Jue 14 Ago – Pukkelpop

As a start, I must say that this was the first time me and my friends went to Pukkelpop. We've been in Belgium for other festivals (Groezrock '07 / '08) but as soon as we arrived, we noticed this was way bigger. After waiting for 40 minutes under the rain to get inside the camping, we set our tent in the main street (The Party Block). It was a nice surprise to see that the camping had such facilities as a supermarket, drink & food booths.
There was a welcome party at the Boiler Room, and sure I went there. The light FX were awesome as well as the music, kinda party style electro, those DJs knew how to make people dance like crazy. Soon I realised why it was called the Boiler Room though: A huge load of people, packed like sardins in the tin and dancing like crazy... well it sure makes the temperature rise up!

I had a lot of fun but went to sleep at 2AM so I could be top fit for the festival first day.

THURSDAY

Die! Die! Die!

First band I saw, they seemed to have lots of energy even though playing in front of a small audience who just woke up. The lead singer and guitarist was a crazy frontman. Never heard of them before, but they had like two songs I really liked and they overall performance was nothing bad at all.

Disco Ensemble

Really, being a punk and hardcore fan since a teenager, I really don't see the point on many of these bands coming out today. I heard a lot of positive comments on these guys so I decided to give them a try. Absolutely nothing special to me, even boring. Maybe it'll do the trick to grown up fans of My Chemical Romance, but not for me.

Motek

Some Belgium youngsters who camped next to us recommended this band, so went to the Wablief stage to check 'em out. I expected a lot more, quite frankly, and though they had good skills playing, their style seemed too boring for me. Later our camping neighbours were sorry for such wrong recommendation, the band wasn't up to their standards either.

Danko Jones

It's only rock'n'roll but I like it. They sounded great and with lots of energy on stage as well as playing some of my favourites tracks like My baby hates me or Sticky Situation. Mr. Jones is such a comedian when he's on the stage, acting like he's a really angry guy, by far it was the funniest performance of them all, in part thanks to the audience and their messages on t-shirts and signs.

Uffie

I saw this electro-rapper young lady for the first time at Sonar '07, along with Justice and other artists signed to Ed Banger Records. That night I was out of my mind with such a performance, but this time it was just major crap. This girl is up her own ass since she has become well-known and now she doesn't even try when performing. Came out like 20 minutes after Feadz had started to spin the records, such a poor performance on vocals and after 30 minutes singing she left the stage and Feadz was there alone again trying not to let down the audience. First dissapointment.

Dropkick Murphys

I really wanted to see these guys, I mean, really. But again, another major dissapointment here. The set didn't include many of the band's anthems, and leaving shipping up to boston for last, just gives you and idea on how the set was poorly developed. To make it even worse, sound was awful, there was an absolute lack of punch here... and you really need a punchy sound if you're playing punk-rock. It was more like they had Amy McDonald's desk settings or something. Sorry, I had high expectations on them, but just couldn't feel it.

Pendulum

OK, the Dance Hall was so packed I had to watch this from the outside screen. They played a really nice set including Blood Sugar and Hold Your Color and the band's guitarist have some good skills. I just wished the drums sounded more punchy, as in the end is what really drives you in this type of music. The atmosphere with everybody dancing and going nuts was impressive though.

The Flaming Lips

I really had not any interest on seeing this band, but one of my friends wanted to check them out. Their music seems very boring to me, and I personally think they lack some skills live, specially vocals. How do they solve this? Lots of lights, baloons, confetti, the damn teletubbies on stage... Didn't liked them at all.

The Killers

Time for the first headliners now. The first few songs actually sounded not good at all, I don't know if it was a problem with the sound or they were not confortable playing. Good thing this was quickly solved and soon they sounded right. Really liked all the stage set, with all the lighting and the background. To me they throwed a quite decent performance and the set covered all of their classic anthems as well as their new stuff.


FRIDAY

Girls in Hawaii

I've never heard this band before, but it seems quite a lot of people in Belgium are fond of them. Actually I thought that was a cool name for a band so decided to give 'em a go. I was quite dissapointed indeed, their music is too soft and boring for me so after a while I wasn't paying much attention really.



A Wilhelm Scream

Oh man, I love this band. Real Boston hardcore here. Already saw them at Groezrock this year so I knew this gig would be a sure shot. Lots of energy. It would have been good if the audience was more involved, with harder moshing and sing-alongs, but still it was a nice show and a superb set of songs as none of their anthems was left behind. The Shelter doesn't have the best sound in the world, but it definetely sounded much better and punchy than for example Dropkick Murphys.

