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Rock Werchter 2018


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Well that was the best week of my life, and to top it all off I met Noel Gallagher yesterday on the way back! It was my first time going and I swore I'd go Glasto next year for its 50th but fuck that I'm definitely going to be heading back to Rock Werchter.

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It's almost impossible to recall how many great acts I saw this weekend. I come in with my own biases, but of those I saw, a handful were absolutely genius perfect. Some were very good. Others were some good, some bad. 

Perfect: Pearl Jam, NIN, Anderson .Paak, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, David Byrne

Very good: Queens of the Stone Age, CHVRCHES, MGMT, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (it was very, very loud at points, making it kind of tough to love), George Ezra, The Last Internationale

Good: Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, The Kooks

Gorillaz and Arctics had the same problem... They neutered a wild crowd with slow paced tunes that are pretty new and not very sing-along styled. Nick Cave too slow songs and masterfully turned them into performance art. David Byrne did the same with pop songs. 

And the great bands just took that crowd energy and turned it into gold. The six bands I mentioned as great didn't have a single lull in their sets, they just kept the energy flowing. They might have one song people didn't love, but they're follow it immediately with something great. And the Barn for NIN, .Paak, and Byrne were amazing. Loved this fest, and I'm sure I forgot stuff.

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HOLD ON A SEC. I don't get you, guys. 

I get to see a lot of concerts, some of them just as part of my job but mostly because I can't get enough of it. I enjoy and adore many different styles of performances. I have had the time of my life at both RHCP and The xx, I loved Anderson Paak and I wouldn't miss Alt J for any price.

But... Nick Cave? Sorry, no. PATHETIC. I just can't believe you guys are all into it. I was nearly at the front row, and shit, the AM psychos who arrived 10 hours ahead were not the only ones suffering. It was THAT bad. 

Both he and his band looked so confused. He just did random shit with no idea where he was going. He grabbed people to go on stage and had no idea what to do with them, most of them just stared at him looking for a hint while (sometimes) holding his mic. He kept spitting (the fuck?!), falling to his knees (well, the stage must've been so wet cause of the spit by then he might've slipped) and then clumsily standing up. And the band? They actually punched the instruments.

Guys, this is not "a show". It's a bad excuse. Sorry, no. It was a disaster. It was horrible to watch. I did not believe I had to stand an hour of a half of this shit, damn, I don't even like AM that much to suffer it. I appreciate the qualities in his music people react to, but he was the worst performer I have ever seen - and guys, I happened to see Katy Perry live. I never thought anyone will deliver a worse performance than that, and then he did. 

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Spitting onstage is something a lot of singers do. Damon Albarn and Eddie Vedder are doing it all the time for example. It's just that Nick Cave is the main focus of the band so you're looking at him all the time, also he's with the crowd a lot so you can see when he does it. 

About punching instruments well that's something Warren Ellis does and he uses that to create noise, not cause he likes to ruin his stuff

 

I mean, it's okay if you don't like his music. His music (or any) isn't for everyone but I think you focused on wrong things :D 

 

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22 hours ago, strummer77 said:

To be fair where I was the crowd were absolutely rocking. He didn’t speak much which left some silences, but most seemed to be enjoying it. 

We were quite far back but there were still people going mad. The new album is definitely a crowd splitter though and did you see how mashed he was when he tried to talk? played perfectly though

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14 minutes ago, Dan12345 said:

We were quite far back but there were still people going mad. The new album is definitely a crowd splitter though and did you see how mashed he was when he tried to talk? played perfectly though

He's not mashed. That's his act on this tour :D 

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First time goer, absolutely loved the organisation of the site after I got my head around the gates situation at the barn/Club C.

Best parts

 - David Byrne by far, what a show that was

 - Anderson Paak, great atmosphere and everyone dancing

 - Gorillaz, nice mix of old and new stuff which sounds great (aside from the Eden Hazard thing, that got awkward)

 - Rae Sremmurd, wanted to see if they were just hype but was really surprised how well they had the crowd that early on the first day

 - Vince Staples, watched the first 20 mins through the gate but got in for the rest and his energy was great

 - The hive resort was well worth the extra money, good staff, nice people, really tidy, the queue for showers wasn't bad if you timed it right, hammocks and a spirit bar. great place to be. 

 - The general organisation of the site, I never felt like I didn't know where I was going or where the toilets were, all the staff I asked questions were really helpful and spoke brilliant English.

 - The sound on the main stage was brilliant wherever we went, Gorillaz and Qotsa was probably the best I've heard at a festival

- The Belgian people, great fun and good football banter all weekend

 - Spiderman.

 

Worst parts

 - JESUS IT WAS HOT

 - crowds only sticking around for 2 or 3 songs then leaving, Curtis Harding in ClubC was rammed at the start and within 20 minutes we were stood in front of the sound desk. 

