19 Aug 2008, 10:08
by Indy44
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
Fuck Buttons
Magyar Energia by Einstürzende Neubauten from The Jewels [Potomak, 2008]