Deadmau5

As I'm also into electro and I'm also a DJ myself, I definetely had to check this canadian youngter as I love his records and remixes. He started his performance wearing the infamous mouse head, how funny was that! He made an excellent choice of tracks, including his edit for
Daft Punk which he further remixed live. If they bring this guy over here, people would go crazy on the clubs.

Los Campesinos!

After watching and dancing for about half the Deadmau5's performance, we thought it was mandatory not to miss at least the second half of this welsh band. Being already a fan of ¡Forward, Russia! , You Say Party! We Say Die! and other bands with exclamation marks on their names, I have to say this was just what I expected. Pure pop energy, sweet melodies mixed with intrincate structures and youth crazyness on the stage. Being signed to the same record label as Bloc Party should say enough of the quality of this band.

Does It Offend You, Yeah?

There's been much fuzz about this young band. A couple of singles and their release on french label Kitsune seemed enough to make me curious about them. It was quite a positive surprise, I really liked their cocktail of electro and rock rage... somewhat reminded me to The Cooper Temple Clause. Their attitude on the stage was crazy and sure they drove everyone bouncing, dancing and shaking their asses like they were on fire. The track We Are Rockstars was definitely the highlight of the show.

The Breeders

I had such high expectations with this band, as I like their records and specially for being Kim Deal's band. How wrong could I ever be. Sound at The Marquee was terrible, bass and kick drum volume was way too much, it absolutely overpowered guitars and vocals. I wasn't the only one complaining as many of the people on the front was covering their ears 'cause the bass sounds were so annoying. The performance itself was very boring even for fans, and some of the members have obvious limitations on their skills when performing live. After about 20 minutes I just left as I couldn't stand it anymore.

Blood Red Shoes

I've just heard a couple of songs from them and I first I thought it was one more of those hyped up bands trying to recreate The White Stripes, but that wasn't exactly it. I was pretty impressed with such an intense performance, full of noisy catchy songs. In fact, that girl can play guitar much better than Meg White could ever play drums. Thumbs up for Blood Red Shoes gentlemen!

Tokyo Police Club

Again, another new band that seems to get the attention of the indie crowd. I was definitely not going to stay at the Metallica show, as I only liked them when I was like 14. So I went to Le Chateau which had a great atmosphere for small bands like this. For the way the play and their pressence on their stage, you can tell this is a really young band and probably they've just been playing in small holes 'till now. Don't get me wrong, this isn't bad. It was just great to see a band in their early times, specially 'cause I can tell with a little more experience on the road and a proper management, this band will kick serious ass in the near future. A very promising band and a very funny at the front row.

SATURDAY

The National

I really like these guys on the records. Can't say the same about their live performance after this. One of the things that make The National so special is the lead singer's voice, which in the albums is just nice and mellow. Here he was just screaming the choruses like he was in some punkrock band and on the verses I could hardly understand the lyrics, it sounded like he had a shoe in his mouth while singing. On the other hand I loved the energy and passion the whole band demonstrated on the stage, and the selection of songs in the set largely satisfied the crowd.

Yelle

If you wanna dance to sexy french electro, you can't go wrong with this one. I first knew Yelle because of his track A cause des garçons in the Maison Kitsune Compilation 5. After the Uffie performance I was a little bit scared of this being also crap, but hell no! This lady is such a performer and the live drumming was ace, the Dance Hall crowd was totally off the hook!

Anti-Flag

Time for the Shelter stage now. What can I say? Though I'm not a big fan of their records as I prefer other punk-rock bands, I have to admit they dropped one hell of a gig. Raw energy, melody, hooks, nice sound, crowd pleasing set, audience participation numbers... what more could you ask for? Probably one of the best performances at the Shelter, by far.

As I Lay Dying

Not a fan of them at all, but still decided to come with my friend who actually wanted to see them. Well, their style just isn't my cup of tea, nothing much to say here. just a lot of crowdsufers who actually made more fun for me watching the crowd than the stage.

Junkie XL

90's electronic music had two types of artists. The ones that lead the way, like The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers or Fatboy Slim. And the ones that just followed and imitated. In that second class you can find this dutch guy. Now he's following the electro-pop way. I own some of his records and they're quite ok, but it's nothing new or special. So, performance quickly become dull after a few tracks. Nothing groundbreaking here.