 - Lack of shade (as a lot said)

 - Nick Cave I found very dour, it might just not be my sort of thing but I saw a lot of people just passing the time (there was even 2 guys playing draughts on their phone)

 - A couple of acts just phoning it in (mostly NG and JW)

 - The Killers getting that guy on stage and then publicly humiliating him was a bit of a dick move

 - Lack of anything else to do if there wasn't a band on you wanted to watch - we ended up just going back to the hive resort to chill out but then I guess that's in part due to a very small site (comparatively)

 - Cntrl Park playing the same songs every night, not even currently popular songs either

 

All in all, we had an amazing weekend and are seriously considering back-to-backing it with Glasto next year although I think the football might have helped the atmosphere a bit this year

 

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For me, it was another truly wonderful weekend. 

I studied festivals and have therefore been to very many inside and out of the UK and I have to say that Rock Werchter is one of the most well organised I know. Everything from the almost luxurious areas in The Hive Campsite (super efficient shower system, cooking stations, great shop/'bakery'), the best festival toilets I've ever seen, very well managed bars and food stands and generally wonderful people... I could go on.

In terms of acts, the best crowd by any kind of margin was Franz Ferdinand, and that in turn made the whole performance brilliant for me. Other acts I loved included,  The Script, Tom Walker, QOTSA,  NGHFB, Snow Patrol and Stone Sour.
Whilst The Killers tried hard, the whole performance was spoilt a little by the crowd. I thoroughly love the fact that everyone I have met at Werchter seems peaceful and chatty and positively subdued, but for someone like The Killers that have so many top hits, I felt a bit out of place dancing and singing quite so much. 

I was slightly disappointed with the food offering, but as others have said, that could be just to do with the fact I've been to too many events similar to Werchter where hundreds of thousands of pounds are invested in finding the best quality and choice of food. 

Other than that and the unnecessary crush to get in the pit for Arctic Monkeys, everything was superb. 

Honestly, I have to say that in my opinion, the best thing about the whole weekend was.... the sound. Never before have I been to a festival where every act sounds perfect, be it in a tent, at the slope or Main Stage. I saw Fleet Foxes with my friend a few months ago and the whole thing was spoilt by the terrible sound - this more than made up for it. I would love to meet the sound provider to congratulate them. 

With any luck the lineup will be as good as it was this and last year, if it is I will definitely be back. 

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Ere we go.

Top 5 
No. 1 -  David Byrne. Knew very few of his songs going in but my god was that a show! Reinvented the concert!
No. 2 - Nick Cave. Spiritual experience!
No. 3 - Nine Inch Nails. Got to the barrier, my mate somehow got side of stage the jammy bastard! Amazing energy.
No. 4 - Franz Ferdinad. Never seen Klub C that energized. Belgium winning mid set probably helped!
No. 5 - Idles. Raw, exciting and the "fun band" that I needed after George Ezra

Bottom 5
No. 1 - The Vaccines
No. 2 - The Script
No. 3 - The Kooks
No. 4 - Alice In Chains
No. 5 - CHVRCHES

All in all an amazing edition (particularly the Sunday). Shame the indoor stages were often "lock ins" but I had an amazing festival. The Hive Resort was fantastic, army tents brilliant and facilities wonderful. 

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Ah man, I love Werchter.

We all had an amazing time again regardless of the ridiculous heat.

Gorillaz, The Vaccines, Post Malone, Wolf Alice, Arctic Monkeys, Pale Waves & Courteeners were all fantastic. 

The atmosphere for the football was so good too. Didn't see one bit of aggression towards other fans, just general banter and laughter.

See you next year!

 

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25 minutes ago, Cammers said:

Courteeners were all fantastic. 

 

Courteeners!!! Yes, the most underrated band of the whole festival. 

Only on for 30 minutes and they brought the house down right at the beginning of the day. 

I wish they'd been on for longer.

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1 minute ago, thetechi said:

Courteeners!!! Yes, the most underrated band of the whole festival. 

Only on for 30 minutes and they brought the house down right at the beginning of the day. 

I wish they'd been on for longer.

I thought it was just a trap to get all the English people in one place! Haha!

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50 minutes ago, thetechi said:

Courteeners!!! Yes, the most underrated band of the whole festival. 

Only on for 30 minutes and they brought the house down right at the beginning of the day. 

I wish they'd been on for longer.

