Hall would have been a better option.

Actress - definitely won the 'like nothing else on all weekend' award. The sound was rooted in techno, but a much more warped and depraved version that was raw and completely uncompromising. He played a track towards the end that had the most stomach churning bass I've ever experienced, which treaded a fine line between 'amazing' and 'too much'. Walked out of the tent at the end thinking 'WTF was that???'. Just the kind of thing I expect in the Castello and a (left field) high point of the weekend.

Chrome Brulee - thought they were very Daft Punk-esque in their sound, which is not a bad thing. Really liked their look and the music was slick and funky throughout. A nice discovery who I will keep track of in the future.

Arthur Beatrice - I found myself listening to their album more and more as the festival approached and they were superb on the day. The female singer had an amazing voice and every song was captivating and mesmerising in equal measures. In my top 5 of the weekend.

Tourist - Dusky - Tensnake - Superdiscount 3 - Spent pretty much the whole of Saturday night in the Castello and if I'm being honest, it all kind of rolled into one. Wished I'd have known more of Tourist's stuff but loved what I did hear. Dusky are one of my favourite producers and they were excellent - danced from start to finish. Was a real treat to hear Tensnake dropping 'Coma Cat' (even if it was a remix) and Oliver $ 'Pushing on' and Superdiscount 3 was an ideal way to finish off the weekend.

Club

Temples - my favourite 'band' of the weekend. Love the album and they played everything of note off it. Came at a nice time too as day turned to night.

The Bohicas - I struggled to get hold of much of their stuff beforehand but I really liked what I did hear. They were very tight on the day and are another one I will be following closely in the future. Very enjoyable.

Boy and Bear - took me a few listens to get into their albums but was interested to see how they would come across live. Answer is they were very good. Not one of my top performances but lots to appreciate.

St Vincent - wasn't sure whether I'd catch any of her due to clashes but found myself in the Club at the start and ended up watching the whole thing. Nearly all the gang had congregated for this and that, along with the vibrant music and show(wo)manship on display, made for a captivating experience.

So that was pretty much my PKP14. As I said at the start, I thought the quality of music on offer was excellent and the atmosphere and company were superb too. I'm pleased to report that my record of never seeing any trouble at all is still intact. Brought a friend along for the first time and he commented on how polite and friendly people were e.g apologising when they bumped in to you, rather than wanting to start a fight. Was nice to catch up for the first time with a few names off here (Snorefest and The New Union), as well as the old guard!!

All things being equal, I'll be back again next year and am already counting down the days!

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So, I'll probably edit as I go because I am cooking tea and can't commit to typing everything in one go! Here we go then, what I saw (and at the end 3 ups and 3 downs)

Marmozets - Fun pop-punk from Bingley, Yorkshire. Only went to see them because I have been to Bingley festival. Glad I went though, fun band, good live and the lead singer has some amusing between song banter (not all of it intentional)

Cut Copy - Not bad, not great. Enjoyed their set but wasn't jumping up and down.

Young Fathers - Just a bit odd, looked nonplussed about being their but I get the impression that's their "thing"

Gogol Bordello - Always deliver a fun time. Good show, lots of jumping around, and mad dancing, lots of fun. Will probably watch them whenever they are on at a festival I'm attending.

Die Antwoord - I love Die Antwoord. This is the second time I have seen them at Pukkelpop and it was a great show. They are mental live. Huge crowd who were well into them.

Deafheavan - Dreadful. Noisy, shouty, pointless. Really didn't enjoy this at all.

Janelle Monae - Criminally small crowd, though it did mean I could get to the barrier. She put on a great show, loads of effort, great voice, cool band.

Outkast - Very disappointing, seemed to be somewhere between going through the motions and phoning in a performance.

Atomic Bomb - Superb, loved every second of it, right in the thick of it in front of the desk and it was brilliant. Funny to see them in the hotel the next morning, cool to hear them having a little jam in the corner of the lobby after breakfast.

Lagwagon - only caught half their set but it was decent enough. Nothing special, but enjoyable enough.

Slowdive - Never really got into these when they were in their pomp, but they were brilliant. Great band for the late slot, lots of slow nodding and shoegazing, also learned that the bass player works at our head office (or did up until recently)

The Van Jets (some of) - Didn't really take much notice of them really. Probably pretty good but can't really comment.

Shlohmo (the wrong one) - this isn't the beatboxer, it's an LA based producer. Once I was over the disappointment it was pretty good.