Bloc Party

Alright, we got a really bold band here. I already saw them in Barcelona last autumm, and was a truly amazing performance, so I had extremely high expectations for their show at Pukkelpop. I know festival performances are always quite different than gigs at venues, but still they did the best to keep the same spirit and atmosphere. Of course time is a problem here, and only having an hour to perform, didn't allow the band to further interact with people or make some smart moves like for example the second drum set. Crowd was amazing, to me it was the best crowd in the whole fest. Their quality as performers is out of any doubt and the songs were carefully chosen , though I personally felt sad they didn't play Staying Fat out of their first EP. Simply great, being there just put a big smile on my face.

Sigur Rós

You either love this band or hate it. I love them. And this was the first time I could make it and see them live. Again, I had high expectations on this one. What it's gonna be? Will it sound so good as their records? Their performance cleared out any doubts, as they are not only brilliant composers but amazing musicians. You could feel the sparkle of true genius on every single note they played, as their songs built up by slowly adding layers of intensity and emotion. Truly moving show, the songs were all great and the confetti and lights ending was magic.

We Are Scientists

Well, not much to say about 'em, they sounded ok and have some nice melodies, but none of their songs impressed me that much as to stick in my mind.

Soulwax

Just two words here about this one. Fucking crazy. I've never saw live these Belgium heroes, and they've changed their style so much since their early days that I really didn't know what to expect. They played live just like it was a DJ set, all perfectly blended while keeping the same beat, and that's quite difficult with a live drummer! They played almost every track they've remixed for other artists as well as some of their own. Great set, mind-blowing performance and a crazy crowd. What more can you ask for to end the festival? Oh yes, fireworks!

I wonder if every Pukkelpop is this good every year, 'cause to me its been my best time at a festival ever. I'll take Soulwax words:

PART OF THE WEEKEND NEVER DIES.

Thu 14 Aug – Pukkelpop
I went to Pukkelpop three years ago and I remembered it to be absolutely shit. The line-up wasn't really my thing back then, it kept raining like there would be no tomorrow, we were in a really bloody awful area of the camping, people urinated on our tent. So yeah, it was ASS, really.

After the final day of PP '05 I solemnly had sworn to never return to Kiewit again. I really don't know why I decided to head over this year. It was a rather compulsive decision but I was really anxious to check out some bands I had wanted to check out for a long time (Manic Street Preachers, Editors and Stereophonics spring to mind). So yeah, we arrived pretty early in the morning of the first day and motherfucking hell, the camping area already was crowded as hell. We found us a rather nice and quiet spot near the back of the camping area. After we got all settled, it was time to check out the first bands!

THURSDAY
Triggerfinger: Excellent start of the festival, even one of the best gigs of the day, really. We had to leave early though to ensure us a good place in the Club for the next gig being... 8.5/10
Louis XIV: I didn't know these guys but they played some very decent rock music. A shame they had to break up the atmosphere with some more boring songs where the guitar-driven sound was traded for some pianoing, if that is, in fact, a word. 8/10
Danko Jones: Way too big an ego for the mediocre music he plays. Slagging off other artists is simply not done. I was kind of excited they started YYZ at the end of the gig. 6/10
Serj Tankian: I kind of like System of a Down (yeah, hate me) so I thought Serj would be my cup of tea as well, but I prefer SOAD by FAR. 6/10
Tricky: Again an artist that was chosen by my partner in crime on the festival. Nice going, GP, just like Louis XIV, this was an excellent surprise. 8/10
Editors: I only was familiar with The Back Room but they made a very good impression on me. Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors is way better live. Best gig of the first day. 8.5/10
Roisin Murphy: Checked her a bit out before taking a peek in the weird world of The Flaming Lips (who left me only confused, not bedazzled). She did a pretty good job, better than I had expected. She even treated us to some Moloko. 7/10
The Killers: Major letdown number one. The ONLY major letdown of the festival, really. True, Metallica were being bitches (see below) but they still played one hell of a set whereas The Killers, well, they didn't. A lot of boring Sawdust , and way too many ill stuff. Why slow Smile Like You Mean It down for fuck's sake? Apparently, they have to few good songs to please the crowd as a headliner of a major festival. I don't see them headlining again anytime soon... 5/10

FRIDAY
We were expecting rain on Friday, and lots of it! What we got instead was sunshine, and lots of it! A turn for the better indeed. Didn't plan to see a lot of bands this day so we stayed at the camping site till a good deal in the afternoon, enjoying the sun, the beer and playing some cards. Camping life can be great.