I met all of the band in the crowd for Wolf Alice too! Was so happy 

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Had an incredible weekend, wouldn't say anyone was bad and saw well over 30 bands

Thursday started off with Rival Sons who were great, really enjoyed Electric Man and Pressure and Time. Headed off for the start of Gang of Youths who I thought were incredible, we were right up the front for that. Rae Sremmurd was not really to my taste at all and absolutely paled in comparison to others in that genre like Anderson .Paak. The Vaccines were great on main stage, only thing that took away from it was that I'd seen them at Community the same week and the setlist was fairly similar. Queens of the Stone Age were absolutely brilliant and their set only grew with the continued crowd interaction and really took off after No One Knows. Song for the Dead was insane. Gorillaz were the surprise of the weekend, expected to enjoy the 3/4 songs I knew but thoroughly enjoyed the whole set, the video in that goes along with the set really adds alot.

Courteeners had a criminally small crowd but I thought they were pretty great considering, filled the short set well. Isaac Gracie then on The Slope was brilliant before Wolf Alice, who really should've been on a bigger stage with a longer set. Ben Howard later on was outstanding, kept a massive crowd despite playing nothing off his debut, the performance of Small Things was one of the best of the weekend. London Grammar were much better than expected on main stage considering their sound and Anderson .Paak was absolutely incredible, perhaps one of the funnest sets of the weekend; was really impressed when he jumped on the drums a few songs in and then even more so when he remained there for the majority of the set. The Killers nailed their headline set, hit after hit.

Didn't catch as much of Saturday as I had really hoped and missed out on MGMT as the gates had closed 15-20 minutes before the start time. Stereophonics were an absolute steal in the middle of the day and managed to catch Stone Sour for a bit aswell. Missed Eels as I was starving but from what I hear they were brilliant. Would describe Jack White as 'organized mess' and thought it was sick, Over and Over and Over is a banger. Caught a bit of Khalid, which was nice, bit of an odd one for that day as a whole. Pearl Jam's set was all I could've hoped for, was surprised to hear Spin the Black Circle and did not expect them to finish on Baba O'Reilly so went pretty mental for that. 

Post Malone and George Ezra were awesome sing-along starts to the Sunday. Brilliant to hear 'Well Done' by IDLES live. Was slightly disappointed with the NGHFB's set, wish he'd have had a bit more to say but none the less enjoyed it. The Academic were a great set to chill too before the finale. Nick Cave blew my expectations out of the water after a slow start, loved the addition to Stagger Lee in which he kills the devil and Rings of Saturn was a great closing track. As a huge Arctic Monkey's fan I was more than satisfied by their headline set, the setlist spread pretty well across their discography, nonstop bangers from Four out of Five through to Teddy Picker and Pretty Visitors was probably the song of the weekend for me.

Was thoroughly impressed by the number of improvements made to the campsite and arena from last year to this, never really had to queue for anything, the toilets and showers were great and the 20 cups for 1 token scheme probably saved me and my mates about 60-70 quid over the weekend, managed to pick up about 180 between us just walking out of Ben Howard in about 3-4 minutes.

10/10 weekend, sure I'll be back next year.   

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Second year in a row and they improved a lot from last year (Hive MySpace, Barn).

MySpace - we smiled and waved at the daft steward who said we were 20cm over our space. Our dutch neighbours were brilliant and 50cm over theres! Showers so brilliant in the hot weather. Glad I had my earplugs for all the happy folk singing through the night. Our Fresh&Blacks really worked - slept in until late, no issues with heat.

Bands - Rival Sons, Alice in Chains, QotSA, Stone Sour, Jack White, Kaleo, Idles, White Buffalo were fab. David Byrne absolutely outstanding - brilliant performance. NIN amazing, and thank your stewards for letting us run back in for Hurt!!
Nick Cave not as good as I'd hoped and AM were truly dreadful for me - it might be cool to be utterly gone on stage and still sing, but, for me it didn't work.

Overall organisation - fabulous. Glad they were so much more relaxed and organised with security - very sensible and I still felt safe.

Next year it'll be RW v. Glastonbury - they're the same weekend? Even if they're not, my liver can't take both, tried that last year... Both brilliant festivals offering totally different experiences.

 

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Absolutely brilliant weekend. The most well organised festival I've ever been to, had an absolute blast. Stayed in the 2 man tents in the Hive resort. In short...

Pros

- The fantastic lineup delivered. Gorillaz in particular surprising me at how good they were.

- The sound. With the exception of Nick Cave which was bizarrely loud at times, the sound was spot on throughout.

- Watching Belgium beat Brazil in the Slope, incredible atmosphere and really put everyone in a good mood for the rest of the festival.

- The people working at the festival were extremely polite and helpful. 

- The facilities in the Hive resort were very good, plenty of shade, easy to get food/drink/tokens, easy to check in to your tent, never have to walk too far.

- Compared to other festivals, easy to get into Leuven should you want to and so much easier than other festivals trying to leave on Monday, hardly any queue at all.

