Rock Werchter 2017

[Gossard]

I don't know what these people are smoking.....
http://www.humo.be/rock-werchter/379759/dit-was-rock-werchter-2017-de-reviews-en-de-sterren

[Tremousse]

We're back home. It was a kick-ass edition. Satisfied by the weather, we had a great time, one of my favourite editions. The line-up was truly insane. We missed the beginning of the festival because our train Thalys had a problem, so it arrived 1h30min late and we arrived for Prophets of Rage.

We were a group of 4 (all French) in The Hive (G12). 

We. All. Had. A. Blast.

For the shows in the Barn and Klub C we had diverisified spots, and for main stage we were in general just behind the pit, cause it's always the best spot (people sing, dance, mosh etc).

We had two favs : Foo Fighters and Pretenders. Pretenders gave a demonstration of the most elementary rock'n'roll, without any light show or something. The atmosphere only increased in craziness at each song. What a surprise! They were the most experienced band and we understood why.

Our other highlights were :

System Of A Down

Linkin Park (huge surprise for me, I had bad echoes of friends at Download and Hellfest, but we all absolutely loved it. The crowd was insane. And the members of the band were very close to their fans, we enjoyed that. We're not fans of their music or anything but we had goosebumps during In The End)  

Dropkick Murphys as always

Jain (she put the biggest jumping crowd)

Prophets of Rage killed it.

Thanks to @thetechi we choosed Rag'N'Bone Man instead of Lumineers... And... Thank you mate. We were nearly to cry during Skin. Skin was our most emotionnal and favourite moment. Absolutely fantastic.

We also loved enormously Arcade Fire, (The) Seasick Steve (Box Revelation), Blues Pills (we have a link to this band, the guitarist was in high school with a member of my team), Nothing But Thieves, Imagine Dragons, we loved to say " I hate you and I wish you could die" to my jury of teachers contest with Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, Kodaline were great (but we think they can be even better), I'm too biased to judge Rateliff because I'm a fan (we went cra, proof at 3:19 on this video, we are the 3 guys jumping, one of us has the fox hat : http://vod.rockwerchter.be/?language=nl&mediaId=35133 )

Each time the music was not our tastes we managed to turn it to great moments. That was the case for exemple for Charlie XCX (she played her biggest tunes at the beginning, so we stayed and left for Kodaline, we loved it). We also jumped during Rae Sremmurd. Kings of Leon had bass problems during the first six songs so it didn't help, and people were a bit biased before the show with negative opinions. Luckily we found fans from Russia and had a great time. They have a rythm and songs which allow to have fun even if they are not very talkative and have sound troubles. It was a mistake to put Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon in that order. Both would have been better if they changed it. Also we were chilling in the grass and then dancing with alcohol during Alt-J, and we finally liked it (even if it was one of our least enjoyed performances). Oh and we also loved Tamino and lost it during Slowdive just by closing the eyes and shake our heads.

Among all these bands we saw, we were only disappointed by one band, and left the show after 6 songs, I join @Gossard on it : Radiohead. Outside the pit the atmosphere was shitty (and the experimental Radiohead tracks turned the joy of people to silence, but not the silence like Editors put last year, not this transcendental silence, not even this silence when you just love the music and applause at the end. People didn't applause that much..), the setlist was too orientated for the fans, and even if I love the band (They are among the rare bands I shared videos on this page), the disappointment was crual. I prefered chicken burger to Radiohead. We went to the slope to listen to the rest of the show after the basslines of Charlotte De Witte, and even with that we didn't enjoy a lot. Kings of Leon were criticized because of being non-talkative, but what about Radiohead x) 

Anyway, the number of outstanding performances in that festival was very high this year. A regret was that we couldn't see Lorde and Soulwax cause it was too crowded. But this regret is so small compared to all the memories and great times we had, awesome people we met... By the way I can see some people who say some of Belgian were racists with French blablabla. In four editions, I have never found any disrespectful people and have always been welcome. Werchter people are awesome. We had a beautiful and adorable neighbourhood too. This time we were too lazy to recycle so we spent a lot of money.

(SORRY I WRITE TOO MUCH)

Last things I want to say : - we were in all the mosh pits/circle pits except during Foo Fighters cause the one we entered at the beginning seemed dangerous, there was a dangerous man pushing people who wanted to escape and I was about to fall because of him, and he made someone fall but fortunately he was immediately helped despite the night..