First Aid Kit - I'm totally in love with these.Brilliant set, vocally superb, great live act. Seemed really happy to be there, included all the songs I wanted them to play, crowd loved it and they are really really attractive (which doesn't hurt)

Tinie Tempah - 2nd time I've seen him at Pukkelpop and both times it's been one of the most fun shows of the weekend. All the hits, all the "club bangers", crowd loved it, he loved it and all was good!

Kurt Vile (some of) - wasn't really concentrating, just sat having a beer and letting the music wash over. Pretty good though, would like to watch again.

Sub Focus - Loved it, loved it, loved it. Tent was rammed, whole place was bouncing, bass was shaking my teeth. Deserves a bigger slot next time out.

Thurston Moore (some of) - Not bad, really. Only saw a couple or three songs so no real opinion or comment.

The National (some of) - pretty good, would have liked to have seen the full set but clashes conspired against me

Royksoop & Robyn (some of) - Superb, but clashes conspired against me again, The War on Drugs were calling!

The War on Drugs - Absolutely superb. Got there early, had a great spot down the front, loved it. Atmospheric, powerful and rocking - all at the same time.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (Some of) - Nothing I saw has gone any way to convincing me that they aren't a novelty act.


You Me at Six - Another pop-punk act, but they put loads of effort in, got a great crowd and a really good reaction. Seemed genuinely thrilled at the crowd they got and the reaction.

Mapei - not bad, but didn't know any of her stuff so not that easy for me to comment on.

FKA Twigs - see above, though very interested in hearing more of her stuff as it really caught my attention in parts.

Willow - Thought these were brilliant, only decided to go having seen them on the TV that morning. Front row meant I was up close to the action and really enjoyed the show. Left a bit before the end to get a drink and couldn't get back in - rammed (so watched from the tent exit)

Snoop - because Kelis was late on. I enjoyed it, but I don't think it was necessarily a good show. Doing 1 minute of House of Pain, 1 minute of this, 1 minute of that isn't really what I wanted. Good laugh though.

St Vincent - Another smallish crowd, but if you weren't there you missed out. Brilliant show, talented musicians, great songs. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Queens of the Stoneage - Didn't see all of it as we left early to get a good spot for Portishead. QOTSA are a great live act, didn't disappoint - wish I could have stuck around for the whole show.

Portishead - Won the entire festival. Best show I saw all weekend, mesmerizing, passionate, superlatives aplenty. Beth Gibbons bleeds emotion with every note she sings, moving, powerful and just utterly ace.

3 Ups

  • Food at the thatched house. Good value, tasty and the staff are really friendly. Like hanging out there
  • No queues at the bar, ever. Didn't wait in line once all weekend
  • The sound was superb all weekend (notwithstanding the soundbleed if you couldn't get in Dance Hall and stood outside)

3 Downs

  • Too many people arriving late for shows and just barging through the crowds. No aggression in it, but it was really getting on my tits during a couple of shows. No tap on the shoulder, excuse me or anything.
  • Drinking water and the lack thereof, you couldn't run a festival in the UK without offering free drinking water to your punters.
  • Not being able to get in the Dance Hall for Disclosure, I think it's time to expand the Dance Hall a bit as it was frighteningly rammed on a couple of occasions.
Edited by TheNewUnion
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Maybe is just my imagination, but I saw less people this year in the festival than ever... As TheNewUnion has said, it was so easy to ask for drinks even in the bars near the Main Stage in the evening and it was so easy to move inside the festival with not so many people moving from one stage to other. Did you have the same impression as me?

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Really cool to read everyone's reviews! :)

Not sure who said it, but someone mentioned spending less on hiphop next year. I might be in the minority here, but I'm not sure if that'd be a great idea? Variety of genres is nice, imo. They should just go for hiphop acts who actually put in effort though, stuff like Snoop Dogg was fine sure, but it felt very safe and lacked any thorns you'd expect in a good rapper. Then again it was VERY well attended, even busier than Mackelmore it seemed. So clearly my opinion does not reflect that of the average attendee. But yeah, Snoop Dogg, Macklemore, Mr Polska, Kelis (barely hiphop/RnB nowadays, admittedly) all drew huge crowds so there's clearly a desire for more hiphop I'd say...

