Rock Werchter 2023

[Nicklord]

1 hour ago, johnybegood said:

Playing PKP...

I think they would cancel that in order to headline Werchter lol

But I was joking regardless of that. Kings of Leon is my pick

[sokkovokna]

1 hour ago, Dietediet said:

My bet would be Sam Smith or Lizzo. Both don't have a Belgian festival date. And considering a majority of the Thursday ticket holders are probably pop minded, it makes more sense than bringing in a guitar act.

Seems a good bet. Though Lizzo plays the 28th June in Poland and the 30th June in Sweden. Realistic to put her in Belgium the 29th?

What about dEUS? Big in Belgium + new album.

[Archi]

A big Belgian was my first idea... But Angele is already headliner at Core Festival and Pukkelpop. Oscar And The Wolf is playing at Rock Werchter another day. The War On Drugs? They were there last year as sub and their tour finished in Dublin 2 days before. Deus are big in Belgium but not headliner-size and they don't have an international aura like Stromae.

Bring Sam Smith or Lizzo would be a very nice replacement in such a short notice. 

[sokkovokna]

18 minutes ago, Archi said:

Deus are big in Belgium but not headliner-size

Yes they are headliner sized and litterally headlined Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop multiple times.

[Dietediet]

10 minutes ago, sokkovokna said:

Yes they are headliner sized and litterally headlined Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop multiple times.

That's a long while ago though. Last festival tour, they played locations like Rock Herk and Rock Zottegem. I think they'd make a Barn sub at best these days.

Anyway, dEUS are not an option. They are headlining Live is Live the week before, which has been marketed as their only Flemish festival show and is organized by FKP Scorpio (Live Nation competitor).

[Archi]

7 minutes ago, sokkovokna said:

Yes they are headliner sized and litterally headlined Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop multiple times.

Their last time as headliner at RW was in 2008. And their last appearance was as sub for Pearl Jam in 2012. In 2023, they aren't that size anymore. 

Check the festivals they made in 2022: Ronquiere where they're sub for Snow Patrol, headline Rock Zottegem (25k capacity)... Their last show on the Werchter's field was in 2018 for TW Classic where they play before The National. About Pukkelpop, the last time they headliner it was in 2011 (a show that never happened sadly).

[Kaboom Boxer]

2 hours ago, Dietediet said:

You can already rule out Blur, Placebo, Depeche Mode, Foals and Pulp though.

How come? Foals because of PKP I assume but why not the others?

[Archi]

12 minutes ago, Kaboom Boxer said:

How come? Foals because of PKP I assume but why not the others?

Blur are playing Lokerse Feesten. Same for Placebo. Depeche Mode don't play 2 nights in a row and they're in Frankfurt that weekend (anyway, it's impossible to see a huge band like this add a last-minute festival appearance). Pulp has only announced UK shows and they play in London on Saturday July 1st.

[sokkovokna]

1 hour ago, Archi said:

Their last time as headliner at RW was in 2008.

And the last time Pulp headlined Glastonbury was in 1998, yet there were in the rumours as a Glasto-headliner for 2023. dEUS has the same status in Belgium as Pulp has in England. Pulp is barely known in Belgium and not headliner worthy (would be for me but not the masses at Werchter). Also, where Glastonbury only calls 3 acts headliner, in Werchter mostly the last 2 names each day are headliner. They have 8 headliners. dEUS was one of them in 2012.

I mean the chances they will play are low, but I just cannot agree that they are not headliner worthy. Especially in difficult circumstances where the festival needs a replacement.

Edited May 9, 2023 by sokkovokna

[ParanoidTourist]

They could also switch Iggy Pop to Main stage and make him the headliner (if they don´t find a decent headliner from outside in the coming 50 days). 

[tmolvik]

1 hour ago, Archi said:

Blur are playing Lokerse Feesten. Same for Placebo. Depeche Mode don't play 2 nights in a row and they're in Frankfurt that weekend (anyway, it's impossible to see a huge band like this add a last-minute festival appearance). Pulp has only announced UK shows and they play in London on Saturday July 1st.

Not sure that those "rules" apply under these circumstances. Also, wasn't Faith No More playing Graspop the same year as they stepped in for Foo Fighters?

[VolkIreland]

A nice Rammstein shaped hole there now. 😅

[Ohad]

Can you recall a time when a headliner dropped and there was an actual headliner-worthy replacement? From my narrow experience: in LL 2019 they could not find a proper replacement for The Prodigy and in last years Primavera they didn't even try replacing Massive Attack (unlike the Strokes' case, they had A LOT of time to look for someone)

Yeah, RW is a big one, but looking at the data - do we have any reason to get our hopes up?