A Brand: When we arrived at the Marquee to see A Brand, the place was really crowded. Could the audience have sensed A Brand would be giving away free champagne at the end of the gig? Anyway, they played a really solid set with a lot of tunes from their new album Judas, which I'm definitely getting. 8,5/10
Stereophonics: One of the bands I listed in my most wanted for Pukkelop '08 and what do you know, they made it to the festival! And they even played like I hoped they would. Dakota and Mr. Writer are such wonderful tunes! 8,5/10
Within Temptation: As Gilles pointed out during the concert: 'she reminds me a bit of Regi from Milk Inc.'. Sharon didn't exactly behave like your average gothic chick, urging the fans to clap their hands. Clapping your hands to metal? That's like jumping to Ramones! Oh, wait. Pretty boring but a fabulous Ice Queen finish, god I love that song! 6/10
Metallica: Last time I saw them (RW '07) they were absolutely amazing. I had the feeling they had the utmost respect for every fan that was cheering for them. Well, turns out I caught them at a good day that time, cause their performance this time around wasn't exactly of the same quality. First of all, they started twenty minutes late, which means they started It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n Roll) twenty minutes late. Which means it takes another 10 minutes for them to actually appear on stage. Second of all, their set wasn't that stellar as last year. They kicked off again with Creeping Death, so I was hoping for more Ride the Lightning and some Master of Puppets but what we got was a lot of Metallica and ...And Justice for All. They also played their new single, Cyanide, which left me really disappointed. The band's behaviour wasn't all that great either, with Lars Ulrich getting enraged with the fans because they didn't cheer hard enough and Hetfield sighing when he *thought* the camera wasn't looking. All they had to do was blast some Ride The Lightning, but they refused. I was happily surprised by Motorbreath being in the encore, though. But after all, even with all this critique, I had a lot of fun during the concert, but they didn't live up to my expectations I had after seeing them last year. 9/10

SATURDAY
Although we were pretty wasted already, we saw loads of bands this day. Here goes!
The Blackbox Revelation: Reminded me a lot of The White Stripes. Probably because the band consists of a guitarist and a drummer. They're both dudes, though. 8/10
Pivot: : There were coming some cool sounds out of the Chateau so we decided to go and take a look. Pivot plays something electronic-like and some songs have Vangelis written all over them. Nice find. 8/10
Fuck Buttons: First-row gigs for the win. Although it took us an hour to regain our hearing abilities, this was something very odd and something very awesome. Think Sonic Youth without the guitar, the drums and Kim Gordon. Just the noise, really. Terrific noise made with a Game Boy, sounds like epic win to me. 8.5/10
A Storm of Light: Whether you call it doom metal, sludge or postrock, you simply can't get around the fact that this is awesome music. Slow as hell and every riff has the impact of a thunderstorm. Nice find again. 8/10
Manic Street Preachers: I have something with Welsh bands. I'm fond of Feeder and I love The Cooper Temple Clause so it doesn't come as a surprise I really like The Manics as well. They played a really good, unpretentious set. They seemed somewhat sad, but I guess that's just the way they are. Oh, and they even covered Umbrella by Rihanna, which was full of win. Other highlights: Motorcycle Emptiness, If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next and A Design for Life. Unlike The Killers, they get it that when you play a festival, you have to play your hits mainly, not some fucked up B-sides. What were they thinking? 9/10
Black Mountain Wolfmother has disbanded but don't worry, there's a group who will take over the 70's rock legacy: Black Mountain. They were highly praised as one of the best live-bands of the moment, but they didn't leave that kind of impression on me. Good, no doubt. But one of the best live-bands around? Go and see Muse, please. 7.5/10
Bloc Party: They left me with the same impression they did last year, although their versions of Helicopter and Flux were totally out of this world. But for me personally, their second album isn't half as good as the first one so they run short on hits to entertain the crowd at it's fullest. There were also some very annoying teenagers who were more interested in their friends and cell phones, than the music. Should've kicked their teeth out, bloody kids. 7.5/10
Neurosis: Whether you call it doom metal, sludge or postrock, you simply can't get around the fact that this is awesome music. Slow as hell and every riff has the impact of a thunderstorm. They bring a little more variety to the table than A Storm of Light, though. 8/10
Sigur Rós: What is it with Iceland and weird music? First you have the Queen of Weirdness Björk and lately, Sigur Ros is making their way to the top of the bill on a lot of festivals. A shame, actually, cause they always have to play the Main Stage that way. They play some very atmospheric music that would be much better enjoyed in a closed space, like the Chateau for instance. But probably they wouldn't been able to fit all the bandmembers on the small stage cause there's around fifteen or so. 'We your help need, you can clap your 'ands?' Sure thing, buddy. 7/10
Soulwax: What. A. Party. Nuff said. 9/10

So yeah, the bad memories from three years ago are completely vanished. The next Pukkelpop probably won't be so epic cause a lot of people that come to the festival every year told me it was truly one of the best PP's they already had witnessed. Go, Chokri!

