Rock Werchter 2021

[pigital]

Imagine this: Pearl Jam, Metallica, Gorillaz and RHCP. 
 

I know that vintage is getting back in again. But that feels very 2000s and don’t think even hipsters think that vintage from 2000s is hip again. 
 

Please don’t RW. Let at least show a bit of renewal. 
 

And to all the ones saying AC/DC, Guns n Roses and even Aerosmith. Please get out of your tiny old fashioned cocoon and embrace the fact that all RW still needs is headliners that are a bit more, how to say it, mainstream? Future-proof? Innovative? 
 

to all people that say that younger people drink less and therefore should not be taken into account for a line up that appeases them, a sincere middle finger for being so small minded. All that means is that drinks got too expensive for younger people. Not that they don’t have the right to enjoy the biggest mainstream festival in Belgium. 
 

a little bit of empathy would really suit a lot of you

Edited December 10, 2020 by pigital

[Aech]

Can you all get out of your tiny old fashioned cocoon and embrace the fact that young people aren't exclusively listening to fucking 100 gecs and Billie Eillish 

[pigital]

5 minutes ago, Aech said:

Can you all get out of your tiny old fashioned cocoon and embrace the fact that young people aren't exclusively listening to fucking 100 gecs and Billie Eillish 

Of course they aren’t. But for those that like to listen to older rock bands, I think they are already pleased. Now let’s try to please the others by bringing some new stuff and not add any more for the audience you’re already reaching with the names announced already. 
 

hence; get some empathy for more than what you like yourself and defending it because the parts of the younger audience likes it as well. 

Edited December 10, 2020 by pigital

[Hullabaloo92]

So glad to see that there is much more going on in this board than in the latest months

Since Ken teased Metallica a couple times for RW and Roskilde, it should be them.

Roskilde needs a big replacement for Taylor Swift on wednesday and Deftones are a suitable sub for Metallica, with one day off RW on friday seems legit.

No Strokes would be a total bummer for me, I mean I'm a huge fan but of course the day in 2020 was really weak. They should have co-headlined with The Killers or Kings of Leon just like Arcade Fire in 2017.

I read a couple that money is not an issue for RW. So could The Strokes co-headline with Pearl Jam or Red Hot Chili Peppers? (they are not free on saturday) Would they even accept that? PJ are co-headlining with The Killers at Lollapalooza Stockholm and RHCP played before Editors last time (I know, it was prior Frusciante's return) and Pinkpop has Twenty One Pliots on the same day. Additionally, PJ had a stronger undercard everytime they played in the last years....

@Ken19 could you tell me how well the thursday was actually selling this time?

Since The Strokes are somehow connected to Haim and Eddie Vedder, could they fit into that day?

here's my guess:

THU:

Main: Pearl Jam - The Strokes - Pixies - The Lumineers - Haim - Miles Kane - Fontaines DC

Barn: Disclosure - Beck - Rag N' Bone Man

FRI:

Main: Metallica - Faith No More - ???- Frank Carter - The Fever 333

Barn: Alt-J - The Streets - Cigarettes after Sex

SAT:

Main: Gorillaz - Twenty One Pilots - Tame Impala - Anderson Paak

Barn: Jamie xx - Jorja Smith - Jimmy Eat World

SUN:

Main: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Royal Blood - Placebo/Liam Gallagher - Yungblud - Nothin But Thieves - The Struts

Barn: Thom Yorke - Archive - Michael Kiwanuka

I have a feeling that Liam Gallagher and/or Placebo could be moved to Pukkelpop because they're also playing festivals in August

So yeah, the thursday with PJ + Strokes is kinda overkill, would sunday be more suitable or are both scenarios completely out of this world?

