Monday, July 03, 2006

Pinkpop 2006 report and more..

Yes, it HAS been a long time.
The reason was pretty simple: I was busy inserting data for my thesis. I had 36 catagories to fill in, and each took me at minimal 5 hours. So it took me almost a month to finish it. Now it's finished, and now I can finally give you a nice overview of me great visit of Pinkpop 2006!

It all started on friday night, when I traditionaly started to pack my bagpack with
the necessary stuff to survive for three days in a tent. So in general some clean underwear, noodles and of course toiletpaper.

Saturday morning I got up at 5:00am to go to my cousin's girlfriend's place, becuase that would be the meeting-place for the whole group. We were with a lot of people
compared to Lowlands last year..which really was nice: the more people, the more fun.

So we were already standing in line at the camping-place at 6:30. There are several terrains where you can put your tent, and this would be my first year
on camping A. This camping is a lot closer to the festival terrain..and for such lazy people as myself..this was also pretty nice :)

After putting up my tent (which took an awfull long time to do properly; I forgot to "connect" the outer-tent with the fraime..which made the outer-tent move completely out of position when I put in the..euh..those sticks..hehe), I finally went to the festival terrain to enjoy some good music. And what did I see?


Saturday: The Dresden Dolls - Good performance, great band. Only bad thing was that they were playing on the main stage..as the opening act. They should have played it the tent though..late in the evening! The drummer was drumming very tight..and she was also singing very nicely. Coin-operated boy was especially a great song.

Nelly Furtado - Not bad..but the songs missed the rich sound they have on the cd. She also had an extra dancer..just for dancing..pretty annoying and not really necessary?

Alize - Dutch funk band. Not original..but what they did..they did well. Was under the impression that the singer had a bit of stagefright.

Paul Weller - A legend so it seems..since he played in an old band called The Jam. During the performance I found out that I knew two songs of him. He was clearly having fun in performing, and when the band is having fun..the public also has fun.

Admiral Freebee - belguim neil young. Thanks to a very tight rythm-section (bass and drums), Tom van Laere (the lead singer), only neede to repeat one key to bring the public into extacy. I heard a bit of a rocking Neil Young in his music..and I like a rocking Neil Young..so I loved this performance. Be sure to get "Einstein Brain" or "Bad Year for Rock'n'Roll".

Sunday:

The Zutons. A british band with a twist: They have a female sax-player. I liked the sounds of this bands debute album from 2002 or something..and I was glad to see them live now. It's just a fun little band that makes swingin` music. Pressure point was in my opinion the best song of the set. The sound in general was also good and I really enjoyed their performance..(and the sax-player ;))

Danko Jones - Again a highlight. Straight-forward rock without any bitching or moaning. Danko was in great shape at the mini-stage (had he called it), and I wonder of anybody at the mainstage could here us scream when Danko ordered is to do it (to let those people now what they were missing out on). The audience was great and he again made some funny comments. I`ve got his album We Sweat Blood..which is great..but the songs from his latest album are a bit too weak...and soft.

Tool. Never ever had I listened to any of there music and I only new them by reputation. Every reason to go in the left-front space at the mainstage to see this band performing from close-by. This was definitly the best performance on Pinkpop 2006. Since this was the first time I was listening to Tool for longer than five minutes, I was pleasantly surprised by the changes in temp and the complex drumming. Keenan was an impressive appearance, although he was standing at the background. Which was actually nice, because now the bass and guitar player were at the center of attention.

Monday

(It was very..very..very..busy this day..and my face also had a very nice sunbrun. Most of my time I was thus standing at the John Peel stage (a tent). Which wasn`t too bad because the best bands were coming there anyway.)

Living Things - Nice rock. If Mike Jagger would die now, the Stones would have a perfect (identical) replacement in the singer of this band. He looked like, sang like and moved like Sir Dagger. Some songs even looked a lot like the songs of the Stones. Not very original, but still a good performance.

Jamie Lidell Band - Creative, very creative. Was playing with his sampler which somehow resulted in a few beautiful songs. Also the drummer (who sometimes missed the beat) and the pianist (nice gloves) were in good shape. Jamie also has a great voice. I think this person can become pretty big and will whipe of the Cullums and Coldplays from the stage.

The Flaming Lips - Lead singer already checked out the stage for posibilities before Jamie Lidells set. This band knows how to give a good musical, as well a visual performance. Seeing the Flaming lips is not only listening, it truly is an experience. Only those big yellow balls started to irritate me, especially after I got a fist of my completely-stoned British neigbour in my face a few times when she was trying to hit it. But you cannot be angry on her for long with such beautiful music. Race for the prize is my favorite. Best opening song ever.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
two seperate reviews here..one for the

Security - What an assholes. Keeping the gate closed of the left-front space, and claiming for half an hour that the space is completely full. Which was a lie. This certainly didn`t stop the people from pushing. At a certain moment they actually started to pull people away from the back..and so the atmosphere was pretty negative. If they just opened the gate after the last act had finished, there would not have been any problems.

Performance - I was standing in line for an hour, got removed by the security, got back in a decimated line after 5 minutes and got a brilliant spot to see the band (cos the gates did open).

The performance as good, but below expectations. Personally, I would like to have heard some more older and harder numbers. When they played these old songs the crowd wnet wild (woohoo)..but most of the time the played the newer..slower material (boeh!).

Still...at least I can say I`ve seen the Peppers. And I even got a nice picture to prove it (will be posted later).


The rest..well..nothing was stolen from me..Wallace & Grommit and the curse of the WereRabbit was a great film..and the company around me was also great.

Now waiting patiently for the Eagles of Death Metal in the Effenaar at the end of August..