- the dancers in the final SOAD pit were stunning, what a WTF situation btw with the pink floyd saved.

- MOST OF ALL : What a guitar edition. In that order, guitarists of Pretenders, Blues Pills, Prophets of Rage, The Night Sweats, System of a Down and Rag'N'Bone Man were fantastic. That was ROCK WERCHTER. 

Otherwise, I created a dance of wellies which had a good success in The Hive parties. Sorry but I broke the flush in one of the toilets letting a big poop behind me. 

-- I STOP HERE -- 

---> AMAZING week-end. I think I'll be back next year again.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Tremousse

[ThijsDB]

43 minutes ago, Gossard said:

I don't know what these people are smoking.....
http://www.humo.be/rock-werchter/379759/dit-was-rock-werchter-2017-de-reviews-en-de-sterren

Some good stuff apparently because I agree with most of it (except Arcade Fire, who didn't give their best performance ever)!

[Nicklord]

Arcade Fire were worse than when I saw them back in 2011. Looked like cheaper version of that set and they played like 3 different songs

[Tremousse]

I want to add one thing : recycling is good for saving money, but not optimal for ecology. RW should change to ecocups, with a caution money of 1€; and keep recycling for cartons. It would make the field cleaner and prevent from the burning places tradition at the end of the festival.

[BlockRockinBeats]

My top 5: Prophets of Rage, Foo Fighters, Frank Carter, SOAD and Royal Blood.

Notable mentions for Nothing But Thieves, Beth Ditto, Savages, Seasick Steve and Dropkick Murphys.

Dissapointments: Nathaniel Rateliff, Blink-182, KOL, Linkin Park, The Kills.

All in all thought the music was decent, though I couldn't get my head around how made people were going mad for the Jupiler bar in the North West Walls. 

Really enjoyed the new bar which sold Kriek, Leffe and Karmaliste. 

Also new bus routes worked well, barely seemed to take any time to get back to Leuven and didn't really queue for a bus at all. 

[Red Day]

I love reading other peoples reviews. Shows how a massive variety of tastes can all enjoy a weekend watching different stuff.

Im a massive Radiohead fan and totally loved them but can understand why others found it drab.

Great weekend and a very good line up.

The worst band for me was Linkin Park. I've seen them before and although not a massive fan couldn't believe how bad I thought they were. Conversely my mate thought they were great.

[Gossard]

3 hours ago, ThijsDB said:

Some good stuff apparently because I agree with most of it (except Arcade Fire, who didn't give their best performance ever)!

Arcade Fire 5* - They were very good in my opinion but nowhere near that good.
Radiohead 4,5*  - In my opinon they were awful, just horrific. We were a group of 45 people and there were just 7 of us who stuck trough their hole set. I tried watching again today on RWTV and it was just as bad as I remembered.
Mark Lanegan 4* - I'm a huge Lanegan fan and I've seen him quite a few times but his shows are quite dull. He has an amazing voice but that's about it.
System of a Down 3,5* - In my opinion they were insane, by far the best band of the weekend.
Linkin Park 2* - In my opinion they were one of the best acts of the weekend.
Frank Carter 1,5* - I really enjoyed Frank Carter and thought they gave a very solid performance.
Imagine Dragons 1* - Like LP, they were one of the best acts of the weekend in my opinion.

But as always when we talk about music there are different tastes...each to his own I guess
 

Edited July 4, 2017 by Gossard

[marinerbk]

Had a really great festival, despite my frustration with security and organisation at the start of the weekend, and the generally ridiculously food and drink prices!

Highlights were Foos, Lorde, Warpaint, SOAD, Royal Blood. Really enjoyed Arcade Fire too despite the crowd being asleep, like they were for most of the main stage bands. 

[thetechi]

42 minutes ago, BlockRockinBeats said:

Dissapointments: Nathaniel Rateliff, Blink-182, KOL, Linkin Park, The Kills.

 

Completely agree with @Red Day about the diverse tastes.

I'm so surprised you were disappointed with Nathaniel! I really thought he and the band put 100% into their show!

[thewayiam]

7 hours ago, alexlloyd said:

Got back late last night, great festival, I'd say the best I've been to and assuming the line up is as good as it's been the last few years I'll be returning in 2018.