Cons

- The atmosphere at the gigs. For example, I was right in front of the pit for QOTSA, in the pit for Arctic Monkeys, and the majority of people around me stood with their arms folded and didn't move or sing a word for the entire set. Almost felt embarrassed to sing along.   

- Very minor, but the wait for the showers in the Hive Resort was up to 4 hours at times, luckily you can do your own thing while waiting.

- The English lads in the pit for Arctic Monkeys, chanting football chants in between songs is annoying but totally forgivable, however doing that and not singing a single Arctic Monkeys song and then urinating in their empty beer glasses and throwing them into the pit... what is wrong with these morons? Why can't they be pleasant, why can't they have a laugh? 

Overall a fantastic festival, would definitely go back.

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It's funny how peoples experiences vary so much.

The highlight for me was Gorillaz, slightly biased but everyone else seem to enjoy them and Damon Albarn did a great job interacting with the crowd.

The shuttle bus drop off changed since I went in 2016. That was a hell of a walk back every night but at least I've lost a bit of weight.

The staff all around were brilliant as usual.

I thought Nick Cave sounded awful and had to escape to a quieter spot.

I thought Brandon Flowers had an awful time on stage and it was very cringe so I had to leave early for that one.

The locals are always nice and friendly and nice to interact with them.

The closed off bar near the north west walls was awesome, I camped out there in the shade watching the England game on my phone, funny enough don't remember the rest of that day. Must have gone back to the hotel before Pearl Jam came on.

Rival Sons, Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand in the Barn were amazing with the football going on behind us (and Alex Kapranos giving latest updates), Khalid,  all particular highlights. Sunday was probably my favourite day. George Ezra, Idles, Rone, Parov Stelar, and Artic Monkeys. Couldn't get around the festival quick enough.

Thought Fleet Foxes were a bit boring, was expecting a bit more.

That was my third and probably favourite visit of the festival. I think I'm turning into one of those boring guys that goes back to the same festival/holiday every year, but when it's that good then why the hell not!

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27 minutes ago, lighthouse said:

That's a shame, because the second half of Cave's performance was my highlight of the festival. What a show. The run from 'Red Right Hand - Into My Arms - Girl In Amber - Jubilee Street - Weeping Song - Stagger Lee - Push The Sky Away (!) - Rings Of Saturn' was extraordinary. Only David Byrne and Anderson Paak came close. After seeing Cave I always wonder why other bands don't try as hard as him. Arctic Monkeys suddenly became so dull in comparison. 

Was it From Her To Eternity that made you run away? Because that was the loud one in his set. 

Quite possibly. I've got sensitive ears so I think ear plugs were probably in order for his set-list ?. The rest of the festival didn't seem to bother me, I just have to be a bit aware/careful that they could go at any point, and probably get worse as I get older, probably a bit foolish on my part but you have to have some fun. 

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I’m no big Nick Cave fan admittedly but that performance was one of the greatest of the weekend. Everyone was talking near to where we where, it was so annoying. However, when Jubilee Street’s guitar riff started everyone just shut the fuck up mesmerised. The guitar sounded incredible. I was so impressed by the sound everywhere to be fair.

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On 7/12/2018 at 10:58 AM, GuinnessSupper said:

- The English lads in the pit for Arctic Monkeys, chanting football chants in between songs is annoying but totally forgivable, however doing that and not singing a single Arctic Monkeys song and then urinating in their empty beer glasses and throwing them into the pit... what is wrong with these morons? Why can't they be pleasant, why can't they have a laugh? 

Oh my god, I had the exact same experience and they were total asses during Nick Cave aswell when saying they should keep their mouth shut they started with some slurs.

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For me a great time, was a bit gutted for London Grammer on the Friday evening when Belgium played Brazil, it was like a ghost town until the game finished.

Loved Queens of the Stoneage and having a sing along when Noel started on some of his classic Oasis tracks Little By Little, Wonderwall & Don't look back in anger, but the highlight for me was Saturday afternoon at the Hive Resort for the football England v Sweden, such singing such as your s**t but ya birds are fit was quality, great atmosphere friendly and great fun. Spent half of Sunday at the Jupiler Stage drinking, god did my Liver regret that lol Looking Forward to next year, with RW being the same weekend as Glastonbury, we should get some big headliners playing different days from Glastonbury to RW and Vice Versa, hoping for Metallica, wife hoping for Muse, seems like there is a good chance we will both be pleased.

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Very late summary due to long trip and a dead phone. Great edition overall, god I missed this place after skipping last year. It was too scorching but its always better than rain.  I think it was noticable that this edition didnt sell out, especially on Thursday and Friday. It was great to finally meet @Tremousse and several other people! My top 5 shows were:

Pearl Jam, NIN, Ben Howard, Nick Cave and David Byrne.

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