And for the people who don't like to do math or simply, like me, are bad at counting: here's my personal top 10 for PP '08!

1. Manic Street Preachers
2. Soulwax
3. Metallica
4. Stereophonics
5. Editors
6. Fuck Buttons
7. A Brand
8. Triggerfinger
9. Louis XIV
10. A Storm of Light

Hi,
This is my review of Pukkelpop 2008.
Like always, I went 3 days to this awesome festival. Although, for the first time I didn't went with my friends :O but with my girlfriend ^_^.

We went to the pukkelpop-site on Wednesday afternoon. When we arrived, we immediately had to look for a place to hide for the rain :( After ~10 minutes waiting, it finally stopped raining, so we went further to get our bracelet. :) And finally we went to the camping (where we had to wait for about 40 minutes and 20 minutes later, we were hiding again for the rain. But in our tent this time :D)

Thursday:

Amy Macdonald: We saw here for about 15 minutes. This kind of music isn't really my style of music, though I didn't sound bad. :)

Have Heart: According to the magazine we got at the entrance (Pukkelpop ABC) this band should be hardcore. They weren't bad to be honest. They were great. :) Although I expected that they were a bit 'harder'. :D

Dropkick Murphys: Less than I expected :/ Not bad but not good either. Atleast I'm glad I saw them once. :)

Pendulum: No words to describe this show... Seriously, they were sooooo awesome!! Had a great time over there :)

Thrice: SHIT! :| I didn't like them. Went to my tent due tiredness/being bored.

This was my thursday :D Didn't went to Mish Mash Soundsystem because we fell asleep and didn't woke up on time :(

Friday:

Most boring day for us. Only 2 dj's we wanted to see at the end of the day. Instead of doing nothing, we went to Hasselt :D We've had a nice lunch over there ^_^

Miss Kittin: she's awesome. Too bad, we got bored of the same tone of her voice :(

Boys Noize: AWESOME SHOW! :D

By accident, when we were in the Petit Bazar, we noticed that 'Part Of The Weekend Never Dies' was starting in a few minutes. I really wanted to see this movie/documentary. I really enjoyed this. A bit too long though :)

Saturday:



Plain White T's: Was a nice act. :) Hey There Delialah wasn't really what I expected. :(



Bloc Party: Awesome show. :) Really enjoyed them

Less Than Jake: Only saw 5 song of them. But they were awesome :)

2 Many DJ's: We wanted to check them out, but tooooooo many people there... Didn't got in the Boiler Room.

Simian Mobile Disco: As for as I heard them, they were awesome :D

Soulwax: AWESOME SHOW. Definitely one of the best performance of pukkelpop 2008 in my opinion.


Sunday:

going home :(

Bands I've Seen Live:

Last update: 18/08/2008



I try to do this as complete as possible....

2raumwohnung
A certain sacrifice
Against Your Society
Age Are
Die Ärzte
Back to Basement
Beats'N'Berries
Bloc Party
Bloodtrial
The Borderline (2x)
brasch
Bush
Cave In
Certain Death
Chefetage
Chris Friedrich (2x)
Claus Grabke
Cold Iris
Corvus Corax
Cyrcus (~5x)
Dancing on Debris
Darwin
Day Eleven
Development Disorder (~5x)
The Displacements
Elly The Machinegun
EMMA6 (~5x)
Emscherkurve77
Escapado
Eurythmics
Ex
Exilia
Fettes Brot
Flaming Moustaches (2x)
The Flaming Sideburns
Franz Ferdinand
Furia
Galatea ( >5x)
The Gaslight Anthem
GEM
Gentleman
Geoff Berner
Grenzgänger
Hadg (~5x)
Hi-Jack (2x)
HIM
Indigo
The Infield
Jack the Rocker (2x)
Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue
Justice
Kaizers Orchestra (2x)
Die Kassierer
Die Kaum Unglaublichen
Keane
Kill Kim Novak (2x)
Kingsize
Kings of the Day
KoЯn
Lecker Sachen
Life of Riley
Live
Livin' Milk
longing for tomorrow (>5x)
Lost in Fiction
The Lost Patrol Band
Mad Monroe
Malkovich
Mando Diao
Mash Graft
Masons Arms
Max Herre
Moneybrother
Motorjesus
Muff Potter
Muse
Nash (2x)
Nazi Dogs (2x)
Negative (3x)
NEIN NEIN NEIN
Nesseria
New Noise Crisis
Nosliw
Oasis
Oink!
Pitfall (2x)
Rage Against the Machine
Rammstein
The Rasmus
Rearview
Re-Vision
Rigids (>5x)
The Riots
Room Next Door
rotessa4
Running Man
Ryzn
Sacrin
S/\FF (2x)
Santana
Smile Before Sunset (~3x)
Smoke Blow
Solicitude
Sons and Daughters
[soon]
Springbreak
The Stalkers
Status//Hysterie
Stone Cold Crazy
Stoned Demons
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
Sportfreunde Stiller (3x)
Sting
sucks like monday (2x)
Sugarplum Fairy
susp.act
The Tea Party
Tin Whistle
Tocotronic
Tomte
Die Toten Hosen
Uncommon men from Mars
Under The Pledge Of Secrecy
Union Youth
UnXpected
Voltaire
Winson
Wir sind Helden
The World/Inferno Friendship Society