Top 5 - Prophets of Rage, Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire, System of a Down, Seastick Steve

Biggest Surprise - SOAD, it's a bit heavier than what I normally listen to but I really enjoyed it, Rag n Bone Man was also very good in The Barn, which is such a nice stage.

Biggest Disappointment - Radiohead/Kings of Leon, wasn't expecting anything from Radiohead anyway as I don't like them but no crowd interaction, no Creep/High and Dry and going off half an hour early was worse than I expected. Kings of Leon are on this because they're probably one of the bands I was most excited to see, but I had to look back through the line up today to remember I'd even seen them.

 

Does anyone know where's a good place to buy merch from after the festival? I was hoping to buy a t-shirt with the line up on the back there but was told on the Friday none of them had the line up, I've had a bit of a look but can't see any official outlets online.

I'm not shocked by the Radiohead/KOL dull shows but I am shocked people go to see who they know they don't like?, KOL are the most going through the motions band around these days and on the time status....despite the bands given time they aren't obliged to play that whole length.

6 hours ago, thetechi said:

We had an absolute blast of a weekend - cheers to anyone I met over the weekend who I didn't realise was on here.

I've been to very many festivals and this one really is special.
I agree with the comments already made and for me, the very beginning and end were a complete shambles but everything in between was wonderful.

Negatives first: 

The Hive Camping on the Wednesday made everyone stressed and there seemed to be a total lack of organisation, other than a couple of security members telling everyone off. Likewise for The Hive parking, despite arriving early, we were told to park right at the back, further back than many who arrived after us resulting in us waiting in the car park for well over 2 1/2 hours yesterday and missing our ferry even though we'd factored in plenty of time. We could have been out so much quicker if it hadn't been for lack of car park stewards resulting in people driving around the fields/ cutting in the queues wherever they could. 

I also have to agree with the disappointingly unenthusiastic crowds comment - but only for some of the bands. The crowds for SOAD and a couple of others were amazing but for bands like Foos there was no energy at all - spoiling the set somewhat for me. 

- Kings of Leon.
 

Positives:

- The almost perfect festival weather, despite the weather warnings pre-festival
- Lovely, lovely crowd. Despite being unenthusiastic for some, everyone seemed so friendly!!
- Some outstanding sets - SOAD, Passenger, Imagine Dragons, Nathaniel Rateliff and Foo Fighters being my top 5
- A great lineup in general
- One of the most efficient bars I have ever seen at a festival. Never had to queue even in busy times
- Some of the nicest toilets I've seen at a festival 

 

Overall, I was VERY impressed with pretty much everything and do hope I can attend in 2018!

The parking sounds horrific, who let's people arrive early for absolutely no reason!, this is one of the main reasons I'd never entertain Bonnaroo in America in a time when I might have.

6 hours ago, jonnytee1 said:

Not that i like to pick things apart but 

1) System are System  - it was a great set but in my opinion there were classic tacks that could have been played rather than hear one too many of Darons slower tracks - where were science? Forest? Revenga but to name a few.

2) Cant really pick at this one  - amazing set

3) Foos were great but to me they just dragged out so many songs for 10 minutes and could have played a lot more

4) Don't get me started on Linkin Park - what has happened to them? Awful would be too kind a word 

5) Cant pick at this one either.

I do not understand your view of Radiohead. I think that both in terms of albums and as a live band they are heads and shoulders above other bands. If you had said Blink 182, then i would have agreed. They were terrible. 

All in all though some amazingly good performances over the weekend  - my top one goes to Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes!

Same thing with Foo's happened at Glasto, I still enjoyed it but it stopped it being probably the best set of the weekend and comign a bit below. LP is said below

1 hour ago, Red Day said:

I love reading other peoples reviews. Shows how a massive variety of tastes can all enjoy a weekend watching different stuff.

Im a massive Radiohead fan and totally loved them but can understand why others found it drab.

Great weekend and a very good line up.

The worst band for me was Linkin Park. I've seen them before and although not a massive fan couldn't believe how bad I thought they were. Conversely my mate thought they were great.

I can see from looking at the setlist why the Linkin Park show wouldn't have been great, there isn't a chance I'd pay £60/70 for them now.