[ParanoidTourist]

7 minutes ago, Ohad said:

Can you recall a time when a headliner dropped and there was an actual headliner-worthy replacement? From my narrow experience: in LL 2019 they could not find a proper replacement for The Prodigy and in last years Primavera they didn't even try replacing Massive Attack (unlike the Strokes' case, they had A LOT of time to look for someone)

Yeah, RW is a big one, but looking at the data - do we have any reason to get our hopes up?

Well, back in the day, Faith No More showed up when Foo Fighters cancelled. 

[birchtree29]

10 hours ago, Ohad said:

Can you recall a time when a headliner dropped and there was an actual headliner-worthy replacement? From my narrow experience: in LL 2019 they could not find a proper replacement for The Prodigy and in last years Primavera they didn't even try replacing Massive Attack (unlike the Strokes' case, they had A LOT of time to look for someone)

Yeah, RW is a big one, but looking at the data - do we have any reason to get our hopes up?

Primavera was already sold out though so they didn't need to do anything to boost ticket sales. Rock Werchter needs to book someone if they want to sell day tickets but the announcement they made feels like they will not be able to do anything. 127 Euros for a day with Stormzy, the 1975, and Sam Fender will not sell well.

"There’s no replacement headliner yet. No roadmap exists for this situation, no plan B or C is at hand if a headliner drops out. Our talent bookers are working hard to find the best possible replacement. Stay tuned for updates."

[Gossard]

11 hours ago, tmolvik said:

Not sure that those "rules" apply under these circumstances. Also, wasn't Faith No More playing Graspop the same year as they stepped in for Foo Fighters?

Faith no more played GMM on Sunday and then RW four days later on Thursday. I don't know how ticket sales are going at the Lokerse Festival but if/when it's sold out I see no reason why Blur couldn't be added to RW....especially considering Lokerse Festival is in the middle of August....

[tmolvik]

16 minutes ago, Gossard said:

Faith no more played GMM on Sunday and then RW four days later on Thursday. I don't know how ticket sales are going at the Lokerse Festival but if/when it's sold out I see no reason why Blur couldn't be added to RW....especially considering Lokerse Festival is in the middle of August....

Yup. Those that really wanted to see Blur at Lokerse has probably bought their ticket by now. Doubt that many people will avoid going there because Blur goes to Werchter (and as you say it's also a month later) . That said, it might not be that the festival is willing to cooperate. I guess it's not a Live Nation-festival either, so might prove to be more difficult..

In this case it's also a bit about RW reputation in the market. A replacement here will mean that people show more trust in their line-ups and ability to deliver, which I think could be really important given this year's line-up in total. We've always bought new tickets as they are put on sale, on the basis of RW's track record, but this edition is the first to make me re-consider next year. 

[Archi]

The day with Blur at Lokerse Feesten is not soldout so 0% chance they can add the band at Werchter right now. And they'll need to announce a solution quickly as the festival is in a couple of weeks. About Faith No More, it was a bit surprising but not the same size of headliner as the Foo Fighters. I remember seeing so many tickets sold at like 20€ on Internet that year...

[tmolvik]

The only thing needed is for Liam to pick up his brother at the airport and everything is settled. Quick and easy 🙂

[Archi]

Mauybe Mumford and Sons? They start their EU Tour in Sweden 2 days later...

[mln]

22 minutes ago, Archi said:

Mauybe Mumford and Sons? They start their EU Tour in Sweden 2 days later...

Marcus is playing Lolla Stockholm solo on Thursday.

[Johnpf1]

I think the option of moving Editors to headline on Thursday and then trying to find a biggish Barn name on the Friday will be the way for Werchter to go. Editors have at least headlined in the past there and it's been a while (for Werchter standards) since they played there. Also Editors have space in their tour schedule to reschedule.

[tmolvik]

1 hour ago, Johnpf1 said:

I think the option of moving Editors to headline on Thursday and then trying to find a biggish Barn name on the Friday will be the way for Werchter to go. Editors have at least headlined in the past there and it's been a while (for Werchter standards) since they played there. Also Editors have space in their tour schedule to reschedule.

Yes that's my guess too. Normally I would say that it's a crap solution, but this year it would fix one of my biggest clashes of them and Liam, so go ahead! 😉 

Edited May 10, 2023 by tmolvik

[Dietediet]

4 hours ago, Johnpf1 said:

I think the option of moving Editors to headline on Thursday and then trying to find a biggish Barn name on the Friday will be the way for Werchter to go. Editors have at least headlined in the past there and it's been a while (for Werchter standards) since they played there. Also Editors have space in their tour schedule to reschedule.

Then you're pissing off all the people who bought Friday tickets to see Editors, on top of the Thursday ticket holders who don't care about Editors. You'd just make it worse instead of mending things.

[Archi]

16 minutes ago, Dietediet said:

Then you're pissing off all the people who bought Friday tickets to see Editors, on top of the Thursday ticket holders who don't care about Editors. You'd just make it worse instead of mending things.

Exactly. And it doesn't happen often to see a big band change its day because of this.