Even better would an additional wednesday with The Strokes - The Killers - Liam Gallegher - Lewis Capaldi on the Main Stage

 

 

 

[RubenFrusciante]

39 minutes ago, pigital said:

Of course they aren’t. But for those that like to listen to older rock bands, I think they are already pleased. Now let’s try to please the others by bringing some new stuff and not add any more for the audience you’re already reaching with the names announced already. 
 

hence; get some empathy for more than what you like yourself and defending it because the parts of the younger audience likes it as well. 

Why would the new act have to be your kind of 'new stuff'? RW2021 is completely stripped from metal too without names like SOAD, FNM, Volbeat, what about that audience? Because 'Pearl Jam already is for metal fans' equals to 'Gorillaz is a good replacement for Kendrick' to me.

And 'empathy for more than what you like yourself'... how many times have I seen 'I don't care, as long as The Strokes will be there', 'WE WANT THE STROKES' here? What kind of 'empathy' is that? 

All fine, I get the frustration about The Strokes and Kendrick not being there (I really want to see both too) but it's not like @Aech is the only one pushing his own music taste here...

[tmolvik]

1 hour ago, pigital said:

Of course they aren’t. But for those that like to listen to older rock bands, I think they are already pleased. Now let’s try to please the others by bringing some new stuff and not add any more for the audience you’re already reaching with the names announced already. 
 

hence; get some empathy for more than what you like yourself and defending it because the parts of the younger audience likes it as well. 

Remember that you are supposed to fill a massive main stage... I've said it before and I say it again.. I can't really think of any band/artist that started after 2005 that sells out stadiums right now (Mumford maybe being the closest ones). If you do, please give me 5 or 6 at least sot there is room for rotating and I'll be willing to agree with you, but I doubt it (and I'm not talking about 10-20000 venues). It's still the major stadium bands that have been around for ages that sells this amount if tickets and they're the ones that usually brings the crowd that actually spends money at the festival. When these artists stop touring I think you will see a downscaling of many festivals (or new concepts) as it is just not financially viable if you can't bring those that sell tickets. Also, I don't really understand the critisism, as all the headliners already announced have released new music this year (or as RHCP & 21P are recording new now). If it had been someone not caring to do anything new and just touring on old merits I would have been able to agree more, but they can't be blamed having a big (and good) back catalouge. 

In addition, if you look at the Werchter line ups recent years there has been plenty of newer artists, they're just not headlining and who cares really? As long as you get to see the gig, and if you really like the artist, the smaller the stage the better the view? I think people need to let them book those that are bringing in the money to make sure that you get a diverse festival instead of just focusing on the main stage.. 

 

 

[VolkIreland]

Well this all went a bit mad a bit quickly.

Jaysus I just want Naked and Famous, Of Monsters and Men and like... The Killers or something. 

Realistically I just want to be in that field half drunk having a great time. 

[The Black]

11 hours ago, pigital said:

Imagine this: Pearl Jam, Metallica, Gorillaz and RHCP. 
 

I know that vintage is getting back in again. But that feels very 2000s and don’t think even hipsters think that vintage from 2000s is hip again. 
 

Please don’t RW. Let at least show a bit of renewal. 
 

And to all the ones saying AC/DC, Guns n Roses and even Aerosmith. Please get out of your tiny old fashioned cocoon and embrace the fact that all RW still needs is headliners that are a bit more, how to say it, mainstream? Future-proof? Innovative? 
 

to all people that say that younger people drink less and therefore should not be taken into account for a line up that appeases them, a sincere middle finger for being so small minded. All that means is that drinks got too expensive for younger people. Not that they don’t have the right to enjoy the biggest mainstream festival in Belgium. 
 

a little bit of empathy would really suit a lot of you

"Painting a building Green might not be a wise decision, as it could have negative consequences."

Pigital: "Paint it green!" (Adds middle finger)

[misterplow]

Is The National an option? 

They're playing Rock In Rio Lisboa and it will be 8 years (!) since their last time at RW. 

[lighthouse]

So today is the day then? 

[Archi]

8 minutes ago, lighthouse said:

So today is the day then? 