Agreed that crowd-control was done pretty effectively this year though! Moving up the Petit Bazar to free up a lot more space probably helped too. Only time I saw a completely full tent was at Kenji Minogue in the Wablief, who could've filled the Club or possibly even the Marquee (not the outside area there though) judging on attendance.

In general I think a lot of organisational things were smoothed out this year, all those cleaning staff people led to the cleanest fields I've ever seen. Very few acts which were late, replacements were found right away for cancellations (Kong subbing for 2 Bears, Lektroluv subbing for Brodinski). Was mildly annoyed that they switched Kavinsky and Buraka Som Sistema last minute, but I imagine that was the only way to still have 'em both perform. Also the constant weather updates on screens, more side-activities due to expanding Petit Bazar and adding that Trashure Island area, the mentioned general lack of waiting lines... I think PkP made some noticeable advances in those areas in particular. (Though reducing the size of the Dance Hall was a mistake, I think.)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've not seen any hostels, that being said a I've only really looked at hotels. There's a budget hotel quite near the site called Parkhotel Hasselt, then the IBIS, HI Express etc in Hasselt itself.

I don't recall anyone mentioning hostels on here, though there's a few with local connections who might know.

Edited by TheNewUnion
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I don't think there are any hostels in Hasselt.

The nearest one as far as I'm aware is about 5km east of the festival site in the countryside at Bokrijk (near an open-air museum): http://www.jeugdherbergen.be/en/youth-hostels/green-hostels/bokrijk-de-roerdomp

But... It's a straight up Youth Hostel, not a backpackers, so more geared up for scout groups than festival-goers. Also, you're in the middle of nowhere, so stuffed for public transport, especially after hours.

If camping doesn't appeal, you'd probably be better off in a hotel.

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  • 1 month later...

Food is a rip off inside the festival to be honest. I've never really had anything beyond frites rough. Much easier to just nip outside and get something at one of the houses. The thatched house has good stuff (the sausage sandwiches are very good) for about 5 euro. One of the places on the same side as the festival does big bowls of pasta and sauce for about 6 euro.

Beers are 1 ticket inside, which is 2.5 euro I think, or 1-1.5 euro outsid, but you can't take them back in.

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Food is a rip off inside the festival to be honest. I've never really had anything beyond frites rough. Much easier to just nip outside and get something at one of the houses. The thatched house has good stuff (the sausage sandwiches are very good) for about 5 euro. One of the places on the same side as the festival does big bowls of pasta and sauce for about 6 euro.

Beers are 1 ticket inside, which is 2.5 euro I think, or 1-1.5 euro outsid, but you can't take them back in.

Thanks. That sounds pretty much the same as Sziget this year. Gonna try and hit Pukkelpop next year.

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Thanks. That sounds pretty much the same as Sziget this year. Gonna try and hit Pukkelpop next year.

Food like Sziget? Totally different. At Sziget you have a variety of choice you'll never find at Pukkelpop. At Pukkelpop 2013 there were french fries, mini loempia, slice of pizza, kebab, felafel and a couple of things more. That's it. At Sziget you have italian, chinese, indian, greek, serbian, hungarian, vegan, vegetarian, fruit, fries, thai, piadina, pizza, langos, every kind of sandwich you can imagine, mcdonald's, transylvanian, mexican and so many kind of sweets. And that's only what I remember.

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Food like Sziget? Totally different. At Sziget you have a variety of choice you'll never find at Pukkelpop. At Pukkelpop 2013 there were french fries, mini loempia, slice of pizza, kebab, felafel and a couple of things more. That's it. At Sziget you have italian, chinese, indian, greek, serbian, hungarian, vegan, vegetarian, fruit, fries, thai, piadina, pizza, langos, every kind of sandwich you can imagine, mcdonald's, transylvanian, mexican and so many kind of sweets. And that's only what I remember.

I meant cost.

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Well at Sziget you pay 2,1€ for a 0,5l beer while at Pukkelpop you pay 2,5€ for a 0,25l beer. At Sziget you pay 2€ for a slice of pizza while at Pukkelpop you pay 5€ for a slice of pizza. At Sziget you pay 3€ for a gyros or kebab while at Pukkelpop you pay 5 or 7,5€ for a kebab. Sziget is so much cheaper but that's normal 'cos in Belgium you have Euros and in Hungary you have fiorint. I can tell you that in 2013, when I went to both Sziget and Pukkelpop, I spent almost the same amount of money for 7 days at Sziget and for 3 days at Pukkelpop :)

Edited by ilbeyene
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