[neacaisa]

First of all, i don't know who deleted the loners camp threa, i would have made this post on that one as it was more suited there.

i want to thank all the guys involved in the whatsapp group and the camp we made on the hive: ryan and paddy for stepping in at the right time and organizing the whole thing and all the other guys i met and spend a lot of time at the shows and in the camp: will, cath, alex, bogdan, johnny, james and jess, ishan and his buddies, matt, silviu, bogdan, dave, mario, mustafa, josh. I hope i haven't forgotten anybody.

I recommend the whole loners camp experience to anybody that really wants to do a festival but has no other friends willing to commit. If you have the opportunity, do it, you won't regret it.

I will come back tommorrow with a detailed review of the festival itself.

[AAlex]

1 hour ago, thewayiam said:

I'm not shocked by the Radiohead/KOL dull shows but I am shocked people go to see who they know they don't like?, KOL are the most going through the motions band around these days and on the time status....despite the bands given time they aren't obliged to play that whole length.

Admittedly KoL are a better 'most disappointed' example as I actually went into the festival looking forward to seeing them and listen to their records in my own time. But with only three stages my only other options for Radiohead were Oscar and The Wolf, for which I'd have probably have had to miss James Blake to get in to, or Charlotte De Witte on my own.

 

The positives greatly overshadowed the minor negatives though, I thought it was a great festival. Even once the festival was done they had a continuous run of shuttle buses constantly getting people into Leuven which I was very impressed with, got down the queue much quicker than expected.

Couple of things to learn from if I come again next year, will definitely do The Hive but turn up before the gates open to avoid any trouble finding a spot, would probably take the Eurostar instead of flying as a friend who came a day late did that and found it a lot easier particularly with tents/bags... and I wouldn't drink so many Jupiler on the Saturday night that I couldn't physically drink on the Sunday

Edited July 4, 2017 by alexlloyd

[jonnytee1]

17 hours ago, Gossard said:

I don't know what these people are smoking.....
http://www.humo.be/rock-werchter/379759/dit-was-rock-werchter-2017-de-reviews-en-de-sterren

Did anyone other than me actually see Benjamin Clementine? The tent was packed so some people obviously did  - he was IMMENSE!!

[ThijsDB]

33 minutes ago, jonnytee1 said:

Did anyone other than me actually see Benjamin Clementine? The tent was packed so some people obviously did  - he was IMMENSE!!

The tent was really not that packed, maybe 70-80% filled but yeah I was there as well. In the beginning it was a bit of an awkward set imo but after a while it became better and I had a great time

[Gossard]

4 minutes ago, ThijsDB said:

The tent was really not that packed, maybe 70-80% filled but yeah I was there as well. In the beginning it was a bit of an awkward set imo but after a while it became better and I had a great time

Worthy of 5* in your opinion?

[ThijsDB]

58 minutes ago, Gossard said:

Worthy of 5* in your opinion?

Not really  But maybe I just didn't understand it... As you already said: each his own taste

[lemons]

Negatives:

*Crowd seemed to suck the life out of bands with a few commenting on the lack of reception. Don't understand the rush to get to the front to just stand there and look bored out of your mind. (They weren't waiting for another band as they left after and this also happened with headliners.) Some seemed annoyed that people would jump around and sing :/ I had to find pockets of people that were even just moving during Arcade Fire,Foos,SOAD, Jimmy Eat World! Almost felt like I was a pest for dancing to some of my favourite bands! Odd experience.

 

*Took over an hour to get into festivalpark on the first day. A free for all with queues with no staff directions or barriers. Slightly eased the rest of the days but barriers for day tickets might have been easier as combitickets would already know what to do at security. Also more visible signage for men and women queues to avoid the crush just before the bag search.

 

*Having to be in the Barn or KlubC at least 30 mins before at the risk of being locked outside was a pain however to be fair the screens and speakers outside were a welcome addition.

*Guys pissing in cups in a crowd. At least use a bottle with lid if absolutely necessary. No one wants your piss all over their legs or feet -animals!

 

Positives

*Great line-up and enjoyed seeing people I knew nothing about Frank Carter and Benjamin Clementine.

*Toilets always clean, had toilet roll and never waited more than 5 minutes even at busy times.

*Hive Resort facilities were great. Hot water access and hot plates for quick meals/coffee. Free showers with a ticket queuing system avoided chaos Nice food area behind bar for a breakfast treat.