Fingers crossed.

[EV123]

2 hours ago, misterplow said:

Is The National an option? 

They're playing Rock In Rio Lisboa and it will be 8 years (!) since their last time at RW. 

But no new album, so no reason to book them I would say. They are around each year so it will happen once I suppose. 

[Ohad]

Do we have a good reason to assume we're getting new names today? 

[Boss89]

54 minutes ago, EV123 said:

But no new album, so no reason to book them I would say. They are around each year so it will happen once I suppose. 

The last time they've played RW was 2013 (I think?)... So actually 2 new albums out, if you look at it that way. Brand new album is mostly the case but not a must for RW to book a band I think.

[EV123]

16 minutes ago, Boss89 said:

The last time they've played RW was 2013 (I think?)... So actually 2 new albums out, if you look at it that way. Brand new album is mostly the case but not a must for RW to book a band I think.

I know it doesn't really matter for RW to book a band, but they are not huge and also played in Belgium quite regularly since then. So, I think they are only an option with a brand new album (or when they are short of headliners). 

Actually, I also don't know whether they would be a Barn-head or Co/sub-head. 

Would love a National-Swift co-headline in 2022 though! 😉

[VCF]

5 minutes ago, EV123 said:

Would love a National-Swift co-headline in 2022 though! 😉

Was about to say the exact same thing, what a treat it would be. 

And they started working on their new album this Summer I reckon? Even though they've been busy working on side projects this year, a release date somewhere in 2021 does not seem unrealistic.

[Ohad]

20 minutes ago, EV123 said:

 Would love a National-Swift co-headline in 2022 though! 😉

They released a collaboration earlier today, by the way, on Swifts new album

[EV123]

14 minutes ago, Ohad said:

They released a collaboration earlier today, by the way, on Swifts new album

I know, that's where the idea came from. 🙂

I really hope Werchter reconsiders her position at Boutique and brings her to the 'real' Werchter when touring again in 2022. These two new albums should give them the opportunity for it. 

[Archi]

1 hour ago, Ohad said:

Do we have a good reason to assume we're getting new names today? 

Just a feeling. They have the habit to announce names on Friday 4pm. Next Friday, it's only 6 days before Christmas, start of holidays. So if they announce again some names in 2020, today seems the last logic day... but it's not more than 50/50. They can also wait until early 2021 and a better situation in Belgium 🙂 

[Daniel Ferreira]

I no longer believe in an announcement today, they did a Gorillaz post a few moments ago.

 

[Archi]

1 hour ago, Daniel Ferreira said:

I no longer believe in an announcement today, they did a Gorillaz post a few moments ago.

 

Indeed, nothing announced. Gonna be for 2021 then.

[heti]

I feel like a Foo Fighters' new song title....shame, shame 

[Ohad]

5 hours ago, EV123 said:

I know, that's where the idea came from. 🙂

I really hope Werchter reconsiders her position at Boutique and brings her to the 'real' Werchter when touring again in 2022. These two new albums should give them the opportunity for it. 

IDK, it would be a weird booking. As P!nk (the only "pop girl" headliner I can recall from recent years) is a more lively, "Rock N Roll"er kind of performer, she made some sense for RW. I just don't see Taylors mostly-Max-Martin-productions-kind-of-headlining-set fitting the RW atmosphere. 

Edited December 11, 2020 by Ohad

[misterplow]

2 minutes ago, Ohad said:

IDK, it would be a weird booking. While P!nk (the only "pop girl" headliner I can recall from recent years) is a more lively, "Rock N Roll"er kind of performer, she made some sense for RW. I just don't see Taylors mostly-Max-Martin-productions-kind-of-headlining-set fitting the RW atmosphere. 

Swift is more 'rock and roll' than Pink will ever be. 

[Fabrizzo]

4 minutes ago, misterplow said:

Swift is more 'rock and roll' than Pink will ever be.