Thu 14 Aug – Pukkelpop

Day 1:

Kaizers Orchestra
5th time I saw them actually! So yes, they're completely awesome live, but this really was a festival set: no new songs, just their greatest hits.

A Mountain Of One
Their video projections will give me nightmares, seriously. The music wasn't really bad either.

Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong
Stupid name, fairly crappy music, but I enjoyed the gay dancing.

Amy Macdonald
She likes the Killers, so I hate her! Nah I'm kidding. No, it wasn't bad, not my thing, but I enjoyed relaxing in front of the main stage

SoKo
Absolutely rubbish gig (she kept messing up, forgetting lyrics, giggling in the middle of a song), but I loved it. I still have to leave a message on her myspace saying "I'm single too!"

Little Dragon
Nice trip-hop music...which means I almost fell asleep.

Dirty Pretty Things
Again, I'm not a fan, but this gig was quite good.

Menomena
Some good songs, especially the more drum-driven ones, but I didn't stay the entire gig.

Part of the weekend never dies
Yes, I went to the cinema! This was a Soulwax tour movie of sorts. It was fun to watch this with a crowd. Some really fun moments. Conclusion: I'm so happy I'm not them, all this touring and whatever would completely destroy me. They must be on some heavy drugs.

Tricky
Only saw the last couple of songs, didn't really convice me.

Ian Brown
I liked this, but it would have been better to put it later on the day. 6PM on a very sunny day isn't really the time for melancholic music.

Hot Chip
Their albums didn't really convince me, but live, they're great. Ready for the floor is awesome of course. And they did a cover of Nothing compares 2 U. Weird, but great!

SebastiAn
I felt like more dancing (and avoiding Editors, having seen them once too many already), so to the Boiler Room I went! And he was great. He played Daft Punk - Rollin' & Scratchin' , and for that he's one of my favourite DJ's ever.

Roisin Murphy
I got quite close to the stage, but sorta wish I hadn't, because everyone there was simply waiting for The Killers. Boring. Still had a good time, although her performance wasn't as good as the one she gave in the AB last year.

The Flaming Lips
Saw them 2 months ago, this was exactly the same show, only a bit shorter. I have to be honest and say I can't stand the main guy ("c'mon guys, c'mon, c'mon motherfuckers, c'mon! c'mon!" between every damn song), but they obviously have some great songs (Do you realise, Yoshimi, Yeah yeah yeah song) and a good show.

The Killers
Not a fan, and especially not a fan of their fans! (see above) But I actually enjoyed their performance, especially the slower parts (Sam's town). I still didn't stay the entire gig, but I can understand people loving them.

Day 2:

Lightspeed Champion
Started 10 minutes too late (unforgivable!), but they get bonus points for having a female drummer. And the music really wasn't bad at all. And anyone playing the Star Wars theme can't be bad.

Girls in Hawaii
Really one of the best belgian bands around.

Michael Franti & Spearhead
I think I've seen them several times before, because I recognised a few songs! Michael Franti is such a hippie though. But a great guy. You have to see them at least once in your life.

The Dø
Pretty good. Good vocalist, and On my shoulders is a great song.

Los Campesinos!
I think everyone who saw them can describe the gig with one of their song titles: You! Me! Dancing!

Foals
Not bad, not bad at all!

Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Didn't really do anything for me. Was expecting more from them.

Tim Vanhamel
I'm not familiar with his solo stuff, but it sounded quite good. Much, much softer than Millionaire, but that's not a bad thing.

Robyn
One of the pleasant surprises of the festival for me. Good performance, great voice, and With every heartbeat was so good, really.

Erol Alkan
Not my thing at all.

The Breeders
Only saw a short bit of this, but it didn't sound too bad.