*Sound quality was generally good and was nice to sit on the grass at the back when the legs gave up and still hear main stage perfectly.

*Slope was a nice place for a nap

 

*Recycling 20 cups for a drinks token was very easy without having to go out of your way or be too trampy haha. A welcome boost to the drinks fund

*Bars were very efficient and barely ever waited for a drink. Hoegaarden rosee went down a treat in the absence of cider 

*Jupiler area inbetween main stage acts was a laugh

*Weather much better than expected. Would recommend walking boots rather than wellies even if it did rain more heavily due to the walk on the road there ,flooring at stages and gravel /sand paths on site.

*Access from Brussels Airport/Eurostar terminal with free train ticket and shuttles from Leuven made accessing the site quite straightforward 

Would return with a similar high quality line up but with lower expectations of crowd interaction.

Edited July 5, 2017 by lemons

[gunther Mickey]

2 hours ago, jonnytee1 said:

Did anyone other than me actually see Benjamin Clementine? The tent was packed so some people obviously did  - he was IMMENSE!!

The best act for me :). Great show with the crowd, amazing voice and a bit of humour. It was way too short.

[gunther Mickey]

1 hour ago, Gossard said:

Worthy of 5* in your opinion?

Yes for sure

[jonnyf]

I had an awesome time this year only negative was it took for ages to get through to the main arena on Thursday but no biggie.

 

Highlights Foo Fighters, POR, Royal Blood, SOAD, The Pretenders, Frank Carter

 

Ill defo return if its a good line up

[jonnytee1]

2 hours ago, Gossard said:

Worthy of 5* in your opinion?

I like artists who are slightly obscure, hence the fact I would also have given Radiohead a 5* but yes, when you consider where Benjamin came from and his past, to the artist he is today..... the set was different, abstract, full of skill and very emotive. All of this added up to a superb performance. Saying that I'd also have given Prophets of rage a 5* and probably SOAD too.

[AndrewSmith]

What a brilliant festival! My first time at Rock Werchter, I've still not recovered.

Will put together a few bits about the bands I saw later on.

[KingTen87]

First RW and generally loved it! Really enjoyed Imagine Dragons, KOL were much better than when I last saw them and Nothing But Thieves were great as well. Royal Blood were impressive, although I actually found the LP and FF sets to be a little bit drawn out. Chester messed around down front for too long during LP and the 20+ minute rendition of Monkey Wrench during FF was more frustrating than entertaining. Foos have hit the circuit hard this year and I wonder if they were maybe tiring a bit...

However, my absolute standout of the weekend was Crystal Fighters! The feel-good music they make was perfect for Klub C and the atmosphere was electric - could not have enjoyed myself any more during the hour-long party they put on!

The main issues I had were with the queues - we had 5 guys and a girl in our group, and the female queues were inadequately signed and staffed. If girls are happy to be searched by guys (if needed) then that should be their choice. We got in 15 minutes late for NBT despite leaving 45 minutes to get in from Hive Resort, all because the queues weren't signed as M/F until UNDER the RW sign, so everyone had to swap and line up again. Each day there were maybe 2:1 Male to Female queues despite the Female checks taking longer due to bags etc... also annoyed that we kept back nearly 200 plastic cups until the last day only to be told they couldn't be taken back in, so missed out on 10 free beers thanks to that.

On the whole loved the festival, would 100% go back to Hive Resort for the convenience and hope to return in the next year or 2!

[JayBeeis]

18 hours ago, neacaisa said:

First of all, i don't know who deleted the loners camp threa, i would have made this post on that one as it was more suited there.

i want to thank all the guys involved in the whatsapp group and the camp we made on the hive: ryan and paddy for stepping in at the right time and organizing the whole thing and all the other guys i met and spend a lot of time at the shows and in the camp: will, cath, alex, bogdan, johnny, james and jess, ishan and his buddies, matt, silviu, bogdan, dave, mario, mustafa, josh. I hope i haven't forgotten anybody.

I recommend the whole loners camp experience to anybody that really wants to do a festival but has no other friends willing to commit. If you have the opportunity, do it, you won't regret it.

I will come back tommorrow with a detailed review of the festival itself.

Here here Vali, it was great. Very proud of the experience all of us "loners" had