Within Temptation
Another band I seen too many times already (they seem to be at PP every damn year!), but I have to admit I actually like Mother earth and Ice queen. Go ahead, make fun of me.

Blood Red Shoes
Great gig, I'm happy I chose them over Alphabeat.

Metallica
Not a fan (how many times have I said this already in this review?), but they somewhat entertained me. Fire geisers, wooo!!!! I planned to see them for an hour or something, but they started 20 minutes late so I only stayed half an hour longer.

Day 3:

Lykke Li
Yum. Really the best music I heard at the festival. Her performance wasn't that great or anything, but she has a good band, who played a lot of instruments. All the hits sounded great as well.

The Whip
Opening with Daft Punk - Prime time of your life raises exceptations that no-one can fulfill. Sorry guys, you ruined it for yourself.

Late of the Pier
Then this was a lot better, much more varied, and the main guy reminded me of Courtney from Dandy Warhols at times.

The National
Another hyped band, while they really just looked and sounded like Editors minus piano plus saxophone. Start writing your hatemail now!

Yelle
This was supposed to be my lol gig of the festival, and it still was most of the time, but then that super-awesome version of A cause des garçons kicked in. It was like Justice suddenly took over.

Plain White T's
Now this was the lol gig of the festival! I had so much fun laughing with the lyrics of "write you a love song" or something, and the singer saying "this one is for the girls!" Well duh, I don't think you have any male fans.

Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip
"does anyone here like hip hop? You do? Don't bother, it's all rubbish!" I don't like hip hop, but I did like this performance. Thumbs up.

MGMT
Too damn crowded -_- And they did a really really short gig compared to that at Werchter. Hmm. And let's be honest here: they have some great songs (Time to pretend, Electric feel, kids) but live, they're really not that great.

Manic Street Preachers
I only know one song, and they actually played it right at the end: If you tolerate this, your children will be next. Respect, they were far better live than I thought.

The Dresden Dolls
Where did all the people go? They were seriously missing out, because Dresden Dolls did another great performance. As always, really.

Bloc Party
Another main stage artist I ended up enjoying, what the hell? I saw them a couple of years ago in the club, and didn't really like them, but now they were quite good. Kele must have had "how to become a good frontman" lessons since the last gig.

Jamie Lidell
What a sexy party this was. I danced, and if there were any single girls around me, I would've so impressed them with my sensual dancing. Really! But seriously, I enjoyed this gig so, so much.

Simian Mobile Disco
And thanks to Jamie being so great, I missed most of this. No regrets, this sounded good but also very cliché, it was like The Whip was playing again, exactly the same.

2 Many DJ's
I heard Fischerspooner - Emerge, and cursed myself for not wearing my Fischerspooner t-shirt haha. There were far too many people there, gah.

Dr. Lektroluv
Which is why I only stayed about 20 minutes for this. And the sound was pretty horrible too. I only really recognised Dance en france (Fischerspooner, again), the rest just sounded all the same. Yuck. Still buying the album of this set though, I'm a Lektroluv fanboy, believe it or not.

We Are Scientists
Saw them earlier this year, and they're really not that bad. Highly unoriginal of course, but still entertaining.

Soulwax
meh.

Crystal Castles
meh.

Elbow
Crap, I only realised I was tired of all the dance stuff when I stumbled into the marquee to see this. Only saw the last 10 minutes, wish I saw more.


Conclusion: there weren't that many personal highlights for me, but overall, it was another great edition. I mean, you can complain about not having enough real headliners and all that, but Pukkelpop always has more than enough great bands. You just have to keep an open mind and explore (not like those overly static The Killers and Metallica fans).

This is also the first year that the weather was this great. Wow. And probably also the first year they only had 1, yes, one cancellation during the festival. This was my 6th year, and other years had far more cancellations and crap.

So, chances of me being at Pukkelpop 2009: high.

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tem365/sets/72157606420791046/

LW TW WI Artist - Title [Chart History]
=======
01 01 02 Biffy Clyro - Mountains [1-1]
02 02 06 Bloc Party - Mercury [2-3-1-1-2-2]
07 03 06 Gabriella Cilmi - Save The Lies (Good To Me) [24-21-20-10-7-3]
03 04 07 Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl [23-11-10-8-6-3-4]
08 05 04 The Pigeon Detectives - Everybody Wants Me [50-17-8-5]
11 06 04 Santogold - Lights Out [22-14-11-6]
09 07 05 The Ting Tings - Great DJ [13-9-8-9-7]
04 08 09 Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down [34-31-24-14-11-7-3-4-8]
17 09 08 The Last Shadow Puppets - Standing Next To Me [37-30-27-18-14-16-17-9]
05 10 08 CSS - Left Behind [27-18-10-5-3-2-5-10]
=======
16 11 05 Sharleen Spiteri - All The Times I Cried [31-16-15-16-11]
06 12 11 MGMT - Electric Feel [12-2-2-2-3-3-4-5-7-6-12]
10 13 09 The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name [30-17-7-6-1-2-5-10-13]
19 14 04 Sam Sparro - 21st Century Life [46-24-19-14]
13 15 14 Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes [50-33-25-13-10-4-3-1-1-2-6-9-13-15]
18 16 04 Jason Mraz - I'm Yours [26-20-18-16]
ne 17 01 Duffy - Stepping Stone [17]
14 18 07 The Ting Tings - Shut Up And Let Me Go [19-8-6-4-4-14-18]
12 19 15 Madonna - Give It 2 Me [2-1-3-4-2-3-1-1-5-7-8-10-11-12-19]
21 20 07 Estelle - American Boy (Featuring Kanye West) [31-30-28-18-21-21-20]
=======
15 21 08 Black Kids - Hurricane Jane [38-39-34-24-12-12-15-21]
28 22 03 Noah and the Whale - 5 Years Time [42-28-22]
25 23 02 The Fratellis - Look Out Sunshine! [25-23]
30 24 02 The Zutons - What's Your Problem [30-24]
33 25 02 The Verve - Love Is Noise [33-25]
ne 26 01 Mystery Jets - Half In Love With Elizabeth [26]
20 27 09 We Are Scientists - Chick Lit [39-23-22-17-14-11-13-20-27]
22 28 10 Coldplay - Viva La Vida [5-3-4-2-4-7-13-18-22-28]
23 29 11 Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma [36-22-13-6-6-5-9-15-19-23-29]
46 30 05 Giusy Ferreri - Non Ti Scordar Mai Di Me [50-47-47-46-30]
=======
24 31 19 Sara Bareilles - Bottle It Up [11-5-5-5-6-3-4-8-10-11-8-10-12-16-15-19-25-24-31]
27 32 16 Foals - Red Socks Pugie [15-12-7-5-5-6-9-10-12-17-23-27-25-28-27-32]
31 33 16 Coldplay - Violet Hill [1-1-2-1-2-1-1-5-7-9-15-19-24-26-31-33]
26 34 10 Portishead - The Rip [12-9-5-4-9-12-17-23-26-34]
32 35 12 The Kooks - Shine On [10-8-8-11-16-21-26-29-28-29-32-35]
29 36 15 Feeder - We Are The People [13-10-7-7-4-7-7-9-8-12-17-21-22-29-36]
40 37 06 Rihanna - Take A Bow [46-47-45-45-40-37]
35 38 11 The Pigeon Detectives - This Is An Emergency [39-35-23-18-10-13-16-23-27-35-38]
36 39 02 Rihanna - Disturbia [36-39]
39 40 07 Ne-Yo - Closer [48-43-42-35-30-39-40]
=======
37 41 17 Adele - Cold Shoulder [7-4-4-6-6-6-7-14-19-20-27-28-33-34-34-37-41]
47 42 18 Pete Murray - You Pick Me Up [42-35-31-24-17-12-11-11-16-18-21-26-32-34-36-38-47-42]
ne 43 01 The Automatic - Steve McQueen [43]
38 44 13 R.E.M. - Hollow Man [17-17-17-15-14-22-38-41-41-37-37-38-44]
44 45 15 Phantom Planet - Do The Panic [41-26-22-19-18-19-24-28-33-38-39-39-40-44-45]
34 46 10 OneRepublic - Say (All I Need) [38-26-14-13-18-20-27-31-34-46]
43 47 19 MGMT - Time to Pretend [38-1-1-2-3-4-8-9-14-17-22-29-35-37-37-41-43-43-47]
41 48 08 Martha Wainwright - You Cheated Me [32-25-22-23-31-33-41-48]
ne 49 01 Until June - Sleepless [49]
45 50 12 Sigur Rós - Gobbledigook [3-3-4-6-8-11-19-25-30-35-45-50]
=======


out this week...
Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet About Me [35-24-9-7-7-13-19-22-32-38-43-50 // 48-43-36-33-32-29-32-42]
Weezer - Pork and Beans [44-28-20-20-17-15-14-21-26-33-36-48]
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - Keep Singing Out [31-28-28-25-30-29-35-36-40-41-49]
Ben's Brother - Carry On [40-28-19-15-20-22-32-39-50]